Improv Comedy Group Charred Goosebeak Performs with Professional Comedians
Four comedians, two of which have come to perform at Colgate for 12 years, joined Goosebeak on stage Monday.
Student improv group Charred Goosebeak performed alongside professional comedians on Monday, October 22.
The group attended a workshop with Rob Belushi, Jon Barinholtz ’05, Amy Silverberg and Tim Stoltenberg on Sunday in preparation for their performance together Monday. The four comedians all come from Los Angeles, California.
Belushi and Barinholtz have participated in this workshop and show with Charred Goosebeak for 12 years. Barinholtz himself was a member of Charred Goosebeak when he attended Colgate.
Sophomore Goosebeak member Griffin Fenady expressed how excited he was to work with Belushi and Barinholtz for the second year.
“I love Rob and Jon. They are tremendous comedic role models and hosting them is always the highlight of my semester,” Fenady said.
At the workshop, the group ran through some of their usual improv games with direction from the professionals and got tips on how to create better scenes from start to finish.
Sophomore Charred Goosebeak member Nathan Sterne explained that the workshop with the professionals helped him feel excited and prepared for Monday’s show.
“It is a great opportunity to get people who work in the industry on a daily basis to come in and workshop with us. They brought great energy and really made it fun for everyone in the room to learn and develop,” Sterne said.
Charred Goosebeak opened the show on Monday with one of their usual improv sets, performing three improv games without the professionals.
Stoltenberg then performed a standup set followed by a standup set from Silverberg. Barinholtz, Belushi and Stoltenberg then did an improv set themselves, including an audience volunteer for one of their improv games.
Sophomore Kelsey McGeough said it was special to see her friends on stage with professional comedians.
“I thought it was so cool to see my friends performing with professional comedians; you could honestly see how much work the professionals had put into their improv and how good the result was. I could see how improv translates to the real world when I realized how successful the professional comedians were,” McGeough said.
The professionals and Charred Goosebeak closed the show with Griffin Fenady a joint improv game. This was Goosebeak’s second show of the semester; their next performance will be on November 15.
Contact Emily Rahhal at [email protected].
Emily Rahhal is a senior from Los Angeles, California double concentrating in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and Religion. She has previously worked...
