Laughing Stock: TCAF is back and better than ever

Tucson Improv Movement returns with its ninth Tucson Comedy Arts Festival from Wednesday, Nov. 1, to Saturday, Nov. 4.

Owner and director Justin Lukasewicz reminded us that a few committed TIM members even pulled together for a virtual TCAF during the pandemic. He laughed to think of it. “I ran it from my couch,” he said.

Last year, TIM’s numbers were still somewhat depleted, but they held a mostly local, three-day fest. Next month, the company will stage a full program to muscle up for a big celebration of its 10th fest next year.

Tucson fans familiar with earlier iterations of the weekend will find lots of changes for the better this year, in both the character and the quality of the programming.

“Right before the pandemic, we had really tried to make a shift,” Lukasewicz said. “We wanted the shows to be something people can identify with.” To that end, the company started workshopping show concepts such as an “Improvised Movie,” or “The Office,” or “Fourth Avenue (True) Confessions” The improvised murder mystery and true crime podcast “Spooky Girls” has become one of TIM’s greatest hits.

Having now had a year to run, all those shows have grown smarter and funnier, more polished and professional. Lukasewicz said, “We asked, ‘How do we really make sure we’re raising the quality, helping our coaches and making sure those shows that are going up on a Friday or Saturday night are high quality?’”

This year’s offers almost a dozen improv shows involving more than 20 improv ensembles from Tucson and Phoenix. There will also be two stand-up shows.

Opening night, Wednesday, Nov. 1, offers “The TIM Year in Review,” featuring two winners of top honors in intramural competitions over the past year. The “3V3” series involved elimination contests among teams of three players. A second performance comprises performers whose energy sustained them through the overnight hours of the company’s 24-hour “Improv-athon.”

The festival will also feature TIM’s highly popular “Big Wet Throbbing Queer Comedy Show” and “Carcajadas,” a Spanish language show featuring stand-up comedy as well as improv by both the Phoenix ensemble, “Buenos Viras,” and TIM’s “Como Se Dice,” which was Arizona’s first Spanish language improv ensemble.

Other Phoenix improv performances include “Truffle,” “Hustle and Flow” and “Birds and Broads.” U of A teams “Comedy Corner” and the “Charles Darwin Experience” are on the bill, as are Unscrewed Theater’s “Big Daddies” and “Comic Chaos.”

Lukasewicz said that TIM has finally returned to the onward and upward track it enjoyed before the pandemic detour. “I think we’re in a good spot,” he said.

With the TIM company leadership, he took the downtime of COVID-19 to assess his goals for the group. As a result, he says his perception of it altered a bit. Recently, he’s begun making decisions based on a single, overriding goal: “Is it fun?”

“People who do improv are more resilient, you know?” he said, going on to explain that improv is about agility. Whatever characters, ideas, objects or incidents the other players bring to the scene require the ensemble to incorporate them and deal with their imaginary reality. It’s an exercise in surprises with stakes low enough for skill-building.

“How do we play with it?’ Lukasewicz said. “Bring that philosophy to leadership. Things are going to go wrong, and even if they go right, you’re going to have a person that you have to deal with that may be a little more difficult. But barriers are not ‘problems.’ They are just something to deal with.”

And we can always hope that, in the end, they’ll be fun.

Tucson Comedy Arts Festival, Tucson Improv Movement, 414 E. Ninth Street, www.tucsonimprov.com, various times, Wednesday, Nov. 1, to Saturday, Nov. 4, $9 per show, $25 all access

David Cross is just kidding

David Cross calls his upcoming comedy show at The Fox Tucson Theatre “Worst Daddy in The World.” We doubt it. For one thing, he has a bankable sense of humor. For another, he has enough heart to donate $2 for every ticket sold to The Innocence Project. It’s an organization that works to free people who were wrongly imprisoned and help them get back on their feet.

Comedy is his calling, but writing and acting credits flesh out his paragraphs-long resume. Of particular note, we think, was a starring role as music producer Jerry Wexler in “Genius: Aretha,” a National Geographic series about Aretha Franklin.

David Cross, Rialto Theatre, 318 E.

Congress Street, www.rialtotheatre.com, 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, benefits The Innocence Project, tickets start at $42.50.

Other shows

Fox Tucson Theatre, 17 W. Congress Street, Tucson, www.foxtucson.com, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, tickets start at $20, Paula Poundstone.

Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress Street, Tucson, www.hotelcongress.com, 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, $15. The more-fabulous-than-life “Retro Game Show” presents “Family Fuss.”

Laff’s Comedy Caffe, 2900 E. Broadway Boulevard, www.laffstucson.com, 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27, and 7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, $15, $20 preferred seating. Connor McSpadden, comedy festival fixture and host of comedy “Mean Boys.”

Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress Street, www.rialtotheatre.com, 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 2, tickets start at $29.50, Chelcie Lynn

Tucson Arena, 260 S. Church Avenue, www.ticketmaster.com, 8 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 2, tickets start at $50, Jo Koy. A regular on all the late-night shows, Koy routinely sells out venues all over the world. His album hit No. 1 on Billboard charts.

Tucson Improv Movement/TIM Comedy Theatre, 414 E. Ninth Street, Tucson, www.tucsonimprov.com, $5 Thursday; $9, $12 for both shows, Friday or Saturday; 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 26, Improv 201 and “Finding the Words;” 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27, Improv Jam; 7:30 p.m. “The Soapbox” and “The Bat,” 9 p.m. Spooky Stand Up; 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, “Creepin’ It Real: A Really Funny Show;” 9 p.m. Spooky Double Feature (The Dirty Tees + Spooky Girls).

Unscrewed Theater, 4500 E. Speedway Boulevard, Tucson, www.unscrewedtheatre.org, $8, live or remote, $5 kids. 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27, Not Burnt Out Just Unscrewed (NBOJU) with musical guests Ryanhood; 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, Unscrewed Monster Mash; 9 p.m. NBOJU and The Big Daddies

This article appears in Oct 19-26, 2023.