GREAT ESCAPE: Improv Comedy Features Drop Three

Who needs a laugh?

On April 16, at the late hour of 11 p.m., Spotlighters Theater is hosting the improv and sketch comedy act Drop Three.

Drop Three has been performing improv comedy together since 2008, but its members are mostly longtime stand-up comedy veterans. Their act is reminiscent of Whose Line Is It Anyway, which draws on audience participation to keep the troupe members guessing and performing on the fly.

They also perform sketch comedy, which is a series of short comedy scenes a la Saturday Night Live.

Spotlighters Theater is at 817 St. Paul Street, in Baltimore’s Mt. Vernon neighborhood. Drop Three performs there frequently, calling it their “regular haunt.” This Saturday’s show is a Spring Fling, and chances are high that they will indeed be “flinging” something, even if it’s only zingers.

No two shows are the same, because the audience decides where the show goes. Ron Burr, the founder and director of Drop Three, said, “I’ve done comedy in a room full of nuns, and a room full of ex-convicts. It’s all audience driven. And you go with it.”

Burr explained the origins of Drop Three's name. It’s a philosophy of improvisational comedy that involves “dropping” the first several obvious jokes that come to a comedian’s mind when he’s performing, and reaching, instead, for something a little more left of center.

“I love making that obvious joke, trust me!” said Burr. “I’ll make a fart joke with the best of them.” But he explained how he tries to go for the more offbeat, less obvious one-liner, which keeps his troupe’s performances more unique, original and, most importantly, funny.

Doors open at 10:30, and tickets are $10. To buy them in advance, click here.