Laughing Gas (improv)
Encyclopedia
Laughing Gas Comedy Improv Theatre Company is an improv/sketch comedy
troupe in based in Miami, Florida
. Currently in its 20th season, Laughing Gas is the longest-running professional improv group in South Florida.
Currently, Laughing Gas performs on Saturday nights at 11:00 PM, (also occasionally performing at 9:00 PM) at The Main Street Playhouse, located at 6766 Main Street in Miami Lakes, Florida.
. Mental Floss closed its doors in 1992 due the economic downturn in Miami's Coconut Grove area after Hurricane Andrew
.
In 1995, the group changed their name to Laughing Gas (which had once been the name of the midnight Mental Floss show, previously known as Experimental Floss).
Though Laughing Gas has gone through numerous personnel changes throughout the years, Gerald Owens is the only remaining founding member still actively performing in the troupe. Owens also is the group's head instructor and teaches weekly improv classes.
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
troupe in based in Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
. Currently in its 20th season, Laughing Gas is the longest-running professional improv group in South Florida.
Currently, Laughing Gas performs on Saturday nights at 11:00 PM, (also occasionally performing at 9:00 PM) at The Main Street Playhouse, located at 6766 Main Street in Miami Lakes, Florida.
History
Laughing Gas was founded in 1992 by Gerald (Gerry) Owens, G. Michael McKay, Buddy Bolton, Sal Pisani, Linda Jarvis and Christopher Carlyle, all former cast members of Mental Floss, a Miami-based improv/sketch troupe, which performed from 1986-1992 at the Coconut Grove PlayhouseCoconut Grove Playhouse
The Coconut Grove Playhouse was a legitimate theater in the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida, United States.The building was originally constructed as a movie theater called the Player's State Theater. It first opened on January 3, 1927 as a part of the Paramount chain. The movie house...
. Mental Floss closed its doors in 1992 due the economic downturn in Miami's Coconut Grove area after Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew was the third Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the United States, after the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and Hurricane Camille in 1969. Andrew was the first named storm and only major hurricane of the otherwise inactive 1992 Atlantic hurricane season...
.
In 1995, the group changed their name to Laughing Gas (which had once been the name of the midnight Mental Floss show, previously known as Experimental Floss).
Though Laughing Gas has gone through numerous personnel changes throughout the years, Gerald Owens is the only remaining founding member still actively performing in the troupe. Owens also is the group's head instructor and teaches weekly improv classes.