New brand of humor takes center stage in Inman Square

"You want waffles? Well, then stick your hand in the toaster!" shouts a gruff father-like caricature to his thirty-five year old infant.

"I want momma to come back," whines the 5'8", pony-tailed little guy.

Sound oddly funny? It should be. At Improv Boston, the weird and outrageous tend to lead to unexpected bursts of humor.

For the past 20 years, Improv Boston has been providing the greater Boston area with humor, spontaneity and a forum for scripted theater's new dashing and talented cousin _ improvisation. Located in Inman Square, where talented Bostonite and former original Saturday Night Live member Jane Curtin performed in the 1960s, there is certainly a legacy of comedy surrounding the cozy theater with the blunt red brick backdrop and well-loved seats.

Using long-form improv as their theatrical weapon of choice, the Main Stage show at Improv Boston's entire one-hour show is derived solely from one audience suggestion _ the question "What's your favorite thing to do when you skip out on of work?" Geared towards a younger audience, it wasn't surprising that the first and only suggestion was "sex." However, what was pleasantly surprising was just how much creativity the Improvers used with that one simple idea.

With the control and ease of a practiced surgeon, these performers picked apart the idea of "sex" to include: solicitors, cheerleaders, a shop-aholics meeting, two girl friends discussing a Cosmo quiz, a man falling in love with his floor, and many others. What's more, most of the scenes were fluid and believable. Between unexpected musical numbers to practically choreographed physical actions, the cast members were extremely well-rehearsed, if that's possibly for a wholly off the top show.

Another large reason for Improv Boston's success is the performers' self-confidence, not only in themselves but in their troupe as a whole. This leads to many daring comedic moments, although the ice-breaker at this particular show unfortunately had little to do with any of the Improv Boston cast members.

The audience really began loosen up when one of the troupe members picked a hula shirt-wearing, lee-toting, whiskey-swigging drunk guy out of the crowd who was too gone to even understand the rules of the particular game that the group was about to play. Whether the audience was remembering its own times of utter delusionment or was just simply amused by this buffoon, somehow after "El Jefe," as the drunk was named by one of the performers, got onstage, everything was just...funnier.

That short scene was just more evidence proving that improv as an art form is entirely unpredictable. As a result of this, half of the time in the theater is spent laughing, the other half waiting to laugh. One of the keys to truly great improv lies in the performers' ability to create interesting and alive enough characters so that the audience doesn't loose interest in the "down time" between laughs. Subsequently, the laughs are usually louder and the comedy richer.

The majority of the time, Improv Boston was able to perform at this level. One of the most successful scenes of Saturday's show was a scene involving two cast members playing incongruous lovers _ the woman wanted the man to pretend to be her Greek lesbian lover. While farfetched on the surface, whenever the man would say anything over the top (such as "My father was Odysseus"), the woman would get hurt and upset, complaining that the man wasn't taking her seriously.

The entire scene wasn't bursting-out-of-your-drawers funny, but the characters were so genuine, lovable and unexpected that the "down time" was as entertaining as the more clearly comedic parts.

The only times that Improv Boston did not wholly succeed at entertaining was when their humor became just a bit too experimental for the audience. A large part of improvisation is centered around taking risks. Some times greatness occurs, sometimes...not.

An up and coming form of art, improvisational theater is still grappling to find both its place in the theater realm and the world of art as a whole. With popular venues such as Whose Line is it Anyway? and Comedy Sports providing a more general sense of entertainment, Improv Boston is slowly making its way up the ranks. However, because it is so eclectic, it is difficult to provide an apt description of it under one heading.

There are two styles of improvisational comedy: one is short-form improv, like Whose Line and Comedy Sports, whose main purpose is to elicit laughs from the audience. The other is long-form improv like that of Improv Boston, which is a bit more obscure and focused more on character development and scene work. Both are sensational interpretations of comedy that will surely gain recognition as they gain popularity.

But the bottom line, at least for poor college students, is that being still in its inventive stages, improvisation comedy is cheap. There are different variations of shows five nights a week at Improv Boston, let alone elsewhere in the city with prices ranging from $5 to $10 a show. It's BYOB, and for a night of live entertainment, that ain't bad.

For more information contact (617) 576-1253 or visit >www.improvboston.com.