Long Form Improv with Something Else
Boomerang Comedy Theater
Baton Rouge
Dec. 19
In the small town of Donald, there’s a feed store, a dispensary, a haunted house, a post office, and a duck pond.
Those were some of the audience suggestions at the Something Else long-form improv show on Friday night.
Their long-form improv takes the form of La Ronde, a character-based improv structure that rotates between members of the group, two at a time. After the initial scene, one person stays on stage in character. AS new character comes to the stage to interact with them.
The Something Else show made two full rotations. One was based on the suggestion of vacuum seal bags, which ended up being centered on vacuum sealing organ meat for raptors and other characters involved with the organ meat/vacuum seal bag selling industry. The other was set in the town of Donald, where every scene involved a location suggested by the audience.
Many of the members of Something Else are relatively new to comedy. I know because I saw them in the Improv 101 showcase in October. In the two months since, they’ve grown and settled into the stage.
The show opened with a scene with Amanda Dixon and one of her improv 101 classmates. They had newly adopted the raptors and were vacuum sealing organ meat for them. As the scene transitioned, Dixon was met with one of her raptors, Belinda, who had a crush at school. Her scene partner committed to the bit and screeched, jumped and stomped across stage. Dixon had to provide the contents of the side of the conversation we could understand.
“You can talk to me. It’s a safe space, it’s just the two of us,” she said, putting a comforting hand on Belinda’s arm.
“I’m sure he sees you for the real you. You’re just over-thinking it.”
Some growls and expressive pantomiming from Belinda followed.
“I know, PE class is very scary,” she said without missing a beat. “None of us want to do it, but the American education system makes us.”
The show was hosted by Sydney Gaskins, who has incredible stage presence and is very funny. She fielded the audience's suggestions. The second part of the show was similar except the conceit was that we were all in the one small town called Donald.
Gaskins sought suggestions, then repeated them back to the audience with “Donald has a *blank*,” so someone said “Serial killer.”
“Now, we’re looking for locations, not occupations.” she said.
But she adapted, and the recommendation became a haunted house which she staffed herself. The haunted house in Donald is personal. It’s not jumpscares or generic ghosts and zombies. Gaskins chased around her unwitting victim, a doctor character, whispering his deepest fears.
“Your wife is too hot for you,” she said as she ran across the stage.
Falling to the ground dramatically as if there were a medical emergency, she screamed, “IS THERE ANYONE HERE WHO’S A DOCTOR?”
The doctor tried to rush to her aid, but she stopped him, “NO! Because you’re here at a haunted house, and not at the hospital where you’re supposed to be, so I’m going to die! YOU’RE BAD AT YOUR JOB.”
Recovering instantly, she hopped up and started chasing again.
“Your kids don’t love you,” she said.
“Well … I knew that,” replied the doctor. “I’m a doctor.”
Something Else blends the talents of those newer to improv with those who are just starting out so well, I wouldn’t know the difference if I hadn’t gone to other shows. The long-form show was an enjoyable evening and funny enough to break the tension in any room. Hopefully they’ll be back in the new year with more.