Good improv requires a lot more than acting talent. It requires intelligence, a wide-ranging imagination, split-second decision-making and an unfailing instinct for what’s comic in the human condition. Where Gavin Hawk and Ricky Wayne of The Dumb Show (photo, L-R) are concerned, it also means the willingness to appear utterly ridiculous in front of a crowdful of strangers. Whether impersonating Britney Spears trying to make up with Kevin Federline, a sadistic father and his horrified son playing racquetball, or two U.S. Airway pilots overshooting their destination by several hundred miles, Hawk and Wayne repeatedly aim for the dangerous heights – or is it depths? – of vulnerability, absurdity, insanity and just plain silliness. They’re not always successful, but at their best they find more humor in their unscripted hijinks than most actors ever find in the most celebrated of comic texts. If you love to laugh, you ought to give them a look.
This article appears in Oct 29 – Nov 4, 2009.