Apartment613

I could begin this post by describing in detail one of the many memorable improv skits I’ve seen throughout the years - the snowball wielding nun, an English major getting sports-raped at a bar, parents pressuring their daughter to drop law school for prostitution - but it wouldn’t be funny. Improv is like an inside joke: you just have to have been there to get it.

Which is why you should go in person to see the first annual Ottawa Improv Festival, starting this Thursday, March 11 and running to Sunday, March 14. Every night from 8pm onwards, the festival will feature performances by two troupes from Ottawa, Toronto or Montreal. Later on at 10pm will be a special event, including: ‘Danger prov’ (”more dangerous than rollerblading with scissors down a hallway that’s been greased”) in which the possibility of a performer getting maimed is half the fun; and ‘Gorilla Impov’, which combines love, a giant monkey and likely lots of banana double entendres. The festival kicks off with a free Hockey-style match this Thursday; all other shows are $5.

According to Phil Genest of Insensitivity Training, the festival organizers and one of the performers, Improv in Ottawa is undergoing a resurgence. “To my knowledge there hasn’t been so many people actively doing shows since the late eighties.”  Insensitivity Training (then called Improv at the Bytown) was launched in early 2007, and since then Crystal Basement and Crush Improv have both started doing regular shows, as have Made to Measure. There even a bilingual show - Improcrastination.

This cornucopia of comedy represents a throw back to an earlier time. “Improvisation comedy was incredible present and strong in [Ottawa] the late 70’s and 80’s, with the Improv Olympics (not the Canadian Improv Games) and heavy hitters Skit Row. We’re trying to provide the grounds for current and future improv troupes to energize and renew the scene.”

So what are some of Phil’s not-to-miss shows happening during the festival?