Divine Comedy at Gallery 5

Apparently plenty of people were in the mood to laugh tonight.

I say that because of the nearly full house at Gallery 5 for an improv comedy performance by the Richmond Comedy Coalition followed by a screening of Trust Us, This Is All Made Up.

The bar was open, the popcorn was free and this Chop Suey/G5 event drew a diverse crowd, some of whom had never been in the gallery before.

The Richmond Comedy Coalition began by soliciting a location from the audience as a starting point (a New York apartment) and then were off and running from there.

What began with a freelance exterminator showing up to torch mice in said apartment segued into a restaurant called Roofies where both roofies and bread sticks were served to a spoof on perceptions of Germany ("That's so German of you," says one hipster to another. "Do you even know what that means?" the other shoots back) and winding back to all of these plot lines at one point or another.

Next up was the documentary featuring Second City kings of long-form improv, TJ and Dave.

The film began with them discussing how their art develops by wandering the city, both together and alone to observe life, and then parlaying that into an hour-long improv performance, in this case in NYC.

It was kind of amazing how they planned nothing in advance, but relied on what they felt and read from each other at the start of each show.

Playing multiple characters and exchanging roles (they mimicked each other's character's voices and mannerisms beautifully) they wove through a story with subplots and colorful characters.

Most of us were laughing out loud during RCC's performance and again during the film.

As impressive as it is to witness the creativity of improvisation, it's the spontaneous humor that is irresistible.

Besides, I love to laugh.

Ask anyone who knows me