Members of Grand Valley State University's "Subject to Change" short-form improv comedy team perform during the Michigan State University 2025 Jest Fest at the Arena Theater in East Lansing, Michigan on Feb. 1, 2025.
A Spicy Clamato, a Paperback Rhino and a BBQ Kitten all walk into a bar. This isn't the setup for a corny joke… this is Jest Fest.
Jest Fest is the largest gathering of collegiate improv performers in the Midwest, bringing together schools from Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Iowa, for two nights of improv, laughter and bonding.
The Michigan State Roial Improv Players are the student organization behind the event, and it began in Snyder Phillips Hall on Jan. 31 with the “open swim,” an opportunity for the different troupes to mingle and practice improv together.
Participants from 10 different schools split up into three rooms and got to break the ice the way they know best, through improv. There were plenty of games to choose from with students participating in The Dating Game, Switch Left, Oscar Winning Moment and many more classic improv games.
Walking into each room, one might think the performers had known each other for years, laughter is commonplace and conversations flow with impeccable ease. However, this was a first meeting for many involved; considering this is only the second annual Jest Fest gathering at Michigan State University.
The event existed in other forms before the Covid-19 pandemic, which greatly impacted the club’s membership. After persisting through “Zoomprov” and regaining members once MSU re-opened, Event Director Hannah Greenspan was inspired to bring it back in a new way.
“We participated in an improv festival at the University of Illinois, and then I decided I wanted to have our own one here,” Greenspan said.
Greenspan was able to utilize her previous template for this year’s Jest Fest. By utilizing feedback from last year, Greenspan created a split performance day that allowed every team to showcase their skills.
“We were like, ‘why not just do two shows this year? We can space it out. Then everyone has the incentive to come back next year,'" Greenspan said. "Everyone's happy, everyone sees each other do improv.”
Everyone was happy at this year’s Jest Fest, especially considering that many have found their tribe through improv.
Rowan Wierda, a theater third year at Central Michigan University, found himself switching majors from political science when he found his passion in the improv community.
“I wanted to find somewhere to do a performance of some sort, it was an itch, and improv gave me that,” Wierda said. “Improv is the way I found my theater community… as soon as someone says something funny, I just forget everything, I’m just there to have fun and joke around with my friends. It’s really wonderful.”
Rowan found a community, including his roommate, through their improv troupe, Hypothetical Fistfight. The bonds improv creates are hard to break and the energy of the room made it clear everyone was welcome, and their humor is too.
Throughout the first night, students played numerous games. With the clap of everyone’s hands, the performers turned into a person with noodle arms, RuPaul, Napoleon and whatever else the crowd suggested. Every word uttered, and every joke told was thought of in the moment, which allows for spontaneous moments of pure joy and laughter.
Those spontaneous moments took a much more polished form on the second day of Jest Fest. Held in the basement of the Auditorium, students came from Kent State, Central Michigan University, the University of Michigan and many other colleges to perform.
The final day consisted of two performances, one from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. and a final show that began at 7 p.m.
The first show saw performances from the uniquely dubbed Spicy Clamato, Hypothetical Fistfight and MSU’s After School Special, among others. The final show saw the MSU Roial Improv, UofM’s Impro-fessionals, BBQ Kitten and several more.
The improv stage has very few rules, although most performances consist of a “La Ronde,” a multiple-person scene in which each person is given a role, and several mini-scenes ensue, all culminating in one connected story. Paperback Rhino, a troupe from the University of Iowa, employed a "fill-in-the-blank" style of improv in which audience members were tasked with finishing sentences in a game more akin to "Mad Libs on steroids."
Gordon Brown’s son, Garrett, has been a member of Grand Valley State’s improv troupe, Subject to Change for four years. Brown attends most of his son’s shows and although he has yet to shout out a suggestion, he is proud of the growth improv has offered his son.
“He was really a shy kid when he first went to college, and he’s a completely different person now,” said Brown.
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Shyness has no place on the Jest Fest stage, and the confidence and courage it takes to perform so freely allows many performers to take risks and push the boundaries of comedy.
These stories took multiple forms but one of the biggest factors in any performance’s success is the audience. The audience is a crucial part of the show, providing the laugh track and applause after every joke, and driving each scene with suggestions.
Hope Hazel, an audience member supporting her partner Phoenix Poole, spoke to the importance of audience involvement.
“It’s always really fun to hear how many people in the audience know what’s going on in the world, know the reference, and laugh about the jokes being made," Hazel said. "It’s a great example of the way that young artists end up writing the history of what it’s like to experience political climates in different areas and time.”
No matter what the suggestion, the performers took it in stride and crafted tales of humor and whimsy that left the room bursting at the seams with laughter. Some audience members found the jokes so amusing they giggled long after the rest of the crowd died down.
Jest Fest concluded on Feb. 1 at 9 p.m., and as the theater cleared out, several members of Roial Improv stuck around to clean up and bask in the glory of their hard work.
After the event, Greenspan spoke to the legacy of Jest Fest and the hope she has for the next generation of young improv performers at MSU.
“I think that if a job interview were to ask me what I'm most proud of, this is what I would talk about, not just Jest Fest, but Roial as a whole," Greenspan said. "Watching it grow and then growing with it -- I know I've started things that are going to last, which makes me really happy.”
If you are interested in catching a Roial Improv performance, they host shows every month at the Snyder Phillips RCAH Theater and tickets are two dollars.
