The Long Island City/Astoria area has become the home of an improv production company with a long list of accomplishments and supporters that continues to grow by the minute.
In 2002, comedian and actors Jay Painter and Eric Robinson created a short-form comedy show called Friday Night Face Off. They met while on one-year contracts as company members at Theatre Three in Port Jefferson, Long Island. The theatre had a vacant second stage, which they decided to use to create their own show. Now, every Friday comedians compete two-against-two or three-against-three in short improvisation games and scenes suggested by audience members. The show’s continued success, even nine years later, inspired Painter and Robinson to create Face Off Unlimited, LLC in 2009.
“Eric was tired of having to work for people and tired of having a day job… so we decided to make improv into a legitimate business and we formed Face Off Unlimited,” said Painter.
Since its creation, Face Off Unlimited has expanded into more than just a weekly comedy show. The “Face Off Universe” includes a Japanese game show-style improv show in the East Village called BATSU!, a touring improv show and the Face Off University.
Students in Face Off University learn the fundamentals of improvisation while acting out games and exercises designed to test and strengthen one’s own improv skills. Classes are held at the Secret Theatre, and the five-week course ends with graduates performing at the theatre in front of a live audience, usually headlined by a Face Off Unlimited show.
“A lot of our classes are filled with actors, singers and dancers, but we also have plenty of people who have never done improvisation before. People [come] looking to become a better performer or unlock their creativity and just have fun,” said Joe Tex, an instructor at Face Off University and director of operations for Face Off Unlimited.
Tex has become the group’s “third head,” working side by side with Painter and Robinson since being cast and serving as its creative director from 2003 to 2007.
“We are the best of friends and we work well together,” said Tex. “My kind of funny works really well with them – we have different types of humor, but we complement each other so well. It’s not work, it’s kind of just fun.”
Making Astoria/LIC the home of operations for Face Off Unlimited was a decision made easily. The company’s web site called LIC “an artistic [and] creative force to be reckoned with” and both Painter and Robinson lived in Astoria for quite a few years.
“We looked into places in Manhattan, but we found [LIC] had such a high rate of artistic people. There are musicians, actors and painters – it is so rich with the arts here and we thought this is a place where we could imbed ourselves and become part of a community,” said Tex.
The improv team also has a comedic influence in Manhattan. Their weekly show BATSU! is made up of four competitors battling it out in short-form improvisation games with the help of audience members and their suggestions for game topics. The twist is that the show is set up in the classical form of a Japanese game show with their host, Kenji America, and co-host, Noriko Sato, announcing the games and administering punishments if the actors are not funny or fail the task at hand.
With all the different projects the company is involved in, the question remains, why specifically improv?
“[With improv] the show just happens all around you,” said Tex. “That’s a magical moment when you and the audience are creating together and they participate without even realizing they are doing it. Everyone’s taking the ride with you.”
