IU College Comedy Festival draws about 400 people

“Cactus!” And go.

For the Awkward Silence Comedy group, this was the only prompt from the  audience in what turned into a series of improvisational skits and sketches this weekend at the annual IU College Comedy Festival.

The comedians took the audience-given word and integrated it into several skits, many of which laced together with repeated characters and themes.

The festival, which showed performances Friday and Saturday night at the John Waldron Arts Center, was a success, Union Board organizers said.

Julie Singer, the 2009 performance/comedy director for Union Board, said about 400 people attended.

After the first performance, the festival continued with several skit and improv groups and stand-up comedians.

Each act, except for the closing troupe, was given 10 to 20 minutes to perform. All drew laughs from the audience, though some groups, such as Awkward Silence Comedy and HoosOnFirst, both of which perform at the Indiana Memorial Union every week, received the most applause. Many performers considered the festival a success.

“It was fantastic,” said Sam Hammersley of Full Frontal Comedy, a troupe that
performed.

The night ended with an act from The Groundlings, a professional group from Los Angeles. The five members of the troupe took three themes from the audience and put them into skits.

They then switched back and forth between scenes from each sketch during their entire performance, adding to them and going back and forth in time.
Ashley Bullington, one of the stand-up comedians, was pleased with the turnout.

“It was a lot of fun, and a different and younger crowd than I’m used to,” she said. “It was nice to see students coming out and supporting us.”

Even though the night was festival-style, with people coming and going as they pleased throughout the night and few people staying for the whole show, the Board had to add more chairs to the auditorium after the second act.

“It was fun, a good time,” said Neil Meyer, who was an audience participant in an improv sketch by the Crazy Monkeys, a Purdue University group. “It was a fun idea and atmosphere.”