Want to be funny? Stop trying so hard, says Frank Fusaro. The Artistic Director of The Newport Firehouse Theater, located just "off-Broadway", teaches improvisational comedy and performs each weekend with The Bit Players. As word has spread, The Bit Players have been selling out it's audience participation shows. Fusaro, a Newport resident, has trained and performed at notable comedy houses like New York's Upright Citizen's Brigade, Chicago's Second City and ImprovBoston and was formerly a member of Unexpected Company before joining The Bit Players. Having to think on his feet comes in handy for his job as a substitute teacher at South Kingston High School
Since the beginning of this year The Bit Players have had at least one sold out show a week, what do you think is the key to your success?
We end our shows the same way every night: "The best way for you to help is go out and tell the world we have a show here every Friday and Saturday night. So if you enjoyed the show, tell your friends, and if you hated it, tell your enemies." And they do. We've had people from Philadelphia, California, Georgia and North Carolina who we're all told by friends that when they are in Newport, RI this is the show to see.
What can make or break a show?
The audience. I tell the audience every night that they are as much a part of the show as we are. We make sure they are ready to help us the entire night- we start at 8 P.M. and usually we are offstage by quarter of 10- but a smart, clever audience can help, a dirty one can be shocking, an older crowd can be high-brow, a younger audience can get louder as the night progresses. If we have people celebrating birthdays, anniversary's, anything, we try and get them on stage and do a game with them. Whenever we have a Bachlorette party we do a game called Serenade with them. So we find out some information about them and then Serenade them on the spot. And it's the best gift because it dosen't come with a receipt, so even if they don't like it they can't return it.
Can you do one right now?
What do you want to do?
Serenade the Mercury
We don't have a guitar or anything, but I'll try. I'm usually the bass line (Frank flips through a copy of the Mercury) There are a lot of adds in here. (Continues flipping while he preps to sing) It's to the tune "My Girl" : Oh Mercury, you are a great publication. I go to your backpage when i need an occupation. Knowing what's going around town is possible, and amongst all the advertisements I may even find an article. Oh Mercury, Mercury, talking about Mercury! Mercury!
I've never done it about an inanimate object before. It's usually a person, something with a pulse. But that's improv, you never know what the audience wants
Is that the secret to being funny?
Funny is giving the audience what they want to see. Hilarious is giving the audience what they don't know they want to see.
What do you mean?
One of our games is Bartender. We ask the audience to yell out a problem. A Guy in the front row yells out " You have hemorrhoids!" The audience laughs but no one wants to see a song about hemorrhoids. So as the host I may say "Sir, i asked for a problem. This is not a time for your personal confessions." But then I'll take it, but i may change it to how my spaceship was hit my a hemmoROID or the new drug all the athletes are doing, hemROIDs. Or i may say "That girls skirt is so wide it must be a Hem-Roid". Get it? A Hem on Roids. I am just improv-ing here. You're hearing what goes on in our minds, but in a split second, instantly we go through 100 thoughts, and that's what we call A to C
What's That?
A is the suggestion, B is the link the audience never hears, and C is the end result. Say a Word
Negligee
Negligee. I automatically thought negligent, my mind jumps to this other place. The it goes to a scene about a father who has twins and love's one of them but dosen't acknowledge the other one's existence. And in the end we find out the father wears Negligee's underneath his suits to work. On paper this may sound creepy, but on stage it would be hilarious, because your giving the audience what they wanted and more on top of it
Do you have any pre-show rituals?
Being lactose intolerant, i try and eat as much dairy as I can a half-hour before the show to create a sense of urgency. The Audience thinks "Man, he is a ball of energy. He won't stop moving. He's so quick!" When really i am just fighting off the urgent need to poop
How did you get into Improv?
I was in college at URI and a kid, Justin Lang, came up and asked me if i wanted to do Improv. I knew what Improv was, but I didn't know people performed Improv. I showed up to the second meeting and I was hooked
Do you remember your first performance?
I didn't do so much performing as I did standing and thinking of good ideas and never executing them. I was so timid to just jump onstage and start doing it that it took my parents threatening to never to come to a show again for me to finally step on the stage and start improvising in front of people
What's your greatest weakness?
Accents terrify me. And Physicality. I'm not a very physical performer
Does the ability to do Improv come naturally or not?
I personally think you have to have a quick wit and think fast on your feet and you can be trained to perform Improv. My number one thing with performing Improv is you have to be intelligent. Anybody can play down. But it's hard if your not intelligent to play up and keep up. Our shows are BYOB and often after a show, there's one or two confident individuals who come up to me saying "I can do what you do, everybody tells me I'm Funny" I say "Okay, make up a song about Cheryl the hairdresser right now". After one long akward pause I usually say "Thanks for coming, have a great night!"
A lot of my friends want to try Stand-up, but they won't take the first step. Any advice for funny people who are too scared to step on stage?
I have two pieces of advice. One, Know what you are getting into. Study, Learn. Comedy isn't just something most people can dive right into and be successful at. The Second thing- just do it. If you're naturally funny, it'll show, but the minute you try to be funny you'll lose your audience
Future Goals?
Get a Real Job. I love my life, right now, and if it paid the bills I would be happy. I'm going to have to get a bit more serious. Hopefully that will be in the audiovisual industry, but I'll never stop improvising
The Bit Players peform every Friday and Saturday Night at the Firehouse Theater. 4 Equality Park Place, Newport Rhode Island. Tickets are 15$ but get 5$ off if you mention the Mercury. Reservations recommended. 401-849-3473. www.firehousetheater.org
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