Comedy will rattle students' brains

By Eisa Al Nashmi

Improv comedy is coming to Fresno State. And it’s the same kind of show that’s been seen on national television.

In the show “Who’s Line is it Anyway?,” a group of talented comedians do improvisational comedy and different kinds of skits based on suggestions from the audience.

With no scripts or planned acts, the group makes the audience laugh—a lot.

“ As Seen on TV” is this year’s Homecoming theme, so the B.A.G of Laughs committee at University Student Union Productions decided to keep with the theme of improv comedy on television and invited an improvisational comedy troupe that performs acts similar to those seen in “Who’s Line is it Anyway?”

A group of three comedians from Rattlebrain Theatre Co. will perform Thursday at the Satellite Student Union at 7 p.m.

Jane Shirley, the co-owner of Rattlebrain Theatre Co. and one of the performers coming to Fresno State, is very excited to perform and expects the audience to “have a blast.”

Shirley said the company provides different kinds of shows and they will be performing a completely improvised show called “Ride.”

“ We picked the name ‘Ride’ because the audience will be in a comedy journey where no one knows what will exactly happen,” Shirley said.

Shirley and the other members of the group will be taking suggestions from the audience on an improvised scene and then base their performance on what the audience wants.

“ It’s a real high-energy interaction with the audience where we play lots of different characters at a very fast pace,” Shirley said. “The energy created a collective experience where the audience feel as if they are part of the show.”

Rattlebrain Theatre Co. is a Denver- based company that opened in March 2002. The company performs original comedy and since it opened, it has been getting positive reviews.

Shirley said even though the company is new, the performers have been in the comedy business for many years and are very experienced.

Rattlebrain’s specialty is redoing an improvised scene in different styles.

“ We can do a scene in a science fiction style and then re-do it in Shakespearian style,” she said.

Shirley said they don’t impersonate celebrities, but they do experiment with many kinds of characters.

“ Sometimes, we impersonate silly characters that can be seen on ‘Saturday Night Live’ and ‘Mad TV,’ ” she said.

Christina Melo, coordinator of the B.A.G of Laughs committee, said that the show will be a nice break midway through the semester when students are bombarded with midterms and term papers.

“ Most students are stressed with their schoolwork, so it’s a comic relief if they come and watch the performance,” Melo said.

Shirley said when people come together and get a chance to laugh hard, they get closer and forget about their problems.

“ Laughter breaks down barriers between people,” Shirley said.

Fresno State has had many stand-up comedy shows, but this is the first time the school has invited an improvisational group, said Kristie Godfrey, USU Productions program adviser.

“ I think it will be a good time because students get to experience something different,” Godfrey said.

Shirley, the co-founder of Rattlebrain, said the audience will have a blast because each show is customized based of the audience’s demands.

This will be the first performance for Shirley in California and she can’t wait to experiment with a “bunch of Californians.”

“ It’s a time to be happy and have lots of fun,” she said.

Melo said the performance is based on the demands of the audience, so students are advised to attend for the performance to be more fun.

Tickets are on sale at the information center inside the Student Union. Tickets are $5 for Fresno State students and $7 for the general public, but prices are higher at the door. They are $7 for students and $10 for the public.