PhillyImprov - Finding the Funny in Philadelphia

Ten days left to submit to the Philadelphia Improv Festival

Matt Nelson — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 23:33:02 +0000

The window is getting narrow for you to submit your group to be apart of the 7th Annual PHILADELPHIA IMPROV FESTIVAL, taking place October 3-9 at the Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre. PHIF once again is teaming up with Philadelphia Comedy Collective partner Philly Sketchfest and local comedians to put on Comedy Month, running through October.

Submitted groups will be considered for performance slots Wed – Sun of that week. All submissions are processed via the online form. I recommend you review the submission guidelines so you can make sure you’ve got everything together. If you still have questions after reviewing the guidelines, they can be directed to submissions@phif.org

THE DEADLINE TO SUBMIT IS SUNDAY, JULY 17TH

1st Annual F. Harold Festival kicks off tonight

Matt Nelson — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 21:09:58 +0000

Tonight marks the start of the first annual F. HAROLD FESTIVAL at the Walnut Street Theatre Studio 5. Created and produced by RICK HORNER, the event features six days of local comedy, including improv, sketch and standup. The idea behind the event is to create a showcase exposition where audiences can delight in a cross section of talent, discovering new up-and-comers as well as reconnecting with old favorites.

Tickets are available by the night ($10), or for the entire week ($25).

TUESDAY, JUNE 7TH
6:00 John Kensil
6:30 The Hendersons
7:00 Rosen & Milkshake
7:30 Carolyn Busa
8:00 Grimmachio
8:30 Ryan Carey
9:00 Really Big Show
9:30 Aaron Hertzog

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8TH
6:00 Luke Giordano
6:30 Shannon’s (Not Really) Standing Up
7:00 Better Than Bacon
7:30 Atomic Love
8:00 Saving Lupin
8:30 Ebony & Ivory
9:00 Alex Grubard
9:30 Becca Trabin

THURSDAY, JUNE 9TH
6:00 Dum, Dum, Stupid & Dum
6:30 Rick Adams
7:00 Rintersplit
7:30 The Averagazzi Present: Zanni Which Way You Can
8:00 Camp Woods
8:30 Whipsuit
9:00 Dave Terruso
9:30 The Feeko Brothers
10:00 Hate Speech Committee

FRIDAY, JUNE 10TH
6:00 Miniboss
6:30 Pasionés de Pasionés
7:00 Iron Lung
7:30 Jessica Tandy
8:00 King Friday
8:30 Mayor Karen
9:00 CUBED
9:30 Asteroid!
10:00 Fletcher

SATURDAY, JUNE 11TH
6:00 The Dream Machine
6:30 Rookie Card
7:00 Horner & Davis
7:30 Adrift
8:00 The Amie & Kristen Show
8:30 MattAnd
9:00 Jess Carpenter
9:30 Brick
10:00 Medic!!

SUNDAY, JUNE 12TH
6:00 The N Crowd
6:30 Toy Soldiers
7:00 Vorlauf
7:30 Beirdo
8:00 Where’s Hillary?
8:30 Angry People Building Things
9:00 Hans Gruber

F. HAROLD COMEDY FESTIVAL
WALNUT ST THEATRE, STUDIO 5
825 WALNUT ST, PHILADELPHIA
JUNE 7-12

DÜOFEST is upon us!

Matt Nelson — Mon, 30 May 2011 21:19:42 +0000

Hey there duo fans! The wait is just about over… DÜOFEST kicks off this week, and boy oh boy are there some exciting pairings on board. The producers have put together quite an assortment, including local talent like Grimmacchio, Jessica Tandy, Matt&, BWP, Kristen & Amie Show, Suggestical and others, along with visitors the likes of Rachel & Dave, The Cascade, Trotsky & Hutch, Red Letters, Hodapp & Rothwell, Banana Breakup and a very exciting Messing w/ a Friend featuring Susan Messing joined by Christina Gausus. There will also be a number of special pairings that are either new, rarely seen, or assembled just for Düofest… like Jadico Fowler and Michael Loves Greg.

Full festival passes are already sold out, and rumor has it that day passes are quite limited at this point. You can find out more details about ticket options at the Düofest website. Now, let’s get to the lineup!!!

THURSDAY, JUNE 2ND
7:02 pm: Rosen & Milkshake + Grandma Hates Technology
8:02 pm: Upstate + Grimmacchio
9:02 pm: Mañez + Dave and Ethan
10:02 pm: Acid Bath + Hans Gruber

FRIDAY, JUNE 3RD
7:02 pm: BWP + Jadico Fowler
8:02 pm: Michael Loves Greg + Jessica Tandy
9:02 pm: The Nathan & Joe Show + Matt&
10:02 pm: Justin Bobby + Trotsky & Hutch
11:02 pm: Evan the Loyal + Listen, Kid!

SATURDAY, JUNE 4TH
6:02 pm: RuBin + OJ in a Sippy Cup
7:02 pm: Red Letters + Suggestical
8:02 pm: The Cascade + Rachel and Dave
9:02 pm: The Kristen & Amie Show + Trike
10:02 pm: Messing with a Friend (feat. Christina Gausus)
11:02 pm: We’re Matt Weir + Banana Breakup

SUNDAY, JUNE 5TH
6:02 pm: Hot and Modest + Kait and Andrew
7:02 pm: Sisser + Horner & Davis
8:02 pm: Manthorne & the Baron + Dictionary Soup
9:02 pm: Hodapp and Rothwell + Dangerous Fools

All shows are at the Shubin Theater, 407 Bainbridge St. Information about individual groups, tickets, planned excursions, parties and workshops can be found at http://www.duofest.com

Who’s up for a Gross holiday?

