The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise that is run out of Chicago, Los Angeles, and Toronto. It started back in December of 1959, with famous alumni such as Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Steve Carrell. The Second City Touring Company features a group of touring members that perform all over the country. The Second City currently has 38 touring members.

During a two-day stint in Iowa City at the Englert Theatre, The Second City actors consisted of six people: Alison Banowsky, E.J. Cameron, Mark Campbell, Jordan Savusa, Jackie Southee, and Alessandra Drapos. To say the least, the six of them were amazing together and put on an amazing show. The chemistry between them all made the show enjoyable.

“Let someone else face your small talk fears head-on! Instead of avoiding Grandpa and de-friending your old high school pals, see The Second City’s brand new sketch comedy and improv revue, LOOK BOTH WAYS BEFORE TALKING,” their website reads. “We’re diving right into every touchy subject you’re thinking about, but are afraid to say out loud…or online.”

And they did not disappoint.

The show started off with a bang, with the six of them singing about being the number 1 nation in the world (it was political satire, in case anybody attending didn’t get that.) The show included all kinds of musical numbers, sketches, and mini-sketches that leaned on the political satire lines that made the room shake with laughter.

I’ve always loved improv comedy, as it showcases comedians true talent by being able to make situations up on the spot. Audience suggestions were hilarious to say the least, with some suggestions being the relationships “priest and confessor” and locations like “Lincoln, Nebraska.” As I write this out, it doesn’t seem nearly as funny as it did in the moment — another thing that I love about improv comedy. The suggestions thrown out and the reactions from the actors are what made it so funny and the scenes created a “You had to be there!” type of humor.

Other skits were more light-hearted, one being a doctor who slept with one of their patients — the punchline being “Dude, you’re a vetrenarian.”

Besides the short intermission about halfway through, it was a non-stop laugh fest, the kind that fills your chest and belts out unexpectedly. If you’re in need of a good laugh, look no further than The Second City. The live show environment is sure to cheer anyone’s day up.

The post Show Review: The Second City @ The Englert 2/16/18 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

*Disclaimer: This article contains material that may be deemed inappropriate for minors*

The description that Witching Hour gave for this event was “The best of new voices in comedy in the stand-up and improv worlds.” And they were right. The jokes were funny and the atmosphere felt very chill and comfortable. The show began with Super Talent Show doing a music number to introduce themselves. Super Talent Show consists of members Steven King, Nicky Martin, and Blake Burkhart. Their skit was about time travel.

The first step on our time traveling adventures was medieval times where the guys met a fancy king, Blake, who sang and had donut rings.

The next stop was in Los Angeles in the 20th century. Nicky happened upon a celebrity orgy that consisted of only Jack Nicholson and Randy Newman.

They then met Pinky Blinders who wanted to know about his Netflix show. Finally, Nick was an angry pencil who writes time. The angry pencil then started beating up Blake which resulted in Billy Mays, Steven, to pop up and ask, “Has this ever happened to you?” They then started praying to God so that they could return to their own time. This was the introduction to Cleveland Anderson.

Anderson got up on stage and admitted to having smoked weed outside of The Mill to try to calm his nerves. This received applause from the crowd and Anderson then told the crowd to clap for themselves because he hadn’t even said anything and he was already getting applause.

Anderson then told his jokes. He joked about weed, being in Ubers while high, Uber drivers wanting to talk to you and you wanting to murder them, and wanting to make good money. His plan was to be the guy that says the n-word for white rappers. The only problem was that he didn’t know who to send the demo track to.

Blake then came on stage as Shleppy Sinclair (I think that’s what he said). He made jokes that are the type of jokes that you know you shouldn’t laugh at but you still do even though the jokes are really stupid. After he finished, Fran Hoepfner came on stage.

Fran joked about how adults tend to have crushes on anybody who is nice to us. She talked about how she made a Facebook group and added all her crushes on it. She compared it to the Stanford Prison Experiment but called her Facebook group, “the cute version.” After Fran finished, Ghouldini arrived on stage.

He sang a song about vampires who eat ass. He then sang a country western song which featured the amazing lyric of “The confederate flag stands for corpse fucking.” That’s literally what the song was about. Him going down south, dying, and then getting his corpse fucked. He finished by saying, “Have unpleasant dreams.” Which after a song about ass eating vampires and corpse fucking, I probably will.

Arish Singh continued the jokes by pretending he was in August 2016. He wanted all the Republicans to yell what minority group they hated and wanted violence to be centered on when he shouted, “race wars.” He also wanted the Democrats to stand up and cheer when he said, “class wars.” The rest of his set was about Jeff Dunham and how he is 90% to blame for Islamophobia. He brought out a puppet and made some jokes before saying that it’s 2016 and “Ventriloquism is Terrorism.” The night ended with the President of 2020, Steveus, rapping making a parody of Kanye West.

I didn’t know what to expect when I showed up at The Mill. Even though, I didn’t laugh 100% of the time I still found the show hilarious. It was an interesting experience and I thought Super Talent Show and Friends had a great show. If given the chance, I would definitely see all of the performers again.

The post Witching Hour: Super Talent Show and Friends @ The Mill 11/4/2016 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

For today’s Cinema Spotlight article, I’ve decided to hone in a little more locally. Also, today’s article won’t really be analyzing a piece of “cinema”, per se. Instead, I’m going to review a locally-made internet sketch show entitled KNOCK IT OFF.

KNOCK IT OFF is the brain child of its writers, and occasional stars, Carter Davis and Alosha Robinson. Shot and edited by Lev Cantoral, the cast is a revolving door of familiar faces from those involved in the Iowa City theater and comedy scene. Members of the local improv troupes Paperback Rhino and Great White Narcs provide excellent performances to back up the clever and off beat writing.

