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Comedy Sportz - Family Friendly Entertainment that Won't Break Your Budget
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Comedy Sportz in Austin
About 3 weeks ago, my husband Rick and myself joined some friends from our church (Celebration Church) at Cafe Caffeine in Austin for a performance of Comedy Sportz. We enjoyed ourselves so much, we went back the following week on our own. In fact, we enjoyed our second time there even better, as the line-up was even better, and Megan Flynn played the DJ. She is one funny lady!
Now, we were a little skeptical at first. The drive to Cafe Caffeine took us into a part of town we normally don't visit. And the venue itself seemed rather small. However, that turned out to be a feature, not a bug. The smaller area allowed for a more intimate setting and more audience participation.
And, in the type of routine that Comedy Sportz specializes in, improv, audience participation is key. If you've seen the TV show "Whose Line is it Anyway?", the one where Drew Carey is the mediator, you will have an idea of the type of improvisational comedy that you'll be enjoying. There are two teams, a referee, and someone called a DJ who can help out either team. There are several types of routines. For each type of routine, the audience helps out by offering suggestions and also by voting on which team they liked best. In one of my favorite routines, "Slide Show", two members of the audience were picked to participate. The first time we went, my husband was one of the members picked, the second time it was me! One advantage of having a small audience size - if you want to participate, you can, and if you have suggestions, they will use them!
The way "Slide Show" works - three people are on stage as the people in the slides, and two people are off stage describing the slides. When the lights go off, the people on stage position themselves in various weird ways, and when the lights go back on, the two comedians off stage describe the slide. The first time we saw this skit, it was supposed to be a slide show of a trip to the Grand Canyon; the second time, a trip to Israel. Each time, the routines had people rolling on the floor laughing.
Throughout the evening, the referee keeps an eye on things, calling time-outs at the end of each routine and moving things along. The referee also calls fouls and makes sure the routines stay clean and family friendly.
Which is a good thing, since the first time we were there, we saw a couple of young girls who excitedly scampered to the front of the room, right next to the stage. Once an audience member shouted out a slightly risque suggestion and the referee immediately stepped in to call a foul. This type of vigilance guarantees that you can indeed take your family to see this performance - though I would probably still not take children younger than about 5 or 6, simply because of attention span issues. However, if you've got older children, an evening at Comedy Sportz would be a fun night out for the whole family, and since the show starts at 7:30 and ends around 9, you can still get them home by bedtime.
The cost of the evening will not break your budget. The cover charge for adults is only $5. Cafe Caffeine offers a wide range of organic, yummy treats for a reasonable price. There are pies and muffins, empanadas in a variety of flavors including a vegan Samosa, and fair trade coffee. There is also beer and wine, if you are so inclined. My husband and I ordered their Meze plate - made of organic ingredients by a local company whose owner is from Turkey. We also shared a pot of tea. Overall, our cost for a fun night out on the town was less than $20. Not bad, and an important consideration in these trying economic times.
In fact, if you want to combine dinner with theater, there is a Thai restaurant right next door to the Cafe. It's called Thai-Fresh and it's a woman-owned business which serves organic food. Our second time enjoying Comedy Sportz my husband and I went over to check it out. The owner, Jan Sanitchat, who is from Thailand, allowed us to take her china and silverware back over to Cafe Caffeine so we could eat dinner while we watched the show. Of course we returned the plates when we were done. The food was absolutely marvelous. We were able to get organic brown rice and chicken curry made from free-range, natural chickens. The food was very flavorful without being overwhelmingly hot.
The one caveat about Comedy Sportz - it is more amateur than the routines you will see on "Whose Line is it Anyway?" Some of the comedians are younger and not as experienced. However, so what? Being able to enjoy live comedy for $5 a person makes up for any lack of polish and makes this a fun night for the family or for you and your SO to have a date night out.
Note: Comedy Sportz also has a professional touring group that does private shows for hire. The group has toured extensively. Comedy Sportz is part of the World Comedy League. Austin won the national championship in 2000.
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