Have A Four Day Weekend
Five funny men and some improv-comedy set the stage for an enjoyable evening at Four Day Weekend.
By Elizabeth Loveless
Skiff Staff

Grab a friend, a family member, a hot date or even go it alone. You know you want to procrastinate just a bit longer on your fun-filled weekend of studying. Four Day Weekend provides a night of belly-aching, floor-rolling, knee-slapping comedy and as a result business is booming.

The improvisational comedy group Four Day Weekend consists of five great-looking guys — David Wilk, Oliver Tull, David Ahearn, Ray Sharp and Frank Ford. Saturday night the crew performed in their cozy theater where the Caravan of Dreams formerly was located and renamed Four Day Weekend Theatre.

They began their show with a song about Tony the X-ray Man, a poor sap from the audience in the 12th row who works in a local hospital. The cast slid on their sauve shades and shimmied across the floor singing about Tony’s job. His bright red face could be seen in the darkness all the way across the theater.

Next Ahearn improvised a brief monologue, again using a member or two from the audience for material. He got to know the older man in the very front row whose name was Dick. “I don’t know why, but that name makes me laugh,” Ahearn slyly commented.

In the next act, Ahearn migrated to the side of the stage and whiped out the day’s newspaper and asked the audience to choose a page number. He then randomly chose a headline and the other performers created a skit from lines such as, “Everyone loves Popeye’s Chicken” or “Debbie Gibson.” Just watching them come up with comedic bits about completely out-of-the-blue phrases was hilarious.

In my favorite bit, Wilks shuffles in from a corner of the stage as none other than Roger Lodge, the corny host from Blind Date. Again, people from the audience were asked to shout out random things to make up the career and hometown for the contestant on the dating game (and yes this means he wants a date from an audience member). The audience has now dubbed “Dale” to be an underwater firefighter from Alaska and it is now time for him to search for his unsuspecting victim, or date, from the crowd. I was praying it wouldn’t be me.

The rest of the hour and a half was filled with other comedic skits ranging from music videos to having Miss Cleo read her tarot cards for only $317 a minute, with the first three minutes free of course. The entire show I was almost hoping they would slow down and let me come up for air between laughs.

Four Day Weekend has been performing for about five years now. Recently they have added some new technology. Only two years ago, all the group had were three black chairs and themselves. Today, interactive video screens loom from the ceiling and “green scene” technology is used for some of their scenes. In one skit, Ford became a paranoid mime on the streets of a city for a music video on the green screen. They can put anyone anywhere on the green screen. “Dale” could have even visited his hometown in Alaska.

Another advancement in technology is that they are able to include audience members in their performance. They really keep you on your toes. Only one woman was absolutely mortified when the spotlight, otherwise known as the Black Plague (well that’s probably what she thought), slowly glided through the air towards her, enveloping her like a large wave overtakes a novice surfer.

This hilarious “fab five” gives a completely improvised performance like nothing I have ever seen before. They perform every Friday at 9 p.m. and every Saturday at 7:30 and 10 p.m. Tickets are $15 each. Sorry kids, no TCU discounts, but it is well worth the money. Actual four day weekends are at the top of most people’s list and this Four Day Weekend should be, too.

For more details, visit (www.fourdayweekend.com).