Improvisational comedy shows are like snowflakes and ex-lovers: no two are alike. That unique aspect helps make ComedySportz Houston’s
A Christmas Carol: Unscripted a welcome departure from the incessant retellings of Charles Dickens’s seasonal classic. Here, the recognizable past-present-future theme is still followed, but very loosely.
“
A Christmas Carol was our first unscripted show, which we did in 2009,” says Dianah Dulany, founding director of the troupe, which has been making Houstonians laugh for more than 23 years. ComedySportz went on to lampoon other holiday standards such as
A Charlie Brown Christmas and
It’s A Wonderful Life. “This year, we opened it up to our fans to vote on what they wanted to see, and they wanted to see
A Christmas Carol.”
Six cast members provide the structure of the scenes, utilizing audience suggestions. For example, it’s been suggested that Christmas Present, instead of carrying a goblet, carry a bong. “And Scrooge does not always work at a ‘bank,’” Dulany adds. “We’ve gotten ‘a strip club.’ Once, Tiny Tim was dying of pregnancy. Sometimes we even pull in audience members, if it’s a fun crowd,” Dulany adds.
10:30 p.m. Saturdays. Through December. 28. 901 Town & Country. For information, call 713-868-1444 or visit comedysportzhouston.com. $8 to $12.
Saturdays, 10:30 p.m. Starts: Dec. 7. Continues through Dec. 28, 2013