Got Jokes? Comedy Improv Team
Denis Baldwin | Feb 09, 2009 | Comments 0
If you’re anything like me, you probably grew up during a great time in television history. I remember watching Saturday Night Live and In Living Color and Who’s Line is It Anyway in my youth and into my teens. Watching improv comedy shaped a lot of how I see the world today, and I’m glad for that education.
When I get a chance to see a comedy show, I jump on it. When it’s improv, I really jump on it. What’s funnier than a bunch of people acting our scenarios from an eager audience? Not much, and Got Jokes Improv Troop definitely embodies the spirit of what improv comedy should be.
I saw them at their weekly saturday gig at the Hip Hop Soda Shop this past Saturday, and was very impressed. Upon coming in, I was greeted by their M.C. “Daniel “Motown Pride”. Being a fellow Detroiter, I knew where his head and his heart were at, and I knew I was in for a treat.
The power of improv lies not just in how well a person can act or how funny they are, but how they can think on their feet with constant outside input. The Got Jokes? Team is constantly cycling the audience for stimulation. Every skit is built on a word or scenario from the audience, called at random as Daniel spins the web of the act together.
The team is made of a series of regulars, all of which are local comics in their own right but keep their skills sharp in the improv group. Motown keeps everyone in line, calling Scene and participating where needed. Gwiggy, a larger-than-life white guy, can play the stern approach (such as his part as a Frisbee Championship anchor) or the slapstick part (such as his attempt to show rhythm in a group dance later in the show). Tarik is all attitude, an over the top act that’s full of energy. Heidi seems the free spirited all american girl and the princess of the troop, a compliment to Sharon who is the queen bee of the Got Jokes Team. Motown, Detyme, Rocky and Rahn Man round out the regular line-up. Every one of these comedians is funny on their own, but as a group they are stellar.
The act takes rollercoaster turns between skits. The first one, the alphabet game we probably all played as children, is done with striking accuracy.. until they hit X. “X. I’m gonna solve for X” seems to be the best answer they can come up with. I think the next show I go to, I’m going to scream out, “Last Stand of the 300″ so they atleast have Xerxes to play with 
They follow with a variety of character-driven skits, based on audience suggestions. Someone screamed out, “Frisbee tournament!” and they reacted with an energy-drink infused competitor, a down-south redneck and the Puff-Daddy of coaches. I laughed until I snorted Diet Coke out of my nose. It was that funny!
The act as a whole goes on for a couple of hours, and there were very few lulls. The key to making it so funny is the polling of the audience. You are given a piece of paper early in the night with some questions on it, which they work into “Weekend-Update” style news stories. I don’t think the crowd stopped laughing the entire time.
Here are some photos:
Along with the troop, they also feature special guests. I’ll be doing a review of their special guest from Saturday, Aleshea “Daughter of Noise” Harris in another post.
Got Jokes? performs weekly at the Hip Hop Soda Shop, and also at Side Splitters. For more information, see their website:
http://www.gotjokesimprov.com/
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