Last Friday was the second Fools show of the year. The Royal Fools is the name of the improv group that I coach at CVCA. I was a little anxious about this show because so much was going on at CVCA last Friday. It was supposed to be a home basketball game – that helps us because people can go from our show to the game. However, because of all the snow last week, games got moved around and the home game turned into an away game. On top of that, the Talking Royals speech and debate team was at districts, which is a two-day competition on Friday and Saturday. That took away one of my Fools, and a good number of my potential student audience members.

The show was supposed to start at 7:00, and at 6:55, there were only about 20 people in the auditorium/chapel. Since the chapel can hold about 300 people even with the wings shut off, that was going to feel pretty barren. Still, we were going to press on, and so the show started at about 7:05. Happily, the audience had filled in quite a bit by then, and within a few minutes of the show starting, we had an estimated 80-100 people. It is possible we may have had over 100, but it is hard to tell since I did not count (I was a bit busy running the show).

The kids had a good show. I don’t think it was our best show ever, but it was a very good one. The fun part of this show was the audience – they were really, really into the show. They were lively, had great suggestions, laughed a lot, and in general gave us a ton of energy. If this was not our biggest audience and our best show ever, it sure felt as if it was our biggest audience and our best show. What a great feeling.

We always end our shows with a game called “Audience Participation Freeze,” where audience members can run up on stage and join us in doing some improv. Usually I consider myself lucky if I get two people to jump up, but last Friday we had at least four, and they were good scenes as well. What a fun time.

Some of the things that happened on stage:

– A “Showdown at the Improv Corral” that was based off of the lines “What page are you on?” and “No, I will not duct tape you to the chair.” That game, which is based on making things bigger and funnier, went off really well.

– A “Political Debate” debating the pros and cons of Pez dispensers and the pros and cons of short people.

– A “Dating Game” with Dora the Explorer, The Kool-Aid Man, and LeBron James.

– A “Musical Chairs” based on a faulty velcro sticky wall, and the resulting anger of the god of velcro.

– A “New Choice” based on the facial features of a man from Budapest, and his desire to build an explosive factory in the U.S.

– A “Blind Line” based on messages flashing from bicycle tires, and how pet dinosaurs hate the sunlight.

– An “Audience Participation Freeze” skit based on pick-up lines, and one based on cheerleaders that threw a man up in the air – and he was a loooooong time in coming down.

– Much more – the show went about an hour and twenty minutes.

I am very grateful for Mer’s support – she pulls for me, and has made every Fool show for all six years. I was worried about her attendance last Friday – she had to stay home to let a furnace repair man into the house since we had no heat. It turns out we had a bad exhaust motor, and the furnace shut down as a safety measure. The furnace guy was able to get it running overnight (and replaced the motor the next day), and did so so quickly that Mer was able to get to the show just before 7:00. I was a very happy man.

Fun side note about the audience – word about the Fools must be getting out in our community. One family came who does not have any relationship to any of the Fools on stage – they may have come with their student daughter, but were not there to see a son or daughter on stage. Moreover, they invited their neighbors to come, and the neighbors did come, even though they have not had a student at CVCA for twenty years (their children went to CVCA during Mer’s time at school). So, people are coming to actually see us and to have a good time. And with the energy they provide, it is a self-fulfilling prophecy.