When you think of a former BYU student who majored in business, it’s probably more likely to picture him in an office with a well-pressed suit than in a soccer jersey battling on an improvisational comedic team.
Comedy Sportz’ Nathan Lowe lives for both. Lowe hails from Littleton, Colorado and is 32-years-old, married and finishing up graduate school.
“I have a creative side and a business side,” Lowe said. “I was in college and I saw that there was an audition for a play — I liked it and then got into this.”
For the past several Friday and Saturday nights at 36 West Center Street the interactive Comedy Sportz show has sold out. An hour before the Provo locale’s doors officially opened, lines of people started to gather in the cold.
“It’s a form of art and it’s a lot of stress relief because my work is very stressful, I do sales and business,” says Lowe. “This is a release for me!”
He has been a Comedy Sportz player for eight years, going on nine.
At 8 o’clock when the audience is seated, a referee introduces participation protocol and helps the crowd with a few exercises to get their creative juices flowing.
It’s just a few more minutes until Lowe climbs on stage as the blue team’s captain. He wears a blue and white striped soccer jersey with LOWE printed across the back and makes hand gestures as the crowd cheers his team on.
He uses various accents, wigs and plays the keyboard occasionally throughout the show. Lowe proves that he is a skilled improvisational comedian.
“My family doesn’t have any kind of creativity in them,” he describes, “for some reason I was the musical one.”
Lowe said to prepare for each show, “You have to train your mind to be sharp to think on the spot, to take suggestions, to involve the audience, and make it fun.”
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The first game Lowe’s team plays is “Hey Baby!” In this game, players make up their own one-liners by using the audience’s suggestions. This time around they’ll use flashlights and earrings: “Hey baby, I lobe you!” “Hey baby, your looks are infectious!” The crowd laughs and many people are bent over holding their stomachs from the laughter.
Lowe’s wife sometimes comes to watch him.
“She thinks it’s a little goofy,” he said. “Because she really doesn’t know that side of me — usually I’m pretty serious.”
To finish off the first half of the show, Lowe and his blue team wear wigs and reenact a funny crime with a Shakespearean twist. As the blue team scurries away, the crowd goes wild. Lowe accomplishes his purpose as he leaves the stage, by giving his audience the giggles and putting smiles on their faces.
“What a lot of people don’t know is that we basically do this for free,” he said. “We really don’t get paid much, but we love doing it.”
