Comedy Against Humanity is an admirable idea from a collection of some of Sydney’s most talented improvisers suffers slightly (only slightly) from logistics. Cards Against Humanity, if you live under a rock, is a comical card game where hilarious sentences are made using two halves on different cards, and the most humorous is chosen. Usually, the creator of the fun is awarded one point, however in this show, the winning card is turned into an improv scene.
There are few more brilliant performers than Jim Fishwick, Robert Boddington, Jane Watt, Maddie Parker, Bryce Halliday, and on the night I went, special guest Luke Nowell, and while the improv was brilliant, the fumbling between scenes and when deciding on the scene really tanked the energy, and made them have to work so much harder for each scene.
The improv was great, and I’d expect nothing less from this group. With premises that alternated between solid and passable, they did good work, with scenes running for 5-10 minutes. It seemed a few times that the lack of energy was sometimes subsidised by physical comedy or jazz hands, which all the performers are better than – though I only saw opening night.
It’s a great idea. A combination of a hilarious card game with hilarious performers should have resulted in a truly brilliant show, and, I know, with a little more planning and a little less fumbling, it would make. I hope the following nights, with practice, were as spectacular as the format and actors are.
