I've been meaning to check out the free "Your Terrible Ex!" show at The Riot Theater for a few…read moremonths now. But it takes place at 10pm on a Friday night, and I tend to have to wake up early the next day.
So what finally brought me out to this area of JP? A free ComedySportz Improv show courtesy of CSZ Boston and the Yelp Elite Culture Club.
With ComedySportz at 8pm - 9:30pm (free for me that night only, otherwise $15 plus $1.50 fee) and Your Terrible Ex! from 10pm - 11:30pm (free all the time, whether for you or for me), I decided, yes, it was time. I would show up for the first, and just simply stay put for the 2nd.
Being a girl arriving by myself, I drove by maybe 6-8 times before a driver magically appeared to get into the car situated right on the corner by The Riot Theater. I didn't want to park too long a walk away, although there were some spots maybe 3 blocks off on South Street.
According to their website, The Riot Theater, is housed in A Far Cry Chamber Orchestra's storefront rehearsal space, and seeks to bring quality comedy to a part of Boston that has a wealth of support for the arts but little in the way of a regular comedy scene.
ComedySportz was fun and entertaining, and entirely family friendly - but I knew this already from a past experience. Ideas were requested of the audience, so it was interactive and what I imagine improv to be - thinking on your feet with information that you have no control over. A myriad of games were played, each with its own name and rules, such as Pile Up, Dirty Hand Randy, Five Things, I Can Do Better, Four Corners, Twinsies (with actual physical audience participation) and 185.
I found out that night for the first time that ComedySportz is not just a Boston Institution, but is located in 23 cities across the country, and even in Manchester, UK and Berlin, Germany! That was pretty cool.
After the ComedySportz crowd (aka tonight's loyal fans) exited to high fives from our show's cast, a new group took over the space, removed the score screen, set up some folding chairs along the stage, and adjusted the audience's seating a bit. We were told that Your Terrible Ex! would start 5 min late as always.
A single private bathroom was available for use, and concessions were available at a table by the entrance.
As often happens at events, the headlining show was preceded by a pre-show. And this evening, the guest comedy troupe was The Gorge, a four person group. Perhaps I missed something, but I didn't remember any audience participation. They just flung themselves into acting out a number of situations that confused me and seemed to confuse their improv partners as well.
After The Gorge were done, Naffy Improv took over the stage for Your Terrible Ex!, interviewing one eager audience volunteer about his ex with whom he and his current girlfriend (who had introduced them) were no longer friends with. Taking from the interview the fact that he'd gone to museums on dates with this art student ex, the cast ran with it and came up with a skit that took place in a museum. Swears and certain intimate body parts were tossed nilly willy. The scene from Ghost was reinacted to a degree. Children died. Wine was bought; then promptly broken over someone's head. Oregano was requested.
Naffy did a bit better on the improv front. Professionally, both groups were a bit lacking, as they would react to each other's bits when as actors they should not have. But hey, it was a free show that runs on donations.
Based on this one visit, my order of preference by sheer entertainment value would be: ComedySportz, Naffy, guest group.
Background music beat through the wall from Jeanie Johnston Pub & Grill next door, where it was suggested that we could grab a quick shot since The Riot Theater didn't have anything alcoholic.
