The Queen’s Varsity Improv team presented their first performance of the semester, titled TrailerProv Boys, this past Tuesday night at The Mansion.  

Prior to the show, co-captains Owen Kewell and Blair MacMillan said they were excited for the coming performance and hoped for a high-energy reaction from the audience. 

The captains got their wish. Despite the chilly evening, the room was packed with enthusiastic audience members. Throughout the night, they were quick to laugh at the team’s improv antics and eager to volunteer suggestions for scenes.

The team performed a diverse set of improv games throughout the night. They kicked things off with a game titled “Party Quirks” in which Trent Holmes played the host of a party while MacMillan, Mike Jankovich and Sammy Johnson played party guests with “quirks” suggested by the audience. 

Holmes was kept in the dark as to what these quirks were and had the task of guessing throughout the scene. 

As Tuesday was election night at Queen’s, the team was sure to keep things topical. Holmes, in character as party host, exclaimed to the audience that the first three people to walk through the door of his party were to be the new AMS Executive team. 

Soon after, Holmes opened the door and exclaimed, “Mr. President,” to Macmillan, who was acting as an intoxicated Teletubby. 

The team moved from game to game throughout the night. Some, like “Party Quirks,” were more situationally-based and showcased the team’s acting abilities, while others were more stand-up-based, showing off the players’ quick wits as they kept the audience entertained with chuckle-inducing one-liners. 

The team tied things off with a classic game of “World’s Worst.” MacMillan gave a prompt, such as “world’s worst,” leaving their teammates to complete the sentence. 

This lead to comedic gems such as a “World’s Worst Tinder Date,” in which the character set their Tinder preferred age to 55 and up before discovering their father on the app. Likewise, the game resulted in a strong one-liner from Columbia Roy: “Sex with me is like high school — everyone just waits for it to be over.” 

Following the show, MacMillan announced she was very proud of the whole team for coming out and bringing their energy, especially since one team member had recently undergone surgery. 

The team plans to host another show late in the semester, although a date has yet to be announced. They will also be competing at McGill University against other university improv teams over reading week.

MacMillan added the team is excited for the competition, noting Queen’s will be a unique team in the upcoming tournament as they perform in a style called “bar-prov”, which leans toward more of a stand-up comedy style of humour, while most other teams do more theatre-based improv. 

Overall, the Queen’s Varsity Improv team offered their audience an engaging show and demonstrated themselves to be in good shape ahead of their competition later this month.