“Improviser! A Musical Sketch Comedy Revue

Now Playing @ I.O

Reviewed by Ike Holter

There are few events more terrifying then being trapped in a room full of off-duty improvisers. I.O’s “Improviser! A Musical Sketch Comedy Revue” recreates this hair raising event with the proper mix of humor and humiliation the situation deserves. With numbers like “Come See My Show” and “Sassy Black Girl”, the talented and tuneful cast pulls back the curtain on the Chicago Improv scene with razor sharp precession.

Kicking off with “Backline”, the Chorus Line esque (and masterfully mawkish) go-for-broke-dance number, Improviser takes us into the dark hearts of a group of moonlighting improv artists. They work crappy jobs, they sacrifice relationships for fleeting flights of fame; they fly, they fail, they fall. But just when this revue veers too far into the “laugh at the losers” bully-porn genre, the so-sad-it’s-true showstopper “Old Man Improv” shines a harsh light on the crisis behind the comedian.

For the (blessed) few audience members who haven’t been forced into hearing a rag-tag group of roustabouts recall that “classic sketch” from comedy class, Improviser acts as a teaching tool; spelling out the rules of tolerating Show People.