On Friday Sept. 30, No Laugh Track Required put on its first event of the semester, filling Sturges Auditorium with both a huge crowd and a ton of laughter.
The improvisational group, currently comprised of 10 Geneseo students, puts on a few shows each semester, typified by a cross between “Whose Line is it Anyway?”-esque games and audience suggestions. The results? A superhero called “Knot Man,” a TV newscaster determined that his colleague is going to kill him and a dramatic death scene performed in the style of a Mexican soap opera.
The group has entertained audiences on campus and at local venues for the last 15 years, and last semester they won an improv competition at the University of Buffalo against rival comedy troupes from most of Western New York. Though their performances are often side-splitting, co-troupe leader and senior Mike Lanni insists that the members of the troupe are not comedians.
“The goal is not to be funny,” he said. “The goal is to be real, to make something completely out of nothing.” Lanni said this is when they garner the best audience response.
The semester’s opening show was also significant in its introduction of three new members – sophomore Spencer Herrmann, freshman Louis DiPaolo and senior Brandon Defilippis.
Lanni said that they did a remarkable job, and the audience seemed to think so too. “Everyone has nerves when they first start, but they get better over time,” Lanni said. “You learn to stop trying to please the audience and start doing it for yourself and the rest of the troupe. Regardless, the new guys did really great."
On Oct. 22, No Laugh Track Required will open for comedian John Heffron, season 2 winner of “Last Comic Standing,” as a part of the Limelight and Accents series during Parents’ Weekend. Additionally, the troupe is seeking to secure funding to invite New York City-based improv and comedy group Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre to perform a show at Geneseo.
Each performance is as entertaining as it is unpredictable. Whether they’re singing an Irish drinking song, acting out ridiculous audience suggestions or applying the film noir style in inappropriate instances, every No Laugh Track Required show will possibly offend, probably impress and definitely leave audiences unable to catch their breath from hysterical laughing.