180 winter gigglepants 181

Anyone walking by Calhoun building on every other Friday night might be surprised to hear loud laughter coming through the walls.

A quick peep inside would reveal a full house audience watching a team of individuals on stage – either mimicking the fattest man in the world, dressing up as Voldemort, or wearing a brown paper bag on their head. These individuals together comprise the Gigglepants Improv Comedy group, an organization on campus that performs bi-weekly improv comedy shows.

The group has expanded to include 20 students since founded by four students earlier in the decade. Each performance is set up as a mock sporting event with two teams and a referee. The Blue and White teams, forever rivals, must take care not to offend the audience or use trite jokes or they may have to risk the brown bag or groaner fouls. In the end, says the group’s coach and president, Colin Bates, the players’ goal is to make sure the audience has a great time as opposed to actually keeping track of what team won.

“We’re trying to do a service to the audience,” Bates, a junior studying cellular and molecular biology, said. “If they had fun, guess what? We did too. That is where we draw our power – from the audience’s reaction to us. If they are smiling, laughing, and talking, then they are having fun. And if it was worth their time for them to come out and see us, then we did our job. ”

Despite the fact that they are an improvisational comedy group, the members of Gigglepants meet for four hours of practice on a weekly basis to stretch their “funny bones,” so to speak. Colin coaches members with the help of senior Quinn Buckner, who has taken actual classes to expand his comedic skill set. The team’s practices include exercises that equip them with the tools that they need to react quickly to a scenario.

One exercise in particular, “convergence,” is when paired players blurt out the first word to come to mind and hope that their partner says the same word. According to sophomore advertising student Nadia Khalid, it is an exercise that usually ends up in laughter as opposed to correct guesses.

“One time, though, during the tenth round of the game the players who were playing achieved ‘convergence’ and I just remember everyone freaking out,” Khalid said. “Everyone was running around screaming because it’s so hard to ever do.”

However, when it comes to show nights, the players rely on audience suggestions to create improvised situations. From mock town hall topics to guessing miming games, the audience sets the tone of the next scene.

“Even though the audience provides the suggestions, that’s only a stepping stone,” Bates said. “Maybe [from them] you’ll draw on personal experiences or think outside of the box. What really helps is the other players too who put in their input and all of a sudden you make this collage that just works.”

Each player brings something different to the table, Bates said. With veteran performers making up half of the group, fans of Gigglepants have come to recognize the characters and voices of each player’s comedic arsenal.

“Colin definitely brings the energy to shows,” Khalid said. “He’s very movement-oriented. [Another player] brings the ‘what’ aspect because he becomes the craziest characters. You’re constantly wondering ‘from what planet are you getting this from?’”

Aside from bi-weekly performances, the troupe competes at college improvisational comedy tournaments. Recently, they made earned the distinction of being the fourth best team in the southwest college division at the Hideout Theatre’s College Improv Tournament in Austin.

Members like Bates and Khalid have come to see the group as a family as opposed to an organization. The troupe parties together and takes road trips all while working to create a new art form through comedy, Bates said. It is a close-knit family with a core base of fans that keeps them motivated.

To Khalid, Gigglepants adds a unique community to the university. She considers the fans as part of the group’s family and thinks that the organization definitely adds to the diverse range of interests on campus.

“We prove that everyone can find their niche here and that everyone truly can find their place here,” Khalid

story by Kathryn Price

GIGGLEyour pants off Climbing one last steep hill, seniors

Taylor Yong and Arvin Akhavan push to the end of a tiring 100 mile day into Farmington, NM. Photo courtesy of Kathryn Flowers

Climbing one last steep hill, seniors Taylor Yong and Arvin Akhavan push to the end of a tiring 100 mile day into Farmington, NM. Photo courtesy of Kathryn Flowers

Climbing one last steep hill, seniors Taylor Yong and Arvin Akhavan push to the end of a tiring 100 mile day into Farmington, NM. Photo courtesy of Kathryn Flowers

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Color PageColor - Size 9 - 1-34680: The University of Texas