The definition of the term heckle is to harass and try to disconcert with questions, challenges, or gibes. Unlike many in the entertainment field, The Bit Players not only encourage hecklers in their audience, (the Bits actually thrive on the challenges and gibes provided by them), the Bit Players make their hecklers part of the show . This was very evident in Friday night’s performance , to the delight of the spectators and the hecklers alike.
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| The Bit Players in "Story, Story, Die!" |
Hosted by Matt Lindman, the night began with “Story, Story, Die!” a bit that involves an improve line which involved the entire cast and was directed by Vlad Tenenbaum. The rules of the bit are that each player must continue the collective story without hesitation, and maintain the plot and characters previously established. If, in the course of the story the player falters, Vlad has carte blanche to “kill off” the players. In the story this night we meet Kendra who is in Newport with her ball, all suggestions provided by our boisterous crowd. However the tables were soon turned as the players were killed off one by one. With only Dylan Eberle and John Mulligan left standing the storyline went into the realm of the absurd as we see Kendra at the beach, trying to conceal her erupting bowels from the man of her dreams. Kendra poops in the ocean which angered the Greek God Poseidon. Kendra attempts to reason with the God. Her attempt appears successful, as Poseidon comes to the conclusion that “Everyone Poops” and allows Kendra to live, as does Dylan and John, who were joint victors in the game.
Vlad brought heckles and comments of delight from the crowd with his mime piece, “3 Poses”. In this bit Vlad asks members of the audience to provide him with poses which he will weave into a story told only through the use of mime . Audience members Richard and Liz provided Vlad with the first two poses, and a third audience member completed the 3rd pose for Vlad with a suggested title of “The Gymnast”. (Click the link to the video to view Vlad doing what Vlad does best -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5PZK4MzpmY&feature=youtu.be ).
In “Radio Show” the Players had their fun with a heckler in this bit entitled “The Night The Guy in the 4th Row Died”. In this pseudo-horror story, in the darkened theater, we meet the menacing guy in the 4th row who agitates everyone around him, particularly the man seated behind him. As the two men begin their confrontation, 4th Row guy turns into a Were-Kodiac –Bear. The man seated behind him, laughed, saying “You call THAT a Were-Kodiac –Bear?” and then proceeded to turn into a Were-Narwhal (a whale-like creature with an elongated upper canine tooth). The Were-Narwhal then charged at the heckler turning him into a kabob. The moral of this story clearly illustrated “The Beasts Inside Us All”.
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| Vlad with Frank and Stephanie in "Bartender" |
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| John with Stephanie and Frank in "Bartender" |
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| Dylan with Stephanie and Frank in "Bartender" |
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| Matt with Stephanie and Frank in "Bartender" |
In the Bit Players signature piece, “Bartender” with Frank Fusaro and Stephanie Conrad as the bartenders, and Vlad, John, Dylan and Matt as the bars patrons, the audience again had the upper hand, (or so they thought), in providing the patrons with unique problems of which they would sing to their bartenders. The bartenders would in turn sing advice back to their wary patrons. Vlad was given the problem of Green Card/working papers. In Vlad’s song however, he lamented in the fact that he was an alien who was in fact one in every sense of the word, including being green. John’s car was a transformer and unfortunately killed off all of John’s dates . Stephanie responded to John, telling him that his problem wasn’t so bad and that he could even end up with a date with Megan Fox. Dylan was provided the problem of mushrooms. Although picking mushrooms in his yard and eating them resulted in a “high” of unimaginable proportions, Frank added that ala Super Mario, mushrooms can also give you another life. And finally, Matt’s problem was that he was “swirly”, which turned into being harassed and having his head continuously flushed by bullies at school. Frank’s response was two-fold in that he cautioned Matt to make sure the person inhabiting the stall before Matt should be made to flush. Also Frank crooned to Matt that “You can make them love you, if you want…”
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| Stephanie in "Telethon" |
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| Matt in "Telethon" |
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| John and Dylan with the Bits in "Telethon" |
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| Frank in "Telethon" |
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| Matt and Frank in "Tap the Audience" with audience members Kendra and Jason |
Two audience members were asked to the stage, the aforementioned Kendra (to which the Story, Story Die bit was about) and fellow audience member Jason. In this bit called “Tap the Audience” Kendra and Jason, when tapped, were to fill in the blanks with dialog to be used by Matt and Frank. In this scene about Dog Catchers, we see Matt and Frank creating a lucrative business venture in catching other animals and turning them into dogs. They did not become Millionaires, Billionaires, or even Zillionaires… No, Jason simply categorized their wealth in terms everyone could understand by saying “Remember Google?”
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| The Bit Players in "Musical Fairy Tale" |
The nights antics ended in “Musical Fairytale” in a fairly tale of the audience’s choosing. The entire cast of players then sang their own version of the story, Little Red Riding Hood.
The Bit Players perform improv comedy every Friday and Saturday night at 8:00pm at the Firehouse Theatre, 4 Equality Park Place (off Broadway), Newport, RI 02840. Please call the box office for reservations 401-849-FIRE (3473) And as always, it is BYOB!
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