The Crew

Welcome to The Crew, one of Australia’s longest-running and most successful impro groups. To browse the site, follow the links above, or read on below for the latest news.

Impro Sundae is our regular two-hour impro comedy show. It plays every second Sunday from 5pm to 7pm at Bar Open on Brunswick Street in Fitzroy; you’ll find the dates and lineups for upcoming shows on our line-ups page.

You can book The Crew for your next function by contacting Bandshop on 03 9500 1999.

To subscribe to our mailing list, visit the contact page.

This Impro Sundae we have a mystery line-up! (Though it might appear on the Line-Ups page before the day, if you feel like checking it obsessively…) And while you don’t know who’s playing, you do know that it’s a) mother’s day and b) Impro Sundae is a great way to spend an evening. So of course, the only logical conclusion is that a + b = take your Mum to Impro Sundae!

And really, what better gift for your mother than to give her something you made yourself - like an impro scene cobbled together from your suggestions! And of course it’s a unique gift too, because no two shows are ever the same…

WHEN: 5pm, Sunday May 11th
WHERE: Bar Open, 317 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy
Melways 2C B8; on the 112 tram line
TIX: $10 at the door

After a Comedy Festival hiatus, the Crew’s fortnightly show returns to Bar Open on Sunday, April 27. Put it in your diaries now!

If you’ve yet to get out and see something at the Comedy Festival, you’d better hurry - it all ends on Sunday. If you’ve no idea what to see, here’s a list of Crew member’s shows which are still playing - get in while you still can!

• Ben McKenzie and Rob Lloyd in A Record or an OBE at Trades Hall (extra late show at 11PM tonight)
• Rob Lloyd and Adam McKenzie in Every Film Every Made at Trades Hall
• Vanessa Bennett in The Angry Piñata Unstitched at Red Stitch in St Kilda
• Karin Muiznieks in Give My Regards to Broady at the Northcote Town Hall
• Andrew McClelland’s Guide to Being a Modern Gentleman at Trades Hall
• Adam Vincent in Humans Anonymous at Trades Hall
• Matt Elsbury in Matt vs Stupid at Three Degrees in QV

And don’t forget our guest players’ shows, either:

• Zack Adams in Awkward at Pony in the CBD and Bar Open in Fitzroy
• Nicky Talacko in Cinder-effin’-rella at Caz Reitop’s Dirty Secrets in Collingwood
• Claire Hooper in Storybook at the Bosco Theatre
• Sammy J in The Forest of Dreams at the Bosco Theatre
• Josh Earl in Where Did I Come From? at the Town Hall

Whatever you see, make sure you get out there and see it before it’s too late.

Regular Crew-mate Ben McKenzie will be be appearing as one of tonight’s guest Scrabble players for Scrabble Unscripted, Impro Australia’s Scrabble-based impro show! Come and cheer him on and see if he can get a triple word score.

You can also catch Ben at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre benefit gig 23 Positions in a One Night Stand, where he’ll be performing one of the hits of Prince. That’s on March 29 at Trades Hall as part of Comedy @ Trades.

Watch this space for more news of Crew members appearing at various gigs around the Festival! And don’t forget to check out Crew member’s shows, listed in the previous post. Most have already opened, so get in now!

The 2008 Melbourne International Comedy Festival opens tomorrow, Wednesday March 19, and while there’s no Festival show from us this year, it’s hardly surprising - our members are performing shows all over Melbourne! Unfortunately, we won’t be performing Impro Sundae either as Bar Open has other plans for the Festival, but if you want to see how funny our fearless improvisers can be without making it up on the spot, here’s where to find them:

• Ben McKenzie and Rob Lloyd in A Record or an OBE at Trades Hall from March 19
• Rob Lloyd and Adam McKenzie in Every Film Every Made at Trades Hall from March 19
• Vanessa Bennett in The Angry Piñata Unstitched at Red Stitch in St Kilda from March 24
• Karin Muiznieks in Give My Regards to Broady at the Northcote Town Hall from April 7
• Andrew McClelland’s Guide to Being a Modern Gentleman at Trades Hall from March 19
• Adam Vincent in Humans Anonymous at Trades Hall from March 19
• Matt Elsbury in Matt vs Stupid at Three Degrees in QV from March 25
• Ben McKenzie in the Melbourne Museum Comedy Tour at Melbourne Museum from March 26

As well as Crew-members, some of our guest players from the Adelaide Fringe also have shows:

• Zack Adams in Awkward at Pony in the CBD and Bar Open in Fitzroy from March 19
• Michelle ‘BAGGAS’ Baginski in 78% Honesty at Trades Hall from March 19
• Nicky Talacko in Cinder-effin’-rella at Caz Reitop’s Dirty Secrets in Collingwood from March 19
• Claire Hooper in Storybook at the Bosco Theatre from March 20
• Sammy J in The Forest of Dreams at the Bosco Theatre from March 20
• Josh Earl in Where Did I Come From? at the Town Hall from March 20

Note that quite a few of those shows are on at Trades Hall as part of the Comedy @ Trades programme, and special ticket prices are available when buying tickets to multiple shows there.

Our season of Short Order Impro has gone from strength to strength in our first week, with short form games and very special guests Josh Earl, Sammy J and Claire Hooper. But there’s more where that came from! Tonight, Perth comedians and improvisers Zack Adams and Baggas join Ben McKenzie, Adam Vincent and Andrew McClelland for our popular long form format Cliffhanger! And we’ll be back Tuesday to Thursday next week, with our long form formats Instant Order: Trial By Audience and Instant Musical Odyssey, when Ben will be joined by Rob Lloyd, Adam McKenzie, Janelle Koenig and Dan Walmsley plus more special guests!

Short Order Impro is on at 9:30PM at La Boheme Bar, 14 Grote Street, between Victoria Square and Her Majesty’s Theatre in Adelaide. Tickets are still available for $15 via FringeTIX, or you can buy them at the door.

We’ve also been busy showing off our mad impro skillz in the 21st Century Clash of the Theatre Titans, an impro competition run by local Adelaide group Impro NOW! Crew members Adam McKenzie and Rob Lloyd, representing their comedy troupe Hound of the Baskervilles, managed to tie for the trophy on the first night with LA based group Sound and Fury, while a Crew team comprising Adam and Ben McKenzie took home the cup for themselves in the second round before a packed audience.  The final Clash occurs on tomorrow night, Monday March 10, at the Mercury Cinema in Morphett Street at 7:30 PM. You can get tickets at FringeTIX or check out the Impro NOW! web site for more info.

And don’t forget you can still catch Crew members in their own shows - Adam Vincent’s Humans Anonymous, Rob Lloyd and Adam McKenzie’s Every Film Ever Made, and Ben McKenzie’s A Record or an OBE, also starring Rob Lloyd.

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