An improv show no one wants to win
Duo to the Death was the latest improv show at Guelph’s hub for all things comedy: The Making-Box. The show featured eight pairs of improvisers who were aiming to lose sooner rather than later because the longer they stayed in the game, the more challenges and punishments they had to face.
Improviser Spencer Dunn explained the show’s concept to The Ontarion.
“Duo duels is a classic improv format. We kind of paired it with […] punishment improv, which is like mousetrapping—you put mousetraps all over the stage, or [a] bucket of death, where you have to put your head in a bucket of water for the whole scene. And we’re like ‘how can we tie the two together?’” explained Dunn.
Improviser and co-host of the show, Hayley Kellett, told The Ontarion what it takes to make punishment improv work.
“Doing a two-hander scene is very intimate and requires a lot of trust […] We were able to do such a highly competitive and highly aggressive show […] because we know it’s operating on saying yes, and friendship, and strong connections […] It’s going to be ridiculous and […] the audience is going to think it’s insane but everyone who is onstage is going, ‘Okay, cool!’ Like, there’s no real stress,” said Kellett.
During Kellett’s scene, she impressively lifted Jay Reid—her duo partner and co-host—up onto her shoulders and stood on one leg.
“There’s nothing we can’t do because I know that we’ve got a strong connection. So that’s where this show comes from. It’s not testing the boundaries of friendship, it’s confirming them,” Kellett added.
Kellett and Reid were exceptional hosts, their energy was so infectious that the crowd was on board and pumped up all night long. The duos entertained the audience with gimmicks such as Kellett and Reid’s Onesie & a Wig at a slumber party, and Josh Anderson-Coats and Eitan Gallant’s Law & Order judges.
Duos, who went through to the second round, had to perform their scenes with an added challenge. Kate Ethier and Andrew Root, for example, had to constantly apply lipstick to their faces and bodies during a three-minute scene in which Leonardo DiCaprio and Genghis Khan were roommates.
Despite the evening’s numerous funny performances, it was any pair’s game to win as the audience made up the judging panel and voted on a four-way tie for first place. Ric Mattingley—The Making-Box’s co-founder, sound expert, and in this case, some kind of ghostly tiebreaker—was quick to send Ethier and Root to the final round.
Ethier and Root were then sprayed with silly string, pelted with balls, squirted with water guns, pied in the face, and had their whip cream and lipstick-covered faces accessorized with clothespins—all for breaking a number of rules that were unknown to the duo.
Anderson-Coats shared his thoughts on the evening with The Ontarion.
“It was chaotic. It was tons of fun. I’m really glad I wasn’t in the last round because it definitely lived up to the round you didn’t want to be in, as can be seen by Kate’s face.”
The Ontarion asked the evening’s winners how it felt to win a competition they were all trying to lose.
“I didn’t know we were going to win. I love that we won,” said Ethier, who has been doing improv for over eight years.
“I don’t care that it was a losing competition, I like that we won the losing competition,” said Root, who has been doing improv for three years. The pink lipstick still staining his cheeks, he added, “We got into this because we like being the centre of attention.”
“It feels good to make everybody laugh, and if we’re the butt of that joke, then so be it,” said Ethier.
No matter how late the night got, how hot the room was, or how tired the performers must have been, everyone remained in high spirits. There’s something a little bit magical about how The Making-Box is always making people so happy.