Low Brow Entertainment Keeps the Spirits High

Electric City Puppets Hosts Fuzz Ball, an Audience Participation Game Show

“Audience Participation”. A term I dread only being equal to “tax audit” or worse, “karaoke.” Fortunately, not everyone feels that way other Fuzzball, presented by the Electric City Puppets, wouldn’t be a raucous and raunchy good time. 

I’ve attended two performances of the “world’s greatest game show” at the Arts Center of the Capital Region – one in April and one in December- and both times I’ve left with my cheeks hurting from laughing – and at times cringing – too much. A couple of my friends are active in the Capital Region improv scene and when they invited me to the first one, I needed about a five-minute explanation on what I was agreeing to attend.

Basically, the set-up is that a cast of 8 performers with muppet-inspired hand puppets host a game show, where two randomly selected audience members compete for prizes. A befuddled and bespeckled game show host asks a question, and the audience participant wins by matching their answer to an answer from one of the hand puppets on the panel. An example of a question is “The city of Troy is on lockdown tonight due to an outbreak of…..” and the participant and puppets write down an answer and slowly reveal them to find a match. This is a comedy show so the more outlandish and cruder the answers the louder the laughs. Audience members – like myself – can choose to not participate simply by not filling out a name slip at the ticket check-in counter. 

The cast are fantastic and although they are visible to the audience, they stay in character and don’t distract from the real stars – the puppets!  Professor Yeti, space cadet Astrid, Trailer Park Tommy, Rommy the Snake, chain smoking and hard living rabbit Jimmy Blitzen are just a few fan favorites. At both performances I attended there were only about 25 people in the audience and this is a pity.  I hope it gains more attention as this is low-brow entertainment at its finest.

Tickets to Electric City Puppets’ Fuzz Ball are  $12 per person and can be purchased on EventBrite. Performances are hosted a few times a year at different area locations. The best way to keep informed is by following Electric City Puppets on Facebook or on Instagram.

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