Comedy Sportz for the Soul

Wendel+Simpson+does+improvisation+using+a+mop+for+the+game+Object+Freeze%2C+earning+laughs+from+the+audience.

Brenden Gibson

Wendel Simpson does improvisation using a mop for the game Object Freeze, earning laughs from the audience.

Rebekah Sterns, Staff Writer

The SJHHS Comedy Sportz team has several matches throughout the year, competing against various different southern California high schools. The goal of the match is to make an audience laugh through improvisation, which are points for the team. A few rules guide the match, but some are adjusted depending on the game.

To start off, the Brown Bag Foul, as said by the Comedy Sportz Referee nicknamed Eric “Zipper,” “keeps the Comedy Sportz show rated E for all ages. So if anyone says anything that is rude, crude, insidious, nasty, icky, gross, offensive, disgusting, or will lead to an awkward conversation with a small child after the show, I will blow my whistle, the offending player will have a paper bag placed over their head, and the team will lose one point!”

“but my experience, once you get out there, you know you kind of get into this zone. It all kind of just comes to you.”

— Ian Happy

“Zipper” also goes to the audience for suggestions throughout the night, and if the audience member says anything crude as stated above, they will also receive a brown bag over their head.

The game starts by the referee calling out the players one by one with creative names to follow, and rock-paper-scissors, at least in this case, was used to determine who would start matches.

The matches are improv, with games as the the rudiment for their comedy. In the last show, the games “Out Of There game,” “New Choice,” “Words From Sponsors,”  “Good, Bad, Worse,” and other games were played.

New members can join the club every year after auditions. One new member, freshman Cooper Mur, reviews how he practices.

“Every Tuesday right at three o’clock we go to [Boggio’s] room and practice the improv games without any outvote suggestions. Suggestions are the variable, but the games are sort of the base thing. It starts out with one game, we get different suggestions every time… we practice the game before we go.”

Mur was one of the many teammates who said they got butterflies with the sold out crowd during last week’s Comedy Sportz match, including the team captain, Ian Happy. He has been participating in Comedy Sportz since his freshmen year, becoming team captain his sophomore year.

“You always get a couple butterflies,” states Happy, “but my experience, once you get out there, you know you kind of get into this zone. It all kind of just comes to you.”

For advice toward improv, junior Sophia Chacon says she learned to adapt to what was happening.

“From being on [the team] since freshman year, I’ve learned to just go with it, like adapt really quickly,” said Chacon.  She also gave a tip, saying the key to improv is to never say no.

Highlights of the match was  the spontaneous changes whenever the referee blew a whistle in “New Choice.”

The audience roared with laughter in  “Words from Sponsors,” where Oxy Clean, PSA subject on beards, a movie that doesn’t exist, and Charmin Ultra Soft were mentioned, and “Good, Bad, Worse,” where the team goes to the audience for questions and gives the good, the bad, and the worse advice humanly possible.

Next time there’s a match, an audience should bring all their friends and be ready for a night of laughter, with pop cultural references and running gags made throughout.