Members of Fishbowl Improvisational Comedy Group warm up before a practice for the upcoming Tides Improv Comedy Festival, which will take place this weekend in the Ohio Union’s U.S. Bank Conference Theater. Credit: Avery Caudill | Lantern Reporter
A collaboration of improv groups from across the nation is hoping to spread some superstition at its upcoming showcase.
Fishbowl Improvisational Comedy Group, an on-campus organization dedicated to practicing the art of improv, is gearing up for its ninth annual Tides Improv Comedy Festival this weekend in the Ohio Union’s U.S. Bank Conference Theater. This year’s free event — scheduled for Friday and Saturday — is themed around the popular proverb, “A cat has nine lives.”
“Tides 9” will showcase 14 college comedy groups from across the country, Annamarie Jowanovitz, a second-year in psychology and Fishbowl’s vice president, said. The Humor Artists from the University of Notre Dame, 45 Kings from Loyola University Chicago and Plastic Shatners from Bowling Green State University are just three groups slated to perform, according to Fisbowl’s Instagram page.
“It’s a really good way to connect with other schools, and make friends, and get to understand other people’s perspectives on improv and how they improv and just learn and grow,” Jowanovitz said.
Ohio State representation at Tides isn’t limited to Fishbowl, Jowanovitz said. In fact, fellow on-campus comedy groups Backburner Sketch Comedy and 8th Floor Improv Comedy are also getting their skills ready for the weekend of performances.
George Worley, a fourth-year in biomedical engineering and Backburner Sketch Comedy’s president, said Backburner will be the only non-improv group at this year’s Tides, meaning its performers will showcase scripted and rehearsed sketches.
“There’s sketches that we’ve run before and we’ve added to them, and I would hope at least a certain amount of polish, but also because of the subjectivity of it all you never know,” Worley said. “As compared to the other [performers], we seem like a new kind of people up on stage.”
Whether the participating groups are coming from a sketch or improv comedy background, cultivating learning experiences is a big takeaway of Tides as a whole, Natalie Knaggs, a third-year in computer and information science and Fishbowl’s secretary, said.
Mary Mahoney, a fourth-year in film and Fishbowl’s president, said nothing beats seeing fluid sketch and improv comedy at work.
“Everyone has their distinct styles of improv and even like short-form games and long-form formats,” Mahoney said. “It’s almost like folklore, the way it’s passed around, learning new games from people that come to the show.”
Whether attendees silently observe or overtly engage in the action, Mahoney said they will likely walk away with a greater appreciation for amateur comedy at large. Knaggs said this makes Tides an especially accessible festival for those new to the improv scene.
“It’s a really good way for people to get their foot in the door if they’re interested in improv if they’ve never been to an improv show before,” Knaggs said. “It’s a really interesting place to start because you get all sorts of different styles from all over the country.”
Jowanovitz said putting Tides together and organizing 14 comedy groups from different colleges is a substantial task that takes a lot of diligent planning and organization, but with the help of Fishbowl members and other campus comedy groups, it’s going to be pulled off for a ninth year.
“We’re improvisers, so we aren’t used to planning things too much, so it’s tight and is always a whirlwind the weeks leading up with just all of that chaos,” Jowanovitz said. “And then suddenly the payoff of the moment it starts it’s like, ‘OK, we can relax now.’”
The free festival will run from 6:10 to 10:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday, in the Ohio Union’s U.S. Bank Conference Theater, with doors opening at 5:30 p.m.
