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| See what others are saying about Full Frontal Comedy: |
‘My Brain Hurts IV’ bawdy
By: Russ Simmons, Theater reviewer
The Overland Park Sun
Thursday, February 14, 2008 1:21 AM CST
Bold and bawdy, fearless and funny, the gang of improvisational comics known as Full Frontal
Comedy is once again showcasing its collective talents in an abbreviated fashion.
“My Brain Hurts IV” is a compilation of 30 plays presented in a fast and feverish 60 minutes. These
skits were born out of improvisations by the FFC performers and take satiric stabs at contemporary
politics and pop culture.
The FFC ensemble currently consists of performer/director Tina Morrison, Shelly Stewart, Carolyn Lay,
Joyce Halford, Joel Morrison, Paul DeMerchant, Ryan Seymour and Dave Martin.
Overhead, the company members have placed 30 numbered cards with the titles of each sketch on the
back. Taking cues from the audience, the players perform these skits in the order demanded by the
crowd. If the cast members can complete all 30 plays in the hour allotted, each audience member
receives a prize.
Naturally, contemporary politicians like Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney are targets of FFC’s wrath, as
are Wal-Mart, Arby’s and Carl Peterson.
All of the cast members are given a chance to showcase their considerable acting skills and comic
timing. Stewart as the most popular girl at the junior high dance, Seymour as “Funkyman” and
DeMarchant as a lustful prison inmate provide some of the show’s funniest moments.
Joel Morrison, adept at keyboards and guitar, is responsible for some memorable musical mayhem.
Audiences should be warned that the FFC shows are of a very adult nature, employing colorful
language and dealing with mature subject matter.
Open-minded folks will find plenty to laugh at, though. Plus, after only one hour, you’ll leave wanting
more.
“My Brain Hurts IV” runs through Feb. 16 at the Olathe Community Theatre, 500 E. Loula. For
information, call (816) 623-3557.
By: Russ Simmons, Theater reviewer
The Overland Park Sun
Thursday, February 14, 2008 1:21 AM CST
Bold and bawdy, fearless and funny, the gang of improvisational comics known as Full Frontal
Comedy is once again showcasing its collective talents in an abbreviated fashion.
“My Brain Hurts IV” is a compilation of 30 plays presented in a fast and feverish 60 minutes. These
skits were born out of improvisations by the FFC performers and take satiric stabs at contemporary
politics and pop culture.
The FFC ensemble currently consists of performer/director Tina Morrison, Shelly Stewart, Carolyn Lay,
Joyce Halford, Joel Morrison, Paul DeMerchant, Ryan Seymour and Dave Martin.
Overhead, the company members have placed 30 numbered cards with the titles of each sketch on the
back. Taking cues from the audience, the players perform these skits in the order demanded by the
crowd. If the cast members can complete all 30 plays in the hour allotted, each audience member
receives a prize.
Naturally, contemporary politicians like Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney are targets of FFC’s wrath, as
are Wal-Mart, Arby’s and Carl Peterson.
All of the cast members are given a chance to showcase their considerable acting skills and comic
timing. Stewart as the most popular girl at the junior high dance, Seymour as “Funkyman” and
DeMarchant as a lustful prison inmate provide some of the show’s funniest moments.
Joel Morrison, adept at keyboards and guitar, is responsible for some memorable musical mayhem.
Audiences should be warned that the FFC shows are of a very adult nature, employing colorful
language and dealing with mature subject matter.
Open-minded folks will find plenty to laugh at, though. Plus, after only one hour, you’ll leave wanting
more.
“My Brain Hurts IV” runs through Feb. 16 at the Olathe Community Theatre, 500 E. Loula. For
information, call (816) 623-3557.
From The Pitch
March 9, 2006
by Alan Scherstuhl
With a string of big-stage shows continuing this weekend, Full Frontal Comedy is leaning artward.
Late Breaking Comedy finds the troupe scaling back the charades-like guessing games that are the bread and butter of most
local improvisers. Instead, Full Frontal offers prewritten sketches and improvised scenes with a newshound's focus. They hit at
Bush and Cheney, Fred Phelps and port security, and — fantastically — South Dakota's abortion ban, which is gutted by
director/founder Tina Morrison in "Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Abortions," a cooking-show sketch fueled entirely by her smiling patter.
