For laughs and more
Improv group Stick Horses in Pants has been serving up giggles for more than a decade in Colorado Springs, but it takes trust and some structure.
By Teryn O’Brien
Stick Horses in Pants, a comedy improv group based in Colorado Springs, started in 2004 with a group of friends who wanted to have fun. 13 years later, the troupe has grown into one of the most popular improv groups in the region. They also contribute in a variety of ways to the community they serve — because comedy, as I learned while sitting down for an interview with the troupe before their bimonthly show on a Friday night, is not just comedy.
Jared Harp, a troupe member, noted that the friends that came together to first form Stick Horses in Pants in 2004 either had a theater background or were just people who were hams and loved the limelight.
“We just started playing improv games and did a few shows in living rooms and basements,” said Harp, the only remaining original cast member. Stick Horses in Pants started doing more shows, and eventually, they were doing shows out of a school in the Broadmoor area. They also used to do shows out of Old Colorado City at The Loft. Two years ago, they began doing shows out of the Lon Chaney Theatre in downtown Colorado Springs on varying Friday nights, where they are performing these days.
While the original team of improv members has since dispersed, Stick Horses in Pants started doing auditions for troupe members in 2007, and they’ve harbored a variety of local talent since then. The troupe can range from 3 members to 12 — it really depends on who wants to participate and who fits well into the culture of the group. People come and go, but the team is a tight-knit group no matter who is involved.
Their comedy depends on it.
The Rules of Improv
Improv is different from other forms of comedy for a variety of reasons. For one, it isn’t scripted. The words and actions are entirely made up on the fly while the comedians are performing with each other.
“A member of the team is the audience,” explained Lacy Maynard, who has been a troupe member since 2007. “We rely on them for the spontaneity of what we’re doing. That’s how the audience know it isn’t scripted.” Maynard got introduced to improv at 15-years-old when her best friend took her to an improv show. She was immediately hooked and began taking classes. She is the longest running member in the troupe, besides Harp.
Improv is the only form of comedy where the audience truly gets to play a part in what’s going into the laughs, making it a very collaborative atmosphere that fuels the audience in unique ways.
“I think [people] like to come and release and have fun,” said member Joshua Walker, who discovered Stick Horses in Pants a few years ago on a Valentine’s Day date with his wife and decided to audition. “Improv in particular, [the audience] can participate. They feel like they can have a voice in that, make suggestions, and laugh along with our antics.”
The spontaneity of an improv show doesn’t mean that a lot of planning, practice, and structure is lacking, though. There are certain rules of improv which guide the performing comedians — such as one called “Yes, And…”; this rule requires that whatever direction a scene goes, the members must agree to that idea and propel it forward no matter how preposterous, hard, or challenging it may seem. The troupe also makes up their own games for the shows, as well as playing certain tried-and-true improv games that are well known throughout the improv world.
“The whole show is pretty structured,” said Chris Jordahl, who joined the troupe in 2013. “The only thing that we don’t really know what’s going to happen is what we’re going to say. Everything that we do, we’ve done before — just not the specific way it’ll play out tonight.” A Colorado Springs native, Jordahl grew up loving comedy, and he even moved to Chicago to follow a dream of studying at The Second City and someday getting on Saturday Night Live. While the dream didn’t quite work out the way he expected, he came back to Colorado and regularly performs both stand-up comedy routines and improv.
Understandably, then, improv takes a lot of coordination and cooperation amongst troupe members — more so than any other comedy.
“Improv really is the team sport of comedy,” Harp said. “So we’re relying on each other to make the entire scene and the entire show successful.” The whole troupe has to truly listen to each other and instantly collaborate if they want to make an audience laugh. Stick Horses in Pants practices every Wednesday night together to ensure that they understand and work together well, playing to each other’s strengths as comedians. It’s imperative that they know each other inside and out so that they can seamlessly work together on stage during the unpredictability of the audience and what may be asked of them.
