A Live Dungeons and Dragons Comedy Experience

Vancouver’s improv comedy scene meets wizards, orcs and other table-top fantasy game mainstays in this monthly show.

The Critical Hit Show‘s A Live Dungeons and Dragons Comedy Experience features some of the city’s funniest folks making stuff up about quests, monsters and little folk. And all is, as per Dungeons and Dragons, decided by the roll of the dice.

Dungeon Master in-residence Eric Fell oversees the action  on the last Wednesday of each month (the next is Nov 28) at the Rio Theatre  (1660 E. Broadway at Commercial, near the Broadway/Commercial SkyTrain station).

Fell has said that, when putting together the show, all the participants had to be a comic first and a gamer second. This is reflected in 1) the comedy chops of the quick-in-their-gherkins cast and 2) the actors’ sometimes apparent lack of knowledge about Dungeons and Dragons minutiae. But confusion is quickly dispelled by knowledgeable gamers in the audience.

And audience interaction is vital to the monthly show, which has garnered a passionate local following since premiering earlier this year.

Cast members include Joanna Gaskell, who stars in the the comedy web-series, Standard Action, Vancouver Theatresports performers Allen Morrison and Shaun Stewart, stand-up comic Lauren McGibbon, and improv performer/writer Ian Boothby. The troupe performs as characters such as Edda the Elf Barbarian (Gaskell), Benoit the Anointed the Half-Elf Cleric (Boothby),  Grima Windwords the Human Thief (McGibbon), Spitz Luben the Human Wizard (Morrison) and Brask Hellbeard, the Dwarf Fighter (Stewart).  

True to Dungeons and Dragons’ playing-in-the-basement origins, the show offers off-brand sodas and snacks. A Live Dungeons and Dragons Comedy Experience is 19+ (no minors). Tickets are $6 in advance at the  Rio Theatre website or $9 at the door.

Article source: http://www.insidevancouver.ca/2012/11/26/dungeons-dragons-comedy-experience/