Last week saw the fourth installment of Jome Club of Performing Arts’ Improvisation Comedy and it was smashing! It was THE PRETENDERS vs ROCK BUT NOT ROCK battling it out for top honours, though, let’s be honest – everyone was amazing.

After an incredible witty and joke filled introduction by your modest host, (ahem) it was time to get things started. FREEZE was the first game we played – let it go, people! Neisha and Pene kicked things off for us with some great improvisation. The audience nearly lost it when Sergio hit the floor only to be used as several items of furniture. Props go to Ashleigh for her using Brandon as a human backpack, Tiarna for using Drew as a boyfriend pillow, Michelle for her excellent use of Pene’s rear end as a weather map, and to Sergio for wearing Reuben’s t-shirt – with Reuben still in it!

Next up was TAXI CAB – as the first cab off the rank (by the way, the evening was filled with quality jokes like that!) Drew was hilarious as the ocker taxi driver putting his prices up and hoping to beat Uber. Olivia was his first fare and she jumped in as an energetic toddler. Drew forgot how to drive at one point but did a really good job of sucking his thumb! Next up was Brandon as a race car driver. Everything got really fast and the cab sped through a surprising amount of sharp turns. Sergio was up last as Elmo – a role he nailed! Hearing four grown adults laughing hysterically as Elmo and tickling each other will probably stay in the audience’s mind for a long time!

Then it was ROCK BUT NOT ROCK’s turn to play. Reuben was the no-nonsence cabbie but he transformed into high stakes drama mode when Ashleigh the paramedic got in his taxi in lieu of an ambulance. They sped through the streets with a sense of urgency that was also incredibly funny as Ashleigh was wearing a surgical mask! Next they picked up Tiarna and things got fast. She whipped through the journey as a fast-talking auctioneer and (despite Reuben thinking she was a sports commentator) nailed it! Finally it was time to add a touch of class to the evening with Michelle being the delightful Queen Elizabeth the Second. She did such a good impression and seeing four queens in Northbridge riding around in a taxi was actually quite a different sight than you’d expect!

Points were being tallied and it was all going to The Pretenders at that moment, but of course, things always change. QUESTION GAME was next and what an epic one it was! The scene was set in a T.A.B which I’m sure some of our younger members weren’t quite sure about! Sergio slayed Tiarna after donning a wig and making ‘come at me’ moves, only to be cut down by Michelle asking “Sergio, did you know your fly’s undone?”  There were some great questions but the best were the ones that came from left field and Ashleigh was declared the winner.

Next it was a new game to Jome – PRESS CONFERENCE. In this game, Penny was holding a press conference as the person who picked the world’s largest booger. She stayed calm throughout the guessing process and even gave some sass back to Olivia, Sergio and Neisha who nailed their questions.

PARTY GUEST has been a Jome fave for 2 years and last week was no exception. Michelle put on the best Tupperware party and had to put up with guessing who her guests were – which she did! Pene has us all in stitches as Willy Wonka, making some really clever references to the chocolate factory and for someone who claims to not do impressions, nailing his mannerisms. Reuben slunk his way in to the party as a slithering snake sounding not unlike the creepy one from the Jungle Book and Ashleigh has us all grinning as she shimmied in as a stripper pole. I think the best line of the game was when she invided Michelle to get on her and dance!

Of course it wasn’t all fun and games. As we broke for intermission Shannon Davies from the Ethan Davies Scholarship talked to us all about his foundation and the work it does for brain cancer research in juveniles. The audience dug deep and they are very thankful.

After the interval it was the audience’s turn. They all wrote down their best joke and the best one was awarded a top prize. Funnily enough it was the lovely Brandon’s sister who won with this classic: Why was the blonde happy when she completed a puzzle in 2 months? The box said 2-4 years. Great work, Belinda!

The crew were happy to get back into the swing of things with a singing game called DO RON RON! It was hilarious to see some of the exits that the crew made – especially Drew with “I got nothing!” In the end it was Michelle who triumphed pulling Rock but not Rock clear in front of The Pretenders.

Of course one thing we can’t seem to get enough of in Jome is singing! JOME IDOL was an absolute winner! Pene was perfect as the hilarious host Caitlyn Jenner. She minced about the stage with her quick wit and quick responses – when the top fell off the microphone she quipped “Oh dear, I’ve lost another ball!” It was one of the highlights of the evening. Of course Penny and Michelle as outr fabulous judges were also brilliant. There was Becky Bolics (ex-olympian rower banned for hugging the cox) and Patrick McOxenballs from the discontinued show So You Think You Can Riverdance? Of course one can’t go past the brilliant performances – Tiarna was the shy Norma Cuttle who loved her cats and Brandon was Sven from Sweden. You can imagine their shock when they had to perform opera and reggae. Tiarna blew us out the water with her rendition of the ironing aria – she was flawless, walking into the audience and everything. Brandon then shocked us all with his fantastic reggae his all about being me! All I heard was “I’m small and I like to read” so I think he pretty much nailed it. Along with the judge’s comments were some cute jokes about pussy cats from Penny and a bang-on Irish accent from Michelle.

It was now getting to the time of night where everyone was a bit tired. What better time to play MYSTERY LINE? Olivia and Sergio rocked it, literally with their husband and wife team trying to re-kindle their love while rock climbing. The line of the night came from the audience, though : “Take your teeth out, Janet!” No matter what context you put that in, it’s still wrong! Next was Ashleigh and Reuben whose car broke down in a cemetary. Reuben used this opportunity to his advantage though, playing the creepy professor/useless father and the fact that it ended with a zombie dance made it even better. To me, though, it was Drew and Neisha that really got us laughing in mystery line. Drew played a curious child to Neisha’s calm teacher at Sexpo. I have to hand it to Neisha, with all the innuendos flying around she managed to keep a straight face and almost derailed Drew a few times.

Finally it was time for the last game, awww. CLIFFHANGER was quite epic and we saw some really strange stuff! Firstly, Drew fell in love with a lipstick and cheated on his wife, Neisha. The dreamteam were shortlived, though as he was the first one out. Next we followed Penny’s journey through bad tinder dates. One of the funniest things ever was seeing her swipe past Sergio because the look on his face was gold! After Penny came Michelle who ran a modelling agency (male) whose models all got food poisoning. It was classic to see all the guys’ faces as they tried to be ‘sexy!’ It turned out that Michelle’s rival Drew had created the poison. But unfortunately we never go to see what happened next as it was Tiarna’s scene that everyone really wanted. Bizarrely, boogers made a comeback and Tiarna found herself confronting her ‘daughter’ Ashleigh about her weird collection. In the end, she rounded things off perfectly with a whole group rendition of “Blame it on the Boogy” and everyone lost it!

In the end the winning team was Rock but not Rock but I truly feel that all of the crew were winners. It was an awesome night with so many lols and we are still on a high! Till next time…