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UConn's Horse Lincoln improv group performed humourous skits and acts with the Purple Crayon Yale University improv group for students last night.

Crowd feels the 'noize' of improv

Improv groups Purple Crayon and Horse Lincoln thrill crowd

By: John Bailey

Posted: 12/2/08

As the days count down toward the holidays, exams trudge closer and free time becomes painfully scarce. But students who shut the books for a pre-finals study break Monday night were treated to a creative, off beat improv comedy show, featuring Yale group The Purple Crayon along with UConn's own Horse Lincoln Improv.

After leading the crowd in a modified national anthem - "Cum On Feel The Noize" - Purple Crayon opened the show with a half-hour showcase of well-paced, comfortably off beat scenes. Though their strongest jokes tended toward the crass (a fictional war with the Canadians, leading to the epithet "I've got a 'Nad on my face!"), they demonstrated an easy familiarity with the medium, despite their distance from home. Their scenes often ran long, but the Purple Crayon managed to keep the energy level high, with constant motion and frantic object work.

And while the set was peppered with the inevitable groaners ("You killed 30 clowns ... with laughing gas?"), the setup was always there, as elements recurred from scene to scene, seamlessly blending the couple who roleplays Sasquatch on their honeymoon with the governor who rented the entire set of "Les Miserables" for his son's production of "The Vagina Monologues."

"The Purple Crayon was excellent," said Neil de Leon, a 3rd-semester sociology and psychology double major.

Horse Lincoln was in fine form as well, demonstrating considerable growth since their inaugural performance at the beginning of the semester. They stuck to a more rigorous form than their Yale counterparts, using an audience-inspired idea-generating skit to spring into a wealth of offbeat scenes and charmingly dysfunctional characters - Mary, who nobody ever wants to touch, fathers who insist their sons bring home purple bowties along with A-plus tests and the incompetent "Bomb Squad Alpha-A," who are humanity's last, best hope for disarming a planet-destroying explosive

Horse Lincoln also wasn't afraid to throw out scenes that started to drag, using their own particular brand of energy to turn slow moments into comedic shots in the arm. The bomb squad may have flubbed the Earth Bomb job, but when a heart surgery's going badly, they get called back in - ready with their patented "blow and slap" method.

While each group performed an impressive set individually, they added a fitting capstone to the hour-and-a-half show with a joint, free-form performance, where both styles of improv hurtled together with entertaining results.

"I thought it was really great having multiple groups come and perform improv together," said Horse Lincoln MC Daniel Emmons. "You see tons of styles, and both groups get to learn from each other and grow."

Audience member Joshua Leibowitz, a 3rd-semester materials science engineering major, agreed.

"It was nice to see that different improv groups could come together and combine their unique styles," Leibowitz said.

And for some of UConn's other improv performers, the night was enriching as well as entertaining.

"[The show] made me excited and inspired to do more improv," de Leon said.