SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE – Gio Alva and Mitchell Hornet won over an SRO crowd with their sketch “Two Worlds.” Photo by Marshall Murphy/Staff
Rarely is the pricing structure of a comedy show the audience’s first laugh, but the SWC Improv Acting Club’s cheeky poster was the beginning of an evening of inspired silliness.
Price for students was $5, according to the poster, price for administrators, $70. No administrators took the bait, leaving an overflow audience in the sweaty Black Box Theater heavily skewed toward students.
Five men and one woman made up the student troupe, which was more sketch comedy than straight improv. Each wore blue and yellow V-neck jersey t-shirts that were the foundation of shape-shifting characters built with small wardrobe alterations and large talent.
Celebrities, current events and popular culture themed the skits. “Two Worlds” was the best skit of the evening. Giovanni Alva, Jonathan Ortiz and Mitchell Horne combined an office in Japan with an arena from “The Hunger Games” with aim true as an arrow. Ortiz and Alva portrayed Katniss and Peeta, which was absolutely hilarious. They shared a scene with a passionate kiss that caused laughter in the entire room. The best part of the scene was the ambiguity of the kiss because of the angle. It left the audience wanting more.
In “Director Gibberish” Alva and Alex Mortenson tried to interpret what the director, played by Jewell Karinen, is acting out without any words, just gibberish. The director imitated Michael Jackson by egging on little boys and emulated his soft high pitch voice.
Impressions throughout the show were spot-on and the writing was inspired. It was a little “Saturday Night Live” and a little “La Pastorela” masked up with some SWC spice.
After two hours of laughter, audience members looked like they had just finished an intense work-out routine. It was the best-spent $5 of the season.
