New Generation of Otter Nonsense Players Proves to be Slightly More Tame

Author: Bob Wainwright

For those of you who missed the Otter Nonsense show last Sunday night in McCullough, you missed what is undeniably the most refreshing, and some might say ingenious, student group currently on the Middlebury College campus.
At a school where people are notorious for taking themselves a little too seriously, the Otters are here to joke about you, and everyone else as well. This is comedy in its purest form, improvisation, and the one thing you can be certain of is that, for the Otters, everything is fair game.
This past week the Otters' opening act, the one constant aspect of every show, which is planned beforehand, was relatively tame—at least by their standards. In front of a packed crowd (four rows of people had to find seats on the floor), the Otters emerged from behind the curtain wearing nothing but underwear, sticks and leafs, imitating prehistoric cavemen attempting to light a fire.
The scene quickly changed, however, when the girls from On Tap emerged dressed all in black and began one of their trademark tap dances. One by one, the girls were grabbed from behind by various cavemen, and were quickly taken out of sight. The scene ended with a kiss between one of the cavemen and the last girl from On Tap, but only after the other cavemen had been warded off by numerous grunts and a giant, 10-foot long pole.
The scene may not have been tame according to school standards, based on the Otters' choice of outfits. But when one considers the group's history, an entirely new scale of acceptability is required. Take into account, for instance, the fact that the group is no longer allowed to perform in either Mead Chapel or Dana Auditorium.
The Mead Chapel incident occurred in the fall of 1999, when the Otters began the program dressed in literally nothing but raw meat and cellophane. Their message: the first-years in the "New Faces" book are nothing but meat. Unfortunately, however, the message was lost on various members of the administration and Otter Nonsense has not been back since.
The Dana Auditorium incident occurred a little over a year later. In that show, the Otters decided to poke a little fun at the immensely popular "Vagina Monologues" with their own act, the "Penis Dialogues."
When Lyle Yetman '00.5 made his entrance dressed as a seven-foot penis, the crowd went wild, but once again the Otters paid a price in losing yet another potential venue.
Do not be fooled, however, into thinking that the Otters will shy away from pushing the envelope yet again. In their minds, as long as an idea is clever and not simply "bathroom humor," it is something that should be done.
One of the great fallacies of improvisational comedy is that it is easy. The players cannot practice what it is that they will do or say on stage beforehand, because everything is generated on the spot, with help from the audience. And if it is done well, it should look easy. In fact, that is one of the essential elements of good improv.
An Otter Nonsense show, with the exception of the opening act, consists of a number of different unrehearsed structures. There are many different types of structures, such as the five-word list, in which the audience gives the players five words, which they must work into a particular scene. One of the most popular structures in Sunday's performance was the final one, in which the players acted out a family dinner scene of one member of the audience. An important rule of improv is that the audience can make or break any single performance, based on participation and general enthusiasm.
In their short, 11-year history the Otters have already produced some amazing talents including a head writer for the David Letterman show, Rodney Rothman. And many of the other Otter alums, most notably Steve Waltein '00.5, have continued to pursue improv beyond Middlebury.
So this year's Otter Nonsense is a group with extensive training and knowledge, not only through their own hard work but through the guidance of those that have come before them.
The unofficial heads of the Otters are currently Toby Lawless '03, who joined as a first -year and Ben LaBolt '03, who made the group his sophomore year.
LaBolt, who also serves as the College's Student Co-Chair of Community Council, is an interesting case. Despite his political aspirations, LaBolt is, according to Clair Wycoff '03.5, the "most politically incorrect person I know."
She went on to add, "In fact, I think I'm going to follow him wherever he goes after Middlebury. And if he ever tries to make it on the political scene I'll be there with a picture of him in his underpants on the stage in McCullough."
One thing LaBolt takes very seriously is the importance of what Otter Nonsense is trying to accomplish every time they take the stage.
"Social satire plays an important role in society," he explained. "And if we don't push the limits on stage, we run the risk of becoming overly sensitive in everyday life … There are times in life when we all need to be laughed at."
As of now, there are eight Otters in the entire group, but Wycoff is the only female. This is actually very characteristic of improvisational comedy.
For the past four years, the group benefited from the presence of Tara Giordano '02, a very talented comedian and actor, but Otter Nonsense has rarely included more than two females at any one time.
Ditty Steele '03.5, who often plays the piano during Otter performances, explained one theory regarding the gender issue. "Many people believe it has to do with the way in which children are raised," she said.
"Boys are often viewed as jokers, whereas girls are often forced to play the role of appreciative spectator."
For Wycoff, who started with the group last fall, Otter Nonsense has become a "family" for her, but she does admit that it is more rare for women to audition. "Generally speaking, girls are not supposed to be funny," she explained. "They're supposed to be the ones laughing."
In addition to Wycoff, LaBolt and Lawless, John Stokvis '05, Adam Sewall '03, Boomer Gaston '05, Dave Heyman '03.5 and Burch Fischer '03.5 round up the group.
Of these, Fischer is known as the most unique. It was he who ended Sunday night's show, playing the audience member's pet cat. After yelling out, "Slow motion!" Fischer proceeded to slowly leap towards the brother, played by Lawless, and fastened his teeth around his neck.
Complete melee ensued. And, quite frankly, I do not think I have ever laughed so hard in my life.