Oxford may be ringing with laughter this weekend with a showdown between comedy troupes from Miami University and three other universities, as the Tower Players sponsors the Comedy Olympics for the first time on Miami University's campus.
The Tower Players, Miami's student-run comedy troupe of approximately 20 members, will face off Friday, Jan. 26 with groups from North Carolina State, Ohio State University and the University of Dayton in a battle of creativity and wit.
"It's a great way for other troupes to interact and learn different workshop techniques from each other," said senior Matt Brown, meeting coordinator for Tower Players.
The weekend will also include performances by Second City at 8 p.m and 11 p.m. Jan.26 in the Shriver Center Multipurpose Room.
"Second City is a breeding ground for popular comedic performers, improvisers and actors," Brown said. Alumni of Second City include Stephen Colbert, John Belushi and Miami alumnus Andy Eninger, who is currently an understudy.
Although the Comedy Olympics competition at Miami is just for comedy troupes, audience members can participate as judges.
Three audience members will be randomly selected to be judges at the beginning of each round. At the end of the round, the team that gets two votes from the audience judges wins the round. Set up like the NCAA basketball tournament, two teams compete to advance to the next bracket.
According to junior Matt Derda, business chair of Tower Players and the event's organizer, the competition will begin with head-to-head games and will end with the "final chance game," where teams must race to center stage and receive points by telling jokes that make the audience laugh.
Tickets for Comedy Olympics can be purchased at Leonard Theater an hour before the competition and cost $3 per person or $5 for two people.
After four rounds of competition, only the groups who impress the selected audience judges will advance to the championship round to be held at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan.27 at the Sears Recital Hall on the University of Dayton campus.
"In the entertainment business, the most powerful words are 'one night only,'" Derda said. "We made the competition one night only on both campuses to get more of an audience draw for both performances."
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Derda said the group that triumphs in this weekend's competition will walk away with the valuable experience of performing with other groups during this friendly competition.
"There is no real prize, but the winning group gets a pat on the back and the title of '2007 Improv Champion,'" Derda said.
Junior Katie Odell, who saw the Tower Players perform last year at Relay for Life, is expecting the show to be very entertaining.
"I saw them at 4 a.m. (at Relay for Life), so everything was really funny," Odell said. "Because it is amateur and we see shows like Saturday Night Live, you get to see how students are doing it their way, in the embryonic stage of comedy."
Kevin Branick of Dayton's improv troupe, On The Fly, hopes the competition will spark interest about improv on both campuses and is expecting a big turnout at Dayton.
"We would love for (students) to come out the next time and for them to leave knowing that improv is something great and never to be missed," said Branick, who is in charge of the championship round in Dayton.
Last year's Comedy Olympics, which was held in Dayton by Smarty Pants, a professional comedy troupe, encouraged the Tower Players to organize a competition of their own to spread the word around campus about their organization.
"If it goes well, the competition can be groundbreaking and put Miami (University), and even Ohio, on the map of comedy nationally," said senior Jacob Patterson-Stein, a member of Tower Players.
A workshop will be taught by Dave Powell from Smarty Pants Theater, who trained with Second City, from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Jan. 27 in 223 McGuffey. The event is primarily for competing teams, but students can attend for a $20 fee.
Smarty Pants will also be performing at 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon at the Funny Bone Comedy Club in Dayton. Tickets are $10.
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