improv Archives - Honest Liars Improv

Last Improv Show of 2022.

By hlimprovers | January 16, 2023

A great lineup of games was planned for the last show of 2022, and the players were ready.

It seems to be a habit that the Honest Liars shows clashed with all important games by the All Blacks. This show was no exception, although it wasn’t the men’s rugby but the semi-final of the Black Ferns game. They didn’t disappoint, and neither did the Honest Liars.

Fireworks were also in competition (Guy Fawkes)

but the players brought firecracker retorts and sparkling wit to what proved to be a brilliant fun-packed show.

Even the pre-show warm-up proved that the quick thinking was evident as the crew setting up couldn’t stop laughing.

A few keen audience members arrived early, chasing the players off the stage and into the back room. And by show time, the theatre had filled up, patrons had their drinks, and it was time for Jon, the emcee, to come out onto the stage and introduce the players.

The game of Categories always helps both audience and players warm up. The subjects of ‘types of cars’, ‘ways to die’ and ‘music’, the Honest Liars and audience alike set the mood for the rest of the show.

A crowd favourite, Pocket Note, followed with Sally, Mark and Kelly trying their best to rid the world of covid. Sally proved to be the guinea pig for a new vaccine which tasted awfully fishy but with a hint of strawberry. However, the side effects proved horrendous, turning her into a baby wetting her pants and needing an adult diaper. Then a different vaccine from the jar of green sticky stuff resulted in memory loss, which, thankfully, was only short-term. The audience suggested notes tied in perfectly, giving them many moments of laughter.

This was followed by the Clap Game, which saw three stories evolving as each pair tried to steal a line from another team. Chris Luxon appeared in bozo clown boots, monsters had trouble scaring children, and bank staff had difficulty staying awake.

Next was the Dating Game with some weird suggestions from the audience. Kathy became Dolly Parton, Sally had multiple personalities, and Ryan took on the strange hobby of making ponchos from road kill.

Steve, a shy, stuttering chicken slaughterman from Tauranga, arrived to ask the questions. It turned out that Dolly would play with him from 9 to 5, Ryan would take him on a long drive getting souvenirs (the fresher, the better) on the way, and Sally went from Martha to Mary to a man called Marven.

But the motorboating that Dolly gave the shy Steve brought the house down.

In a café in Paris, Foreign Film Dub ended the show’s first half, and the audience replenished their drinks and made a bathroom stop before getting back into their seats for a surprise performance from the 16th Ave actor, barman David. His solo monologue entertained everyone before the Honest Liars ran back onstage.

Ryan and Brett, from Tesla, had to face the questions in Press Conference as they navigated their way through being caught out with batteries, the real cause of Covid. Questions came from players and the audience alike, and the lads did well with political answers but finally guessed who they were and what they were charged with.

The game The Cube had four players, all doing four individual, amusing scenes. The suggestions given were:

Brett and Kathy = Square dancing husband.
Kathy and Steve = My mum.
Steve and Kelly = Stealing a jar of pickles.
Kelly and Brett = You.

Bizarre topics, but the players brought the stories to life as they rotated around the cube three times. The laughter resounded around the theatre from a son attending stripper school, organising a bar mitzvah, medication causing hallucinations, and the Okay Corral square dancing competition.

Finally, the game of Twitch got started. This is where the players get their revenge on Jon. You can see from the video below they went all out with their twitches.

Jon was interviewing for a crisis manager at Tesla.

SEE YOU AT THE NEXT SHOW!

Thanks to players

Kathy
Kelly
Mark
Brett
Sally

Steve
Matt
Jon (MC)
Ryan

Thanks to:

Crew: Fee and Sue
Sound engineer: Anthony

Book your tickets for the next show and join the players for loads of laughs.

1^st Saturday of every month.
16th Ave Theatre.
16th Avenue, Tauranga.
Show Starts: 7.30 p.m.
Licenced bar available.

The Red Light Scenario

By hlimprovers | March 21, 2022

Even though N.Z. was right in the midst of the red light scenario laid out by the government, neither it nor the rush of omicron proved to be a deterrent.

Six p.m. and the Honest Liars had arrived at the theatre ready to set up and begin warming the grey matter for the evening’s performance.

But wait! The Green Room was sorted. The chairs were all set out, and the room was ready to welcome the audience. The fantastic crew at 16th Ave Theatre went out of their way to make the players feel welcome. So all that was required was to apportion the games to the players, fiddle with the lights, adjust the music and do some warm-up exercises.

