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Elarah McField giving a presentation on bird mating in slideshow game. Other members get the chance to come up with scenes and it’s her task to explain the scene.
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Chris Johnson doing a short scene during World’s Worst game. The troupe members and audience laugh in reaction.
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Co-captains Luke Delorme and Ryan Ferrara introducing the first game of freeze to the audience.
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The audience cheering for guest speaker Jadelyn Hunter during Press Conference game. Hunter must guess their unknown character by hearing audience’s questions.
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Aiden Newman, Jase Gober, Jordan McGarity, and Lyla Carpenter playing the spotlight game. They have to act out a scene and each member gets a chance to say a monologue while the others freeze in place. In a Disney World parking lot, Aiden and Jase are two children very scared of Lyla’s character Jafar while mother Jordan tries to calm everyone down.
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Ryan Ferrara and Emmanuel Thomas playing the game Silent Letter, where they have to act out a scene, but they can’t include the letter ‘A’ in their dialogue. The scenario is Ryan is a lost child looking for their mother, but stumbles on alligator Emmanuel.
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Aiden Newman, Jadelyn Hunter, Jase Gober, and Chris Johnson performing the Taxi game. All enacting different characters, the passengers’ job is to annoy driver CJ.
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Sophia Schwartz and Gianna Edwards playing the Evil Twin game.
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The Last Laugh Improv Troupe bowing to the audience at the show’s end
Just after April Fool’s Day, the Last Laugh Improv Troupe held their spring shows at the Jenkins Hall Mainstage on April 2 and 3. Both nights were filled with energy and laughter, as co-captains Luke Delorme and Ryan Ferrara led the twelve-member troupe through eight different games on both nights.
The games featured the whole troupe, small groups or duos, with the audience getting to participate by suggesting scenarios, characters, and ideas.
“That’s the fun part, because you can choose to just watch, but if you’re also feeling goofy, you can bring that energy to the show,” said troupe member Jadelyn Hunter.
“Unlike a lot of other staged performances where there’s this invisible barrier between the audience and performance, with improv the fourth wall is just completely gone,” said troupe member Lizzie Floyd.
Who is the Last Laugh Anyways?
Co-captain Ferrara described the art of improv simply as “a bunch of people on stage saying whatever comes to mind and trying to make it sound funny.”
The Last Laugh Improv Troupe has been performing on the Armstrong campus for around six years, according to faculty-sponsor Ashley King.
This was Chris Johnson’s last improv show as a senior, and he left some words for his fellow troupe members: “Someone’s first time in improv could also be their first time genuinely embracing who they are. So keep doing what you’re doing.”
When asked what their favorite part of being in the troupe was, many members said things like “the inside jokes crafted during rehearsals,” “getting to bond with cast members” and “having a scheduled time to just have fun and not stress.”
Come Join!
Whether you’re looking for friends, wanting some laughs, or trying to improve your quick thinking skills, the Last Laugh Improv Troupe offers chances to experience all of these every semester.
The troupe will hold auditions at the beginning of the fall semester, where you can try out and join the improv troupe.
Even non-troupe members can take part in the improv experience — the troupe hosts weekly improv workshops, that’s open to anyone to participate in playing games or just watching. Follow their instagram page @lastlaughimprov to see what they’re all about and look out for updates on audition dates and upcoming events.