Matt Nelson — Mon, 30 May 2011 17:05:19 +0000

We’re facing some record high temperatures this holiday weekend. Folks are out and about, enjoying block parties, barbeques and other celebrations. For those looking for a little break from the heat and want to end their long weekend with perhaps a bit of disturbed laughter, the PHILLY IMPROV THEATER aims to cure what ails you with it’s raucous and unruly GROSS SHOW.

Readers are likely already familiar with host ALEX GROSS and his unbelievably debasing assortment of talk show guests. In the last show alone we saw a bevy of sexed up Disney princesses, a trio of passionate rapists and a frightening collection of other misfit characters. Rumor has it tonight’s show will feature the always hilarious Roger C. Snair as well as the riotous Fastball Pitcher Bob Gutierrez, amongst other surprises. So head on out and leave at least a little uncomfortable.

FASTBALL PITCHER BOB GUTIERREZ

THE GROSS SHOW
MONDAY, MAY 30 @ 8PM
PHIT AT THE SHUBIN | 407 BAINBRIDGE ST
$10 | $5 w/ PASSWORD “MEATSPIN”

Fletcher to debut new recurring show

Matt Nelson — Wed, 18 May 2011 20:10:14 +0000

Local improv group FLETCHER, one of the original PHIT House Teams, will be starting up a new recurring show in South Philly at the Arts Parlor. FLETCHER & FRIENDS will feature a set from the group as well as a couple from some other local talent. In their debut show, they will be joined by KING FRIDAY and IRON LUNG.

FLETCHER & FRIENDS
THURSDAY, MAY 19 @ 8PM
THE ARTS PARLOR, 1170 S BROAD ST
$5 SUGGESTED DONATION

Two full length Stage Fright shows now online

Matt Nelson — Tue, 03 May 2011 00:18:26 +0000

Yesterday was the closing night of STAGE FRIGHT: AN IMPROVISED HOMAGE TO HITCHCOCK. For those of you who missed the run, or for anyone who might want to catch a little more, there are now two full shows available on Vimeo. Featured below are the shows from the last two Saturdays. A special thanks to KEVIN REGAN for filming.

Show from Saturday, April 23rd
Suggested Location: Library + Suggested Psychological Fear: Spiders

Show from Saturday, April 30th
Suggested Location: Blimp + Suggested Psychological Obsession: Counting

Click This: Roe, Schier and Radzinski chat it up on CBS Philly

Matt Nelson — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 18:54:02 +0000

Here’s a clip from CBSPhilly.com featuring AMIE ROE, KRISTEN SCHIER and MARY RADZINSKI talking about being female in comedy, many of their inspirations coming up, and what their ideal audience might look like.

[view clip]

Promo trailer for Stage Fright – closing this weekend

Matt Nelson — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 18:45:01 +0000

Using clips from the show on Saturday, 4/23 (a show inspired by a library and spiders), here’s a promo trailer for STAGE FRIGHT: AN IMPROVISED HOMAGE TO HITCHCOCK – giving you a taste of what the shows have been like. The show closes this Sunday, so you only have three chances to see a new Hitchcockian story improvised just for you.

STAGE FRIGHT: AN IMPROVISED HOMAGE TO HITCHCOCK
FRI – SUN THROUGH MAY 1 @ 8PM (BAR OPENS AT 7PM
LATVIAN SOCIETY (7TH & SPRING GARDEN)

Full casts of new house teams announced

Matt Nelson — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 15:46:31 +0000

Yesterday we told you about Laura Abernethy being added to the King Friday roster. Well, WitOut has the details on the new PHIT house team casts as well…

Codename: BRANDYBUCK
Directed by Matt Holmes

Aaron Hertzog
Alex Gross
Dennis Trafny
Jen Curcio
Lizzie Spellman
Mark Leopold
Rob Cutler
Scott Sheppard
Tara Demmy

Codename: SHADOWFAX
Directed by Kristen Schier

AJ Ortiz
Billy Thompson
Brian Ratcliffe
Claire Halberstadt
Erin Pitts
Karen Coleman
Matt Akana
Nathan Edmondson
Scott Hinners

There you have it folks. A hundred plus hopefuls, and PHIT has two new and very dynamic teams. We’re all excited to see how they come out of the gate…

Temple student invited to share the weekend crown

Matt Nelson — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 15:05:07 +0000

After an exhaustive search considering over a hundred hopeful auditioners, PHILLY IMPROV THEATER has confirmed that it has finalized the selection of newest members for its house teams. While the full rosters for new teams currently codenamed SHADOWFAX and BRANDYBUCK have yet to be revealed (hint: keep your eyes peeled to WitOut – which, c’mon, you should be doing anyway) PHIT did provide PhillyImprov.com with the scoop on the latest with existing house team KING FRIDAY.

King Friday will be welcoming one new member to their ranks – LAURA ABERNETHY – known here locally as the head of Temple’s FOWL PLAY.

For director AMIE ROE, casting Abernethy wasn’t much of a choice at all. “In my opinion, Laura was one of the strongest, most confident players that I saw in this round of PHIT auditions.”

Laura, already a fan, looks forward to getting thrown in the mix. “I feel sort of honored to be considered a fit for the team. I’ve really enjoyed past performances and the places the cast members take the audience. These people have definitely earned my respect and admiration, so to stand amongst them is…thrilling!”

In being the lone auditioner to be cast for an existing team, Laura is eager to become part of that collective. “I guess you could say I like King Friday’s brain…and I’m looking forward to tapping in.”

Amie thinks she’s got just what it takes to do exactly that, “She seems to have a very character-driven style that I think will add a lot to King Friday. Also, her hair is beautiful, is it not?”

Keep a look out on King Friday’s blog and follow them on Facebook and Twitter to find out more about Laura’s incorporation into the group and to get the scoop on her first performance.