An hour later and the audience began arriving. An excellent contingent crowd from the Matamata Dramatic Society who are part of the Improv-Ables tumbled out of their van. They excitedly made their way in, with tickets and vaxx passes in hand, to their seats ready for the show.

Players ran onto the stage full of enthusiasm and loud applause, and it was straight into the first game, ‘Scenes from a Hat’. In one scene, appliances written from the bible quickly fell into porn mode as one player tried to explain the workings of a dildo in biblical terminology. In another scene, it was pointed out that the song ‘Ding Dong the Witch is Dead’ is not the best song to sing at the mother-in-law’s funeral.

‘The Alphabet’ game was played slightly differently as two opposing teams took turns to play out their scene using the letters of the alphabet. The audience then clapped the loudest for the winning team of Sue and Mark, who had tried not to give birth in the car while on their way to, what turned out to be, a teaching hospital.

‘Hollywood Director’ saw robbers Kelly and Matt in a cemetery trying to steal Prince Albert’s spine but thwarted by Jon, the spine cleaner. A simple scene quickly ramped up when the director, Kathy, changed the theme to read like a late-night infomercial. Jon brought out his Glee Spray designed to dissolve any leftover flesh. And, when there was about to be a dual in the Regency version, the director cut it to become like a Western.

Audience participation is something the Honest Liars like, and having fellow improvers in the audience, was a great time to bring a couple of them up to be in the ‘Change’ game.

Fun ensued as the visiting improvers made Kelly and Mark work their magic on the alligator wrestling classes they were trying to set up.

Of course, ‘Pocket Note’ fell into disrepute when Sue, Kelly and Kathy discovered a bidet type contraption that gave more than they bargained for as they tried to find the toilet in the Matamata theatre.

See for yourself.

Another favourite where members from the audience are needed was ‘Puppets’. This time another two from the Improv-Ables jumped at the chance, and Kelly and Matt found themselves in quite the tangle. The antics of the puppeteering overrode the story as so much laughter ensued.

The Honest Liars couldn’t let the opportunity go by and invited members of the Improv-Ables to play a game. They were caught on the spot but rose to the occasion as they played a fun rendition of the ‘Gibberish’ game.

The last game of the evening was ‘Themed Restaurant’, and the diners, Kim and Berno, came up from the audience to celebrate their divorce in the Dentist themed restaurant. Minty water was served as bibs and glasses were put on before the main meal was followed by tooth extractions.

To round off the evening, The Honest Liars acknowledge two faithful fans who have been to every show, Colleen and John, with a group photo.

Winding down afterwards with the group from Matamata finished the night off well with still enough time to head off to the local pub for a quiet drink and debrief.

Thanks to players

Kathy
Kelly
Sue

Mark
Matt
Jon

Thanks to the Crew: Fee and Sally

The next show on the Black Box Stage is on Saturday April 2nd 7.30 pm

Book your tickets and join the players for loads of laughs.

1^st Saturday of every month.
16th Ave Theatre.
16th Avenue, Tauranga.
Show Starts: 7.30 p.m.
Licenced bar available.

The Honest Liars Are Back!

By hlimprovers | July 15, 2020

FINALLY! The Honest Liars were back at the Jam Factory giving a show to an appreciative audience.

Players were eager to get into the games and got to the venue in plenty of time to begin warming up. An hour later the crew arrived to put out the signs, sort the sound system and set up cameras.

It seemed that the audience members were also eager beavers as they started coming in through the doors 45 minutes prior to curtain. Mind you, some did have to duck back out again when they discovered they were able to bring wine. Yes, the Jam Factory was back in business.

A slight change to the line-up at the get-go saw Kathy come on stage to do a short stand-up comedy routine. Not only did she warm the crowd up but it certainly impressed the audience when, after she’d finished, Melissa announced that this was Kathy’s first time doing stand-up. Needless to say, she got an extra rousing applause.

Then the games began.

‘Out of the Hat’ gave the players the chance to step forward with a one-liner. Perhaps the best was in the scene “Inappropriate thing to say when meeting your mother-in-law for the first time” when Brett said “Ooo, looks like I chose wrong” and indicated walking off with the MIL.

After a game of ‘Questions’ which saw the players in a funeral parlour debating what to do with the ashes it was time for ‘4-Ways to Die’. The audience managed to come up with death ideas from “snake bite” to “death by lollies” and other absurdities in between.

