Top Picks for Out of Bounds Improv Festival

This week marks the eighth annual Out of Bounds Comedy Festival, a week-long debacle of mostly improvised, sometimes sketched, and occasionally stood-up comedy. 

The festival started in 2002 as the Out of Bounds Improv Festival and Miniature Golf Tournament, a weekend-long opportunity to showcase Austin's comedy scene.  Growing every year through this week's "OOB x 8", this year's Out of Bounds is one for the record books.  It's roughly doubled in size from last year, featuring over 100 acts, half of which are from outside of Austin, on seven stages over a six-day period. OOB's first international act, Impro Melbourne, as well as a Hawaiian troupe, a busload from Minneapolis, and some top industry pros from Chicago, L.A., and New York will make appearances.  Some of those notorious comedians are leading the 8 workshops for people interested in developing their comedy chops.  And the laughs, as always, will be harder and longer.

Here are my recommendations for this year's OOB x 8 (in roughly chronological order-ish):

Twinprov (8:00 PM Wed at Salvage Vanguard Upstairs) – Kicking off the festival are a pair of twin brothers from Oklahoma City in a "sketchprov" musical comedy.  If for no other reason, you should watch this to see how well they can read each other's minds. 

Minneapolis Improv – Word on the street is that Minneapolis improv is fast, furious, and highly emotional.  Plus, since they're from Minnesota, they're really nice folks, ya.  There are three troupes performing from the Twin Cities this year: Splendid Things (8pm Thurs at The Hideout Upstairs and 9:30pm Fri at Salvage Vanguard Apples Stage), Lounge-asaurus Rex (9:30pm Fri at The Hideout Upstairs), and Rampleseed (11pm Saturday at The Hideout Downstairs).  There's also SCRAM, a duo with one Minneapolan and one Chicagoan, who we'll get to later.

Confidence Men (9:30pm Thurs at The Hideout Upstairs) – The only Austin troupe listed here is also the only troupe improvising a David Mamet play.  If you're a theater geek, this will be a great place for you to geek out. 

FUCT (11pm Thurs and Sat at Salvage Vanguard Apples Stage) – Described to me as "half sketch comedy, half Jackass," this late-night show is shock comedy, not for the easily offended.

 On the Spot (8pm Fri at The Hideout Downstairs) – Coming all the way from Hawaii, On the Spot is improvising a show in the style of a 1920s silent film.

The ColdTowne Marathon (8pm Fri and Sat at ColdTowne Theater) – Both Friday and Saturday night, ColdTowne will be hosting a three-hour improv marathon with six troupes performing a half-hour each.  Saturday's show has three out-of-towners, and an "Open Improv Jam" from 11pm to midnight, and at $5 it's the cheapest show at OOB. 

All Star Maestro (11pm Fri at The Hideout Downstairs) – For as long as I can remember, audiences have been descending on The Hideout weekly to participate in the short-form improv battle, Maestro, in which audience members vote (through applause) on which improviser not to kick out for the next round of improv.  One of the only short-form improv shows in the festival, Friday's late-night show features some of the festival's top talent, and will be an awesome spectacle of game-based hilarity.

Sunday night at The Independent – Impro Melbourne, aside from being OOB's first international headliner, brings decades of theatrical experience to the stage and is rumored to be outstanding.  Then, the 9pm show features SCRAM (a nationally touring improv show) and L.A.'s Cackowski and Talarico, who headlined OOB a few years ago and blew everyone away.