Improvising Your Weekend: Ed Forman, Bye Bye Bush, and Saturday Night Special

There’s a lot to hold your attention this weekend, but if you’re not of the Hook ‘Em Horns or sweltering music festival persuasions, Austin’s presenters of improv and sketch would like to welcome you with open, air conditioned arms.

Thursday
Coldtowne Theater continues a September of big events by welcoming, all the way from Portland, Oregon, “The Ed Forman Show, With Me! Ed Forman.” And just who is this Ed Forman? Why he’s a father, a dancer and a motivational speaker, but, most importantly, he’s the host of a live talk show styled after the chat sessions of luminaries like Merv Griffin and Dick Cavett (he’s also the alter ego of PDX comedian Aaron Ross). Along with segments like the onstage makeover “From Average Ed to CelEDrity,” Forman brings with him stand-up sidekicks Bobby Mickey and Ron Funches, and musical guest The Pelicks. Plenty of laughing, loving and living for all at Coldtowne Theater, starting at 10 p.m.

Friday/Saturday
Moving from a funny schmuck to a lame duck, Latino Comedy Project uses Friday and Saturday night at Salvage Vanguard Theater to look back on the fulfilled comedic promise of the second Bush administration. “Bye Bye Bush” is a greatest hits compilation of sorts, drawing on ten years of Dubya-based material from LPC while throwing some new videos into the mix. Show at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12 ($10 for students and seniors), but Bush-vote guilt is forever.

Saturday
Stick around SVT after Saturday’s “Bye Bye Bush” for a tale of terror set outside of the Capital Beltway. Pledging to go to spine-tingling lengths, “Haunted” (starring graduates of the Merlin Works Institute for Improvisation) weaves an improvised play that’s as scary as it is funny. (And yes, technically it could take place inside the Beltway because it’s made up as it goes along.) Show at 10:30 p.m. Tickets: $10. Powerhouse improv duo Get Up follows. (Can’t make it on Saturday? There’re three “Haunted” performances scheduled for October, including a special Halloween show at The Hideout Theatre.)

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