Picture this. It’s a Wednesday night. There’s nothing to do, and to try to study even one more circuits problem would be an exercise in futility. You need a break. You need to relax, throw your head back, and have a few belly laughs. Who’re you gonna call?
Why, you’ll call Sheer Idiocy of course, RPI’s only improvisational comedy group, the genius minds behind such shows as Improvcappelloween and Improv Attack 3, as well as their customary shows and workshops. For the past seven years, the Idiots have been entertaining RPI students with consummate ease—in addition to long hours of practice, and bucket loads of grueling effort.
Sheer Idiocy plays an important part in life on campus at RPI. The members gathered to talk with The Poly about the group and what they do before their workshop Thursday night. There are three officers of the troupe; Emperor and frontman Michael Hourihan, Director Joey Faust—who is also the president of the RPI Players, and “Rob Headley is the manager,” who handles all the monetary matters of the group, said Faust. “He’s churning the numbers, yeah, we keep him tied to a chicken,” added Faust. This prompted Hourihan to ask, “Are we [Sheer Idiocy] still a commodity?”
Plainly, the Idiots’ main contribution is their humor. But it goes beyond a joke here and there. What is more important is the attitude that the troupe’s members maintain outside of the shows, an attitude that can most neatly be expressed as: Go with the flow.
The Idiots’ philosophy can be seen in everything they do. For example, rather than have coherent, definite plans for a direction in which to take the group, Sheer Idiocy jumps from one big idea to the next, and keeps whatever works best for the troupe members and for their audience.
RPI students are renowned for being extremely focused and serious about their classes and extremely apathetic and uninterested in just about everything else. “I think that a lot of kids on this campus take life a lot more seriously than it should be taken. I think that we tend to give them a punch in the gut every once in a while, once a month, and be like ‘Hey, give us your lunch money and then laugh at us!’”
As it stands, the Idiots are the only improv group on campus, and they are now issuing a formal challenge to the RPI community. Cries of “Challenge!” filled the air as the terms were decided. Sheer Idiocy challenges the RPI community to “organize a group that would be funnier than us,” declared Faust. The two groups would have an Improv-Off at the end of next year, and, should the Idiots lose, the new group will be treated to dinner. Or, as Idiot Nate Bragg put it, they will get “an entire meal of food.”
The Idiots’ last show of the semester will be April 30 in Mother’s Wine Emporium, and no one should miss this chance to relax and have a few laughs instead of studying for finals.
