Inside Tarleton’s improv sensation

BY BROOKLYN MCKINNEY

Multimedia Journalist

People often find themselves mindlessly scrolling through TikTok clips or memes during their free time, an instant way to procrastinate and escape from the stress surrounding their daily lives.

One fateful day, as I nearly became a victim of this cycle once again, I passed a sign by the Fine Arts building on campus for something called “Comedy at the Clyde.”

While I wasn’t really sure what “Comedy at the Clyde” was, it looked like it would be a lot more entertaining than my phone screen. So, I walked into room 103 at 4 p.m. and stuck around for every laugh.

About 10 cast members greet everyone who walks past the stage to sit with booming applause before jumping into a series of improvisation games. The “host” announces the game to the audience and asks them for suggestions on what characters or scenarios would be the most humorous for other actors to portray.

Freshman Dilana Dowen was among the audience that afternoon and had been to the past three or four improv shows in the Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center to watch her friends perform. 

“If I were to talk about “Comedy at the Clyde” to anyone who hasn’t gone, I would definitely encourage them to come because I have not been disappointed at a single show that I have been to,” Dowen said. “I have always laughed; I laughed every single time. The improv group themselves are funny without trying. They’re great actors and very entertaining.”

Her favorite game is called “Blind Date”, where three actors are given different character prompts suggested by the audience for a “blind date” with another actor. The one being set up on the blind date has to leave the room while these characters are being assigned by the audience, and the game ends when they can successfully guess who they are on a date with.

In a new game that the comedians performed at their last show, audience members received scripts for different plays and had to feed the actors lines to say from the script. This produced many humorous scenarios that carried laughter from the surrounding seats across the stage.

Believe it or not, these actors’ improv skills aren’t completely unrehearsed.

“The prompts are completely different from whatever we’ll get from the audience at show time, because we like to run a few of the games before the actual show,” Emily Fox, a cast member, said.

Running their own prompts while rehearsing games together has led to an abundance of inside jokes that are bound to crack up the stage during showtime.

“We kept choosing characters that were children for Rhea on accident, so every time Addy was like, ‘Why do you keep putting kids on a blind date with me?’ Even though the audience may not have gotten that joke, it killed all of us,” Fox said.

While cast members have definitely come up with some humorous prompts among themselves, nothing can top their live interactions with the audience.

“We do this game called ‘Countdown,’ where a character will come in halfway through the game. The best one we’ve ever gotten for that was when we were drugstore owners,” James Stack, another cast member, said. “And that created a bit that went through several shows, where it would go, ‘One for you and one for me, and one for you and one for me.’”

Many of the students who regularly attend “Comedy at the Clyde” are fellow theatre majors, as many of the cast members are also part of the theatre program at Tarleton State University.

“I think reoccurring faces is my favorite thing, just seeing people continue to come support is really nice,” cast member Addy Brown said. “It’s good to know that we have a support system and people who think we’re funny, and they’re going to keep coming back even if we crash and burn in a game or two. Knowing that we’re making the people around us happy and the people around us laugh, it just warms my heart.”

The cast of “Comedy at the Clyde” takes their roles very seriously. They pride themselves on being able to make students laugh about anything, including the woes of finals week.

“The majority of the people that come to watch our shows are other students. So, there’s always that factor of we can relate to any issue you have,” Stack said.

While Tarleton’s funniest improv group has enjoyed connecting with the loyal faces of their student audience at campus shows, they have also been attempting to branch out locally for at least a year. 

Many of the cast members have prior experience performing shows outside of college and would love to partner with any organizations that might be interested in spreading their laughter around the community of Stephenville.

The show is called “Comedy at the Clyde,” not “Cry at the Clyde” (unless you’re laughing yourself to tears). True to their fun-loving spirit, the improv group focuses on getting people to laugh and enjoy themselves.

So next time you catch yourself scrolling through memes on campus, put your phone down and come see “Comedy at the Clyde” to have you laughing more than a screen ever could.