UHS October Comedy Sportz vs. Mission Viejo

November 8, 2016

Caption: Mission Viejo as the red team and UHS’s Neiman Araque (So.), Amina Khelif (Jr.), Douglas Sun (So.) and captain Dylan Cecot (Sr.) as the blue team in the second half of the match. (Amanda Tran)

By LAYANN BASILEH
Staff Writer

University High School’s Comedy Sportz team competed against Mission Viejo High School’s team in the Big Theater on Friday, October 21. Comedy Sportz matches usually consist of two teams competing in various improv games and performing scenes while the audience members give suggestions and decide the winners of the match. This Halloween themed match featured many spooky and silly moments as Comedy Sportz put on another hysterical performance.
The match began with an opener between UHS’s new players Kian Akhavan (So.), Yoshi Bhatt (Fr.), Tomer Ronen (So.), Ava Soltani (Sr.), Cem Cizem (So.) and Sana Shah(So.), along with returning captains Charlie Fuerborn (So.) and Tejas Dhindsa (Jr.). Referee David Neale decided the captain who jumped the highest would get to choose the first improv. Dhindsa managed to win, but the choice of the first game was awarded to Fuerborn after Dhindsa took a second too long to decide. However, Dhindsa redeemed himself in a game of Foursquare, in which each of the players performed a different skit with the team member next to them. The referee asked the players to switch between the skits multiple times. The opener drew roars of laughter from the crowd as the players switched from finding zombies to arguing about frosted tips to being sanitation engineers. But it was quickly wrapped up to move onto the match with Mission Viejo.
The first half of the match featured UHS as the blue team, with players Ellena Eshraghi(Jr.), Kerri Luttrell(Sr.) and Francisco Lazo(Sr.), led by Corinne Alsop (Sr.). The team played a game of Genres, where the players performed a skit and then reperformed the same skit in the style of different movie categories suggested by the audience. Eshraghi and Alsop played sisters fighting over an electric toothbrush, eventually deciding to settle the matter with a game of rock-paper-scissors. When the game ended in a tie, they called over their “mom” (Luttrell) and “dad” (Lazo), who mimicked kicking the door down when he entered the room and hilariously shouted that they’d better not be fighting again.
The team then performed the scene again in a children’s show version that featured a lesson on the importance of sharing, a Harry Potter version that concluded with Dumbledore (Lazo) declaring that Eshraghi and Alsop shall fight to the death for the toothbrush, and a Japanese Horror version in which Alsop, Eshraghi and Luttrell showcased their growling abilities.
The first half concluded with Dalton Nguyen (Jr.), also known as Mr. Voice and in charge of tallying up the points, announcing he’d stopped keeping track of the game. He told Referee Neale to divvy out the 37 points as he saw fit, resulting in Neale awarding each team 37 points.
A different set of players took the stage as the blue team in the second half: Neiman Araque (So.), Amina Khelif (Jr.), Douglas Sun (So.) and captain Dylan Cecot (Sr.), who surprised the audience by dressing up as Referee Neale in a pinstriped black and white shirt. “I knew this would be our closest match to Halloween so I thought this would be the best time to dress up as him,” Cecot said.
The team decided to play Slideshow, entertaining the audience as Khelif and Sun made poses that represented various “photos.” Araque and Cecot took on a trip to Washington D.C., with the latter explaining each of the photos. The audience laughed as Cecot and Araque recounted taking a picture of Obama, Cecot proposing to a reluctant Araque, trying to kill him in anger, then finally marrying him, which was photobombed by the red team’s captain.
The match was closed with a round of Garth, in which the players made puns out of well-known figures names, such as “If Abraham Lincoln was into you, he’d be Abraham Winkin’” and “If Captain America raced Michael Phelps, he’d lapped in America.” The match resulted in a 58-57 victory for UHS.
The audience greatly enjoyed the performance. Student Cynthia Pewterbaugh (Sr.) said, “It was very entertaining and hilarious. I love seeing the players create their own characters, especially ones that suit their personalities.” Next month’s Comedy Sportz Match will be highly anticipated.

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