L.A. Beat

The Drama Nutz 30-Hour Improv-a-Thon was a lot of fun on their first day, Nov. 16 at the Moose Hall, despite a lack of numbers.

Drama Nutz members, past and present are playing improv games for 30 hours straight to raise money for the Oldman Watershed  Council until 1 a.m. today.

 I checked out some of the first night and it was hilarious.

 The first part of the show was very much family friendly, as they played a variety of games including  Blind Freeze, Ding and Movie in a Minute performing a one minute version of all eight Harry Potter movies.

They also had a human statue game, where they brought up two audience members to move actors Jonny Kirsch and David Gabert around.

 Things got a little dirty at 10 p.m. for the Uncensored Laughter portion of the night, where among other things, the actors performed world's worst and party quirks which people may remember from Who's Line Is It Anyway. Party host Jonny Kirsch had to guess who guests David Gabert, Erica Barr and Mark Ogle were based on their behavior as James Bond, a salmon swimming upstream and a  bear trying to convince people to turn into vegetarians, respectively.

 Adding to the fun, the table of contents was a hit as it allowed further audience participation, for audience members to  supply suggestions, or buy actors props, masks or costumes, or help them out  by buying them chairs, or energy drinks, which I’m sure they need by now.

A Lethbridge improv group is nuts about improvisational comedy, so they set themselves a challenge— to  improvise for 30 hours straight at the Loyal Order of the Moose Hall, Nov. 16-18 and donate the proceeds to a good cause — the Oldman Watershed Council.
“It seemed like a unique challenge,” said Drama Nutz manager/ producer David Gabert.

Gabert has been spending a lot of  time scheduling actors and creating spreadsheets to make sure the event is a success. There will be 12 actors rotating through a cornucopia of improv games including well known games the ever popular Who’s Line Is It Anyway TV show (like Irish Drinking Song, Album Review and others) as well as long form games, plus some they created themselves.

 All of the games are family friendly, except for the Uncensored Laughter segment of the show running from 10 p.m. Friday, Nov. 16 until  3 a.m.

“So people will see not only different games, but performers as well. They are all people we’ve worked with before,” he continued.
 In addition to current performers, they also have Drama Nutz alumni coming in from out of town to perform at the event.

Tickets cost $10 per person or $30 for a family of two plus two kids, they include a stamp so you can come and go throughout the event.

 There are several other innovative ways for the audience to get involved with the show and help the Oldman Watershed Council.

“There will be prizes for the audience member who can stay awake the longest and we have a Table of Contents,” Gabert said.

 The Table of Contents allows the audience to bring their own props for the actors to use, or pay extra for VIP suggestions.