We are kicking off September with an improv team that hare all about short form – Gämez! An improv team that started as a house team for Hoopla and over the years has expanded to be a team that performs at many festivals and even remixes improv games! All month, I will be speaking to team members Ryan and Charlotte about everything improv, on the road and so much more! This week we find out all about the preparation it takes for a show!

How do you warm up for a show?

Charlotte: We do the usual check-ins to see how everyone is on that day and then some high energy warm-up games including games to get us on the same page. Ryan introduced us to a great quick way of recapping what games we’re playing and who’s in what that involves a sort of hokey cokey style dance. 

How do you wind down for a show?

Ryan: After a show we like to finish with a Circle of Awesome between the cast. We go through the games and throw moments we enjoyed and lines we liked into the circle. 

You are a team that specialises in short-form, how do you keep the games fresh and new?

Ryan: We like inventing new games or finding new ways to play existing games. For example, playing classic short-form games but in the style of a specific TV show has let us explore some of our regular games at a new level.

It can be a very long form improv world these days – do you find it challenging going against these?

Charlotte: For us our aim is to make people laugh so we try not to worry about it too much, but I guess we also want to be showcasing the best that short-form can be! Short-form rocks!

What are your favourite games to play?

Ryan: I love New Choice, it feels like quintessential improv. And I love Options, which involves getting all sorts of suggestions and restrictions from the audience (genres, accents, numbers of words, letters to swap etc.) and springing them on the performers. It’s a really fun challenge. 

Charlotte: I love Written Lines! I always feel like I’m living my best ‘Whose Line is it Anyway?’ life when we play it!

What are the hardest to play?

Ryan: Options is up there! As is any game that involves messing with the flow of time, like Forward/Reverse or Backwards Scene. But I think these games are often fun when you can see the struggle in the performers’ eyes – it’s like watching a tightrope act!

You mainly perform in London – can you find it hard to bring in audiences when you are competing against other short form teams such as Comedy Store Players?

Ryan: I believe it was Steve Roe who said that live comedy/shows’ biggest competitor isn’t other shows, it’s things like streaming services luring people to stay at home. It’s never worth viewing other shows as competition – there is space for us all, particularly given groups tend to cater for slightly different sorts of audiences. 

What is the word that you get a lot as a suggestion?

Ryan: The improv suggestion trifecta seems to be Spatula, Dentist and Pineapple. We got Spatula and Dentist as suggestions for the same game recently and we all laughed knowingly on stage. 

What word do you wish you got more as a suggestion?

Charlotte: Sparkle or pony 

Where do you see Gämez in 5 years time?

Charlotte: Living in the Gämez commune spreading the word of short form to the masses!