The Dimple Divers have long been taking Wheaton College by storm as the best (and only) improv comedy group on campus. Recently, their hilarity went to take the world by storm, or, at least the improv world by storm, by emerging victorious from the improvisational quagmire that is the College Comedy Fest and Beanpot Tournament at ImprovBoston.
The College Comedy Festival is an annual event that brings together the improv groups of several different colleges across New England, including the likes of Emerson College, Trinity College, UMass Amherst, MIT, Boston College, our own Wheaton College and others. In its eleventh year in existence, 18 colleges were represented.
The improv groups, often with names that involve puns or only make sense if you happen to attend their college, go head to head to find out who is the best of the best of college improv. The winner of the whole weekend gets bragging rights, their picture on the College Comedy Festival website for the whole year and a trophy signifying the group as the champions. The competition consists of a line games round, a long form round and a short form round with an additionally finals round for the top scoring teams. Each team is provided with a coach to guide them through the weekend and help them succeed in their improvisational endeavors.
This was the Dimple Divers’ second year partaking in the festival, and apparently, that one year was all they needed in order to become familiar enough with the festival’s ways in order to come out on top. Ever since they first started preparing for their first go at the competition, their repertoire has expanded to include more games in order to keep with the times of college improv. Long form has also become much more common during their performances on campus. Ironically, improv comedy takes considerable practice in refining techniques and forming a cohesive group. The Dimple Divers have four hours of practice a week and perform for the student body several times every semester. As anyone who has ever seen the Dimple Divers perform knows, these shows are usually well-attended and always promise loads of laughs.
In addition to winning the entire festival, the Dimple Divers were also honored to have one of their own crowned MVP of the tournament. Ebony Kennedy ‘19 from Brooklyn, NY was awarded MVP by the judges for her performance in the finals as a giraffe-like coffee shop customer – words that would only ever exist in the same sentence in the context of improv comedy.
So now, with a championship title under their belt, what comes next for the Dimple Divers? More trophies? World domination? Who knows – just so long as they remember us little people when they make it big.