Spice Up Your Thursday Nights with T.B.D. Improv at the Acme Comedy Theater
Improv is hot right now. With cable television networks funding improv-based shows like Lifetimes Lovespring, which premiered on June 5, and Oxygens Campus Ladies now shooting its second season there are more opportunities for the vast network of talented comedy and improv troupes in Los Angeles. Fred Goss, an alumni of ACME, starred in the improv comedy, Significant Others on Bravo, about a group of married couples in therapy and co-created and stared in ABCs Sons & Daughters, which is scripted but also includes improvisation on set. Many members of The Groundlings have gone onto major success, including Cheryl Hines, star of HBOs Curb Your Enthusiasm and executive producer of Oxygens Campus Ladies, an improv show starring Christen Sussin and Carrie Aizley, also members of The Groundlings. Lovesprings Jane Lynch, (A Mighty Wind, The 40 Year-Old Virgin, Best in Show) is a former member of the Second City comedy troupe, and her co-star is Wendi McLendon-Covey, a member of the Groundlings and star of Comedy Centrals Reno 911.
This list goes on and on and one day will no doubt include some of the members of the T.B.D. Improv group, who perform on Thursday evenings at 9:00 p.m. at the ACME Comedy Theater. T.B.D. Improv was formed when Patrick Moote, Nina Weinman and J.Paul Zimmerman asked Micah Ethan to spearhead a new, independent improv group. It wasnt long until they were noticed and ACME theater gave them a home. Its no wonder because this up and coming improv troupe has the goods to go far and Watching these performers you find yourself wondering which ones will become the break out comedy writers and performers in film and television and stand-up of the future.
The T.B.D. troupe members rotate every Thursday and on this night included Micah Ethan, Zimmerman, Chris Sheets, Mandi J. Smith, Moote and Weinman. Some of the T.B.D. performers who werent there include Mike King, Jen Parker and Brennan Vetter. The nights guest star, Joseph Limbaugh, is a member of the Acme Company who also appears in ACMES newest sketch comedy show, Between the Sheets, currently running every Saturday night.
The evenings host, Brandy McKay, whos also a member of T.B.D., got things started with a spin of the improv wheel, which features a variety of categories from genres to sound effects to professions and relationships. Audience members in the packed house chose sci-fi and mystery, and the troupe took off. At times, it felt like the performers were a bit scattered, but when they focused on enhancing a specific story line, moving back and forth in time, those bits really stood out. Who can forget the charismatic Moote as the cow boy, or Sheets as the talking toilet. Smith has excellent comedic timing and Weinman used some funny accents in her turn as the horrendous detective in the mystery segment? Ethan and Zimmerman started the nights skits as two men working on a space ship, and Limbaugh, the veteran, is totally at ease on stage in whatever part hes playing.
The group members seemed comfortable with each other and with a clap of their hands switched partners and scenarios quickly. Some of the skits were smart and wicked while others fell flat, but thats the way of improv, where the performers work on a tight wire without a net or a script or rehearsals. Each night is different and fresh, and full of its own energy, and some performers are more on than others.
All in all, though, when their stuff is working this troupe has got the goods. With a regular gig like they have at the ACME, they can only continue to become stronger as individual performers and as a unit. For a good dose of laughter, make the ACME Theater your place to be on Thursday nights.
--Shelley Gabert is a freelance journalist who covers film and television for Variety, Emmy and FilmStew.com
T.B.D. Improv's Second Review!
TBD Slings It and Zings It
By Kyle Moore
HOLLYWOOD – At first whiff, improv would seem like the easiest art form to perform. After all, there's nothing to pre-plan or memorize – you simply sprinkle a few seeds of suggestion on some fertile and zany minds and a full-blown scene emerges. But, as any Wallenda would tell you, life on a wire can get ugly quick, and the risk of imminent disaster is what makes improv so much fun for both performers and audience.
The TBD Improv company's twist on the improv game is that they take only three suggestions – for example, a toad, a kite, or a single opening line – and use them to interweave a series of vignettes rife with callbacks, plot twists, back story and recurring characters contributed by each of the eight cast members (Mike King, J. Paul Zimmerman, Patrick Moote, Micah Ethan, Nina Weinman, Mandi J. Smith, Brandy McKay and guest performer Chris MacKenzie, plus music and sound effects from keyboardist Jonathan Green). Next thing you know, you've got a scene featuring a killer lesbian plumber and her abusive egomaniac therapist. Improbable? Yes. But fun, and anything but predictable.
Not all of the bits are winners, of course, but the troupe makes judicious use of their right to stop a scene on a dime and begin anew. For an hour's worth of kinetic, off-the-wall goofiness, it's not a bad deal for $10. If nothing else, it's one of the few times of the week you'll find light traffic on La Brea Avenue.
TBD Improv Comedy performs at 10 p.m. Thursdays through Feb. 22 at the ACME Theatre, 135 N. La Brea in Hollywood. Tickets are $10. For information, call (323) 525-0202, or go to
www.tbdimprov.com.
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