By Lori BODNAR, intern

ComedySportz is a family-friendly comedy show with improv comedy played as a sport. Like is commonly found in sports, two teams – blue and red – compete against each other. There is even a referee who keeps points and can call fouls, such as the “groaner” foul if a joke is too “punny” or the “brown bag foul” when comedians or audience members have to put a brown grocery bag over their heads if they approach the boundaries of good taste in the family-friendly event.

The audience is asked to participate – lending to the unpredicatability of the show – guaranteeing hilarious fun. On the evening of Jan. 11 the Crescenta Valley High School MacDonald Auditorium hosted a ComedySportz match between alumni and current CVHS ComedySportz members. There were four people on each team. One of the alumni team members, Keeley Gibson, attended Crescenta Valley High School for her freshman year and was on the ComedySportz team, but she moved out-of-state in her sophomore year. Though she had moved, she earned a spot on the CVHS alumni team, even flying in for the contest. She was captain for the first half of the match.

After intermission, another four members populated each team. Alumni team members included Carter Thomas, Matt Bomar, Aidan Perry, Camille Gibney, Emily Perkins and Zach Timson. Teacher Gavin Hall coaches the high school ComedySportz team. The recent ComedySportz match was well-attended and was a great place for family and friends to get together and have a good laugh. 

Some of the improv sketches included “My Movie, My Movie, My Movie,” when the team would suggest movie names and taglines that started with a certain letter and then, if the referee liked it, the entire team would act out the pretend “movie” clip. Another favorite was when the team members borrowed three phones from the audience and acted out a scene; however, they could only speak words found in texts from the audience members’ phones.

The final score of the night was 28 to 27, with the blue varsity CVHS team beating by one point the red alumni team.   

The next ComedySportz match is Thursday, Jan. 24 for the freshmen teams.  The varsity match is Feb. 1 from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in the Underground Theater, 2900 Community Ave. in La Crescenta. Admission is $5 for students, $10 for adults.