Students find fun at ComedySportz

“Nothing to say this morning?”

“Well after last night I don’t think I should!”

No, this isn’t an argument, it’s an excerpt from a scene from ComedySportz featuring first-year student Jenny Walters.

Walters, an interdisciplinary studies major, joined the improv comedy troupe her freshman year in high school after working at the theater as a waitress. Her aunt, Christine Walters, opened the Richmond ComedySportz Improv Theatre in 1996. The VCU student, who lives in Henrico, said she has been around ComedySportz since then.

Starting in comedy camps for children, Walters said improvisation teaches her about accepting failure, teamwork and being more comfortable with herself.

“Improv isn’t all about being really funny,” Walters said. “A lot of it is about being real and finding comedy in real situations.”

In describing ComedySportz, Walters compared it to “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” The show is set up like a sports match, complete with a referee who gives points and calls fouls, with two teams of improvisers competing for points and laughs while taking suggestions from the audience for the scene.

The energy, constant change and relationships at ComedySportz keep Walters involved.

“It’s different every time you’re in a performance and every practice,” Walters said. “You just keep growing and changing as an improviser.”

The teams play various games, including “String of Pearls,” a scene-based game, “Raps,” an elimination-style game, and Walters’ favorite, “Five Things,” a game similar to charade. Walters said she likes the game because it is difficult but really fun for the audience to see how the improviser works out the clues and exciting for her to correctly guess clues she never thought she could.

As Walters entered college this year she encountered a problem because she had a class on the night of her usual practice. The first-year student now attends the practice for the high school league, which has allowed her to get back to the basics.

Tim Sinclair, VCU junior and ComedySportz player, has known Walters for almost four years. As a coach in the high school league, Sinclair works with Walters and said her maturity and experience benefit the high school students because she participates in the scenes while other veterans are coaching. He said ComedySportz is a great thing for college students to do during the weekend.

“With all of the stress and all the things you have to do with dealing with school something like this is such a great outlet (for) any kind of free emotion or free energy that you have,” he said.

Walters agrees that ComedySportz is a good weekend activity that rarely conflicts with school. Along with an average of four performances a month, Walters said she practices with her league once a week.

Last summer, Walters started a female sketch-comedy group called “Tongue in Chic” with her friends. Though it started out as something fun to do before everyone left for college, Walters said the group has stayed together and performed at the ComedySportz ImrovTheatre. The group, Walters said, is more adult-oriented but avoids crude humor and male-bashing.

“We try to have smart humor, which I think is a lot funnier,” Walters said.

Christine Walters, owner of ComedySportz Improv Theater, said she asked Walters and her friends to start the group to perform in a special sketch show and loves what has come from that request.

“They’re hot – very clever. I love the fact that it’s an all chick group doing sketch comedy in Richmond,” she said.

Walters’ aunt describes her comedian persona as solid with great comic timing.

“Most people want to be wacky,” Christine Walters said. “She’s very giving as a player and ready to make others look good.”

Though she loves her involvement in ComedySportz and “Tongue in Chic,” Walters said she plans to continue comedy only on the side after graduation. Walters, who is currently focusing on elementary education and hopes to graduate in five years, plans to be a teacher, though she is not sure at what level.

Journalism is another goal for Walters, who would like to have a column in a newspaper someday, either on the side or after retiring.