Improv Sketch | group
Tampa, FL
CAST
Jason Kraynek
Joe Davison
Marty Hoffman
Darryl Knapp
Darren Vierday
Chris Gorges
Shawn Paonessa
Robert Johnson
Brie Voisine
Kathryn Sheridan
Janet Bentley
Dan Szematowicz
Beat the Dead Horse was a group conceived on a whim from a local comedy club that put out a newspaper ad saying they were looking to form an Improv group like the tv show “Who’s Line is it Anyway” (new to America at the time). A few people went down to the club only to find that there wasn’t a group at all but they WANTED a group to perform there, so basically anyone who showed up I think was in the group. I couldn’t make the first get together as I was working a full time job and involved all my free time with theater, though was tempted when Robert Johnson (a guy I knew from a company I worked with called Wizard Studios) told me about it.
Though not involved in the first 2 shows, which consisted of performing for an hour before South Park season 1 aired on tv, I joined the group shortly afterward and found a love for improv comedy and a discovery of how easy it was for me to perform it. We attempted to add some sketch comedy bits inbetween playing improv games we either got from a book or saw on tv. Understand that this was a group of 6-8 members that some of which knew nothing of improv, sketch, or anything- so it was rough at first.
After performing before South Park and getting a somewhat know name, we moved onto playing bars, clubs, and a few venues. The group broke up with a long drawn out drama of a conversation, which ended up with Joe Davidson and myself walking out and forming the Charming Hooligans with 75% of BTDH.
