IU’s sketch and improv comedy groups will test their skills during INprov, an annual comedy competition, at 9 p.m. Thursday in the Indiana Memorial Union Stateroom East.
INprov challenges University comedians to complete about 20 minutes of improv with a completely new team of other troupes’ members picked that night by drawing names from a hat.
“The surprise will be fun, and that’s what improv is all about,” freshman Natalie Kaufmann said. “It’s not knowing what you’re doing, but making people think you do.”
The event is a promotion for Funny 500, a comedy festival that runs March 31 and April 1 and will feature groups from other universities.
The cost of admission is a nonperishable food item or hygiene product for the Crimson Cupboard. Sketch and improv groups including the University tWits, Awkward Silence Comedy, Backdoor Comedy, Midnight Snack Comedy, HoosOnFirst, Ladies’ Night and Full Frontal Comedy will perform.
Kaufmann joined FFC last semester, and this will be her first time performing improv without her team to back her up, she said. The INprov experience will also be new to five other FFC members, so she won’t face the uncertainty alone.
Although senior Lilah Taber is an INprov organizer, she usually works with prepared material as a member of sketch comedy group the University tWits.
Because of the planning required for sketch writing, improv uses a different skill set from sketch, she said. The University tWits’ shows are only once a month, while many improv groups on campus perform as often as every weekend.
“You’re funny in the moment instead of in advance,” Taber said.
When Taber originally tried to join the comedy community her freshman year, she reached out on Reddit for improv groups around IU, she said. At the time, that was the image of college comedy she had in her head, and she didn’t know there were sketch groups on campus.
The first person to respond told her about tWits, and she said she now feels lucky the group helped define her college career.
Factoring in the unknown can be difficult for Taber, she said. The tWits occasionally use improv as a warm-up before practice, but INprov is her biggest unscripted challenge of the year.
A friend recently told her to flow with the scene instead of actively trying to be funny, and she said she hopes to use that to avoid problems she usually has during the spontaneous night.
“I can get bogged down with thoughts and kind of lose myself, lose my place,” she said.
Performing improv in INprov can help comedic artists as well, Kaufmann said. Each person in the group usually has certain characters, accents and emotions they play more often than others. Through INprov, they may have to challenge their normal style.
Kaufmann said she is excited for the chance to work with actors from other troupes she admires.
“They might pull something new out of me,” she said.
