Did You Know Kalamazoo Has Its Own Stay-At-Home Game Show?

Virtual concerts have been popping up everywhere since Stay Home Stay Safe recommendations were put in effect. It seems like a pretty easy transition, right? A camera, a good sounding amp, a guitar. You're ready to shred your set. But what about other performances arts? How does, say improv, translate their brand of stage craft to a digital audience. For Kalamazoo improv group Crawlspace Eviction, the answer lies in the form of a game show.

"Bannon (Backhus) and I were chatting with our marketing team, and someone brought up the idea. We wanted a way to do live improv that would work with the virtual platform," Dann Sytsma, cofounder of Crawlspace Eviction explained."Regular improv scene work doesn't really work in that format."

Thus the Kalamazoo-centric game show, Yes, There Really is an Answer was born. It streams live on their Facebook page every Friday from 7:30pm to 8:30pm. Archives can be found on the Crawlspace Eviction YouTube page. Contestants comprised of improvised characters provided by members from four Kalamazoo improv teams answer questions ranging from "In Kalamazoo County's Village of Climax, the ______ harvester was invented," to "What is the name of the graduate of Kalamazoo Central High School Who Played for the New York Yankees?" Hilarity ensues. "In the end, we hope the characters create fun connections and a bit of a story unfolds. We also love to explore all things Kalamazoo, and this is a good opportunity to do that," said Sytsma.

So this is fun. And clever. But what happens when we're allowed to gather in groups again? Does Yes, There Really is an Answer get shelved in favor of standard-form improv shows. Not a chance. Sytsma and the gang plan to do a monthly live game show. He joked, "An advantage of the live, in-person show will be that there's no chance that my sh***y internet connection won't suddenly kick someone off the stage and out of the bit." But the most important part to bringing this is to a live audience is "people laughing. Oh, God, how I miss hearing people laugh. It's not why we do it, but it's pretty great."

It is pretty great Dann. It is pretty great.