The Big HOO-HAA! Ninth Birthday Show

Improv has always had a bit of a bad rep when it comes to comedy stylings. For whatever reason, it’s been unfairly branded as the lazy and easy form of light entertainment, and a ‘last resort’ for anyone looking for a night out. It’s a difficult status to come back from, but The Big HOO-HAA! are fighting tooth and nail to reclaim improv as the brilliant, difficult, and hilarious craft that it is.

The Big HOO-HAA! is one of Melbourne’s biggest and longest-running theatre troupes, and tonight they celebrate their ninth birthday in typically silly fashion. The players have their fanciest dinner party garments on, and even with over a dozen people on stage, only a small portion of the entire Big HOO-HAA! family is in attendance.

For the next two hours, the audience are treated to a plethora of short-form games and segments from the group’s masterful and extensive back catalogue, including favourites from the classic Whose Line days to long-form pieces made up by the troupe themselves. The show provides plenty of laughs for newcomers and improv veterans alike.

Inevitably, some bits fall flat throughout the show, but these moments act to seriously emphasise just how challenging this medium can be. Without the TV edits and the decades of practice, it’s easy to see just how ridiculous the ‘I can do that’ mentality towards improv truly is. ‘Yes, and’ is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to going in blind, and the gems of comedic brilliance are far greater than the small stumbles that barely pepper the overall show.

As well as the contagious energy and joyousness of the HOO-HAA! players, they are aided by their reciprocating and empathetic audience. The crowd doesn’t let a moment slip by, offering plenty of suggestions for which the comics can build upon and create hysterical tableaus. Whatever the troupe gives out, the punters give it straight back.

While tonight’s a little more special than a typical weekly HOO-HAA! gig, it goes plenty far in showing off the immense talent that the local improv scene has to offer.