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FRIDAY NITE
20
IMPROVS
year
EXTRAVAGANZA!!
Saturday December 12th Friday Nite Improvs will celebrate itÂ’s 20th year anniversary. To commemorate this mighty feat of longevity, an extra-special Extravaganza will be held at 8:00pm in the Henry Heymann Theatre. You are invited to attend this amazing and commemorative event that will include comedy, live musical acts, special guests, thrills and surprises!!
Event
At an event so special it can only be described as an ‘extravaganza’, Friday Nite Improvs will finally give its audience a little pomp after two decades of hilarious circumstance. For this special anniversary extravaganza show, FNI will temporarily move from it’s regular home in the basement of the Cathedral of Learning and into the more plush Henry Heymann Theater; and forsake our regular midnight hour on Friday and into 8:00pm prime time on Saturday.
Current Friday Nite Improvs host, Ben Mayer, will serve as master of ceremonies for the evening. Friday Nite Improvs will celebrate its legacy with live music performances, special guests, former hosts, a video retrospective, and of courseÂ…audience participation fueled improv comedy.
In attendance will be a veritable cornucopia of faces and personalities from FNI, both present and past. Friday Nite Improv alums from ChicagoÂ’s Second City, New YorkÂ’s Upright Citizen's Brigade, Saturday Night Live, The Andy Milonakis Show, Human Giant, Funny or Die.com, and NBCÂ’s 30 Rock have all been invited to attend. But the biggest star of the evening will be, as always, the faithful FNI audience itÂ’s self.
All proceeds from the special $5.00 ticket price will be donated directly to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Donations of dry food goods will also be accepted at the door.
History
The year was 1989. Driving Miss Daisy taught us how to laugh, and a young Bobby Brown taught us how to cry. But it was also the year that an even younger Jeff DeVincent was pursuing his MFA in Threatre Arts at the University of Pittsburgh. Jeff was just a man with a pack of cigarettes and a dream. And when that dream died, he needed something to fill the void. That void was filled by running an informal workshop on improvational comedy, affectionately dubbed “the Late Night Club”.
The group, perhaps seven people in all, met every Friday night to learn the finer points of improv performance. But as their skill grew under JeffÂ’s instruction, more and more people started attending this underground workshop. Very quickly came the realization that this informal improv jam session could, if one were so inclined, be a real thing. So Geppetto-like, Jeff decided to make himself a real boyÂ…er, show.
And so in September 1989, Friday Nite Improvs was born.
1992: Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. And Friday Nite Improvs is consistently generating a faithful and dedicated following. What had started as an informal workshop was now a regular Friday night event, one where the audience was the star of the show. The show’s format was constantly changing, as was it’s venue. Surprisingly, the dynamic nature of this early FNI did not deter it’s audience from coming back again and again. The constant change did, however, take it’s awful toll on Jeff. Weakened by the struggle of giving birth to this new and terrible thing, Jeff turned his hosting duties over to an erstwhile Christofer Vicent Potocki.
Chris can be credited with many achievements during his rein; to many, if fact, to list. Much of the current format that FNI performs today was first set down by Potocki. However, it should be noted that Chris (along with constant lackey Fletcher Kohlhousen) was responsible for the discovery of Winky - The FNI mascot who was found inside the same Shadyside dumpster where, only a week before, a severed human head was recovered by the police.
By 1995, Friday Nite Improvs had firmly asserted itÂ’s self in the local Pittsburgh theatre community. But not content, FNI wanted to prove that a rag-tag group of kids looking for kicks on a Friday night could aspire to change the world. Ignoring pleas from Doctors and friends alike, FNI set out to test the limits of human endurance. Thus began the idea behind the Improv-a-thon; 24 consecutive hours of improv comedy.
For five years FNI became host to annual Improv-a-thon events. Leveraging itÂ’s vast network of local performers, and calling on improv groups both nationally and internationally, Pittsburgh and FNI became the home of these marathon improv events. In the span of just five years, FNI and itÂ’s audience was responsible for tens of thousands of dollars to local charitable organizations. Acting locally, it seemed, first required total Global Domination.
Having successfully proven that small, underground improv show could rule the world, FNI briefly flirted with being the mastermind and producing local theatre. Moving beyond it’s origins in improvational performance, FNI helped local artists get their work seen by larger audiences. In the late-1990’s the FNI produced performance of the play “The Grand Tarot” was staged. In addition, FNI assisted local playwrights, actors, bands, and other artists expose their work to wider audience. All of this, of course, was in addition to FNI’s regular “Showcase” spot – wherein each week FNI provides a performance venue for artists who’s work is not necessarily improv related.
Having survived Y2K and performing more than 800 shows, Friday Nite Improvs is PittsburghÂ’s longest running theatre show. And, as far as we know, there is no other show in the world where every performer is chosen directly from the audience.
And now that FNI is turning 20, the harsh realization is that most of our audience wasnÂ’t even born when FNI first performed on stage. But as we look to the future we see a world where there are finally flying cars, man-machine cyborgs wage a hideous war on humanity, and where FNI is still seen every Friday night. Everybody will have fun tonight, you have our word on it.
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Dec 5 2008 8:00p my show _ ARMANI TEL AVIV
Dec 8 2008 8:00p my show _ BOSS NEW YORK
Dec 8 2008 8:00p my show _ YSL PARIS
Dec 8 2008 8:00p my show _ CHANEL LONDON
Contact / Directions / Reservations
This special FNI 20 Year Anniversary Extravaganza will be held Saturday, December 12th, 8:00pm, at the Henry Heymann theatre in Oakland. Tickets are $5.00 at the door. All proceeds go to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.
If you would like to make reservations, please email fnipgh_gmail.com
For general questions, please emailfnihost_gmail.com
The Henry Heymann theatre is located in the bottom floor of the Stephen Foster building (attached to the Cathedral of Learning, Forbes Ave side) in Oakland.
©Friday Nite Improvs 1989-2009 All rights (to all things comedy) carefully reserved and preserved.
