The summer Olympics may have bought us competitive surfing, climbing and break dancing, but the only place to see comedy as a sport is at Chorley Theatre on Saturday 16th November. Join us as we celebrate twenty-three years of fun and games this weekend at the theatre where it all started. Never seen a ComedySportz match before? The show sees two teams of comedians go for gold with gags and games inspired by audience suggestions. There's a referee on hand to ensure a good clean match - it's a family friendly show after all - with penalties for bad jokes. It's a comedy show where anything can happen and the ultimate winners are determined by the audience.
ComedySportz UK began at Chorley Theatre as an offshoot of the youth theatre. Chorley Theatre has steadily built a reputation for great touring comedy and recently expanded with a studio space for more intimate shows. Over the years, the show has played to sold-out crowds at venues and festivals across the country.
"We only ever thought the first show would be a one-off for charity. However, the players and audience loved it so much we decided to keep going," says Bron Edge, who started the show in 2001. "We played one game of Forward Reverse - which sees players having to go back and forth through time, remembering everything they've said or done - for almost eight minutes! The players brains were melting by the end of it."
One game that has become something of a tradition at these birthday shows is called 'Object Tag'. The audience are invited to leave items on stage for the players to turn into props for puns and gags. "The audience have put some wild and wonderful things on the stage," laughs Bron. "We've had people's shoes, a microwave and even the wing mirror from someone's car. Or at least, they told us it was from their car…"
The show is proudly family friendly and great fun for kids and adults alike. "There weren't a lot of comedy shows you could take kids to when we started but kids offer some of the best suggestions," says Bron. "We've now been going so long that kids that saw us when we started bring their kids to shows!"
ComedySportz are appearing at Chorley Theatre on Saturday 16th November. The fun kicks off at 7.30pm and tickets are available from the theatre's website, box office or Malcolm's Musicland.
Read all about the twenty-three year history of The Totally Improvised Company here. As always, we'll be posting updates images and clips from shows on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Don't forget to sign up to our mailing list for monthly updates on all our upcoming shows and workshops!
