Photo: ishouldknowthis.live
I Should Know This...
I Should Know This...
“We want the show to feel like performers and audience are back in college at our friends' kitchen late on a Saturday night and we’re riffing off each other.”
Thus says Kristoffer Puddicombe of the intimate, convivial ambience he and co-host James Boland want to conjure with “I Should Know This...,” their comedy game show that takes to stage for its latest episode at The Cooperage (822 Water St.), 7 p.m. Saturday, March 25.
“That only works,” Puddiciombe adds regarding the collegial banter “I Should Know This...” has been generating since its 2015 in the garage of ComedySportz, “if you have a ‘yes, and...’ mentality.” Puddicombe references a basic element of improvisational comedy. And Puddicombe knows from improv.
“My first formal improv classes were the battery of ComedySportz classes sometime around 2005. Beyond that, I’ve done shows and jams through Schimitz and Giggles and the former Ampersand Theater. I taught improv for years in First Stage Children’s Theater’s summer academy.” Puddiciombe explains that this is “the kind of thing I’ve wanted to do all my life and the work I am most excited about and proud of.”
“I Should” has enough going for it, including guest panelists such as Milwaukee comedian Chastity Washington in its next Cooperage date, to translate as a television or radio show, which could make it Puddicombe and his co-host’s primary income source. Until then, however, their day work gives them plenty of opportunity to hone their comedy chops. “James Boland and I are both classroom teachers by trade, which is its own type of improv of course,” he explains.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
Visual Show
“We were in conversations to put it on the radio at one point,” Puddicombe offers, “but the show is pretty visual and would need to be reimagined for that format, I fear.” Another radio show, however, provided a forebear of what Puddicombe and Boland are doing.
“We are huge fans of ‘Wait Wait,’” Puddicombe exclaims of “Wait Wait ... Don’t Tell Me!,” National Public Radio’s news-based comedy game show. “It’s the show we compare ours to when trying to explain it to other folks who haven’t seen it. The biggest similarity is that we have a panel of comedians participating in the quiz but ultimately nobody cares about who wins the quiz that weekend,” he says.
How “I Should Know This” differs from one of NPR’s most popular programs is the origin of the funny banter it generates. “Their show is news based, while ours is mostly internet ephemera. We cull crazy things people have published online and often have our panel write their own answers based on what they think some ding-dong online said,” he says. “As we progress. I would love to expand where we find our source material to real life interactions in Milwaukee.”
Though “I Should” has lured local luminaries from the realms of politics, public broadcasting, choreography, music and historical studies, among others (the guest for May’s quiz is WISN-TV meteorologist Mark Baden), Puddicombe would like to shout out to a certain Chicagoan to join him and Boland at The Cooperage.
“If Peter Sagal is reading this, please contact me. I’d love to have you on the show!” Puddicombe pleads to “Wait Wait’s” host. Should he take up the invitation to guest on “I Should Know This...,” Puddicombe hopes he doesn't hear from him is “Stop ripping off my show!” Numerous factors keep “I Should” from being a “Wait Wait” rip-off. Puddicombe promises, “It’s a very fun night.”
For ticket info visit ishouldknowthis.live.
