By Cynthia Retamozo
It’s Wednesday evening. The homework load is light and the apartment is empty and boring. What is a restless student to do?
ImprovBoston Theater in Cambridge offers an unusual option. On the first Wednesday of every month, the theatre hosts a night of stand-up comedy featuring Boston-area comics. This may sound fairly ordinary, except for one fact – all the comics perform on stage entirely naked.
The “Naked Comedy Showcase” has played in Cambridge since 2005 and has been featured in the Boston Globe and other local media.
The creator of the show, Andy Ofiesh, has been putting on naked shows since 2002, after the idea came about during the entertainment portion of a clothing-optional retreat he attended nearly 10 years ago.
“I just tried it,” he said of performing stand-up in the nude. “It sort of came about by accident.”
While “Naked Comedy” is held mainly in Boston, Ofiesh has hosted it in other cities like New York and Los Angeles. Routines, which can be found in video clips on YouTube, range from theorizing on why people would see “Naked Comedy” in the first place to why it took five years for the producers of shaving instruments to move from three blades to four.
In order to keep the show from turning into a free-for-all, there are strict rules the performers must follow: no sexual acts, no touching the audience and no tips.
Getting comics to perform in the show is mostly done through word of mouth, Ofiesh said. He often gets a “no” response.
“For me, it’s exactly like dating,” Ofiesh told the Cambridge Chronicle last year.
But many of those who agree to perform, like Boston comic Myq Kaplan, said doing the show is unique and adds to their stand-up experience.
Kaplan said at first he wasn’t attracted to the idea, but then later
figured, “What’s the worst that could
happen?”
Once he finally performed on stage in front of a large audience, he said, the anxiety eased and his performance was a success.
“I had a great time,” he said. “I realized that it was actually weirder for the audience to see me naked than for me to perform naked.”
But not everyone reacts to the Naked Comedy Showcase in a positive way. Ofiesh said the performers occasionally receive criticism from people who think the show is in poor taste. Such people include critics from NBC and the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, where Naked Comedy performed last year.
Kaplan, in response, said taste is relative and there is nudity in art, award-winning films and explicit music lyrics. If someone has a problem with their performance, he said, then they shouldn’t bother seeing it.
“Every art form pushes boundaries in certain directions,” he said.
Northeastern students were somewhat shocked at the idea of watching nude comedians perform stand-up. While many of them said they think the idea is unique, others don’t see themselves attending a show.
“I’m sure that college aged students would really love that sort of stuff,” said middler communication studies major Jay Carbonneau. “Personally, I wouldn’t be interested, but if that’s somebody’s choice to do that then I respect that.”
Middler architecture major Nicole Fichera hasn’t seen the show, but thinks the concept is a great idea.
“I would definitely go,” she said. “I think I would maybe cover my eyes a few times, but it would probably be funny.”
Interested students can visit nakedcomedyshowcase.com for tickets and more information.