An early scene featuring the great Shelly Stewart scores the kind of laughs that are only possible in this kind of no-props, no-
costume show. As a bad mother driving with a baby (invisibly) clutched to her chest, Stewart drinks, smokes and swats at the
older kids unbuckled in the back seat. Suddenly, several minutes into this, she says to her son, "Hold my drink. Mommy's got to
switch breasts."
Turns out she'd been nursing the whole time.
Some of the other sketches are hit-and-miss, but the show's never less than fun. I hope Full Frontal's ambitions — six more-
daring-than-usual shows in two weeks, all at Union Station — aren't fleeting. That this Friday's show is their 200th performance is
evidence that they probably aren't.
March 9, 2006
by Alan Scherstuhl
With a string of big-stage shows continuing this weekend, Full Frontal Comedy is leaning artward.
Late Breaking Comedy finds the troupe scaling back the charades-like guessing games that are the bread and butter of most
local improvisers. Instead, Full Frontal offers prewritten sketches and improvised scenes with a newshound's focus. They hit at
Bush and Cheney, Fred Phelps and port security, and — fantastically — South Dakota's abortion ban, which is gutted by
director/founder Tina Morrison in "Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Abortions," a cooking-show sketch fueled entirely by her smiling patter.
An early scene featuring the great Shelly Stewart scores the kind of laughs that are only possible in this kind of no-props, no-
costume show. As a bad mother driving with a baby (invisibly) clutched to her chest, Stewart drinks, smokes and swats at the
older kids unbuckled in the back seat. Suddenly, several minutes into this, she says to her son, "Hold my drink. Mommy's got to
switch breasts."
Turns out she'd been nursing the whole time.
Some of the other sketches are hit-and-miss, but the show's never less than fun. I hope Full Frontal's ambitions — six more-
daring-than-usual shows in two weeks, all at Union Station — aren't fleeting. That this Friday's show is their 200th performance is
evidence that they probably aren't.
Wise Guys
News flash: The city’s improv scene isn’t just dick jokes.
By Alan Scherstuhl, Pitch Weekly
Published: January 4, 2007
Full Frontal Comedy sounds like it's going to be filthy.
Instead, it's sweet-natured, sometimes ribald, occasionally angry — but in a sensible, evenhanded way. The company's shows,
which generally pair improv with scripted sketches, might tickle the taboo, and the performers are unafraid to work blue, but they
never do so cynically or without a comic point or in the interest of cheap laughs.
Founder Tina Morrison is, however, a little wicked. She's about 80 percent smile, seems fueled entirely by pluck, and is to
Midwestern niceness what Tom Waits is to the hobo lifestyle — if the subject deserved a magazine, she could be its Rachael
Ray. But then, she might play Ray herself, hosting "30 Minute Abortions," Full Frontal's response to South Dakota's abortion ban.
Though dick jokes don't offend these days, a political perspective often does. As Full Frontal prepares its Best of 2006 show at
the classy digs of Quality Hill Playhouse, I asked Morrison about the risks of doing a bit like "Seasons of Bush," a Rent parody
lashing the president.
"We had a woman once get very angry that we were making fun of Bush," Morrison told me. "And you know what? Too bad! If she
had wanted to stick around after the show and debate with me the merits of that jackass, I would have welcomed it."
Morrison's one rule: "We can make fun of any politicians, political parties, religion or anything that could be debated and
discussed." She added, "I do not like to make fun of races, sexuality — unless we're making a point about how stupid
homophobic people are — or special needs."
The best-of show will highlight Full Frontal's favorite sketches of 2006 as well as the crowd-pleasing improv games that are often
the best part of the troupe's shows. And because Morrison's group doesn't depend on improv games — throwing them at
audiences for more than an hour the way that other outfits do — Full Frontal's feel fresher.
News flash: The city’s improv scene isn’t just dick jokes.
By Alan Scherstuhl, Pitch Weekly
Published: January 4, 2007
Full Frontal Comedy sounds like it's going to be filthy.
Instead, it's sweet-natured, sometimes ribald, occasionally angry — but in a sensible, evenhanded way. The company's shows,
which generally pair improv with scripted sketches, might tickle the taboo, and the performers are unafraid to work blue, but they
never do so cynically or without a comic point or in the interest of cheap laughs.
