Who's been to Comedy Sportz?

[quantus]

I went with my class at the beginning of this semester. It was pretty entertaining. It looks like they have locations near most of you, so I was wondering if any of you guys have seen it too...

http://www.comedysportz.com/cities.htm

[Jonathan]

We went. We disliked it. I suppose it is highly dependent on the performers.

There was a place in Atlanta called Dad's Garage Theatre. After the play on the weekend nights, some improv folks would do a comedy show called Gorilla Theatre. We liked that a lot. Good fun if you're in Atlanta and want something to do around 10pm on a weekend. Similar idea to Comedy Sportz, but the entertainment value is all in the details.

[Jonathan]

To elaborate: Comedy Sportz seemed overly hung up on the rules and format in a non-funny manner. They were also snippy to us.

Gorilla Theatre was more madcap. They played to larger audience and weren't a chain. Dad's Garage Theatre is a better venue than Comedy Sportz in Portland, too.

I do think everyone living in a major city should check out their local improv scene. It's probably a lot more entertaining than most standup.

[Jonathan]

Oh, also:

Unlike most other forms of performance comedy, ComedySportz is great for all ages. The audience of a typical ComedySportz match contains everyone from kids to college students to parents to grandparents.

This attitude handicaps Comedy Sportz further.

[quantus]

True, the wide audience acceptance cramps the improv... Although, it was kinda amusing watching someone try to do something in the manner of Samuel L Jackson and not swear. Think Snakes on a Plane for instance :-p