Well, here I was again—another hopeless Saturday night. The question on my mind tonight was a difficult one to answer: How exactly does someone review an improv troupe that bows down to a giant scary bald head?
Sheer Idiocy, RPI’s very own improvisational comedy group, had their second act of randomness at the Playhouse on Saturday. I was lured there by posters claiming I would perish if I didn’t attend, according to a slice of buttered toast.
Making up this outlandish ring of actors are Carrie DePetris, Craig Lampert, Jeff Kimball, Joey Faust, Jon Bragg, Matt Duggan, Mike Hourihan, and newcomer Rob Headley.
Starting the night off with a small sketch that reminded me of an SNL opener, four characters paraded onto the stage. Buffy, Chrome Boy, the Chauvinistic Lion and a store front mannequin were part of The Wizard of Idiocy.
Looming over the stage, the aforementioned big scary head, made me feel right at home—-like I was back in Oz again (how comforting). Okay, you know the routine. Everyone line up and ask the Wizard for what you most desire. A heart? No. A brain? No. This is RPI, what were you thinking!? Maybe a more interesting personality? Not going to happen. Well then I suppose we’ll have to do with a little comedy.
The show began, and suddenly I wondered where the other stars of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” were hiding. Sheer Idiocy’s format follows closely to that of the popular game show, minus Drew Carey.
In the next hour and a half the seven members played various games, most starting with some yelling from the audience as to suggestions for topics and inevitably all ending in a good laugh from the crowd.
Objection, the first game played, involved four players standing on stage and making arguments about something—in this case, Faust’s hat. Overruling and sustaining arguments from the players, Lampert chose who was to speak and who wasn’t. At one point it was humorously ruled that Faust shouldn’t speak at all. When time was called for the end of the game the ultimate verdict was “boys are stupid,” according to DePetris.
This performance was definitely fast paced and exciting, keeping you waiting for what someone might say or do next.
One minute Hourihan was galumphing around stage as a bearded midget at the Evil Circus/Zoo and the next he was pretending to be an “upright walking snake,” helping the other English speaking animals to murder humans using the cunning power of Tic Tacs.
As we moved on, other games you may have seen on “Whose Line” included “Sit-Stand-Kneel,” “A to Z,” and “Party Quirks,” where we learned that PMS isn’t really an emotional quirk, pauses for gasps from the audience, and is actually a normal event.
The last game played, “Quest,” followed Bragg on his hunt for lasagna, a wallet-sized photo of Cindy Crawford, the keys to the Kremlin, the mansion used in the movie “Clue,” and a puppy, all in hopes of obtaining the ever illusive Beach Ball of Prickliness.
Overall, it was a very good show, and I look forward to seeing Sheer Idiocy perform alongside the Rensselyrics at “Improvcappella” on October 26 in the McNeil Room.
