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Comedy troupe thrives at 'U' Club

"We're on fire, don't you forget.

"With breath so hot, you'll need Clorettes.

"We're burnin' rubber like a Corvette.

"We face the world without a net!"

Not only are these lyrics from one of Without A Net's most recent improv shows, but they aptly describe the University's hottest and only improvisational comedy troupe. While I didn't smell any burnin' rubber during my time spent with the troupe, member and former circus performer Steve Kime's fire-breathing warmed me up for the upcoming show this Wednesday night.

Two years ago, when the director of the campus-based improv comedy group, Highly Improbable, approached Bob Gilliam about starting another group, Gilliam had no idea that this new group would bloom into "a cohesive group of funny actors pulling in crowds of 100 people." Originally deemed "most likely not to be paying attention while the director is speaking," Gilliam now directs Without A Net. When Highly Improbable's cast moved to New York City to begin its professional career, Without A Net began its collegiate one. Modeled after Highly Improbable's format of improvisational comedy, this six-member cast holds court in the Michigan Union's U-Club weekly.

Without A Net structures their show around various theater games, such as Symposium. The group asks the audience to write down their favorite movie quotes and they build an impromptu scene around the randomly selected quotes. "Our best skit came out of Symposium, when an audience-member wrote a quote about the Death Star from Star Trek. We were so coherent," said rookie Marni Raitt.

Audience members participate throughout the show and attendance has grown in this semester alone. "Our audience has gone from 60 to 70 to 100. Surprisingly, our Valentine's Day show brought in the biggest audience," Raitt noted. "The audience has fun watching us create on a whim and we come up with some great shit," Gilliam mused.

While the troupe's goal is to make the audience laugh, "the core of it is that we enjoy doing it," said member Joe Lacey. "The troupe is constantly building and clicking off of each other on stage," explained producer Erik Olsen. In order to think up instantaneous comedy sketches while speaking in gibberish or constructing a scene around a human slide show, "you must completely trust who you are on stage with," shared Raitt.

As the director, Gilliam has the job of assigning players to parts each week. "Other than specific attributes, as Steve's tradition of physical comedy or (member) Gordon Eick's phenomenal musical talents, the cast is so interchangeable that I'm confident putting anyone in any part," Gilliam said. "There is a level of confidence in the group, that anyone could jump in at anytime and the skit would still be great or even better," seconded Lacey.

"The funniest moments come from mass chaos of everyone on stage," Eick remarked. "The troupe as a whole is a star -- the comedians don't try to be stars themselves," said Olsen, explaining why the group works so well together. "Also, these are not intimidating people. They are great, supportive people," expressed member Barbara Liss.

Without A Net hopes to establish itself as a University icon, having the same level of recognition as Amazin' Blue and the Friars, two University-sponsored musical groups. With many of its members graduating in the spring, the group hopes to perpetuate with a new crop of comedians. In the meantime though, these comedians are ready to light your night on fire.