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Tag: puppets

Even a Forgotten Theatre Key Doesn’t Stop the Honest Liars.

Even a Forgotten Theatre Key Doesn’t Stop the Honest Liars.

The evening started with a small panic over the forgotten theatre key.

Phone calls and a quick dash to meet halfway soon got the theatre key back in safe hands, and the doors were opened. The players quickly got the chairs out, signage up, and then onto the stage for a good warm-up and run-through of the games.

Once the audience had settled in with their drinks and expectations of a good night, the players ran out and onto the stage to loud applause.

After the first game of Objections, it was on to the ‘Change’ game. Ryan and Kathy stood in line to get on the roller coaster. The conversation kept going off in different directions because as Jon dinged the bell, the line they last spoke had to be changed.

comedy improv the change game

 

‘Pocket Note’ saw Jon, Kelly, and Sally breaking out of a Youth Hostel. The scene was set as the two girls puffed away on a not-so-decent bit of weed. But they decided they had to break out because the food was only baked beans. At that point, Jon entered as the warden. As the story progressed, it revealed that both girls were backpackers who thought they were in a normal hostel and couldn’t understand why they couldn’t leave.

comedy improv pocket note

Another popular game, the ‘Returns Desk,’ had three players returning items they had no idea about. Operating the desk, Jon was responsible for giving clues, which he did very well. Ian’s Santa costume was green, so Jon started off with an Irish accent, saying, “Welcome to Paddy’s Festive Store. How can I help you?”

Next, Sally had a custard square made of mustard that she wanted to return, and finally, Brett pulled in the Grand Canyon to return as it was full of Skittles. The audience loved this game as it was through their suggestions that the crazy items were created.

To see an example of this game, go to our YouTube. In this clip, the item being brought back to the returns desk is an electric bus with a flat tyre.

Once again, Kelly made the audience laugh in the game ‘Sign Language Interpreter’ as she visually tried to interpret the conversation between Ian and Brett. Ian, the host, Mike Hunt, was interviewing Brett, Dr Dick Lively, who was creating an octopi Olympics.

Take a look at a wee snippet of this fun game.

 

 

At the end of intermission, David, the trusted barman, got onto the stage to pose a question to the audience: “Would you like to be in a box?” and with that, he expanded on the many reasons why you would even be in a box. Very entertaining.

forgotten theatre key

With all the Honest Liars present, the stage became filled with innuendos as the game ‘Sex With Me’ had the players stepping forward and declaring why sex with me is like brushing my teeth – yoga – and driving to work. For example: “Sex with me is like driving to work, it takes me forever to get there.”

The ‘Complaints Letter’ game had Ryan and Kathy writing to the Tauranga City Council to complain about the Lime Scooters. As the letter is written one word at a time, it can go off in all directi

ons, as you’ll see in the video below.

The last game of the evening was ‘Puppets’. Two wonderful people from the audience, Andrea and Kim, came up for this and quickly learnt how to be the puppet masters of Kelly and Brett. The theme of the story was James Bond being chased by a baddie down a mountain. It didn’t take too long before James Bond was nabbed, but he quickly got away, and the pair skied down the mountain.

comedy improv puppets

All too soon, the show was over. The audience went home, the Honest Liars unwound with a drink from the bar, and then it was lights out for the penultimate show of 2024.

Thanks to players

Brett
Ian
Jon – MC
Kelly
Kathy
Sally
Ryan

Thanks to
Admin: Fee
Sound engineer: Anthony.

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

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

book now

A Raucous Night for the Honest Liars.

A Raucous Night for the Honest Liars.

Another crisp evening as the players made their way to the 16th Ave theatre.

It proved to be another raucous night for the Honest Liars starting from the moment they arrived. After setting up the chairs and warming the room, the players jumped onto the stage for warm-up time. And so the fun began.

They took their laughter into the next room as the audience started to arrive. Getting their drinks as soon as the bar opened and finding their seats, it wasn’t long before there was hardly a spare seat in the house. The lights dimmed, the music was up, and Jon (MC) came out to applause to start the show.

The first game was Sex With Me—always a good start. Of course, the Olympics was suggested, and some of the statements were definitely outrageous enough to win medals.

‘Pocket Note’ saw Sally, Jon, and Mark at an amusement park, with Mark most upset that his lowly cleaning position meant he had to deal with a “code brown” and a defending mother. His boss, Jon, arrived to save the day, but with the usual twists and turns that only happen in improv, the offending poo was finally removed, and the mother ran off with the boss.

pocket note improv

Another audience favourite, ‘The Returns Desk’, had Gala, Steve and Ryan returning items they had no clue about. The only clues came from Jon, who was manning the desk. For example, as Steve walked into the store to return a vibrator that didn’t vibrate, Jon immediately said, “Any Erotic Experiences! How can I help you?” That had to give Steve an idea where he was, but his first line, “This ruined my child’s birthday party!” had the audience erupt with laughter.

The other two items being returned were an armchair that vibrated when it shouldn’t and an aeroplane on fire.

Speaking of aeroplanes on fire, in the ‘The Change’ game, Sue and Sally were two pilots with a burning aircraft. The MC constantly made them change their lines, so with parachutes on and off, doors open and shut, and cabin crew that went from being sexy to ugly, it was a game of twists. Finally, one pilot phoned (yes, phoned, not radioed) for help and ended up ordering pizza instead.

change game improv

After a short intermission, giving people time to order more libations, the ‘Objections’ game brought the audience back to laughing and fired up the players again. Discussing mortgage interest rates proved a great topic, but in the end, it turned into a chaotic mess of everyone shouting “Objection!!”

