2008 Woodie Awards
National Comedy Theatre puts it in Overtime
By: Taylor Reynolds
Issue date: 9/9/08 Section: Entertainment
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For the price of a movie ticket (sans the student discount), you can enjoy two hours of sharp wit, hilarious puns, British literature references and the knowledge that if only you had a few more seconds to think, your suggestions would have been way better than the inane suggestion from that girl in the third row.
If not for any of those reasons, check out an improv show performed by the National Comedy Theatre (NCT) for the rare chance of experiencing a bad joke and awkward silence. With an array of talent that includes some members of The OxyMorons, another well known local improv troupe, the NCT makes every performance an experience.
NCT puts on two improv performances a week. On Fridays, they hold their short-form competitive improv that relies heavily on audience involvement. The long-form performance given on Saturdays uses more of a storytelling style.
The NCT was born from the womb of Comedy Sportz, a national organization that specializes in the short form competitive improv. Short form competitive improv usually has between five and 10 different games that the audience help out with by yelling out suggestions for different situations.
It also includes a referee, fouls and points. Points are given to teams by the laugh-o-meter, which is calibrated at the beginning of the show by the referee and the announcer.
Along with laugh-o-meter calibration, the referee gives points to the team who gets the most laughs, and also has the power to hand out fouls. There are three fouls that a player or audience member can be called on. The first is the Waffling foul which is given out if play gets too boring. If the referee calls a Waffling foul, the offended player will have only three seconds to make it interesting; if he or she does not, said player will lose points.
The second is the Groaner foul, which is called when a player uses a cliché or makes an unfunny joke. In the event of this foul being called, the player must apologize for offending the comedic intelligence of the audience, wherein the audience will either accept or deny the apology. If denied, four points will be subtracted from the offending player's team.
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