Pimprov got a great review in the Trib today! Full text of the article below the picture. You can catch Pimprov at the Chemically Imbalanced Theater ever Saturday at 8pm, through the month of June.
"Pimps" doing improv are a riot
By Glenn Jeffers
Tribune reporter
May 16, 2008
Had a sociologist been in the crowd during "Pimprov," the comedy show running at Chemically Imbalanced, he or she would have found an unusual case study. And I've got just the title: "The Effects of Raw, Unapologetic Black Humor on an Unsuspecting White Audience."
Because for 45 minutes, I laughed. Flat-out laughed. But it was hard to figure out which was funnier: the scenes from this five-member troupe or the audience reactions, which fluctuated between gut-busting laughter and mouth-gaping shock.
It was hard to tell sometimes, mainly because "Pimprov," whose run was extended through June, was a slick piece of meta-improv built around a simple premise: A quintet of pimps took some improv classes at Second City and decided to moonlight. But the show was more than just flashy costumes, big hats and, in the case of ringleader Grand Finale (creator Marz Timms), a belt with a scrolling light display.
"Pimprov" peeled away like onion layers. One moment, the pimps acted out a trip to Chipotle, which an audience member suggested ("Chipotle? We must be on the North Side," Timms said). The next, Pimpin' Poochie (Keith Smitherman) pulled out a knife, threatening to cut an audience member unless he took off his striped shirt—the pimp didn't like stripes.
Of course, neither Timms nor Smitherman nor any of the other "pimps" (actors Jonathon Keaton, Mark Bratton and Skippa Hickson) work in that illegal trade. They don't condone abuse toward women—a portion of the box office proceeds go to a women's shelter. And no one cut the kid—though he did take off the shirt.
But it was fun to watch the troupe's "pimp" persona seep into every non-Pimp improv scene; Timms' Grand Finale had a hilarious turn as a flying squirrel afraid of heights. But "Pimprov" was hilarious when it brought in the audience. There's crowd work, and then there's pulling some poor guy from the front row for a game of freeze-tag, pimp style.
That culture clash was this show's greatest weapon—a perspective so far removed from its Lakeview audience that only one of two things could've happened: either the crowd would shut down or they would go with it. Luckily, the pimps were so over the top the crowd couldn't help but laugh.
During one game, the pimps pulled Andy Sabin and Mary Donoghue, both 26, from the crowd. In the game, Grand Finale and another pimp, Daddy Jenkins (Keaton), played Donoghue and her roommate while Donoghue played Sabin, her boyfriend.
Sabin sat in a chair with a bell. Whenever Donoghue did something he'd never do, Sabin hit the bell.
I won't recount every laugh here. But when Donoghue passed up a fun night with his girlfriend and her roommate, Sabin slammed on the bell. The crowd roared and "Pimprov" called it a night.