‘Complaints Letter’ followed – check it out on our YouTube

complaints letter improv

This next game had two brave members from the audience come up on stage to participate in the ‘Puppets’ game. They had the task of putting the players into different poses by which they could control the story. This time, the scene was a police chase through a shopping mall. However, the actors were in for a great surprise as the positions became more bizarre. Everyone was laughing so much that the actual storyline got utterly lost. See for yourself:

 

The show wrapped up, and the audience filed out, laughter still ringing in their ears. The players were treated to a well-deserved drink before finally heading home to sweet dreams of fun stories.

Thanks to players

Jon
Ryan
Mark
Sally
Sue
Steve
Gala
MC – Jon & Ryan

Thanks to
Crew: Fee
Sound engineer: Anthony.

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

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

book now

A Great Start

A Great Start

The first show of 2021 turned out to be a great start to the Honest Liars’ show year.

The timing was perfect as the players geared up with the show’s theme being Romance. It’s February – Valentine month, and so the balloons and rose petals decked the Jam Factory as the crew got the stage and chairs set for the night’s performance.

romance at the Jam factory

The players arrived at the theatre in plenty of time to get their funny bones well and truly warmed up before the audience began trickling in. And before anyone could say “Curtain Call” the seats were full, the show commenced and the laughter started.

Melissa warmed up the crowd, which didn’t take much as many were repeat devotees who already knew that the show’s success depended on those sitting in the seats.

The first quick-fire game, “Out of the Hat” had the players stepping forward with one-liners to topics such as “People you wouldn’t want to meet at a nudist colony”, “Unfortunate wedding night confessions” and “World’s Worst Oscar acceptance speech”. The next game was a new one for the audience. “Laugh Elimination”. One for all players who must NOT make the audience laugh. Turns out to be not an easy task.

With both audience and players fired up the games began in earnest.

“The Clap” game started the Romance for the night with Ian giving Melissa a Valentine gift. However, it was wrapped in newspaper, and turned out to be a Moro bar, not exactly the most romantic gesture. But the three teams played brilliantly with their topics clapping for the best words to continue their scenes. Finally, the last clap had them all naked, befitting for the occasion.

honest liars clap game

It was then time for the “Pocket Note” game, always a crowd favourite. The situation Melissa, Fee and Kathy found themselves in was at the Zoo. Melissa and Kathy were lovers who were looking at the baboons when Fee, their gynecologist turned up. The notes did provide a fair amount of hilarity as the girls wove them into the scene. Even “stop snoring” became the tattoo that was on Kathy’s derriere. And “I’m a doctor” was a very apt line for the doctor’s licence plate much to the audience’s enjoyment.

The great “Hollywood Director” game saw the scene played in different themes. The audience’s suggestion of gondoliers talking about their business soon had one of them singing “O Sol Mio” much to the other two’s disgust. The second version was a romantic comedy, and the third a Western with the gondoliers on horseback offering horse rides for whiskey and not a Gondola in sight.

honest liars hollywood director

Onto the stage came the Rookies hell bent on strutting their stuff. The first game saw Ian, Sue and Matt in “Alphabet”. The topic from the audience was a proposal which seemed odd at first with three players. But they rose to the challenge, and before long they were in a churchyard doing Gothic stuff as a thruple. They ended up in an X-rated underground club!

Their next game was “Space Jump” in which Kevin joined in to make up the fourth player. Sue began with a Valentine Day Jewellery store heist. When Matt arrived, the scene changed to a Vet trying to get a thermometer out of a giraffe’s bottom. Ian’s scene had the boys wanting to go out for pizza much to the healthy mother’s admonishing. Finally, Kevin put up a brilliant scene of a surgeon who needed to have the instruments cleaned. Quick as a wink, Sue began licking them and the “Oooooh’s” from the audience were quickly replaced by laughter.

honest liars rookies

Kathy, aka Rainy Mist, was the contestant for the “Dating” game which saw her try to choose between Kevin the clean freak, Matt, playing bone made bagpipes and Jamie Oliver played by Ian. When Matt said, he liked to shop for tartan Kathy responded that tartan in her country equated to flannel pyjamas of which she wouldn’t be opposed to if Matt had some. But it was ‘Jamie’ who got the girl in the end.

honest liars dating game

The “Themed Restaurant” saw Kevin and Fee having a romantic dinner aboard the Titanic. There was a lovely violinist, plenty of ice for their drinks a bit of listing going on and even one ‘waiter’ who wanted to rearrange their ‘deckchairs’. You can use your imagination as to how that dinner ended.

After the restaurant, it was time for “The Cube” another favourite, caught in this snippet:

 

Finally the last game of “Puppets” had the audience in stitches as the puppet masters, Leonie and Bevan who were brave enough to volunteer, worked Kelly and Matt into various positions as they created the scene.

honest liars puppets

Now if you’re an avid reader of these blogs, you will know what comes next. Once the show was over, and the lights turned off the players then headed off to the Mood Lounge where, this time, several of the audience members joined them for a celebratory drink to end a most successful night.

after the show

Thanks to the players:

Kathy
Kevin
Fee
Kim
Kelly
Melissa
The Rookies

Ian
Sue
Matt

 

honest liars testimonial honest liars testimonial

The next show at the Jam Factory is on Sunday 7th March 7 pm

Book your tickets, have a drink at Mood Lounge first, then join us for loads of laughs.

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

book nowNext Workshop – Jam Factory Sunday 28th February 10am to 3pm Jam Factory.

If you can’t make this workshop but interested in coming along please Contact us:

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