JFL Toronto Review: Dropout Improv
Filed under: Reviews, Festivals
Modern improv is a relatively new art form. Birthed from Viola Spolin's Improvisation for the Theatre, it started out as the back bone of performers' acts like Nichols and May, who were part of the Compass Players, an improvisational theatre company including Paul Sils as well as Ted Flicker and Del Close. This group went onto refine the form, starting schools and creating environments like The Second City, Improv Olympic, The Groundlings, UCB, and so many more. As an art form, improv often lives in the background. We see the result in albums like Nichols and May's incredible An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May; the sketch comedy of SCTV, Saturday Night Live, and The Kids in the Hall; and comedians like Robin Williams, Rory Scovel, and many more.
Like the Titan Arum flowering every few years, improv goes through long dormant phases, but when it blooms it's hard to miss. In the past, we've had Whose Line Is It Anyway?, both in the UK and America (we all owe Drew Carey a big thanks for bringing the show back home), Theatre Sports, Kentucky Fried Theater, UCB, and its newest incarnation Dropout, the streaming service that rose from the ashes of College Humor to eclipse all that it once was. The Dropout streaming service is home to a variety of panel and game shows ranging from Dimension 20 (a perfect example of how Live Play D&D is basically improv with dice) to Lily Du and Grant O'Brien getting everyone sauced and saucy on Dirty Laundry. Two breakout shows from the network are Game Changer and its spin-off Make Some Noise, where we get to watch comedians highlight their improv skills.
The Dropout crew have taken the show on the road to sold out audiences, and it's clear improvisational comedy is having another moment. Host and micro-celebrity Kurt Maloney did an admirable job wrangling the audience and pulling the gets from the crowd, while Jacob Wysocki, Kimia Behpoornia, Oscar Montoya, and hometown hero Vic Michaelis took to the stage with Scott Passarella behind the keys. Anyone who's frequented a Second City improv show or mainstage workshop will get the immediate vibe of the experience.
There's a reason why improv is often treated as a "theatre sport" – it's hard to keep the ball in the air, and this team does it admirably. They took gets that Kurt harvested for them and transformed them into hilarious moments of absolute joy. The audience was an audience of fans who maybe have never seen improv off the screen before, and hopefully seeing this live will get them to check out improv shows around their hometowns. But modern improv couldn't ask for better ambassadors than this team of seasoned professionals. They know when to lean in and are experts at finding the game of the scene. If you are a fan of Dropout or improvisational comedy, I can't recommend this show highly enough.
Highlights included Dick Hare, Ponpon the Turtle, and Vic low-key explaining what is wrong with moving from Toronto to North Bay, possibly a conversation we've all dreaded having in a pool. The show culminated in "A Day in the Life", a musical game where they enacted an American tour guide from Niagara Falls proposing to their goth partner at a clown-based corn maze (which as a retired goth I can say is 100% on point good choice). They all kept the energy up even when doing prolonged physical gags, running around the theatre, engaging with an audience who didn't necessarily understand improv, and just enjoying the moment. I look forward to hopefully seeing them again in the future.
Tags: Dropout, Dropout Improv, Kurt Maloney, Kimia Behpoornia, Scott Passarella, Vic Michaelis, Oscar Montoya, Jacob Wysocki, JFL Toronto, Just for Laughs
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