By PETER THUNELL
thunell@du2.byu.edu
Two of America's favorite pastimes, comedy and sports, have been joined to create an entertaining new hybrid. Fridays at the Wrapsody, the Utah Comedy Sportz team swings into action with their own version of improvisational comedy.
I was a little nervous before the show because it seems that improvisation can be either really funny or not funny at all. In something like this so much depends on the natural quick wit of the performers.
The opening night show I went to last Friday was impressive. It was filled with snappy one-liners delivered by performers who showed no signs of opening-night jitters and played along like seasoned veterans.
The show follows the format of a sports match from the singing of the Star Spangled Banner to keeping score to playing music during the transition parts.
To begin the show, the referee who played the part of the MC, came out on the stage to explain the premise of the game and the rules. The premise was simple, two teams of three faced off against each other in various improvisation games and then were judged by the audience.
One of the main facets of the show is that the audience is constantly called on to participate. A foul is issued if someone on stage or in the audience says something off-color. This was a nice device that assured the audience that this was going to be a clean show.
The first game was called 'Sideline,' which was a fast as lightning game of charades that had two members of the team acting out the words and the other team member trying to guess the word while pretending to be a preacher. It was a kick to see someone try to guess the word 'discombobulate' while trying to carry on a fiery sermon at the same time.
In the game 'Foreign Movie' a member of the audience joins one of the players acting out a scene while mumbling the dialogue. The other two members of the team then make up dialogue to follow and to lead the story. Seeing the players play off each other in this game was great.
The best part of the show came in their final game called 'Object Freeze.' In this the referee first got random objects from people in the audience. He then would place one of the objects on a stool and the players had to turn around and use it as a prop in a quick joke.
In this game only the quick-witted survive. A yo-yo suddenly became a midget discus or a U.F.O. A boot was a miniature house or a growth out of someone's head. This game showed off the speedy minds of the players.
Comedy Sportz at the Wrapsody works well and it is mainly due to the talent of its performers.
Comedy Sportz performs on Fridays at 7:30 p.m. or 9:45 p.m. Tickets are $6 and can be reserved by calling ahead.