Highlights:
Alcock-around-the-Block 2007 (tour) - Edinburgh Fringe 2007 - Alcock Allstars
Every show we've done, in chronological order:
Michaelmas 2006 - Lent 2007 - Easter 2007 - Michaelmas 2007 - Lent 2008 - Easter 2008
Alcock Improv Debut (Coleridge Room, Jesus College / 7th-9th November / £1)
Our first ever shows, and boy were they scary. Crammed into the Coleridge Room, we desperately tried to convince large numbers of people that we were funny - and luckily for us most of them seemed to agree!
'In-joke': Ben actually came along to see the show on the 8th, and it was the only show he saw before he asked to join the group. Oddly enough, it was our worst night of the run! So maybe it wasn't that bad after all...
Alcock Improv (Churchill College / 1st December / £1)
The day before everyone went back home, those lucky few who made the trek out to Churchill were greeted with another evening of Alcock madness. Highlgihts have to include Tom setting off the fire-alarm in the middle of 'Salmon-Loaf' (don't ask) and Satan's minions taking what appeared to be a course in art appreciation.
'In-joke' : Tom actually set the fire alarm off in his last show, and did it in the next Alcock show too.
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Jazz<-Improv->Comedy (Coleridge Room, Jesus College / 30th January, 9pm / £1)
Over 100 people were rammed into the Coleridge Room once again, with blatant disregard for fire safety regulations, and Alcock showed that they could indeed sing-it with a full jazz band accompaniment. Sandcastles were built ('Crenelation Nation'), a monkey gained the ability to talk, and for the first time in Alcock history people nearly suffocated on stage. We also got our first review in TCS!
'In-joke': One member of the group came close to a stroke, not the for the last time, when the band forgot to bring the right cables and couldn't play the keyboard. But they then fixed it. Phew.
CUR1350 - Cambridge Review (1350AM / 6th February / FREE)
OK, so it was a radio show, and we only did about ten, maybe fifteen minutes. But it was completely improvised, and we had a good laugh doing it. It's probably the only time someone has been able to shut Will up, if only because the DJ was able to fade to music over the top of him. Listen to it again here, although please note that only our bit is at this link (the whole show was 52MB).
'In-joke': The pauses are where we started hitting and tickling each other. Listen carefully twice and you'll see what we mean.
Black Tie Smoker (Old Library, Pembroke College / 9th February, 8pm / £10)
Stuffed between a load of stand-up comedians and people in black tie, everyone felt a little bit out of place, especially now that we weren't improvising but performing sketches we had written based on our improvisation. But we soon warmed the crowd up with some scenes about the devil publishing a newspaper, a gymnast who had found a slightly... different routine and Freud finally revealing his past. Good thing the head of MI6 was there to watch it all...
'In-joke': Mark was wearing a DJ borrowed from Will's friend, and it got dropped in a puddle on the way over. To this day the friend doesn't know. Unless he reads this. Oh dear.
CUR1350 - Arts Review (1350AM / 9th February / FREE)
For some reason we got asked to record some stuff for another show, and so a very polite young woman came over to a last-minute rehearsal in Lucie's kitchen and recorded some of our thoughts on dictaphone. A nice interview with us, a very short snippet of us doing some (very bad) improv, followed by a really interesting dissection of how we work as a group, which might be interesting for you to hear if you've ever wondered about how we function as a group. Listen to it here. Note that it was pre-recorded, hence the fact we seem to have done two gigs on one night.
''In-joke': Nothing funny. Really. Well, there is, but we're not going to say.
Peterhouse (Theatre, Peterhouse College / 10th February, 9pm/ £2)
Probably our favourite venue, and probably one of the best shows we did that term. Tom did manage to slightly injure himself in the middle of 'diving reflex' by slipping over on the floor, but other than that everyone was relatively unscathed. Highlights have to include the pole-vaulting crooks sneaking back on stage to confuse their prey by talking about baguettes.
'In-joke': Will and Tom had written a sketch about olympic gymnasts (performed at the Black Tie Smoker) and so were rather scared when that exactly came up as a suggestion. Luckily, they didn't cheat - because that would be wrong.
Pembroke (New Cellars, Pembroke College / 13th February, 10.30pm / £2)
Ben's first show ever! And he was hilarious! Somehow, Tom managed to get a nosebleed in the middle of 'diving reflex' this time, which was quite terrifying for everyone bar him, since a healthy dose of adrenaline seemed to keep him unable to feel anything. Even more excitingly, Will's friend (the same one as mentioned earlier) managed to film parts of this one, so if you'd like a copy of it just drop us a line.
'In-joke': Ben was absolutely wetting himself - look at the DVD's first game and notice the delay before he joins in, and the pause after he's clapped as he's approaching. Genuine fear. But look at him now!
