The First Ever 10th Anniversary Show Presented by The Traveling
The First Ever 10th Anniversary Show Presented by The Traveling Carnies
Breakthrough Theatre, Winter Park, FL</strong>
These guys have restored my faith in Improv, even if they scripted some of the scenes. Somehow this loose collective of sketch comedians has stayed off my radar for a decade, and now I’ve found them they’re leaving to try their luck in entertainment friendly Los Angles. Tonight was their last Orlando show in the clubby confines of Breakthrough Theatre. They were turning away fans at the door, but I was their early enough to grab the last parking spot next to the CSX line and squeeze into a front corner seat. The opening number was a corporate training sketch done as improv featuring Joe Glass, Grant Gentry and Nicky Urban. I’ve been through these things in real life, and adding comic actors to teach us how to sexually harass and surf for porn at work somehow makes it more humiliating for everyone involved. Just like at work audience input was sought and ignored, props were preset, and stepping outside of the work place made this one of the funniest improv-like skits I’ve ever witnessed. Video was a big part of the show, a montage of past members mixed with funny yet sophomoric scenes of cruising chat rooms for bear porn and humping Jell-O. But their best material was the live stuff: Glass as the redneck driving instructor was perfect and Gentry’s testicle grabbing Dr. Leo Hernandez was equally as entraining. Nicky Urban had her finest moment freeze framing with assistant Carnie Mike Beshaw in the “Party Guys Sketch,” and the elegant Jasmine Rahbari help out in the occasionally painful “Married Couple” Routine. It’s a shame these guys didn’t get more publicity while we had them, – their comedy has some rough and rude edges but it cuts to the funny bone.
Keep up with The Traveling Carnies at http://www.travelingcarnies.com/
