Mitch: Major Improv-ment

No, that’s not misspelled. Earlier today we went to see David’s brother Mitch perform improv with the rest of his class at Second City.

If you click on the gallery link and also click “slideshow” you’ll get a quick overview of a couple of games – one that included Mitch and two others who were portraying characters in various kinds of movies, a couple of other games starring other people in his class, and the big group game at the end, “Story, Story, DIE!”

Mitch is the one in the purple shirt.

No, not that one, the other one. No, the other other one. The one holding the gun, and later the ukulele.

The final game had a shaggy dog premise – it starts with a non-existent story title suggested by the audience, and each player has to continue the story without hesitation, stumbling, or otherwise screwing up when the leader points at them. It goes very fast, and the pressure is on. Meanwhile, if the audience senses you choked, or just doesn’t like where you take the story, they scream “DIE!” Then the leader suggests an ordinary object or takes a suggestion, and you must figure out a way to die creatively.

Mitch fluffed, and was forced to endure “Death By Ukulele.” He got laughs for quickly figuring out a way to die that did not involve anything obvious, like strangling on the strings. No, he said it’s “just too embarassing” as he mimed playing; “if his friends knew he played the uke, he’d just die.” Then he noticed the audience as if for the first time, and expired on the spot.

The shaggy-dog story was totally snarled up by the time they got to the last comic-in-training standing. Her job was to come up with a wrap-up “moral of the story,” but she fluffed her opening, so we all screamed “DIE!” When we greeted Mitch afterwards, of course, it was “Mitch! One thing to say to you – DIE!” Pretty funny, since he actually improvved in the “movie genre” game that his mother was dead (it was supposed to be a ‘chick flick’, with three male characters, so he figured someone had to die). His mother was remarked later that she was very surprised to hear it. Heh.

It was a fun time – two classes put on a 25 minute program each, so it was just under an hour. He’s got one more class, and then he’s finished with this level.