Improvosaurus (Wolfson Theatre, Churchill / 22nd February, 9pm / £2)
A dinosaur theme had to be called out for this one, because the booking fee was so huge and we were terrified no one would come along so that we wouldn't break even. But luckily they did, and we did, and the show was amazing. Loads of new games, possibly our best show of the term, and plenty of great moments. The first time we ever did 'open improv' on stage, and once again Alcock Improv were leading the way - we were the first student group to have the courage to do that in recent memory in Cambridge, as far as I'm aware. Believe us - there's a big difference between open improv and 'character displacement'... Make sure you read the Varsity review here.
'In-joke': We all had a massive need for the toilet before the show, and while some found their way from back-stage to the toilet in the main area of Churchill, others had to improvise...
HATStands (ADC Bar / 4th March, 7.45pm / £4)
Yet another evening of Alcock Improv confusing everyone by performing sketches we've written, but we think it went really well and we hope everyone had a good time. Highlights have to include yet another amazing impersonation of Satan by Mark, and a blind man being given his sight back by some of the strangest looking tree-nymphs most people have ever seen...
'In-joke': Quite a few trees and bushes lost some branches for this one, and some would say that Mark's kitchen scissors have never been the same since...
Alcock-around-the-Block (17th March onwards, Bristol, Manchester, Grantham and Sheffield Hallam)
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The Return of Alcock Improv (Peterhouse College Bar / 26th April / £2)
We retro-fitted a bar to suit our evil purposes, and it seems to have worked. In a running theme with Alcock Improv, we flaunted fire regulations and let far too many people in. Audience members were pleased to discover the truth behind that funny man with the radio who drives around town, what was lying just beyond the edge of Ben's horopter and exactly what a spinal cat was. Oh yes, and how a period drama medical student dissects bowels.
'In-joke': Running through market square in desperate search of a toilet, certain members of the group found themselves in Caisus college MCR, which admittedly wasn't that unusual for everyone there, but was memorable for some. And Lucie had a tuna sandwich. Yum.
Medics' Society Garden Party (St. John's College Fellows' Garden / 14th June / £N/A)
Everything looked just perfect until it started to rain, but an audience confined to gazebos, a jazz band playing at full volume with a PA system and performing in the pouring rain did not dampen Alcock's spirits. We even did two sets - complete with a horror-themed 'day in the life' where an unsuspecting Joy Phillips was mauled by a crab and beaten by a boat-load of evolutionary biologists.
'In-joke': Twenty minutes after the end of the show, Will was carted off to have his legs waxed to raise funds for Alcock's trip to the fringe. It hurts a lot more than you'd think, especially when certain members of the group are trying to get funds together to have your nipples done as well...
'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (Robinson College / 15th June / £N/A)
Our first May Ball, and what a night we had. Opening to a crowd of about five people, including one rather drunk heckler, word got round and within about five minutes the theatre was packed. The mis-adventures of 'Johnson-Johnson-Johnson', a recovering margarine addict and a man unable to make a sandwich without professional help.
'In-joke': We would have been completely scuppered if it weren't for the valiant efforts of the band 'Good Shoes', who provided towels to mop up the water on the stage and us after 'diving reflex' and had a few drinks with us to mop up our fatigue as well.
'Vaudeville' (Emmanuelle College / 18th June / £N/A)
Ripped in half by certain members of the group deciding to go and 'have fun' at Jesus that night, the rest of the group viciously attacked Emmauelle College, with results that seemed to get people talking about us for quite some time. Adjoa's first ever show - and she rocked!
'In-joke': Will could have left Jesus at 2am to go and do the show, but instead used his 'get-out-of-ball-free' card to go and get a friend some sensible shoes and a fleece. He's not exactly rock-and-roll...
Alcock Improv (ADC Theatre / 19th June, 11pm / £4/3)
T'was a dark and stormy night, and Alcock Improv opened to the ADC amidst a hail of fireworks for St. John's May Ball. Thanks (in part) to some amazing technical wizardry, Alcock took us to a land filled with vegetables brought forth from a spritual plane, a fire service trained in alternative remedies (interpretive dance, mime and the like) and introduced everyone to the little-known disease of 'amphibialisation'.
'In-joke': Bumped into a hypnotist we knew on the way out of the theatre, but were unsuccessful in getting him to teach us how to do it. Shame, really.
St. John's May Ball (St John's College / 19th June / £N/A)
Once they'd broken their way in, Alcock made sure they partied as hard as possible in the few hours they had before their show. Once it began, all was going swimmingly - the usual assortment of laughs, puctuated by a 'diving reflex' so intense that Will couldn't stand up straight for half an hour afterwards and Ben literally crawled off the stage and then disappeared for ten minutes afterwards and no one is quite sure what he did! Amazing what we do for our art.
