Laughter has its limits. For Improv Schmimprov, the city's premier comedy troupe, that border is on either side of summertime. That's why tonight is the final performance of their season.
"It keeps 'em wanting more. We'll start up again in September," said Steph St. Laurent, one of the group's veteran leaders.
Like many arts and sports groups in the city, the shutdown could be for practical reasons like audiences are harder to gather in the summer months or cast members scatter for vacations and seasonal activities.
St. Laurent swears it ain't so.
"Our cast goes abroad to the darklands where the dragons live, to bring back ideas and experiences from other realms of the kingdom, and brings that back home like a colony of ants going out amongst the forests, bringing back riches."
While the mind mulls where in this area there might be dragons (there is a Dragon Lake in Quesnel, and northeast of Prince George is found Fang Mountain, so who's to say?), St. Laurent drew attention to a pair of comedians of note. This show is the first with new member Karen Lewis as a full member of the cast, after a couple of orientation shows. This brand of humour requires a flexible wit and sharp sense of timing. Or at least a strong shameless streak. Apparently Lewis has some combination of those "skills."
"She's our newest player with a wealth of medically-charged material for us because she's a nurse. And when people get hurt on stage, hey, medical attention. We've needed a staff nurse for that for a long time. Now we need a dentist. This is really physical humour. People get bumped. And maybe a psychiatrist."
The other featured performer at Improv Schmimprov's Friday show is Mark Wheeler, one of the longest serving members of the cast. He's doing something a little special and different this time.
He has been a standup comedian on the side of his improvisational humour and community theatre experience, so he's being called upon to open the show with his solo comic set.
"My standup is more of an observational / storytelling style, liberally peppered with my attempt at impressions," said Wheeler.
"The old adage is write what you know, so I mainly go on about movies, pop-culture, advertising - you know, things that interest me or make me think. I really enjoy performing both improv and standup and have done both, off and on, for a number of years now. For this show, it was a pleasant surprise when Steph asked me to be the opening act. My hope is that I can get the crowd laughing and ready for the fun and lunacy that Improv Schmimprov will be bringing after me."
"We've been having a comedian open our shows with some standup for awhile now, but this is Mark's first foray into that spot for us," said St. Laurent. "And because he's such a standup guy, I think he might help us with some of the improv show as well. Just maybe."
Improv Schmimprov has been in operation less than two years.
They emerged after the closure of the Improv Ad Nauseum troupe in late 2016. The newer ensemble ended up containing many of the same performers, but with some differences and new evolutions always underway. St. Laurent said this show, though, would devolve.
"We will be bringing back some of the older games we used to play with Improv Ad Nauseum but we stopped using, so this will be a little bit like a best-of performance. We also have some other tricks up our sleeves we will bring out at the show. It's top secret, I just can't talk about it, a crack team of scientists has been doing research and development. New games. New audience participation. But we can't let our enemies get a whiff of it."
Like a good Donald Trump summit, you just never know who's friend or who's foe or who's just there to clean up the tanning oil when Improv Schmimprov has an event.
Improv Schmimprov Featuring Mark Wheeler happens at Artspace at 8 p.m. (doors open at 7) with a cash bar and adult themes on the menu.
Tickets are $10 in advance at Books & Company or $15 at the door, but sellouts are frequent so act quickly to avoid schmimpointment.
