The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Huntington News

Getting better all the time: NU & Improv’d

NU & Improv’d members performed for a packed house at afterHOURS Jan. 13, cracking up the audience with scenes like “When Frenchmen Attack.” News Staff Photo/Dan McCarthy

By Kevin McDevitt, News Correspondent

There is something viscerally funny about a performer sacrificing his or her body for the good of a joke. Like Chris Farley crashing through a table on SNL, Joel Marsh, a junior cinemas studies major, was completely committed. Each time Marsh laid himself out parallel to the ground, he looked like a giant marlin on the end of a fishing line. Inevitably, he landed hard on his elbows, smacking the wooden stage as the packed house at afterHOURS erupted in laughter.

The game that NU & Improv’d was playing was called “Scene Speed Up.”  In this version, Marsh played an old woman, and senior business major Chris Rossignol was a young man feeding her over-sized, imaginary vegetables. At the conclusion of the scene, Rossignol tossed a giant pumpkin in the air, while Marsh lunged for it like a black lab going after a Frisbee on the beach. It made absolutely no sense, but that was the point.

The first time they performed the improvised scene, it took about a minute. Then the same scene was replayed with the action condensed into 30 seconds, 15 seconds, seven seconds, three seconds, and finally the whole thing was crammed into a one-second eruption where both Marsh and Rossignol dove for invisible vegetables. It was a crowd favorite.

“It was pee-your-pants funny,” said Rani Pimentel, a senior business major. “I would definitely come to see these guys again.”

Rani’s sentiment is clearly shared by many Northeastern students. AfterHOURS Event Manager Kevin Kelly Kenkel said the crowd was the venue’s largest since the World Cup. But neither Rossignol nor Marsh claimed to have a magic ability to get students out to their shows.

“Honestly, after studying all day and going through the stress of life, I think people just want to laugh,” Rossignol said.

The combination of belly laughs and determined promotion has worked well for NU & Improv’d. The group has been a mainstay on Northeastern’s campus for eight years and will host its seventh annual Beanpot of Comedy in Blackman Auditorium Feb. 4. at 8 p.m.  The event will feature two other college improv groups (to be announced) and typically draws between 500 and 700 people.

“It’s different every time,” Marsh said. “We get ourselves out there days and days before the show to hand out flyers. We must hand out over 800 before every show.”

In order to get ready for their shows, the members of NU & Improv’d practice taking “skeletons,” rough fill-in-the-blank scenarios, and creating unique outcomes with different characters and outcomes. Rossignol said members of the group are friends and rehearsing is really like hanging out. Like any healthy friendship, there is also some constructive criticism involved.  Rossignol said the friendly yet critical dynamic helps to build trust on stage.

“Improv can suck when you’re not on the same page – when you’re looking for individual glory instead of the success of your scene,” Marsh said.

The qualities they describe were palpable throughout the performance. In a scene titled “When Frenchman Attack,” senior business accounting major and NU & Improv’d veteran Adam Jack crawled on his hands and knees over audience chairs and tables, pausing momentarily to call out “Baguette!” or other French clichés. He and his fellow “improvers” had morphed into a gang of bloodthirsty French quadrupeds sneaking up on two unsuspecting hikers in the French Alps.

The audience waited as joyful voyeurs to the developing massacre, as the Frenchman slowly circled their prey and waited to pounce. The scene is an example of how silence can be used effectively to build suspense and how a fearless performer like Jack can captivate a room full of people.

“Adam brings a huge amount of energy and Joel’s physical humor is epic,” said Angela D’ercole, a junior communications studies major, who said she has seen nine out of the last ten NU & Improv’d shows.

“The shows are cheap, funny, accessible and they’re always getting better,” D’ercole said.

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