'In-joke': A fond farewell was said to 'Good Shoes', as this was our third and final gig with them. Also, Ben, Mark and Will were actually caught breaking into the ball, as can be seen in the gallery of this very website. Gosh.
'Champagne Ball' (Pembroke College / 20th June / £N/A)
Yet another ball, yet another great performance. I would honestly say (and many have agree with me) that this could well have been our best show yet, which is quite fitting in a way. Amsterdam was held to ransome by rats and an incompetent zoologist, we had the blues about VPL (whatever that actually is) and possibly one of the most surreal 'day in the life' games we have ever played. A fire-steward's nightmare of a theatre, filled to the brim with laughter.
'In-joke': The last ever show that Lucie and Mark will do together - it was all a bit sad, really. Ben hadn't slept for over 48 hours, and Phillida seemed to believe she was in some way involved in that...
'Carnivalia' (Corpus Christi College / 22nd June / £N/A)
The final ball, and this time performed in the middle of a boxing ring. Perhaps the worst acoustic we have ever experienced - so terrible in fact that we were almost upset when we got a laugh, because no one could hear what we said! Cabbages were assaulted by slugs, farmers were on LSD and the most uncomfortable human chair and footstool arrangement imaginable was used in 'movie review'.
'In-joke': Tom bribed some jazz musicians to give us just one last dance straight after the show, possibly making up for the fact he turned up (literally) twenty seconds before the show started!
Alcock Improv - Edinburgh Fringe (Roxy 2 / 6th - 11th August / £3)
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Alcock Improv - Reloaded (ADC Theatre / 10 - 13th October / £4/5)
Alcock showed everyone what they were made of for four nights at the ADC theatre, each of which sold faster than a plate of hot-cakes in the Arctic. A mixture of old and new talent, a few of the games we tried out in Edinburgh were mixed with a older games, and a brand new member (Jess) was brought in front of people for the first time. And the reviews were good...
'In-joke': We certainly didn't dress Mark up as a woman at the after-party. Because that would have been mean...
Amnesty Smoker (King's College Bar / 19th October / £donations)
Alcock jumped up and warmed everyone up so that they would give lots of money. And they did! So it was a success. Hurrah.
'In-joke': Are lap dance clubs really that bad? Yes. Yes they are.
Pembroke (New Cellars, Pembroke College / 9th November / £2)
Nate and Josh first faced the limelight in exactly the same venue as Ben Cottam did not so long ago, and they were amazing. Not only did we find out what Sarah Brockelhurst has done to the water in the ADC of late, we also discovered that intestines have... interesting uses. And it was the first time we stood on mousetraps in public...
'In-joke': Some members of the audience thought it would be funny to poke their fingers inside the mousetraps, and found out that it was, in fact, exactly as painful as it looked.
Churchill Smoker (Churchill College / 10th November / £donations)
Despite having only three members present, it fell to Alcock to get the crowd rolling, and rolling they did get it. Fun was had by all...
'In-joke': Wonder where our mousetraps could have got to...
Law Ball (Newmarket / 17th November / £N/A)
Alcock made a load of people who, one day, will very, very rich very, very happy. In a very noisy room, but hey, at least we got to attack Mark Gardiner's feet with mousetraps...
'In-joke': Some members of the group made some jokes they're not tremendously proud of on stage...
New Hall Cabaret Bar Night (New Hall College / 25th November / £donations)
An absolutely amazing gig, for an absolutely amazing charity. The powers of feminism extended themselves to a woman with ten-foot long fingernails, who discovered that she was beautiful inside all along, Nate discovered what 'we were playing with a rubix cube' means in England and Adjoa had her phaser set on 'crayon'. One of our best shows yet, and in part due to an excellent crowd!
'In-joke': Mark II is likely a nickname that's going to stick for one member of the group now...
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Alcock Allstars (ADC Theatre / 15th - 19th January / £4/5-£5-6
Student Free Tibet - Tashling Losar (Woolwich, London / 7th February / £12)
Out of the goodness of our own hearts, Alcock decided to do their bit for freeing Tibet. Overcoming a rather phenomenal cultural and language barrier, Alcock managed to bring out their old imaginary friend Boris to deal with the situation, although the kids not quite getting the concept of not shouting out who'd been killed in 'police confession' was an issue!
'In-joke': Certainly a lot of history to this gig...
Pembroke Amnesty (Pembroke College, New Cellars / 29th February / £donations)
Alcock were the entire second half of the show, and they certainly disappoint. Katy showed everyone what she could do for the first time ever on stage, and demonstrated quite clearly that all monsters use the sewer network for transport. Well, someone's got to.
'In-joke': I thought you did the publicity. No? Bugger.
