Unpredictable and uproarious late-night improv

At 12:30 a.m. I’m racing up the Ave with a keen sense of anticipation, pushing past 50th away from the college-town yuppie vibe and into the unsettling calm of a rugged North Seattle neighborhood.

My destination is the Historical University Theatre, a yellow plywood palace with a broad stage and deep rouge curtains. Later in the evening those curtains would be transformed into a giant talking vagina. So goes the magic of improv comedy.

Created by local alt-comedy guru Dartanion London, Dart-Mondo is a comedy series that combines stand-up and improv. Several stand-up comedians tell jokes. Following each individual act, the four improv comedians re-interpret the jokes.

I’ve always found improv to be cheesy and forced, but I can honestly say this formula works wonders on my funny bone. I took no notes and spent most of the hour-plus show bent over in my seat making painful cough-laughing noises.

I recall that three hilarious stand-up comedians preformed. These acts were funny in their own right, but when the bits were perverted by the improv comedians, every topic sizzled with the pure physical funny. I’m hesitant to describe the scenes in print, but the night included everything from Hitler moustache humor to simulated sexual acts performed by an Alaskan grizzly bear.

The night I caught the show (Jan. 12) featured along with four regular improv comedians (Dartanion London, Ian Schempp, Mike Murphy and Amanda Lee Williams), The Oedipus Complex, Dan Moore and Barbara Sehr. The Oedipus Complex had a particularly genius character-based act that worked with German stereotypes, translation humor, disco and Bill Cosby.

By the end of the final improv segment, the comedy had degraded to penis jokes. Granted, they were the funniest, most intricate penis jokes I have ever heard in my life. They were, in fact, life changing penis jokes. As the whole audience exploded with genitalia-related mirth, I felt a warm sense of community.

Upcoming shows feature a who’s who of Seattle comedy including Billy Wayne Davis, Emmett Montgomery and David Cope.

Dart-Mondo runs every Saturday night at 12:30 a.m. (Sunday morning) from Jan. 5 to Mar. 15 at 5510 University Way Northeast. Tickets are $8 and available at the theater box office around midnight. Students receive a small discount with ID.