I know this to be true because I recently sat down with representatives of the Five Families – Kaci Beeler and Kareem Badr of the Hideout Shana Merlin of Merlin Works Michael Jastroch of ColdTowne Michael Foulk of the New Movement and Asaf Ronen and Tom Booker of the Institution Theatre – and this, in part, is what was said: But the more they talk about it, the more you see that, well, there is something unique about the positive interaction of the families, of the improv community in this burgeoning river city. And Sweetlamb's cronies among the families, they want to add clarifications and codicils to such a statement as well. It's not surprising because this is Austin, right? Because other improv communities in other cities just aren't as interconnected and inclusive and full of amiable Musketeer-like camaraderie as this town's Five Families are, right?īut you suggest this theory to that godfather Sweetlamb, and he doesn't want to buy into such a Pollyanna idea. That the families are working together to achieve this – as they've worked together to achieve the continuing success of the scene in general – isn't surprising. but most of them are homegrown Austinites who kick the kind of comedy ass necessary to appear among this crowded pantheon of talents. The featured performers are improv artists and stand-up comedians and sketch troupes, and some of these performers are of the big-name variety (the writers of Key & Peele, Saturday Night Live alum Paul Brittain, Lauren Lapkus from Orange Is the New Black, and more) and some of them are from, oh, France and Iceland and Canada and Australia and many others hail from other parts of the U.S. Producers and subproducers and lieutenants and foot-soldiers and pretty much everyone within the families are working together to bring this city 500 performers in 120 shows in the seven days leading up to Labor Day. ![]() These five families – led by the scene's current godfather figure, Jeremy Sweetlamb – are the force behind this weekend's 13th annual Out of Bounds Comedy Festival. Also, actual criminal activities? Not so much.) (It's like something out of a story about the Mafia, right? Except that most of these people, who only half-jokingly refer to themselves as the Five Families, aren't biologically related these groupings are more of the intentional family sort. ![]() Ladies and gentlemen, these are the Five Families of Austin improv.
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