Friday Night Fun
Stick Horses in Pants is committed to being a family-friendly environment, and their shows are appropriate for all ages. Lauren Walker, wife of Joshua Walker, brings their three kids to the Friday night shows. “For a family, it’s been a very fun and creative outlet for all of us,” she said. “All three of the kids play the improv games now at dinner…. Friday nights have become just a cool place to have fun.” Her kids are clearly excited to cheer on their father, and Walker loves seeing her husband blow off steam from work. The troupe truly acts like a supportive like family, she noted.
This supportive atmosphere permeates their shows.
The vibe at a typical Friday night show is upbeat and welcoming. As Stick Horse in Pants members walk out on stage, they immediately capture the audience with a strong comedic presence felt throughout the troupe. Taking even the most ridiculous suggestions from the audience in stride, each member somehow melds together scenes that range from the so-awkward-it’s-funny to the preposterously melodramatic to the unrelenting physicality of embracing whatever situation comes their way (case in point: using a chair to pretend it’s a toilet that you get stuck in or having to fall to the ground and get up multiple times during a scene). It takes real guts to fully commit to such unpredictability.
For two hours, the audience leaves their troubles behind, swept up into the alternate reality where anything and everything could and just might happen to those cracked people on stage. Maybe the audience even secretly relishes the fact that those comedians must make something out of the absurdity of their offerings, and watching the comedy unfold is akin to watching a crazy idea somehow take on a life of it’s own — in all the right (and wrong) ways.
Sacrificing their own supposed dignity and working together as a well-oiled comedic machine, Stick Horse in Pants takes those preposterous offerings and creates a magic only to be felt in improv comedy. The offerings of the audience combined with that creation from the troupe are definitely unique in the world of comedy.
It’s not surprising that improv is a growing scene in Southern Colorado. Harp noted that the Stick Horses in Pant’s fans have multiplied ever since the inception of the troupe, and there are other great improv groups in Southern Colorado, such as The RiP Improv — a group that performs in long-form improv format — a format where one suggestion is played out for longer scenes of around 20 minutes as opposed to short 4 or 5 minute skits.
The two improv groups have a friendly rivalry that propels them both to be better, although they speak to different audiences. Stick Horses in Pants is trying to collaborate in other ways at local theatres as well. “The more performing arts grows, the more the word is just going to spread for the theater and comedy scene here,” he said.
Jordahl performs stand-up comedy in the area, and he has definitely seen progress.
“The improv scene has grown, and the stand-up comedy scene has grown. It’s really cool to see that type of art growing in my hometown,” Jordahl said.
Improv for the masses
The principles behind improv can go beyond making people laugh, and Stick Horses in Pants loves to help people in the community learn how to use the in principles of improv to enhance their lives. Stick Horse in Pants offers private shows for parties and events. They also teach improv classes to anyone who wants to learn.
The group also does corporate trainings with companies to help promote a healthy work environment of teamwork, collaboration, and communication.
“The rules of improv are incredibly applicable to business,” said Maynard. The key factor to success in improv is listening and settling each other up for success.
“It’s not about me looking good and entertaining the audience; it’s about the show entertaining the audience,” added Harp. Taking those concepts into a business setting can really jumpstart productivity and culture as a team.
Stick Horses in Pants are also branching out into more middle school and high school classes this summer, which they are excited about. Troupe member Amelia Kronser-Cole works and teaches an improv class at Carson Middle School.
“Middle school is rough. They care about what how cool they look about 98 percent of the day,” she said. “But when they go through my improv class, you just see a change in them…. The kids that do the best at improv are the ones that are goofy that are made fun of because they’re goofy. They’re just a little bit out on left field and not everyone gets them.”
“For kids, improv is a paramount portion of them feeling accepted, feeling not judged, and that the ideas they can contribute are worthwhile at that really formative age,” Maynard added.
Everyone in the troupe agreed that it can be an amazing thing to see people of all ages come out of their shells and begin to realize they actually are, indeed, funny. People are constantly surprising themselves.
For Stick Horses in Pants, improv becomes an outlet for laughter as people unwind from the stress of everyday existence by watching ridiculous things unfold before them, it’s a tool to help businesses develop positive cultures, and it’s an outlet for individuals to accept themselves in ways they may never have before.
“The goofier you are, the weirder you are, the more socially unacceptable you are, sometimes the better you are at improv,” said Kronser-Cole.
