Irony City

Thanks to Brian and Amy P. of Irony City for taking time to answer a few questions with ImprovPittsburgh.com. You can find more about their group at IronyCity.com.

IMPROVPITTSBURGH: When did your troupe form? What was the inspiration for starting your troupe?

IRONY CITY: Irony City was created in November of 2006, and the the current group has been together since July of 2007.  Our first performance was in November 2007.  Co-founders Scott and Brian first met and improvised together at Carnegie Mellon.  After graduating, they realized it would be difficult for them to both join the same troupe, and to join a troupe that shared the same improv philosophies that they did.  So they started their own.

 

IMPROVPITTSBURGH: Many troupes that are successful have members who share a same goal or sense of humor. What is it about the members of your troupe that, when combined, makes you successful?

IRONY CITY: We all started improvising -- and joined Irony City -- for different reasons.  One thing that unites us is that we all care about improving ourselves as performers, and performing the best improv we can.  Whether we are workshopping a game or focusing on scene work, we are always striving to be more honest, more emotional, more truthful in what we do on stage.  I think we all share that underlying drive.

IMPROVPITTSBURGH: Can you explain the chemistry of your group dynamic?

IRONY CITY: Well, everyone brings something totally unique to the troupe both on- and offstage.

We each have different styles, strengths, and energies on stage.  Off stage there’s a lot of mutual respect for each other going on, as improvisers, and as people.  I think we are each other’s biggest fans.  There’s also tons of communication.  We’re constantly reevaluating our work and goals as a troupe.  And we have a “group mind” about these things surprisingly often.

We’re also good friends.  We hang out a lot, and spend a lot of time just goofing around with each other.

 
IMPROVPITTSBURGH: What can an audience member expect from attending one of your shows?

IRONY CITY: There really is no one Irony City show.  Sometimes we're doing a short set as part of a larger ensemble of comedians, sometimes we're doing a full hour+ of our own stuff.  In these cases, the whole experience will be a bit different.
 
That said, we have an approach to improv that we think keeps our fans coming back.  We like short form -- we find it fun, and we think it's fun for our audiences.  We look at the constraints of each game as a way of freeing up some part of our creativity or subconscious that we wouldn't have been accessing otherwise, rather than as a burden to the scene.  This way, the games keep improving us as scenic improvisors as they keep our sets dynamic and enjoyable for our audiences.  We are constantly focused on the work, and I think audiences appreciate that.
 

IMPROVPITTSBURGH: Everyone loves experiencing the high of a great show/scene. Can you explain how it feels when things aren't clicking, or a show/scene bombs? What things stay with you after those experiences?

IRONY CITY: This is part of what makes improv so exciting to perform.  You not only have to liberate yourself from any desire to control,   but you have to be comfortable with it.  And then you learn to enjoy it.  So if we ever have a scene that doesn’t “click” we usually say “well that was weird”, and then forget about it.  Because that’s improv.

The thing that stays with us is something we repeat to ourselves before each performance: the people we are performing with are the absolute best improvisers for us to be performing with.

So if we succeed at anything it’s never due to one individual’s performance. It’s simply because we were supported by each person in our troupe.  

IMPROVPITTSBURGH: And what about when things go great during a show? The magic? What stands out in your mind as one of these moments?

IRONY CITY: Well, we definitely have our favorite scenes and moments.  But the positive energy we feel after a particularly good set is communal. There’s something so satisfying about doing improv that you feel good about, because you realize that it was entirely reliant on each individual’s active choices.

There are so many scenes that stick out as those moments where we are all just having such a good time.  The first that comes to mind is one that that I think Adam and Greg were in -- they were a father and son who accidentally end up stealing Santa's sleigh.  Just one of those great scenes that left us all talking about it for weeks.