Life Focus: Around Buffalo

If the UB football team's seven straight losses has got you feeling down, there's a different kind of sports game out where no matter which team wins, you are guaranteed to be up on your feet cheering.

ComedySportz at the Comix Caf?(c) in Tonawanda puts two teams head to head in improvisational comedy competition reminiscent of ABC's TV show "Who's Line is it Anyway?"

The players, four on each team, sport jerseys and compete in a variety of improv games where they must rely on their quick wit to act out scenes for which they earn points based on crowd applause.

The show isn't about sports. Instead, the comedy is the sport.

The crowds are dubbed the "loyal fans" and get to cheer and shout and even do the wave. A referee unafraid to use his whistle is the host of the show who calls the fouls and directs the games, similar to Drew Carey's role on "Who's Line."

A sports announcer named "Mr. Voice" dictates the play-by-play, and declares before the show starts that "if anyone throws something on the stage or distracts the players in any way...you will be tickled until you pee."

The showroom, adjacent to a cozy bar, is filled with candlelit tables where one can order from a large dinner menu served by friendly waitresses. Walls lined with autographed photos of comedians who have performed at the Comix Caf?(c) broadcast messages like, "I love it here! Best comedy club in Buffalo!"

One aspect of the show that is unique is its interactive approach. The audience participates almost as much as the players do.

For the improv game "Playground Insults," one member of each team engages in face-to-face insult competition.

Before the game starts, while the two players are in a sound-free booth, the referee asks the audience for a noun, an adjective and a verb. In this show, the "loyal fans" came up with kangaroo, loveable and hibernate. The teams then act these words out in a charades-like way for their competing team members until one calls the other a "loveable kangaroo that hibernates."

Of course this isn't the most offending of insults, it certainly wouldn't fly in a real playground insult fight, but watching the comedians try to guess the wacky scenarios that the audience invents is thoroughly entertaining.

"These people are actually funny," said Myrrhynda Nati, a sophomore from UB who attended the show.

The ComedySportz is proud to provide laughs that leave out the dirty punch lines and crude humor. If a player or even an audience member makes a profane reference, the referee calls a "Brown Bag foul" and the perpetrator is given a paper bag to wear on his or her head for the rest of the scene.

"Clean is hard to do and pretty much funnier," said Deb Spragge, one of the players since 2005.

ComedySportz, which is Buffalo's longest running comedy show, has teams in numerous cities throughout the US and overseas. Randy Reese, the comedian who started the Comix Caf?(c) and brought ComedySportz to Buffalo in 1993, often takes part in the shows.

Some of the players, who meet once a week to hone their improvisational skills, use the performances as an outlet for pent up energy acquired at their day jobs.

"It's a good way to cut loose and go crazy," said John Kehoe, a player who has been a part of the show for three and a half years.

Spragge agrees.

"This is my therapy," she said. "It's cheaper than a psychologist."

Because the show depends so much on the audience, with every new crowd and the variety of improv games the teams play, each show is different. Therefore there is no way for the players to rehearse their lines before the show.

"There are some times when you're like, 'I have no idea what to do right now,'" said Sally Thelen, an English teacher for the English Language Institute, and a ComedySportz player for four years.

But the players rarely freeze up, because they know the best ways to keep the scene flowing.

"Don't think," said Joe Piazza, who joined the team in 2004.

By not thinking ahead, the players simply let their talent free-flow on stage.

"The biggest thing in comedy is acceptance," Spragge said. "For the scene to go forward, you have to accept what you're given."

The show itself takes place in a relaxed environment where the audience members and comedians interact like old friends. The sign on the exit door sums up what the players hope their audience will get out of the experience.

"Thank you. Laugh again."