The LOL Waalay boys are a fearless lot. It became clear as day at their latest show The LOL shedding Special held at the Pakistan American Cultural Centre (PACC) on April 15. For those who are not familiar with the group, the six-member improvisational comedy troupe includes Ali Gul Pir, Akbar Chaudry, Zubair Tariq, Muhammad Kumail, Sannan Wastani and Aadi Amjad (who was unable to participate in this show due to his work schedule).

Improvisational comedy shows are structured in such a way where performers play out pre-decided games based on sketches. The content of the sketches, however, is different in every show since the performers take suggestions from the audience. This is where the improvisation part comes in. They have to think on their feet and create characters and situations on the spot.

The theme of The LOLshedding Special was, of course, the issue of load-shedding Karachi has been facing ever since hot weather set in. Performers and audiences managed to keep this theme running through the show with one sketch about Bollywood actor Salman Khan dying due to load-shedding … in Gwadar. This kind of bizarreness is typical of LOL Waalay’s comedy. At one point, audience members were treated to Devdas’s Paro and trigger-happy character Abid Shaka protesting outside K-Electric’s offices.

An improv comedy show proved how important it is to tackle harsh subjects in a lighter vein and at the same time put the message across strongly

From Afghan refugees to Salman Khan’s latest hunting controversy to harassment allegations against former CEO of Patari, Khalid Bajwa, LOL Waalay did not shy away from making fun of the people and issues that have been in the news in recent times. Wastani and Kumail’s sketch of two heroin addicts made it clear that these guys have a knack for finding comedy even in the darkest of places.

In total, the audience was treated to 11 games during The LOLShedding Special. In ‘Objection’, the performers made speeches on topics such as Kumail being destined to go to hell and Pir’s inability to keep secrets. If another performer shouted out an objection that was sustained by Chaudry, who hosted the show, they were given the stage to speak on whatever bizarre objection they had made.

In ‘Hesitation’, Tariq and Wastani acted out a sketch with incomplete sentences that were left to the audience to complete.

In ‘Left Right’, the performers were made to stand in a square with each pair of performers being given a different situation that they had to switch between when Chaudry commanded them to rotate towards the left or the right. Pir and Wastani stole the show in this game with a sketch between a personal trainer and a rather weak client interested in making only two “muscal”.

In ‘Informercial’, Tariq and Kumail were seen selling random objects such as a pair of chappals and an air-pump as whitening products.

In ‘Slide Show’, the performers acted on a skit in which a Sindhi couple put on a slide show of pictures from their trip to Dadu for the husband’s (also Sindhi) boss. The technicalities of the show were not lost on the audience. It was clear that each game comes with its own set of challenges that the performers must circumnavigate on the spot.

The evening’s proceedings, however, were marred by serious mismanagement on the part of the PACC. Audiences were packed into the room in sweltering heat. When the air conditioning was turned on, it did nothing to cool the room but proved to be counterproductive, with one of the ducts leaking profusely right on the stage. Kudos to the performers for continuing to perform under these conditions and not letting their performance be affected by the big puddle of water on the stage or it being mopped up by one of the PACC staff members right in the middle of their sketches.

The boys of Lol Waalay have been performing for six years now and, as far as improvisational comedy is concerned, are some of the most seasoned comedians in Karachi. With each show, their humour and comic timing becomes more mature and more fearless. While their jokes do fall flat sometimes, their experience comes across in the way that they always manage to recover and, at the end of the show, leave the audience in stitches.

Published in Dawn, ICON, April 29th, 2018