Robert Rau and his fellow improvisers in the Family Dinner Improv Comedy Troupe perform just for the fun of it.
“A lot of us have much better jobs than improv,” says Rau, a seven-year veteran of the Baton Rouge comedy group. “People in the troupe do standup comedy as well, but we consider neither standup nor improv as jobs.”
Baton Rouge can’t support a full-time comedy career, Rau says. “We do this as a hobby, and we love the people we do it with.”
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Now in its 15th year, the Family Dinner Improv Comedy Troupe membership includes Rau, Mike Honore, David Vitrano, Seth Hartley, James Brown, Evan Rabalais, Jim Teague and Brian Gouri.
The group performs Friday, July 7, 7:30 p.m., at the Shaw Center’s Hartley/Vey Studio Theatre.
A typical Family Dinner Improv Comedy Troupe show features several five- to seven-minute sequences and games that involve the audience.
“Audience members don’t have to participate, but we do encourage it,” Rau says. “People show up not having been to an improv event before. We like to be a bridge to getting people interested in improv.”
Unlike many other improv groups, the Family Dinner Improv Comedy Troupe says it doesn’t rehearse for its improv nights.
“We’re the grizzled veterans,” Rau says. “We’re a show-up-and-do-it sort of thing. When we see other improv troupes popping up, especially at colleges, we know they put more time and effort into it. They definitely add more to the art form than we can.”
The troupe also presents movie spoof nights modeled after the TV series Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Spoof nights are held in the Manship Theatre at the Shaw Center.
On Sept. 8, the troupe will spoof Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, the 1971 musical starring Gene Wilder. Spoof nights require much more work than improv nights, they say, including writing scripts and, of course, watching the movie that’s being spoofed.
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But they make no claims of greatness—Rau and company don’t fret if one of their shows gets canceled because a great national booking for the Manship or Hartley/Vey Studio comes along.
“We fill nights they can’t fill,” Rau says. “But we get shoved out of the way if something better is coming.”
Entrance to the Hartley/Vey Theatre is on North Boulevard. Admission to improv night is $5. The comedy may not be suitable for children. For more information, visit manshiptheatre.org.