Founder Tina Morrison is, however, a little wicked. She's about 80 percent smile, seems fueled entirely by pluck, and is to
Midwestern niceness what Tom Waits is to the hobo lifestyle — if the subject deserved a magazine, she could be its Rachael
Ray. But then, she might play Ray herself, hosting "30 Minute Abortions," Full Frontal's response to South Dakota's abortion ban.
Though dick jokes don't offend these days, a political perspective often does. As Full Frontal prepares its Best of 2006 show at
the classy digs of Quality Hill Playhouse, I asked Morrison about the risks of doing a bit like "Seasons of Bush," a Rent parody
lashing the president.
"We had a woman once get very angry that we were making fun of Bush," Morrison told me. "And you know what? Too bad! If she
had wanted to stick around after the show and debate with me the merits of that jackass, I would have welcomed it."
Morrison's one rule: "We can make fun of any politicians, political parties, religion or anything that could be debated and
discussed." She added, "I do not like to make fun of races, sexuality — unless we're making a point about how stupid
homophobic people are — or special needs."
The best-of show will highlight Full Frontal's favorite sketches of 2006 as well as the crowd-pleasing improv games that are often
the best part of the troupe's shows. And because Morrison's group doesn't depend on improv games — throwing them at
audiences for more than an hour the way that other outfits do — Full Frontal's feel fresher.
This Just In
Alan Scherstuhl, The Pitch
November 15, 2007
With Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart silenced by the Writers Guild strike, satirical news is at a premium. In Kansas City comedy,
nobody brings the slash-and-burn to current events better than Full Frontal Comedy, improv pros who this week are making a full
show out of it. With promising sketches that jab at Chastain, Kline and Phelps and improvised scenes and games involving
real-life funny stuff not geared toward the Ruckus crowd, Tina Morrison's crowd-pleasing troupe (featuring the always inspired
Joyce Halford and the new and fantastic Paul DeMerchant) is once again making our deeply troubled metro seem fun. Through
Nov. 17 at Olathe Community Theatre, 500 E. Loula, Olathe, 816-623-3557. (Alan Scherstuhl)
Alan Scherstuhl, The Pitch
November 15, 2007
With Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart silenced by the Writers Guild strike, satirical news is at a premium. In Kansas City comedy,
nobody brings the slash-and-burn to current events better than Full Frontal Comedy, improv pros who this week are making a full
show out of it. With promising sketches that jab at Chastain, Kline and Phelps and improvised scenes and games involving
real-life funny stuff not geared toward the Ruckus crowd, Tina Morrison's crowd-pleasing troupe (featuring the always inspired
Joyce Halford and the new and fantastic Paul DeMerchant) is once again making our deeply troubled metro seem fun. Through
Nov. 17 at Olathe Community Theatre, 500 E. Loula, Olathe, 816-623-3557. (Alan Scherstuhl)
A letter to the editor
Published in the Kansas City Star
February 20, 2005
Fully Funny
I have lived in Kansas City for about two years and about one year ago was fortunate to have come across the improvisational
troupe that comprises Full Frontal Comedy. On Feb. 5, I attended another of their shows and was once again taken aback in the
very best way. I am absolutely amazed with the talent, genius, intelligence, lightning-fast wit, energy and mind-boggling creativity
of this group's members. Full Frontal Comedy is to Kansas City what Second City is to Chicago. I wonder, however, if Kansas
City really doesn't know what an artistic treasure they have in this group?
-------Bill Hamelau
Roeland Park
Published in the Kansas City Star
February 20, 2005
Fully Funny
I have lived in Kansas City for about two years and about one year ago was fortunate to have come across the improvisational
troupe that comprises Full Frontal Comedy. On Feb. 5, I attended another of their shows and was once again taken aback in the
very best way. I am absolutely amazed with the talent, genius, intelligence, lightning-fast wit, energy and mind-boggling creativity
of this group's members. Full Frontal Comedy is to Kansas City what Second City is to Chicago. I wonder, however, if Kansas
City really doesn't know what an artistic treasure they have in this group?
-------Bill Hamelau
Roeland Park