Marching right on through another couple of games the players then showed their comedic skills with ‘Hollywood Director’. This saw Kim as the frustrated movie director trying to get the ‘actors’ to get dramatic in the audience’s suggested location of the wall at the Mexico border. The director decided it wasn’t good enough and so changed the genre to a Musical, followed soon after to Shakespearean style. It became apparent that the whole thing was a disaster and so as a final attempt to rescue the movie, the director decided the actors needed to go back to acting school.

It wasn’t long before the favourite game of ‘Pocket Note’ was played with brilliant suggestions from the audience providing the usual hilarious sentences that the players had to weave into the scene. The hot pools in Rotorua provided the three players with a great place to get to know each other with Mark’s pick-up line (courtesy of the audience) being “Is it really that big?” setting the tone!

More games followed and then it was the turn of the audience. That’s right, members of the audience were asked to partake in the games and brave people volunteered after a bit of encouragement.

The game of ‘Sound Effects’ brought one courageous member up onto the stage where she provided sound effects for the scene that was being played out behind the bike shed where the players were planning to bomb the school.

The next audience participation was another favourite – ‘Puppets’. The players did end up in some extraordinary positions all the while trying to keep a straight face and deliver lines to solve a conundrum that the team of pole dancing mother and daughter were trying to solve.

The night ended on a high for both the players and the crew as everyone heartedly agreed it had been a great night’s performance.

Thanks to all – you were brilliant:

PLAYERS

Sally Kathy
Brett Jon
Mark Kim Melissa

CREW

Neil
Fee
Kelly

Next show is on the 2^nd August so save the date!

1^st Sunday of every Month
Jam Factory, Historic Village
Show Starts: 7 p.m.

1st Workshop of 2020

By hlimprovers | March 16, 2020

The Honest Liars have kicked off the 1st round of workshops for 2020 by welcoming new players into the Level 1 – An Introduction to Improv Comedy.

The teachers, Melissa and Kathy and ‘helper’ Fee arrived at the local café to have the mandatory coffee, scone and meeting prior to heading off to the Jam Factory in time to set up the chairs before the new players arrived.

Keen new players, Ben, Gio, Claudia and Sue arrived along with a couple of Honest Liars Sally and Neil (there for the fun and honing of skills), and the workshop got underway.

Listening skills were worked on with imaginary balls being passed between the players as they moved around the room. And it soon became apparent that listening was paramount as a player wondered if s/he had caught a red ball or a red bull.

From learning to listen and going into the “Yes, and” skill it soon branched out into games.

Building on a scene, Ben and Claudia were on a Tinder date – the very first one that Ben had been on. It didn’t take long before it came out that Ben had been on Tinder for 10 years and this was his first date. Perhaps it was something to do with being a reincarnation of David Hasselhoff?

In The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Claudia, Gio and Ben had to give advice on how to greet each other with coronavirus – needless to say it wasn’t a pretty sight by the time it got the Ugly version.

By this time all the players had got a pretty firm grasp of the nuances of Improv. So when the game Pillars began they were all primed and some great storylines happened.

Ben and Sue as pirates went from losing a parrot and monkey to trying to find love where the treasure was buried. Most of the twists were brought about by the pillars, Neil and Kathy.

Ending the games were a bunch of hilarious Space Jumps. When Sally began wondering if she should leave her husband, Ben changed the scene to in a gym followed by Sue jumping in and being a ballet instructor. By the time Gio arrived the three players all had their arms in the air, a pose that was seized on and turned into four people changing a light-bulb … of course!

Wrapping up the first workshop and it was congratulations all around. All the players, both new and old had had a blast. So much laughing and great brain work, but the best part? … New friends have been forged.

Thanks to all the new players – you were all brilliant:

Ben
Claudia
Gio
Sue

Honest Liars players

Sally
Fee
Neil

Awesome teachers

Kathy
Melissa

If you’re keen to give Improv a go the next free Taster will be in June/July – contact us to get on the list.

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NEXT SHOW:

Next Show – Save the date: Sunday 5th April 2020

1st Sunday of every month
Jam Factory, Historic Village
Show Starts: 7 p.m.

NEXT WORKSHOP: TBA

NEXT SHOW: SATURDAY 1st FEB

ENGAGE US TO ENTERTAIN YOU

Tag: improv