Voted the best comedy club in Sacramento by KCRA, several Sacramento State students regularly perform at ComedySportz, which features improvisational comedy skits that are appropriate for all ages. Reminiscent of “Whose Line is it Anyway?,” two teams of “act-letes” battle on stage using audience suggestions.

Founded in 1984, the organization now has clubs all around the United States, including a club in the United Kingdom and Germany. Sacramento ComedySportz began in November of 2007.

Johnny Sittisin, English graduate student at Sacramento State, has been performing with ComedySportz for four months. Sittisin said there are six Sac State students who regularly perform at ComedySportz in Sacramento, located at 2230 Arden Way. He said he was introduced to ComedySportz when he was eating frozen yogurt at Big Spoon in the Arden Fair Mall. Two members of ComedySportz began talking to him about the club and invited him to try it out.

Kacie Shingara, English major at Sac State, said she was introduced to ComedySportz during her senior year at Woodcreek High School in Roseville in 2007. She joined ComedySportz Sacramento in March.

Generally there are two teams of three people competing on stage and a referee, Sittisin said. The shows last more than 90 minutes, and the referee chooses a winner after about five rounds. Each round consists of a different improvisational game and lasts two to five minutes. Audience members suggest the theme or setting for each game.

The referee chooses which audience suggestion the teams will use in their performance. Eric Fetske, junior theatre major, is a referee at ComedySportz Sacramento.

Players receive penalties if they use crude language or themes, and a brown bag over their heads and a loss of points for their team. Although there is no crude language, Sittisin said it does not hinder the comedic value of the shows.

“The art of improv relies solely on your ability to listen to another person, accept whatever they give you, however outrageous it may be, and justify it and go with it,” Sittisin said.

Settings chosen by audience members include “Sesame Street” and the inside of a toaster, Sittisin said. ComedySportz has a retired suggestions board for those themes that are chosen too often. Shingara said that soccer, jello, Twilight and Avatar are on the retired suggestions board.

The performers warm up before each performance using improvisational games. Sittisin said he gets ideas for the show by taking mental notes of funny observations in his daily life. However, because it is an improvisational show, most of the ideas come off the top of his head.

“It’s mostly about jumping before you think,” Sittisin said.

Sittisin said his favorite type of improvisational game is called “moving bodies,” which involves an audience volunteer controlling the movements of the performers on stage. The performers have to create a scene according to how the audience member is moving them around. Sittisin said it is his favorite game because of the amount of audience interaction, and most comedy shows do not allow for that much involvement from the audience.

Shingara said she enjoys performing in “replay” games. An audience member may suggest television channels as the theme, and the performers replay the same scene three times, but using different channel themes such as a children’s show or a NASCAR event.

“It gets really crazy and it’s really fun to watch because it’s a physical game,” Shingara said.

Shingara said the biggest challenge is the amount of energy needed for the performances, and she needs plenty of water available during the shows.

“(ComedySportz is) somewhere where you can act like a fool and people won’t judge you, in fact they’ll laugh with you,” Sittisin said.

He said that our society influences people to set images of themselves and hide fallacies, and improvisation allows for people to embrace their mistakes and imperfections.

“I just get to play, I don’t have to be a grown-up. It’s a good chance to just have fun and be silly,” Shingara said.

Since Sittisin began improvising, he said he has learned to take more risks and trust his team members.

“I am a lot less fearful and hesitant and I go for it. I have more character work now,” Shingara said.

ComedySportz performs at 8 p.m. every Friday and Saturday at 2230 Arden Way with prices ranging from $10 adult, $9 student/senior/military and $8 for children under 13.

There is also a Thursday, non-ComedySportz show called MAYHEM!, recommended for ages 15 and up. MAYHEM! also starts at 8 p.m., is just $5, and features Chicago-style improv in which performers make up scenes without playing and performance games, i.e., “long form” improv.”

Tzahuiztil Sanchez can be reached at [email protected]