Snakes, Kings, and Giraffes Flying Through Windows

First Show Back, best show back! It was our first show back in the theater since the pandemic shutdowns, and it felt GREAT!

The February 5th, 2022 show, starred Eric Artell, Lincoln Hoppe, Adam Johnson, Ali Kinkade, Michael Minto, and Zanon Schmidt (alphabetically and in order of age. JK)

It was our first show back and what an honor to perform for a Sold Out crowd! A special thanks to all who attended and shared the evening and laughter with us. 

A few people have asked me since the show if it was difficult to jump back onstage with no script and perform for a live audience after almost exactly 2 years. The answer: No. It felt a lot like riding a bike. 

Sure I was bit nervous before the show, knowing that we had sold out. But I practiced and taught a lot improv over the 2 year pandemic break. (See more on our improv training Online Courses here) 

So I kept myself practiced by exercising my improv muscles weekly and sometimes daily. But the real magic came from performing with these amazingly talented people. 

We’ve developed a sense for each other over the years before the shutdown… and even though there may be some rusty moments here and there, a group of incredibly talented people is a group of incredibly talented people. 

The Support group for people with the problem of ‘Defenestrating Giraffes’ involved the whole cast, and was full of shocking revelations and confessions. If you weren’t at the show, “Defenestrating Giraffes” was the suggestion from the audience based on a VERB and a NOUN. Hence DEFENSTRATING + GIRAFFES

Ali hosted this game as the support group leader to great effect. Donuts were eaten, confessions made, and support was shared. And a lot of giraffes were thrown through windows. (No actual fictional giraffes were killed even fictionally in this game 🙂

A highlight of the show for me was watching the short form improv game called ‘Buzzers and Bells’.

There was a large Anaconda being trained by a trainer (Eric Artell) who apparently had no business being there. Spoler alert: he was killed in the end by the anaconda. But only after hearing it pronounced very hilariously by Ali Kinkade’s character almost a dozen times. 

If you’re not familiar with the game ‘Buzzers and Bells’,  the MC gets to edit the scene with a buzzer forcing the players to re-make a choice. When the MC is happy (Zanon in this case), he will ring a bell indicating that the players can continue the scene with the new choice. 

I was laughing so hard I was crying… as was much of the audience!

”Blind Line’ is another game that is just so fun to play. We get lines of dialogue from the audience and place them on the stage. The players in the scene have not heard the lines, and pick them up blindly and read them into the scene as their character’s next line.

 The scene was about a medieval Lady and her surf (Medieval Surf was the suggestion). A King of the neighboring kingdom came a looking for a wife… and ended up meeting the surf’s blade in his royal belly. The king’s death lasted quite a long time. But not too long for the comedy lol. 

It was amazing how much in sync the scene and the lines were. And hilarious. 

Thanks to all who attended, and thanks to an incredible cast that made this show a show to remember for years to come. It was our first time back, after all!

Come and be a part of our next completely improvised show!  Don’t miss out. Tickets are available now!

Lincoln Hoppe is an actor, writer, director, and father of 5. He is the the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Society Comedy Troupe.