By Amber Grady, Staff Writer
The Penn
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Onstage Arts and Entertainment presented the improvisational comedy show “Whose Live Anyway?” Friday at Fisher Auditorium.
Greg Proops, Jeff Davis, Chip Esten and Ryan Stiles entertained the audience by playing improvisational games based on audience suggestions for more than 90 minutes.
Proops was the first to take the stage in Fisher, welcoming IUP students and Indiana residents to the show and explaining what the night would consist of.
He emphasized that the show would be nothing without help from the audience and reminded the audience that “there are no wrong answers. Only oblique, drunken IUP answers.”
Proops then proceeded to introduce the musical director for the night, Bob Derkach, who plays the keyboard for the comedians during all of their live performances. Next, Proops introduced Davis, Esten and Stiles, who were received warmly by the crowded audience.
The men played several improvisational games made famous by the television show “Whose Line is it Anyway?” and played new games as well. They began the show by playing “Freeze,” a game that began by asking an audience member to suggest a physical position. The audience member suggested doing a handstand, so Jeff Davis kicked off the show by performing a scene in a handstand position. Great laughter ensued and basically continued for the remaining 80 minutes of the show.
Not long after playing “Freeze,” a woman from the audience was brought up on stage. Kathleen, a stay-at-home mom, was serenaded by Esten and Davis about her alligator jacket and blue jeans. The comedians also received a great deal of laughter when they played their own version of “Jeopardy,” during which Stiles introduced himself as Neil Patrick Harris Sr., Esten introduced himself as a pirate, Thunder Beard and Davis introduced himself as Christopher Walken.
During another improvisational game, Stiles and Esten incorporated sentences that had been written by audience members into their scene, in which the two were acting as if they were roommates with a shared love for Elizabeth Taylor.
Shortly thereafter, two members from the audience were called up to help out with a game entitled “Moving Bodies,” in which the audience members were responsible for moving the limbs of the comedians while they performed a skit. Additional audience members were then brought on stage for a similar game, “Sound Effects.”
After playing “Infomercial,” a game during which Esten and Davis made up songs about anthropology, the guys thanked the audience and said their good-byes before performing an encore.
Caroline Osborn (freshman, history) said of the show, “I thought it was amazing. I loved it. I really liked Greg and I enjoyed a bunch of their opening skits the best.
Meredith Bird (junior, Asian Studies/history) added that the performance was “very funny. It was better live than on the TV show.”
