Search Toggle

Schnitz and Giggles Improvised Comedy Review

Interior of Smith’s Alternative Bookshop

After a long hiatus, Schnitz and Giggles has finally returned to a new venue, Smith’s Alternative Bookshop in Civic. Schnitz and Giggles had previously been held at Hellenic Club in the city back in 2012, which explains the origins of its namesake. Despite there being no chicken schnitzel on offer, it is a small price to pay for an evening of quality entertainment. 05/05/2014

A wall lined with books within the venue

While the venue itself does not have an extensive menu, on this particular evening they advertised home made soup and bread for $7.50. Smith’s Alternative Bookshop can seat up to 45 people. Despite the venue being quite cozy, it simply adds to the charming atmosphere. The walls are lined with books, as you would expect, but there is also an entire wall dedicated to vinyl records which is pretty spectacular to behold. In other words, it’s a hipster’s paradise.

There was a cast of six people on stage performing improvised comedy in the style of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?Benjamin Crowley, Andrew Yuile, Juliet Moody, Michael Giacomin, Kathy Bakewell and newcomer Harry Kacak. They played several games including the ‘question challenge’, ‘expert double figures’, a play in the style of Treasure Island, a scene played out backwards, ‘the tomb of knowledge’, ‘obscure short story titles’, ‘pan left’, ‘inner with a whiler’, ‘understudy’, ‘schnitz street’, ‘party quirk scene’ and a dating game scenario to finish up the evening. The skits usually involved three to four members of the cast at a time, at most lasting for ten minutes each way.

In some parts there was an emphasis on audience participation as the host, Brad Hoff, encouraged people to contribute their ideas to the scenario, adding to the spontaneity of it all. At one point, two cast members were pretending to line dance in a freezer when the host called for everyone to spontaneously die on stage except for Crowley. He was then instructed to perform on behalf of everyone, as he tried to manipulate their limp bodies and imitate their voices like a crude puppeteer. The results were surprisingly hilarious.

Later in the show, it became a bit chaotic when all six actors appeared on stage impersonating famous people and iconic figures. Try to imagine Abraham Lincoln, Joe Hockey, Nicolas Cage, Dame Edna and Mickey Mouse in one room interacting with each other. It’s just not possible until you see it being performed in front your eyes.

By the end of the evening, there was no more than 20 people in the audience. It was Louis Moore’s first time attending an improvised comedy gig and he was thoroughly impressed.

“I got some Monty Python vibes from a couple of the performers, I think they’re all well aware it,” says Moore.

“If the cast wasn’t so quick-witted it could’ve been really crap, but for the most part it was pretty enjoyable.”

“I’ll be back in two weeks for the next show,” he continues.

In any kind of improvised comedy routine there is so much potential for dead air and flat jokes, but Schnitz and Giggles managed to avoid those pitfalls entirely. It was certainly worth the five dollars entry.

Juliet, Andrew, Harry, Kathy and Michael

Text and images by Leanne Duck.

Recent Comments

0

Be the first to comment!

Post Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *