b f.
Yelp
I went on a Wednesday night, so if they have different performers on the weekends (which from the advertisement photos, it looked like mostly the same people) then take this review with a grain of salt.
The tech and improvised music of the show were great, and I was really impressed! The improvisors were really hit and miss. As a person who performs and watches improv weekly, I was surprised at the lack of their ability to play off each other. They really struggled to listen to each other, and to use the "gifts" each other gave, or really use the audiences suggestions intelligently. Also, WAY too much question asking. Questions are fine, but make then pointed, give your characters a viewpoint, don't just be confused or ignorant.
The crowd was pretty quiet, even though the room was fairly full. I think the performers tend to try to play down to the audience, and hit them over the head with cheesy jokes about Americans and the Dutch, and it just comes off lazy. But the Dutch people seem to enjoy those jokes and paying WAY too much money to see it. Second city prices for second rate comedy in my opinion.
I think there was definite talent in the group, and improvisors can always have an off night, but if you're going to charge a ridiculous amount of money, they better at least be good enough to battle through an off night.
Seriously, put a time limit on your short-form guessing games. People were practically shouting out the answers in anger because the games took so long. That was definitely the worst part of the show. There was just a lot of dead time on stage, waiting for components of the games to get set up. Also, one of the performers keep laughing when nobody else was, which makes people in the audience think, "Well at least somebody other than us is having a good time..."
As with every comedy club ever, drinks are marked up to the extreme. The performers made fun of the beer Americans drink in bars in the US, and then only served Heineken. Such an outdated joke... Have any of you had a beer in the states recently? Go to Beer Temple here in Amsterdam, which is 80% American beers, and then compare it to the ones on tap from NL. You, my Dutch friends, are no Belgium or the US when it comes to beer.
To end on a positive note though, whoever came up with the tech ideas, and rigged it all up, that was great. Well done on tech and music!