COLLEGE TAKEOVER

This year’s Boston Comedy Arts festival is proud to showcase three all-star college groups: Boston University’s Liquid Fun, Clark University’s Peapod Squad & Gordon College’s Sweaty-Toothed Madmen.

Each year these teams participate and compete at ImprovBoston’s College Comedy Festival & Beanpot Competition. We have watched them grow, graduate & even join the ImprovBoston community. It’s beyond impressive and inspiring to watch these often self-directed improv groups master (and we mean master) long-form improv in a year. ONE YEAR.

THE BEST FRIEND. BU’s Liquid Fun not only rocks the stage with a mix of short-form and long-form improv, they are actively involved in bridging the college improv community. Aside from making friends left & right at the College Comedy Festival, Liquid Fun invites many college groups throughout the year to perform with them. On top of that, they hosted their 8th Annual 24hr Comedy Marathon this year. The delirious night was full of not only college groups, but independent improv groups, ImprovBoston casts & stand-ups from Boston and beyond.

Current Liquid Fun president, Delaney Moghanian, is in charge of facillitating practices and workshops for the group. She aims to keep the “level of improv [the group is] doing on the rise.” Also on the rise? Comedy. Delaney firmly believes that “comedy is making a comeback. And laughing is definitely in!” For all of the couch-potato-YouTube-watchers, there is still “the counter culture [that] is insisting on seeing [comedy] live.”

Being a non-audition group, Liquid Fun reminds us about the community of comedy. “We’re all part of these collective ideas that make really good comedy,” Delaney says. Liquid Fun remind us of the reason we got into improv: the amazing friends, the fun we have on stage and the Redbull we used to drink to stay up for 24hrs.

THE INNOVATORS. Throughout the twenty years since Clark’s Peapod Squad was founded, the group has gone through phases of being mostly Theatre Arts Majors. Currently, they are mostly Theatre Majors. This is not the case with most college improv groups and it shows in Peapod’s commitment and skill. Over the years, Peapod Squad has won ImprovBoston’s Beanpot three times and is a two-time winner of the coveted MVB award.

At this year’s College Comedy Festival, college groups competed in a long-form set. Peapod Squad showed their innovative new musical long-form, The Music Man meets a Choose Your Own Adventure book. Having only recently started working on this form, their brave choice paid off.

THE CHAMPIONS. I’m sure Gordon’s Sweaty-Toothed Madmen were ecstatic about their 2013 ImprovBoston Beanpot victory, but it was nothing compared to the pride of the audience that night. Watching this unbelievably well-oiled machine is what it must’ve been like to watch Steve Martin before he was Steve Martin. You know you’re witness to something big.

At this year’s College Comedy Festival, Sweaty-Tooth (as they call themselves) was mostly Gordon Seniors and Theatre Arts majors. Akin to the Magnet Touring Company, Sweaty-Tooth is void of a single weak link and performs with poise, ridiculous comedic timing & deliciously British sensibility.

Not only does this college improv group impress the [radio edit] out of the audience, but also Gordon College’s Sweaty-Toothed Madmen have infectious amounts of fun on stage.

Come check out America’s future stars on Sunday SEPT 8 at 4PM in ImprovBoston’s Main Theater. Because that way...when you see them on TV, you get to yell “I saw them before they were famous! Now they’re famous!”