Sunday Worship

‘Take me to church,’ sings Hozier but I’d rather spend my Sabbath as a ComedySportz Sunday League player, writes Jennifer Banks

I’m not a religious person. I suppose I should say that’s despite my Catholic upbringing – but it’s because of my Catholic upbringing that I’m now a devout and profane heathen. But I do believe in the Improv Gods. And I have proof they exist. It happened whilst performing with the ComedySportz Sunday League at the Manchester Improv Tournament in 2014. There we were, playing Blind Line, picking bits of paper off the floor and reading out film, TV and song lines that the audience had supplied while we were out of the room. Somehow, these famous quotes fit perfectly with what was going on in the scene, much to the delight of the audience – and my own amazement. And so it came to pass, on that day, whilst holding a large mimed fish, that my spiritual conversion to the Church of Improv was complete. Amen. Or as we say in this particular sect, ‘Yes And’. That was my second performance with the Sunday League – a talented troupe of improvisers who are a bit like the kid brothers and sisters of ComedySportz Manchester’s main players. I found my way into this congregation of hilarious misfits after being a keen workshopper (notice the strange similarity between that and the word ‘worshipper’), starting with the foundation in improv then repeats of the intermediate course, which I still do… er… religiously.

Creating spontaneous moments of hilarity in front of an audience is joyous – and it’s thanks to Liz, Allyn, Vicki and the other wonderfully witty Sunday Leaguers I play with that it’s so much fun. And, of course, to the rambunctious Rachel Wareing – a founding member of ComedySportz Manchester and the Sunday League’s coach – our high priestess of funny. Now, you may consider it blasphemy for me to compare goofing around for laughs to an actual religion but improv has its own set of commandments – and they make more sense to me than all that ox coveting business.

Thou shalt listen to your fellow players. 

Thou shalt accept the ideas offered by your fellow players.

Thou shalt give and take

...these are just some of the tenets of improv that also double up as pretty good rules for life. And there’s no smiting, garrotting or burning in hell in the Sunday League either – unless it’s in a scene, of course. So, yes, I’d much rather spend my Sunday as part of the band of fools doing all that silly stuff – it’s my own little piece of heaven.