Bring Back the '90s! re-creates the era of boy bands and Nintendo through comedy
The Improv Centre’s new show celebrates the pastel decade
Bring Back the '90s!, Helen Camisa (far left), Stephanine Webster, and Meaghan Hommy. Photo by Mark Halliday
The Improv Centre presents Bring Back The ‘90s! Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm from April 21 to May 27, with a special opening night on April 20 at 7:30 pm
REMEMBER THE FRESH PRINCE of Bel-Air, Saved by the Bell, and Degrassi Junior High? Or maybe you were a fan of the likes of The Backstreet Boys, The Smashing Pumpkins, Britney Spears, Pearl Jam, and TLC. If you can relate, you’re the target audience for Bring Back The ‘90s!, a new comedy series at The Improv Centre on Granville Island.
Director Andrew Barber, a mainstage ensemble member The Improv Centre and a maker of short films, came of age during the decade of fanny packs, Nintendo, rollerblades, and neon scrunchies. He lived in Tsawwassen, hanging out with pals in the woods or in old malls, some of which resembled the one from the cop-car scene in Jumanji. It was an era he wanted to re-create through a night at the improv-comedy club.
Andrew Barber.
“Given the current state of our world, I’ve just been thinking a lot about the 90s,” Barber says in a phone interview with Stir. “I often have a lot of great flashbacks and nostalgic feelings for simpler times—before the Internet, before social media, when TV was the form of entertainment. It was a lot like TikTok is now, you just scanned through a lot more and it was more boring. But it was kind of nice because we had a monoculture. We would all focus on one thing at a time. It’s not quite the same today. There are so many TV shows airing at any one time to choose from that someone’s favourite show is something you’ve never heard of.
“I was wanting to give people an experience, with as much ’90s-themed stuff as we can fit into this theatre,” he adds. “I want to have props onstage, things from the ’90s like an old tube TV, an old Nintendo, a fax machine… We’ll be painting the stage with some funky ’90s-style turquoise and pink triangles. We’re gathering items like an overhead projector that math class used to use.” There will be music and video montages, too.
The audience, meanwhile, will act as a “think tank of sorts”, with even more interaction with the Improv Centre cast members than is typical. That doesn’t mean viewers have to worry about being dragged up on-stage; rather, the comedians are aiming to tap into their ideas as often as possible.
“It’s a very host-directed show,” Barber says. “The host is interjecting and changing the direction of the show and the scenes, using audience participation and suggestions as much as we can.” The seven performers will play a total of about 30 characters, from a TV network executive to a studio director.
Barber, who studied theatre at Douglas College, tried his hand at improv upon a friend’s suggestion; it was something he had never contemplated pursuing, but after one class, he was hooked. “I ended up on the mainstage about a year and a half after that,” Barber says. “If you have a theatre background, you’re used to performing. And if you can make people laugh and take notice and want to play with you, it’s so much fun.
“I love when you can really get into finding something funny with other people,” he says. “In that moment when you all find it, when the audience is in it with you and it’s really cookin’, improv helps you feel very in the moment, very present. I can come here in a bad mood and be having a really bad day mentally, and I know if I do a couple shows I know I’m going to feel really great. For a lot of comedians, it can completely change their mood. It helps them get out of their head when they’re performing in front of people. You have to focus and be Zen, and it’s the best state to be in. It’s a flow state.”
Barber, who also produces music, says he hopes the show brings about the same kind of nostalgia for viewers that he has experienced in pulling it together.
“I hope that people will remember things that maybe they forgot about,” he says. “Time goes by so fast; we compress it in our memory, and that’s why we love starting with a [video] montage. It shows you a bajillion things that you would not remember unless you saw it. We want people to walk into the theatre and be amazed just by looking at the stage. Let’s just pretend it’s the ’90s, like we’re stepping into a time machine that way. Let’s pretend like it’s simpler times.
Related Articles
