Improv troupe goes 'nude'

Full Frontal Nudity presents new show this weekend

By John Benson

Special to Metromix

When you think about improvisational comedy, "Whose Line is it Anyway?" invariably comes to mind. In talking to improvisational comedy troupe Full Frontal Nudity, MadLab's resident outfit, the comparison cast member Andy Batt suggests may surprise a few readers but ultimately speaks to how this group operates on a slightly different level than its peers. Full Frontal Nudity's next show "Sketch You Can Believe In" takes place weekends Jan. 22 through Feb. 14 at MadLab.

Metromix Columbus talked to Westerville resident Batt about how the group approaches its comedy, deals with improv-comedy hating assholes and handles itself when a joke falls flat.

In 2009 there are plenty of improvisational comedy troupes around Columbus. What makes Full Frontal Nudity so unique?
We're pretty much the only truly long-form improv troupe in town. Meaning we don't just play "Whose Line is it Anyway?"-style games. Most of the time we try to craft hour-long-plus stories based solely on the audience suggestions. Almost like an hour-long play. I don't think there is anything applicable (to compare to) in the mainstream to what it is we're doing right now. I'd say the closest thing I can think of is like "The Office" in the improv style of the way they create their show, based around consistent characters developing a story.

Good God. An hour of straight of improv comedy? How do you pull that off?
Typically the hardest part is just plot arc. A good play is dependent upon its plot arc and when you don't know exactly what the plot arc is going to be, and you have to develop that plot arc in the moment, that without a doubt is the toughest challenge of doing long-form improv. Just having 10 people who will all kind of organically see where the story is going and can help drive it there and come to a resolution about the same time. It's one of the great things that we have with a group that has been together as long as our core group has been. We trust each other so much, and the classic group mind mentality really shows through.

So how do you deal with that one guy - or as we like to call him, "asshole" - who finds out you're with Full Frontal Nudity and then spends hours telling you improvisational comedy sucks?
Well, you know, I try to take the high road. And to be honest, I totally understand why people don't like improv. I've seen and done quite a bit of bad improv in my time. It's not a surefire thing. We say if we can get a good 70 percent success rate on our shows, we're feeling pretty good. I think if you were to take "Whose Line is it Anyway?" and put the games on TV that were edited out of the show - I promise there are a lot that get edited out of that show - I don't think that show would have been as popular as it was. It's certainly a hard craft to do, and I understand why people don't like it. But I think especially in Columbus now where we're getting more and more talented improvisational groups, you might see that mentality change a little bit.

In a nutshell how Full Frontal Nudity works is you ask for suggestions from the audience and you're on your way?
Absolutely. That's pretty much the basics of it. We try not to turn down anything as long as it fits into the suggestion of what we asked for.

So if I yelled out "testicle," "George W. Bush," "YMCA" and "rye bread," you could do something with that?
Oh absolutely.

Do you ever find people attending one of your shows hoping for a literal meaning of the name Full Frontal Nudity?
That's interesting. We did have one night where we had three inebriated women come to our box office thinking it would be some kind of a male revue type of thing. They bought their tickets anyway, they came inside and watched the show and loved it. On that note, an interesting thing that we're having for this show we open next week is we had a local nudist group contact us. They were very interested in finding more wintertime activities they can do indoors. They wanted to know if we'd do a private showing where they could witness the show in the nude. And we said, "Absolutely." We're doing a private show for them this week.

Finally, do you ever truly feel naked on stage?
Yeah, usually when something goes bad. I'll do something like take off my partner's shoe and shove their foot in my mouth - something cheap and completely retarded. The classic adage is a groan is as good as a laugh.

Full Frontal Nudity's next show "Sketch You Can Believe In" takes place weekends Jan. 22 through Feb. 14 at MadLab. Each show is at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $10 general admission, $8 students and $6 MadLab members. For more information, visit www.madlab.net.