Let the games begin
ComedySportz moves to The Riviera Theatre
by KATHERINE WUTZ Intern

Ready. Set. Go! Buffalo's longest-running comedy show, ComedySportz, will be switching to a new location for its new season.

Founded by Randy Reese in 1993, ComedySportz will be moving from the Comix Café in Tonawanda to the Riviera Theatre, 67 Webster St. in North Tonawanda, starting at 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 23, and will continue Sunday nights at 7 p.m.

"We're excited to be at the Riviera," Reese said. "It's a beautiful, beautiful theater."

The group has been hosted by five main locations in its history, including the Collliseum on Franklin Street and Bradford Grill on Chippewa, both in downtown Buffalo. Reese bought the Comix Café in 2000, but ended up closing it this year after it got too expensive to oper ate.

However, he said the Comix Café wasn't the best place for their type of show. The café was more of a stand-up comedy venue, and the group had to work with a smaller stage, which limited them.

Though he said he's nervous about moving into a bigger area (the group generally draws 150 people a night, and the Riviera Theatre seats 1,100), Reese said he's excited about moving to the historic theater, especially having the stage space the group was missing.

"That's what (the stage) was built for, vaudeville," Reese said. "Our type of show!"

ComedySportz is a type of show performed in 22 different cities across the country in which comedy is turned into a pseudo-athletic competition. Two teams of comedians compete for points in a "Whose Line Is It Anyway"-type setting, where suggestions from the audience drive the different games possible. "It's not about sports," Reese said. "It is a sport."

The teams are made up of four comedians each, with a referee and an announcer, "Mr. Voice," who call plays, penalties and directs the games. The 14 comedians with the group have various backgrounds in performance, including a former Ringling Bros. clown, but they are all trained in improvisational comedy.

"We have about 150 different games, so every show is different," Reese said. However, there are some games that are favorites that appear more often.

One game played every show is called "Five Things," in which audiences take an activity like mowing the lawn and modify it in five ways - for example, mowing the lawn with scissors, not a mower, but the lawn is made out of silly string, and mowing with Elvis in a blizzard (or something to that effect). One member of the team must guess what the activity is by his or her teammate's mimed hints.

One major component of ComedySportz is its clean humor. The ComedySportz company concentrates on what the Web site calls parent and church-group appropriate humor, and as part of this larger group, the Buffalo branch of ComedySportz must comply with this. Reese, however, said he enjoys the challenge.

"Dirty comedy is easy to do," Reese said. "Anyone can stand up on a stage and say a dirty word, and everyone will go, 'Tee hee, he said a dirty word.' I think clean comedy is more challenging, but more appreciated."

Admission for ComedySportz is by freewill donation.

For more information on ComedySportz and its members, visit www.buffalocomedys portz.com.