Improv & sketch comedy group Storrs Late Night, also known as Reckless Comedy, held their first comedy show of the fall semester inside Schenker Hall on Friday, Oct. 3. The show went from 8 to 10 p.m., with a five-minute intermission an hour in. There were a variety of different performances, from stand-up and live sketches to improv games.
The first acts of the night were two stand-up shows by third-semester English student Sawyer Ray and fourth-semester history student Ava Wilson. Ray got roars of laughter from the crowd when she recounted the story of a message she received on Sept. 11 in response to an Instagram story. Wilson discussed her opinion on those who deride movie adaptions of books for not being truthful to the source material, stating “I may be i-li-terate, but I’m not a-li-ttle b***h.”
The first live sketch of the night was written by fifth-semester 3D Animation and Digital Media and Design student Kaitlyn Madigan and first-semester environmental studies student Quinn MacBride. The skit had Wilson go to multiple clubs at the involvement fair. Clubs about matcha and Turning Point USA all vied for Wilson’s attention and membership. The skit ended with Wilson going to the booth for Storrs Late Night and all the cast members screaming “Storrs Late Night!” to end the sketch.
Afterwards, it was time for the first improv games of the night. Firstly, there was “Change,” the improv game where two actors act out a suggestion by the audience until someone shouts “Change!” and switch up their dialogue. The actors in this game brought out many laughs from the audience, as Madigan acted like a college student buying a car while fourth-semester special education student Kaleb Smigal was a janitor who didn’t speak English.
The second improv game was “Colliding Realities,” where two pairs of actors have different scenes to act out and must find a way to make those two cross paths during the game. Fifth-semester digital media and design student Marco Rodriguez and seventh-semester political science and human rights student Tanner Marchese had to go through couples therapy together, while Madigan and seventh-semester environmental engineering student Ari Kenny were going on a blind date. All actors meshed both concepts beautifully: The blind daters were looking for some fun and were mistaken as therapists by the couples therapy clients at a restaurant as hijinks ensued.
Rounding out the hour, the monitor lit up with the logo of the Modern Update Freedom Forecast, or MUFF for short. Hosted by Ray and Smigal, this show was a satirical news program that poked fun at the headlines of the day. Both hosts also did “predictive headlines,” creating news they think will happen in the upcoming week.
Coming back from intermission, the audience was treated with a video sketch, titled “Matt’s Stupid F*****g Road Trip,” named after eighth-semester quantitative economics student Matt Anzalone. The video details the shenanigans that derail Storrs Late Night from taking a road trip for a variety of reasons, from missed pick-up times to forcibly capturing Rodriguez from his apartment.
Next up, Rodriguez and Madigan performed a scene based off the word “Rock.” Both actors had a lot of fun with the concept of rocks, as the scene began as a rock-mining expedition to a counsel session as Madigan and Rodriguez discussed his relationship with his ex-wife, who had a promiscuous relationship with some rocks.
The second live sketch of the night was written by Rodriguez and first-semester cognitive science student Taylor Hayzlett about a parent-teacher meeting. The meeting turned hostile as the parent, played by third-semester marine science student Snow Mahoney brandishing a strong Boston accent, used their power as head of the PTA and threatened to shoot the fifth-grade teacher, played by first-semester psychology student Zyla Bumbery
Anzalone, Marchese and ninth-semester robotics engineering student Griffin Close took questions from the audience and gave good, bad and ugly advice respectively, switching positions every question. The audience listened intently as each person gave their advice on how to make babies, flirt and come out as transgender.
The final performance of the night was “Four Squares,” another game where four actors are given a different scenario each to perform with a scene partner. Bumbery talked to a lady working at a bookstore about her love for books. MacBride was stuck in the maze in the Susan V. Herbst Hall basement. Kenny needed to come out as straight to her lesbian mother. Finally, Ray explained Dungeons & Dragons to a girl who was looking to play it with her crush.
When asked about how they come up with sketch ideas, Madigan, on behalf of Storrs Late Night, said “When someone in our group has an idea, if we think it’s funny, even just a short prompt, we take it and run with it. We trust our members with their creative vision to cook up something great, and then we do round table reads and apply critiques from there.”
On how they are feeling on the day of the show, Madigan said “The day of the show is always stressful. Last minute changes, all of us are nervous, but this chaotic energy is comforting within our group. That night will be the culmination of our weeks’ worth of hard work… After each show, we see how our hard work makes us grow and we watch in real time us getting bigger. It’s an awesome feeling.”