The crowd roared with laughter as Ace Ellsweig ’18 mimicked a sexual act, kneeling to the ground and biting the finger of Nick Demetroulakos ’19 through the fly of his jeans. This scene unfolded in the middle of the improvisation game “Pillars.” While provocative, the act falls in line with Under the Bed (UTB)’s style of comedy, known for often referencing taboo subjects.
This game was part of the improvisational comedy club’s show “Holiday Ha-Ha’s,” which took place last Friday night in Susie’s. This performance was UTB’s second of the year and included five scheduled games as well as one encore game.
Sam Bird ’18, Co-Head of UTB, said, “I thought the show went pretty well. We had a lot of people there. It was a pretty good attendance. There were never any scenes that really dragged or I felt lacked energy, so overall, I thought it was a great success. Everyone performed really well, so that’s all you can really ask for.”
Unlike their first show of the year which took place in Kemper Auditorium, “Holiday Ha-Ha’s” was performed in Susie’s, which, according to Lily Rademacher ’21, a member of UTB, allowed for a more casual atmosphere.
“Kemper is such a stage-y, bright-lights place, and I think it gets to you and makes you a little bit more freaked out, and I think that [Susie’s] is such a casual, relaxing [place], and everyone spends so much time in there that it’s easier to be more chill in that space,” said Rademacher.
“My Movie,” a small introductory game, involved audience members shouting out two letters which were then used as initials for movie titles that performers had to create. If Charlie Mayhew ’18, Co-Head of UTB, deemed their title interesting enough, they were asked to perform a small skit from their movie.
“I think [‘My Movie’] produced a lot of pretty funny moments, and for me I think that skit really stood out from the rest,” said Julian Baz ’20, an audience member.
Along with “Pillars” and “My Movie,” the performance featured improvisation games such as “Freeze,” “Montage,” and “Expert’s Choice.”
“We always, as a group, meet beforehand for about two hours and decide what games we’re going to play, and get in the right mood. Everyone loves to perform, especially our Seniors from the group… They keep telling us that it’s a really good chance to relieve some stress and forget about everything for a while. It’s a lot of fun. I think it’s something that everyone loves to do; they’re in that group for a reason. It’s to perform, and that’s what they do,” said Harry Kahane ’20, another member of UTB.
Looking forward, the club hopes to continue putting on shows throughout the term.
“We didn’t have a show last year around winter break, so we thought it would be best to have one during this two-week period just because we try to put on as many shows as possible… Stay tuned [for more shows], but we’ll definitely have one or two more in the winter, probably have one in the spring, and then we’ll have [Andover Night Live] at the end of the year too,” said Bird.
