ComedySportz works to win crowd over with puns

October 12, 2022 — by Sarah Zhou and Victoria Hu
In groups, students practice stage fighting at a ComedySportz practice on Oct. 5.
The team has begun practicing every lunch during the week in preparation for their upcoming performance.

At lunch on Fridays, the 10 students in ComedySportz — the school’s comedy improvisation team — meet in the Thermond Drama Center to practice the skill most needed for success: thinking on their feet. 

From cracking puns to thinking up funny skits, the members — freshman Beni Mercurio, Jo Begar and Apollo Burgess; sophomore Jay Louie; and juniors Vivienne Brooks, Ryan Cagliostro, Angelique Delacroix, Arushi Maheshwar, Ashly Henry and Ariana Tootoonchi — face off against each other in scene and head-to-head games.

In preparation for performing their first public official game, however, the team practiced every lunch day in the week leading up to their performance. The show took place on Oct. 7 at 7 pm in the Thermond Drama Center, with $5 student tickets and $7 adult tickets sold at the door. 

The show’s format was based on the comedy TV series “Whose Line is it Anyway?” and lasted around one hour, with 5- to 8-minute segments. Brooks said improv topics came from audience suggestions.

During the show, the 10 students were split into five-member “red” and “blue” teams, led by Brooks and junior co-captain Ryan Cagliostro. Team members competed both individually and together throughout the show.

Points for the game were awarded based on which side the audience deems funnier by a vocal vote, which is refereed by a professional member of the adult San Jose ComedySportz team.

In addition to the intra-school game, the school team, advised by drama department head Benjamin Brotzman, also occasionally competes against other schools in the larger ComedySportz high school league. Since there are only roughly nine schools participating in the Bay Area, Brooks hopes to expand the league’s reach.

“One of our goals for this year is to compete against more schools and help Los Gatos High start their own Comedy Sportz team,” she said. “It would be fun to establish more connections with other high schools and even start an annual tournament.”

In preparation for potential future competitions, Brooks is working on her own delivery as well as honing the skills of the four new members and five other returners. Leading alongside Cagliostro, she gives feedback and works collaboratively with members of the team to develop improvisation skills. 

“Scenes and ideas come a lot more naturally to me now that I’ve been on the team for a while,” Brooks said. “I’m still learning, and it’s always cool to meet professionals and see what lots of time and practice can get you. Acting also made me close with my fellow teammates because we have to be comfortable stage-fighting each other on the spot without prior warning.”

Though she found that being in a leadership position can occasionally be stressful, Brooks finds it fun nevertheless. One of her favorite memories was during her first show as a captain with Cagliastro last school year.

“We decided to come [onto the stage] with [Cagliostro] on my shoulder, and as he was getting off he tripped on his cloak and fell over while last year’s blue team captain was giving a speech,” Brooks said. “The entire audience laughed, and the poor blue team captain had no idea what was happening either.”

Junior Ariana Tootoonchi, a member of the red team, describes ComedySportz as a fun and free space where she has been able to gain experience in the entertainment industry, an area she wants to pursue in the future.

“The improv and performances help with acting skills and it’s a really fun and great space,” Tootoonchi said. “I just want to make more memories that I’ll always remember and laugh at in the future.”

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