Sheffield Shrimps (Clubroom, Churchill College / 1st March / £donations)
The Sheffield Shrimps very kindly came all the way down to Cambridge for a show - and then gave away all the taking to Student Community Action! What lovely guys!
'In-joke': And what a lovely guy the person who forgot to organise the show for Will was. Great person. Yah.
Alcock Improv Workshop Show (Coleridge Room, Jesus Collge / 8th March / £donations)
The pinnacle of all the workshop group had been doing throughout the year, the workshop-goers put on what was perhaps one of the funniest shows the Coleridge Room has ever seen. Robin Hood was killed off, all the plot threads were tied together in a film and Nate Dern finally swore on stage. Hurrah!
'In-joke': Flashback?...
Magpie and Stump (Trinity College / 9th March / £free)
Having bumped into 'The Magpiety', Alcock were forced to have formal hall at Trininty College and then make a load of people laugh. But they rose to the occasion, detailing exactly what would happen if The Big Issue were handed out by werewolves.
'In-joke': It's not really heckling if the person involved is having a good time and is just that drunk...
'Pandaemonium' (Girton College / 14th March / £N/A)
Panaemonium was certainly taking place in the main stage of Girton's may ball, partly in fairness due to a rather dodgy amplification system. But with the aid of N'Sync-style vocal mikes Alcock did all they could to re-create Chloe's day in the style of 'The Lord of the Rings', even if she might not have been entirely truthful about what she did...
'In-joke': Flashy tunnels that reminded us of Event Horizon? Good thing we didn't film any Matrix/horror movie rip-offs in them...
Bristol (Bristol Grammar School / 18th March / £3)
BGS, for some reason, had us back to do a show. Probably something to do with the workshop did for them, and that Will went to school there. But how should we know? But we're pretty sure that everyone left with a much clearer idea of the dangers of marriage counsellors with ulterior motives.
'In-joke': I'm sure he was just joking, right? Wasn't he?
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Comedy Debate (The Cambridge Union / TBC / free for members, £3 otherwise)
Alcock Improv proposed that 'this house would do anything for money', and The Oxford Imps didn't know what hit 'em. That was partly because Alcock were so poorly prepared that they'd mis-read the motion, when they did provide evidence it was in the form of Nate pretending to be a house, and were only able to get enough money together to do the show by agreeing to fly a Goodyear blimp through the debating chamber. Check out a 'behind the scenes' video the Imps made of it here, as well as the coverage of the actual event in our gallery.
'In-joke': "No, the blimp'll never get stuck in the rafters..."
Enchantment (Robinson College May Ball / 13th June / £N/A)
Despite being being nearly hit by a car, being forced to wait in a cell for two hours due to a mix-up and flooding the backstage area with toilet water, Alcock streaked onto the stage and discovered lots of exciting things about Nat's wonderful, hunky boyfriend Roger.
'In-joke': Pretty much all in the first sentence above, really.
Rodeo (Emmnuelle College June Event / 15th June / £N/A)
Alcock tried to teach everyone a few lessons about animal welfare, as well as showing the dangers of sticking your head in a bucket of water and then walking out in the cold, but due to the drum and bass tent next door we're not quite sure how much of it stuck in people's heads!
'In-joke': We are never, ever, doing the bucket game again. Period.
Pembroke Players Garden Party (Pembroke College Gardens / 16th June / £N/A
Holding off on the Pimm's until after the show, Alcock struggled through some very obscure suggestions for guests at Adjoa's party, but the personification of love was so much fun to watch it idn't really matter anyway.
'In-joke': I think we all learnt something new about Katy after her stand-up routine...
Bohemia (Jesus College May Ball / 16th June / £N/A)
Nate's final show in Cambridge was certainly one to remember. Jesus visited the stage and Nate and Katy had a rap battle as we battled with John Pemberthy's day in the style of gothic hip-hop. We even learnt something: don't sell your soul to the devil, because he won't let you go back on it. He is the devil, after all.
'In-joke': Nate's last ride on the ferris wheel... Sob...
St. John's May Ball (St. John's College / 17th June / £N/A)
One of the finest balls in all of Cambridge deserves an equally fine improv performance, and we certainly gave them one! German ballet dancers, Sly Stallone and a bunch of great characters graced the stage.
'In-joke': If you come up for 'day in the life', please don't announce that you've broken into the ball over the microphone. It doesn't go down so well with the security personnel...
Pembroke June Event (Pembroke College / 18th June / £N/A
Despite several members of the group being missing absent, and one of the line-up in bed with fatigue after doing so many shows, we showed Pembroke a good time! A great gig in what is one of our favourite spaces, to a crowd that's always in the right mood!
'In-joke': No more balls, please. Enough!
