Watching a group of even the most talented performers improvise has the potential to become repetitive with time unless the improvisers are working from within one of the dozens of recognized improvisational formats that provide improvisers with a framework which helps to channel their creativity and often helps to build the momentum and the stakes within the scene. Most of Canada’s most renowned improvisers have certain formats that they have created (or appropriated) and honed into a recurring Improv Show. Last week, however, the Comedy Bar played host to a unique festival entitled The Festival of New Formats, which provided sketch, stand-up and Improv artists the opportunity to uncover a new format, or to modify a previously existing format and to present it to the public. The result was an extremely interesting energy and dynamic that suddenly dominated the Comedy Bar. This is a venue where one expects to encounter “spontaneous marvels”, and yet, with professional performers, you can also rest assured that the show you are about to see will have its own element of polish, of cohesiveness and professionalism. The experimental nature of The Festival of New Formats insured that any dust of complacency among the improvisational ranks was heartily shaken up and these performers were flying by the seat of their pants with even more gusto than usual.
The first show that I saw was a re-formatted version of the very popular competitive Improv show Catch23, in which three Improv teams show down against one another and the audience votes every Friday night at 8:00pm at Comedy Bar. Of course, during The Festival of New Formats, Catch23 adopted a series of new constraints for itself which made the experience intensely experimental, but also added to the immediacy of the evening. The evening was hosted by Ennis Esmer, who conducted the entire evening in Turkish, which made the evening akin to what would have happened if Kermit the Frog had let The Swedish Chef host The Muppet Show. Esmer remained entirely committed to his hosting duties throughout the evening and it was possible to tell at times from the inflection in his voice that he was, in fact, cracking jokes, despite the fact that no one in the audience was able to understand him. The absurdity of it, along with Esmer’s body language and his attempts to banter with judge, David Dineen-Porter (more frequently known as D.D.P), kept the laughs rolling as usual, if in a slightly more bemused way.
Dineen-Porter experimented with his judging duties by judging each group and each round in a completely different and increasingly creative way, from polling people on Twitter, to evaluating sets based on how they compared to his expectations, or how many steps a pedometer placed on the foot of one of the performers recorded. Each of the teams were also performing under challenging circumstances, which required all five performers to modify their tactics and adapt to an unusual format. This meant that truly, anything could happen, and the boundaries of improvisational theatre were always being pushed.
Returning Champions Hoot ‘n’ Holler, Gary Rideout Jr. and Kurt Smeaton were accompanied by a new addition to their team, Smeaton’s dog, Oscar, despite the fact that Rideout has a fear of dogs. The dog, who was not on a leash but remained onstage for most of his set, had to be incorporated into all of Smeaton and Rideout’s scenes. Of course, the dog’s natural instincts and the fact that he was oblivious to the fact that he was “performing” provided a fascinating addition to a theatrical format that is based so much on instinct and impulse, yet also relies very heavily on the actors’ ability to be hyper-aware of their surroundings and the impulses and instincts of others. Smeaton and Rideout both proved that adding an unpredictable element to their craft would not derail them from creating inspired, coherent and consistently funny scenes and, as far as I’m concerned, Gary Rideout Jr. deserves extra points for proving that Improv is the ultimate in reality entertainment, when he ate one of Oscar’s dog treats.
Becky Johnson and Mark Andrada performed as Booth and Consequences, for whom complication arose since Andrada was also working in the booth doing lights and sound. They created a fun little telephone scene, with Johnson onstage and Andrada speaking from a microphone in the back of the room, which worked really well to maximize Johnson’s ability to create awkward characters and situations which are equal parts humorous and endearing. The most hilarity ensued, however, when they switched places and Johnson in the booth, left the audience in near pitch darkness, while Andrada tried to wordless climb through the audience from the stage to the booth, over tables, chairs and other people, while music blared and disco lights and spotlights on Dineen-Porter eating his supper flashed around him. I think this should become a recurring feature for Comedy Bar: Mark Andrada crowd surfs to the booth. New Format! Woot Woot!
Kathleen Phillips performed as Puppetry of the Puppets, working with inanimate found objects such as a plastic dinosaur and a bottle of soap, a format that proved rocky at times, and brilliantly inspired at others. Her cooking show with the dinosaur and the soap, especially when the soap saved the dinosaur from being poisoned by squirting into its open mouth was especially creative.
In all, Catch23’s Experiments were all essentially silliness that challenged the improvisers to overcome absurd obstacles while still striving toward entertaining their audience. While I am not sure any of these formats are necessarily viable ones to develop into anything long lasting, it was fun to watch as the hoops were lined up and each performer jumped through them with dexterity.
