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SHOW HISTORY
show 01
This was The 3rd Floor's first show. Being a young troupe with no reputation, we had trouble getting a performance space. Andy Buzan had worked as an actor for Don Horn's Triangle Productions. At the time, Triangle was the resident company at The Mainstreet Playhouse, a wonderful now-defunct space located beneath the Portland Art Museum. Based on his relationship with Andy, Don was nice enough to give us a slot for our first show. There was a catch, however: the show would be performed for three weeks only on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights, not the ideal nights for an upstart sketch comedy show. However we surprised both Don and ourselves when the show was a smash success. By the third week, we were selling out the 100+ seat house. Don offered us an extension and we took it, running an extra two weeks. We'd be lying if we said the success didn't go to our heads, but more on that in the next show description. (Sidenote: Laura Farbrother was part of the original cast, but could not appear in our first run, due to a previous commitment to appear in "Hair" at Portland State University. Bryan Coffee also missed several performances due to the commitment, as he was running lights for that show.) ------------------------ REVIEWS: EXERPT FROM ANODYNE MAGAZINE THE 3RD FLOOR:Maximum Capacity Sketch Comedy The average Portland comedy group asks their audiences for zany words like "Spam" and "tampon," which they use to garnish banal improvised scenes that have the subtle effect of reminding you why Sinbad should be hung by the entrails of Benny Hill. Is it something in the water? Aren't we funny? The Oregon Lottery commercials are funny, but they ship their actors up from Los Angeles, the stalwart Mecca of all humor. Should Portlanders who want good, live comedy really have to book a ticket to SF to avoid the crickets at Harvey's open-mike night? As I took my seat in the Mainstreet Playhouse to watch The 3rd Floor comedy troupe, I was a little nervous. Their PR looked good, and the pre-show music was at least pseudo-hip; but I couldn't help wondering if I was going to be asked for the names of anti-fungal products to fuel the evening's laughs. I wasn't, and for the next hour and forty-five minutes, I enjoyed an intelligent, classy and (dare I say) consistently hilarious show. The first sketch involved an overprotective mother (Jana Hamblin) who brings her child to his first day of Kindergarten with a small SWAT team led by a gunman known only as "Gunther" (Brandon Campbell). There was no improvisation in the show; the ten member cast had a strong, carefully written script of thirty sketches covering everything from being crippled to being queer. The group managed to perform a large array of comedic styles. Their physical comedy was large but without unneeded bombast. Brandon Campbell and Andy Buzan brought down the house at the end of the first act as two boys playing Nintendo in a living room, entirely in slow motion. Other characters were more verbose, like Loren Hoskins' drunken ventriloquist from Scotland, and a stand-up comic who goes on stage despite his recently severed arm (Andrew Harris). The show's finale is a fully choreographed hip-hop dance number, complete with helmets and knee pads. Wow. Most of the cast members seemed to have years of experience, while others showed a little green. Consequently, there were some moments of flawed dialects and improper timing. This was their first show, however, so expect improvement. Last month I mentioned high ticket prices as one of the causes for low theater turnout in Portland. Well, for $6 a pop, The 3rd Floor, gave me and about forty other people a pretty swell time. Refusing to sacrifice