For Henry Riggs, the key to a successful improv performance is fairly straightforward.
“I think a good comedy show looks like people who just really enjoy each other, just being friends and just
And that’s the kind of rapport that Riggs, and fellow comedians Andy Livengood and Matt Perry, have refined over the years as the improv trio H.A.MPS., which will perform this Wednesday as part of Theatre 99’s Laugh for a Lincoln. (The acronym stands for Henry, Andy, and Matt Perry, Sr. The suffix is in place, Livengood explains, “because Matt is the only one with children.”)
The three connected while taking improv classes at Theatre 99, although Perry spins quite a different tale regarding how he first met Riggs and Livengood.
“I pulled both of them from burning cars,” he says. “Two separate accidents, years apart. And then, you know, they look up to me now. … [The group formed] pretty much on the spot while we were waiting for help to arrive.”
Perry’s response is indicative of the comedic style of H.A.MPS., which Livengood describes as “controlled absurdity.”
“The show is just absolutely, insanely absurd and ridiculous, but it’s treated with such sincerity,” he says. “We’re saying the most ridiculous things but in the most serious, heartfelt way, so it really kind of works.”
“The whole time we’re really just trying to fuck with each other up there,” Riggs says. “I think it’s a lot of patterns and just silliness.”
“We’re a bunch of silly geese,” Perry says. “We have very abstract shows sometimes. Sometimes we’ll do one long scene for the entire show, and then sometimes we’ll do a dozen. It just depends on what mood we’re in.”
Riggs and Perry both studied improv in Chicago, and that training is reflected in the technique of many H.A.MPS. shows, Riggs says. He describes them as “ensemble work, like many minds making one piece.”
“It’s like, instead of rapid-fire jokes, it’s going to be like a comedic piece,” Riggs says. “It almost unfolds like a play.”
“Usually the best thing about improv is that it’s funnier than what any one person could come up with,” Livengood says. “Together we come up with something that’s better than what any one of the three of us could come up with.” —Emily Pietras
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