The Cal cafeteria hosts a special gem on Wednesday nights: ComedySportz, an improv standup comedy game designed to make you die of laughter as students and occasionally teachers bounce off puns, jokes, and one-liners across the stage. On April 10, ComedySportz hosted the annual Teachers v. Students game, and much of Cal’s student body showed up at 7 sharp to see their favorite teachers compete against their friends. Reffed by Phil, husband of fan-favorite ref Sylvie, this game was a treat.
In the first half representing the students, Seth, Jacob, Myla and Ruth came out to fight the teachers, Mrs. Billings, Mr. Nguyen, Mr. Palmer, and Mrs. Moore. The captains came out on the playing field and soon they gave an expert challenge on soccer, in which Jacob told the audience that soccer originated with the man Soccer. Mr. Palmer quickly corrected him with the actual name of Football, and Mr. Nguyen gave a not-so-subtle call-out of Brazilian soccer star Neymar who is infamous for his acting on the field. The teachers ended up winning the round, and chaos ensued when the teachers chose Dating Game for their next round.
The students gave a rebuttal in a game of New Line, in which a fishing trip went horrifically wrong with a talking shark. (Animals always end up talking in ComedySportz, somehow). Jacob threw the shark at Myla, while Seth ended up falling in love with the shark, and with the colorful line “I can’t hear, I’ve got my AirPods in”, the students easily won the round.
Going into the second round, the teachers led the way with Mr. Shubin, Mrs. Moore, Mr. Palmer and Mr. Nyugen. The students held the defense with Josh, Kerrigan, Skyler, and Isabella. Phil started off the second half with a town hall on choir, and both teachers and students gave their strong opinions on whether or not to ban choir. The teachers won their bid to allow choir and kicked off with a game of Emo Party. The students countered with a game of off-stage directions, with Joshua acting as a talking homicidal monkey with a penchant of threatening small children for bananas. Isabella took to petting the “monkey” as Kerrigan and Skyler talk to the monkey, which tells them to “run” and says they will all die in two minutes. Skyler demands to know what’s going on, and Kerrigan explains she has no answers because she “bought her degree off the internet!”
By the end of the night, the teachers won, but the students have a strong team for next year. A hefty thanks to Mr. Nguyen for continuing to support Cal’s comedy gold!