comedic caliber for a cheap laugh, these guys are worth checking out. While they're no Kids In The Hall, The 3rd Floor soundly stands far above the usual level of Portland comedy and Benny Hill. ------------------------ THE CREDITS »»PERFORMED AT The Mainstreet Playhouse Portland, Oregon »»PRODUCED BY Andy Buzan Brandon Campbell Loren Hoskins »»WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY The 3rd Floor »»STARRING Andy Buzan Brandon Campbell Bryan Coffee Ted Douglass Jana Lee Hamblin Andrew Harris Loren Hoskins Jason Keller Kris Lucht »»THE MAN WHO MOVES IN THE DARK Ian Berry »»TECH OPERATOR Shawn Snider ------------------------ SKETCHES PERFORMED »»3RD FLOOR INTRO: ANDREW Written By: Andrew Harris Starring: Andrew Harris »»3RD FLOOR INTRO: ANDY Written By: Andy Buzan Starring: Andy Buzan »»3RD FLOOR INTRO: BRANDON Written By: Brandon Campbell Starring: Brandon Campbell and Ian Berry »»3RD FLOOR INTRO: BRYAN Written By: Bryan Coffee Starring: Bryan Coffee »»3RD FLOOR INTRO: JANA Written By: Jana Lee Hamblin Starring: Jana Lee Hamblin »»3RD FLOOR INTRO: JASON Written By: Jason Keller Starring: Jason Keller »»3RD FLOOR INTRO: KRIS Written By: Kris Lucht Starring: Kris Lucht »»3RD FLOOR INTRO: LOREN Written By: Loren Hoskins Starring: Loren Hoskins »»3RD FLOOR INTRO: TED Written By: Ted Douglass Starring: Ted Douglass and Shawn Snider »»80-GALLON CLUB Written By: Andy Buzan, Brandon Campbell, Bryan Coffee, Ted Douglass, Laura Farbrother, Jana Lee Hamblin, Andrew Harris, Loren Hoskins, Jason Keller, and Kris Lucht Starring: Andy Buzan, Brandon Campbell, Bryan Coffee, Ted Douglass, Andrew Harris, Loren Hoskins, Jason Keller, and Kris Lucht »»AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR (AKA: JOSTA) Written By: Ted Douglass Starring: Ted Douglass »»ANDY'S SPIT TALE Written By: Andy Buzan Starring: Andy Buzan and Loren Hoskins »»BEAUTIFUL & GORGEOUS Written By: Loren Hoskins and Jason Keller Starring: Andy Buzan, »»CLAP INTRO Written By: by Loren Hoskins Starring: Loren Hoskins »»DRIVE-BY STALKER Written By: by Jana Lee Hamblin Starring: Jana Lee Hamblin »»FAMILY CAT (I) Written By: by Andrew Harris Starring: Brandon Campbell, Ted Douglass, Jana Lee Hamblin, Andrew Harris, Kris Lucht »»FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN Written By: by Laura Farbrother Starring: Andy Buzan, Brandon Campbell, Bryan Coffee, Ted Douglass, Jana Lee Hamblin, Andrew Harris, Loren Hoskins, Jason Keller, and Kris Lucht »»INTERCOURSE GUM Written By: by Loren Hoskins Starring: Brandon Campbell, Jana Lee Hamblin, and Kris Lucht »»JASON'S GAY MONOLOGUE Written By: by Jason Keller Starring: Andy Buzan, Brandon Campbell, Bryan Coffee, Ted Douglass, Andrew Harris, Loren Hoskins, and Jason Keller »»ONE-ARMED COMIC Written By: by Andrew Harris Starring: Brandon Campbell, Ted Douglass, Andrew Harris, and Loren Hoskins »»PHUNKY DANCE choreographed by Andy Buzan, Brandon Campbell, Ted Douglass, Jana Lee Hamblin, Andrew Harris, Loren Hoskins and Jason Keller Starring: Andy Buzan, Brandon Campbell, Bryan Coffee, Ted Douglass, Jana Lee Hamblin, Andrew Harris, Loren Hoskins, Jason Keller, and Kris Lucht »»THE SCOTTISH VENTRILOQUIST Written By: by Loren Hoskins Starring: Andy Buzan and Loren Hoskins »»SHAWK-HATERS' CLUB (I) Written By: by Loren Hoskins Starring: Andy Buzan, Bryan Coffee (sometimes), Ted Douglass (othertimes), Loren Hoskins and Jason Keller »»SLO-MO BOYS Written By: by Andy Buzan and Brandon Campbell Starring: Andy Buzan, Brandon Campbell, Bryan Coffee (sometimes), Ted Douglass (othertimes) »»T3F AUDIO INTRO (AUDIO) Written By: by Andrew Harris Starring: Andrew Harris »»TOM SHANE (AUDIO) Written By: by Ted Douglass and Loren Hoskins Starring: Ted Douglass and Loren Hoskins |
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