Do you ever get the feeling that something is missing from improv? No, we’re not talking about a script, or a set, or costume design, which are also all missing from improv. We’re talking about beer, and for the first time in Brooklyn, that’s going to change, thanks to beer-drinking improv troupe and competition, BeerProv.
Even if you already love improv, you have to admit that beer totally makes people better at things, and that probably includes comedy. That’s what Jim Robinson, creator and host of BeerProv, discovered when he started in Toronto in 2010. Robinson decided there was a void in comedy that he could fill with something he loved – yes, beer – but also, gameshow-style entertainment where energy is high, actors and audience are connected and the crowd gets to decide who wins the title of BeerProv Champion.
“I loved the games and short form aspects of shows like Whose Line Is it Anyway?, and there wasn’t anything like that in Toronto,” he told us. “So I created a show, gave it a good name and put a creative spin on it.”
That spin, of course, is cheap beer, which the BeerProv thespians drink throughout their performance along with the audience (there’s no sponsor or craft beer focus here, just pay-as-you-go beers at the bar). The last one standing wins and takes a few ceremonial slugs from the BeerProv Mug of Champions.
Tickets for tomorrow’s show are just $10 and beers are pay-as-you-go. Though the show made its Manhattan debut last year at Webster Hall, it’s finally breaking Brooklyn soil and could become a regular gig at Littlefield if the turnout is good, Robinson said. So get out there and show your support of PBR-enriched performance. We could use a few more drunk comedians around here.
BeerProv, March 10, 2015, Littlefield, 622 Degraw Street, Gowanus, $10