What’s Going On?

Tonight, I had the opportunity to see a friend’s improv comedy group perform in front of a crowd of about 50+ people. The venue for this comedy improv show had taken place at The Parlor Room in SF at Sutter and Powell. There were three improv groups and two stand-up comedians that performed. Tonight’s line up were Rumor Has It Improv Troupe, Dave Thomason, Thursprov, Stephen Kalmakis, and hoboFish.

The night started off with a pulling of audience suggestions and random sketches. This comedy group is based out of Concord, CA and consists of seven members. Throughout their improv comedy I was a bit lost and couldn’t find how the audience suggestions were incorporated with their material. I felt that a lot of the suggested topics word just word dropped into the delivery and I felt that most of the audience was lost and confused.

Then Dave Thomason did a quick stand-up. Very funny guy, however, one thing I remember well is that he forgot a couple of liners during the middle of his performance and had to rely on his hand for notes. He played it off very well though and made the audience not think twice about it.

Following Thomason was Thursprov. Thursprov had seven members and were pretty entertaining. A few sketches had me on the edge of my seat laughing with the special technique that involves using your left hand. I can’t remember what the full term was called, but it was coined from one of the comedian’s last name. Given the chance I’d probably want to watch them again.

Dave Thomason came on soon after a short intermission. Thomason who is half Irish and half Greek comedian used slides for his act. He used his ethnicity to make fun of himself and I thought that it was in some ways funny, but it wasn’t one of those jokes that you can recall later on. He forgot some of his lines and at times a little bit awkward, but like any good comedian you move on to something else. I think his ideas were somewhat clever, but his delivery needed some improvement.

Lastly, ending the night was hoboFish, it was the group that I’ve been waiting for all night. My friend joined the group about five months ago and performed that night with three guys along side with their director who also performed with them that night. In total five of them just killed the audience. Much of their performance was so random, but the randomness was what made it hilarious. Couple scenes that I loved were a car scene that involved needing a GPS, a backyard peeping scene, and an iceberg scene which probably was the most random scene of all. The one thing I think that would make this group even more entertaining is if they involved more suggestions from the audience and props sketch. Overall, hoboFish kept me well entertained and I can’t wait to check out some more of their stuff in the future.

In memoriam, I would like to thank all the men and women who are in the armed forces that fight and who have fought, who risk their lives and to those who gave up their lives to give us the freedom that I and all Americans can enjoy to this day. I feel that all soldiers need to be given more respect for being such heroic people. Thank you so much and America salutes you all.