Let’s start with episode 1. This episode is carried by on the on-going sketch “Going Away Party”, about a man throwing a going away party for himself; he plans to commit suicide that night. Surprisingly, this sketch is the one that is perhaps most grounded in reality. It is also the one that provides the most nervous of laughter, but laughter nonetheless. The protagonist engages with friends and lovers during his party, attempting his best to be a good party host. His guests, like the audience, are left unsure as to whether they should relax and enjoy themselves, or acknowledge the upcoming tragedy.

From here, the audience is launched into the insane world of KNOCK IT OFF. Each sketch is saturated in the surreal, and everything from the color palate to the editing style leaves the audience unsure of what to expect. Take for example the sketch “Tummy Time”, about a man trapped inside the tummy of his friend. The situation is completely ridiculous, but this is where the show shines. The comedy comes from the absurdity of the show, and hardly anything is played directly for laughs. Instead, the shows decides to “play straight” the horror and confusion of the character as he discovers himself in the guts of his friend. “Marley and Me”, another personal favorite, plays out with a complete sense of drama as a man watches his entire life unfold on a movie, while his friends are convinced they’re watching Marley and Me.

Episode 2 takes the show to a new, much darker level. Fear and madness are essential elements to nearly every sketch in Episode 2, but this is exactly what makes the show so engaging and darkly humorous. Fears and anxieties that we all share, such as rejection, unrequited love, and social isolation are explored and then completely dropped on their heads.

The sketch “Spam E-mail” is particularly crushing. The main character, played to perfection by Spencer Hawk, fails at every social interaction he has as he tries to explain the humor he finds in the number of spam e-mails he receives. The awkwardness is crippling as each person he talks to annoyingly shoos him off. The final lingering shot of the episode, of the character driving out for a lonely night at the bars, ends the show on a dark and uncomfortable note.

KNOCK IT OFF places a particular emphasis on language. The fantastic writing of the show shines through in clever word play, and dramatic monologues (a rarity in sketch comedy shows). Episode 2 in particular has some powerful musings on the nature of madness, which is fitting for an audience that may feel as if they are going insane watching the show.

The show also looks fantastic. Cinematographer Lev Cantoral perfectly composes each shot. The saturation and color effects really help to set the off-kilter feel of the show. The show also has some excellent special effects. “Tummy Time” and “The Pit” in particular have some really impressive CGI, and give KNOCK IT OFF a professional production value not usually found in similar independent internet comedies.

KNOCK IT OFF is certainly not for everyone. And the reasons that it may fall flat for some are likely the exact reasons it will have others in tears. You have to be willing to let yourself be taken wherever the show decides to go. It’s not about “getting it”, and not every sketch is some hidden joke that needs to be thought out. Often times, the punchlines of the vignettes are completely absurd, and that’s exactly what makes the show so funny. It manages to be smart and engaging, without ever treading into the area of pretension. If the weird and the absurd are your cup of tea, KNOCK IT OFF is definitely a show you need to check out.

Click here to check out the Youtube page for KNOCK IT OFF, and be on the look out for promos for new episodes.

The post Cinema Spotlight: KNOCK IT OFF appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Last Tuesday, KRUI caught up with Jocey Coffman: a Junior double-majoring in Theater and Communication studies who is also on track to receive a writing certificate. Jocey is one of the team captains for the improv group Paperback Rhino (PBR).

Paperback Rhino was founded in 2003 in the Iowa City area, and has been run by U of I students ever since. Performing a mix of short and long forms of improv, a PBR show always offers a great variety of comedy scenes.

While they may be the oldest improv group on campus, Jocey told KRUI that the group has really changed dramatically in the past four years: “The year I tried out (2012), they were only doing one style of long form improv, the Harold. Not that this was a bad thing, but I think we really have become more committed to becoming better improvisers”.

This new level of commitment has led the group into improv competitions. Just last year, PBR placed fifth nationally in the College Improv Tournament. Something that Coffman is proud of, but doesn’t really see as PBR’s top priority: “We all want to try new things and get better, but I think we really want to offer ourselves to the community”.

With the formation of two new improv groups (Janice and The Great White Narcs) in the past year, giving back seems to be getting easier. With the possibility of even more improv teams in the future, Coffman is excited to see what they can all accomplish: “PBR can’t be a team of sixty, so seeing the new groups form up last year, especially as someone who didn’t make the team my first year, is really exciting. Now anyone who wants to improvise can find an outlet. It allows us to be more specific in what our team means”.

“All of us are independent of the University” Coffman said, “So if more groups form, it kind of becomes this strength in numbers kind of thing”.Members from the three groups have formed the Iowa City Improv Collective Booking Club (ICICBC for short) with the hopes of involving more of the community than just active performers. Coffman believes that this could help bring more people to Iowa City for improv and other comedy shows: “Honestly my first year I just went to the shows because I wanted to be friends with the people” Coffman said, “It’s just a cool group”.

Students will get a chance to see all three Improv groups perform with their new members at the Old Brick this Thursday, October 9th, at 10 PM. “This show gives kids a chance to see improv that isn’t just Whose Line is it Anyway” Coffman said, “My goal is to create that same feeling that I felt when I first saw improv. To see what we do, and have it take their breathe away”.

Doors for this free CAB event open up at 9 PM, and show starts at 10 PM.

To stay updated on future PBR events, like them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter.

The post Comic Relief: Jocey Coffman of Paperback Rhino appeared first on KRUI Radio.