Keep ‘Em Laughing

Improv owner Budd Friedman and his partner, Mark Lonow, are about to bring stand-up comedy right into your home--and you’ll be the comic. Look for “The Improv Comedy Game” ($18.95) this summer, in which players “start out as an amateur,” Friedman told us, with the object “to become a star.”

A toss of the dice will determine where a player lands on the board: On a square that accelerates one’s stand-up career (example: “You ‘kill’ at Improv. Budd and Mark make you a ‘regular.’ Score three points.”); sets the player back (“Heckler is funnier than you. He gets TV series. Lose two points.”); or requires the player to perform material from one of four categories--Cracks, Gags, Improvs, Groaners. Generating laughs earns additional points, pushing them up the ladder of success.

Players can try their own jokes or choose among the hundreds provided (and still being written). Professional comedians who have worked at the Improv are contributing jokes, such as:

From Steve Mittleman--”I have a really weak chin. It takes me three or four hours to change a pillowcase.”

And from Carrie Snow--”I’m reaching my sexual peak, and it’s lonely at the top!”