If you want to kick off your Fringing with some improv in the very first slot, I think these are your guys. Left Right TIM are here from Boulder, Colorado, at the Minneapolis Theatre Garage. They've got the Thursday, 8/2 kickoff slot at 5:30 and based on what I saw the Out of Towner showcase last night, their show Summerpocalypse: Colorado Improv promises to be a lot of fun.
Of course, since it's improv, it'll be a completely different show every time, but these guys all know what they're doing. They came out and took one word called out by an audience member - "monkey" - and they were off to the races. There were cops and mad scientists and monkeys, of course. And then, most delightfully, there was a giraffe onstage driving a car getting pulled over because, well, he was a giraffe driving a car.
How to make a giraffe - One guy pushed the guy in front of him to bend over and he hopped on his back and then another guy walked up behind them both with arm extended in the air to provide the rest of the long neck and pivoting head. And even though it was clearly still just three guys piled on top of one another, their movement set off this memory in my head of all those documentaries with a giraffe running across the open plains of Africa. Uncanny.
And they just did this. Instinctively. They all just work as a seamless team and then we're left with a monkey and a giraffe sharing a jail cell together and the monkey asking, "So, what are you in for?" Along the way there was all kinds of cheeky references to gene splicing and genetic mutations and animal/human racism and... these guys think so fast on their feet it's kind of scary. But damn funny. (Frankly I'm envious. How fun must it be to be able to create art with your friends like that, to be that in sync with other human beings you like hanging out with?)
Now I'm going to have to find a way to work them into my schedule. I enjoyed the goofiness of their publicity picture. Having spent a couple of summers in Boulder working for the Colorado Shakespeare Festival back in my grad school days, I have fond memories (and also family) in Colorado. And I love me some improv. So I was already leaning their way. Their quick-witted showcase presentation sealed the deal.
They have shows this Friday and Saturday, 8/3 and 8/4, as well. Then Tuesday 8/7 and Friday 8/10, too. Definitely worth checking out if you need a good laugh, and some good improv comedy.
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