By Dave Schwab | SDUN Reporter

You never forget your lines.

That’s the best thing about improvisational comedy, quipped Kat Brown, America’s Finest City Improv’s publicist, when asked if doing comedy off-the-cuff is tough.

“What we try to do is not be witty, but try and bring to light truth in everyday situations — put the light in that,” agreed Amy Lisewski, head of the improv club, which debuted just a couple of months ago at North Park’s Lafeyette Hotel at 2223 El Cajon Blvd.

“Usually, that resonates in people best,” Lisewski added.

Brown and Lisewski are two of a few dozen “improvisites” for whom the hotel has become the new home for their free-form, often delirious style of humor.

The first thing you need to know about improv is that it’s not stand-up. Individuals don’t parade up to the mic doing pre-written or rehearsed monologues.

“It’s all improvised theater,” Lisewski noted. “Every show is the opening — and closing — night, both the premiere and the final curtain.”

In improvisational comedy, two or more comedians work together as a team, feeding off one another.

“When you step out on the stage, with no idea what is going to happen and just let it flow, and you succeed — you feel you could take on anything,” Brown said.

America’s Finest City is also distinguished in that its practitioners teach as well as perform improvisational comedy.

One of the troop’s instructors, Jacob Bruce, an adjunct professor of acting at University of San Diego, said doing improv is “the same thing as music. You kind of either do it or you don’t. We just make you better at it.”

Insisting “everybody is uniquely funny in their own way,” Bruce said the trick for a lot of people is to “figure out what their thing is.”

Behind the scenes at a recent America’s Finest City Improv Saturday night show at Lafeyette Hotel, improvisers are “bouncing” off the walls — and each other — getting warmed up for their performance. They’re dancing. They’re singing. They’re rhyming. Above all, they’re getting in tune with one another, ensuring their various styles mesh together so when it’s time go on they can act — and react.

On stage that night, Lisewski and colleague George Caleodis, down from L.A., do a skit about love, athletics, relationships and having children. Then improv crew “Minor Suspension,” do a comedic song number named “That’s What We Do,” poking fun at the male “mystique.”

And the audience on this and every night at an America’s Finest City Improv performance appreciates the effort, skill and teamwork of the professional comedy troop for whom “play” is a serious business.

Improv is also a great way to “connect,” noted practitioners Jason Casey and Erica Clermont.

“It’s the best place to meet new friends,” Casey said. “Two years ago when I moved here, I had one friend in San Diego. Now … I have 39. Improv is a great way to meet exciting and open-minded new people.”

“Improv has enriched my life so much,” Clermont said. ”Wonderful people who accept me for who I am, and I get to play with them on a regular basis. Improv makes me happy and brings so much joy to my life.”

America’s Finest City Improv is a tongue-in-cheek performance group whose mission it is to develop and showcase the best comedy improv in the region. The group offers classes in improv and team building workshops in the style of Second City. Internships are also available.

For more information visit facebook.com/FinestCityImprov or finestcityimprov.com.

“Improv is all about responding to things.”
—Comedian Kevin Six.
 
“Improv is like jazz for actors, it all depends on the moment and the people. And Finest City has great people. And sometimes, great moments.”
—Joe Huppert
 
“There is something totally satisfying and magical about the improv concept of ‘yes and —’ I love creating silliness on stage by simply trusting and supporting my scene partners.”
—Comedienne Peggy Walkush
 
“In a world of so much control and perfection desired, improv gives us permission to just show up, let go and be creative. It’s unique, one-of-a- kind theater every time.”
—Shawn Roop
 
“You are an improviser. Every day, you walk through life from moment to moment, communicate with others, share ideas, tell stories, solve challenges, stand and deliver, overcome fear, and deal with the unexpected. The truth of life is usually more funny than fiction. On the stage we aim for truth — and honesty.”
—Tommy Galan