Comedy Sportz Wins Games and Laughs at Costa

Since laughter is the best medicine, the Mira Costa Comedy Sportz Team calls itself the public option everyone can agree on. And after a Friday night filled with genuine, deep-from-the-belly laughs, I have to concur.

The Mira Costa Comedy Sportz Team is an extremely popular improv comedy club that's held in the high school's drama room. The Friday matches (shows)  are so popular that they attract all parts of the community—Costa alumni, parents and even local middle school and elementary school students. To ensure the show is kept family-friendly, any player who says something inappropriate must wear a brown grocery bag of shame over his or her head for the remainder of that scene.

Comedy Sportz serves as an excellent way for certain students to express themselves.  The club is a unique part of Mira Costa, and it's very different from any other club at the school. 

The key to the popularity of the program is the players, who are experts-in-the-making at improv. Even though the program works with the drama department, Comedy Sportz is open to all students. The team boasts members of the drama class, the band and even a football player, not to mention spanning all grade levels.

From the audience's perspective, Comedy Sportz is especially fun for those Costa students who know all the players from various school settings. Seeing my Model United Nations teaching assistant throw a plastic starfish across the stage is as funny as it is unusual.

On Friday, Mira Costa hosted the Comedy Sportz team from El Segundo, and narrowly won the match 54-47. (The victor is chosen by audience applause.) Those people who missed it can watch the players in action on Costa Comedy Sportz's Facebook page, which keeps fans up to date on the team's happenings and upcoming matches.

Comedy Sportz has much in common with traditional sports at Costa. The fervor of the more than 200 fans who generally attend each Comedy match makes the events as exciting as any Costa sports competition.

Another key similarity is the mind-set: Practice makes perfect. The Costa Comedy Sportz team meets twice a week to stay on top of its game. However, unlike the highly competitive nature of Costa's athletic sports, Comedy Sportz teams play less to win and more to ensure the audience has a side-splitting night.

To learn more about Comedy Sportz, click here.

Adam Gerard is a freshman at Mira Costa High School. His student columns appear semi-regularly at Manhattan Beach Patch.