Comedy Sportz’s Halloween Match

A+collage+of+notable+moments+from+the+game+as+well+as+Mission+Viejo%E2%80%99s+poster+advertising+it%0A%0APhotos+courtesy+of%3A%0APictures%3A+Summer+Perry%0APoster%3A+%40mvhscomedysportz+on+Instagram%0AAll+photos+are+collaged+together+and+edited+in+PicsArt+by+Summer+Perry%2F

A collage of notable moments from the game as well as Mission Viejo’s poster advertising it Photos courtesy of: Pictures: Summer Perry Poster: @mvhscomedysportz on Instagram All photos are collaged together and edited in PicsArt by Summer Perry/

Nadia Khazei and Summer Perry

CdM’s ComedySportz High School League team had its first match of the year against Mission Viejo High School as the team captains led their team to their opposition’s high school for an away game Friday, October 14th.
The Halloween spirit was felt immediately after entering Mission Viejo’s PAT. Themed for the season, the team of improvists had decked it to the nines, featuring a headless man, dangling bodies, cobwebs, and ghostly lights dangling from a tri-folded backdrop. The school had even sponsored a raffle for a pumpkin, which CdM teammate Max Fournier’s younger sister won.
Rehearsals and preparations for the game began promptly at 6:00 pm with the arrival of the match’s referee, Michael. Warm-ups for the first-act teams began as the tech booth and audience prepared. At 7:00 pm, Michael blew his whistle numerous times to gain their attention, signaling the beginning of the match. The names and chosen nicknames of the playing improvists were read out by the announcer as they emerged from backstage, each reveal being punctuated with a funny movement.
Both teams eagerly stepped up for What You Got?, a game similar to a riff-off from the 2012 movie Pitch Perfect. In this game, players are given a subject suggested by the audience and have to come up with something in reference to that subject that matches the beat. If any of the players’ answers don’t make sense to or are not enjoyed by the audience or referee, they are rotated out and the next player in line is called up. The game continues until one team runs out of players, signaling a loss which, in this instance, was CdM.
The next games, Compression and Spelling Bee, were played and voted on by the audience with their cheers, eventually giving the win to Mission Viejo. They reached the same verdict for the next pair of games, Chain Murder and Silent Tension. The final game, which both teams played together, was Object Freeze, the score at the end favoring Mission Viejo once again.
After intermission, the match started up again with Town Hall. This game involves the players dispersing into the audience to vote for a specific topic the audience and referee suggest, this game involving the inclusion of dogs in the fictional town. Team captain, Emmett ‘The Big E’ Eilers thought that, “[Mission Viejo’s] rendition of Town Hall [where] they did a scenario of were-dog…was really funny…”
The following games, New Choice and The Dating Game, also resulted in a vote for Mission Viejo. Pavlov and Four Square reached the same verdict, but CdM’s performance was not forgotten. Rachel Bolich, a junior at MVHS, told Trident that “[her] favorite part of the match was definitely Four Square,” and that, “watching CdM play Four Square was very fun.” Four Square consists of four separate scenes which are rotated through by the referee, all widely different and unique from each other, in order to create a sense of whiplash and extreme changes in tone. Two players are performing at a time, though each player performs in two different scenes as the ‘box’ is rotated.
Finishing off the night was a technical difficulty, which shifted the closing game to be changed to Garth, a pun game that takes audience suggestions of celebrity names that players can make puns out of. Notable crowd favorites were “Harry Daughter” for Harry Potter and “Ten Wilson” for Glen Wilson.
Despite a strong finish, the match ultimately ended in a loss for CdM; however, senior and returning member Kate
“The Great” Taricani was not saddened. “It’s never competitive,” she says. “We’re all just there to have fun and entertain.”
Regardless of the final score, the match was seen as a success and marks the beginning of a busy and comedic year for the CdM team.