Humorous, humorous hippo

Improv troupes will do anything for a laugh: sexual innuendos, fart jokes, puns galore, etc. Wet the Hippo technically does improv, but it's nothing like Who's Line Is It Anyway? The Los Angeles troupe won an award called “The Evil Kenevil” in 2013's Hollywood Fringe Festival—and it's fittingly daring. Director John Gilkey, whose background is Cirque du Soleil, stays onstage with the actors, directing them, poking and prodding them in different directions. The goal isn't even to grab laughs, but to be as daring as possible, to push the boundaries in every direction to the extreme: be the stupidest, the smartest, the most absurd, or as Gilkey says, “reach for the sublime.” It's a dizzying production that is constantly switching gears in unexpected ways—deadpan, slapstick, long rants. It's a chaotic comedy adventure. Wet the Hippo, $12, 8 p.m. on Friday, August 29; at Blacktop Comedy, 7251 Galilee Road, Suite 160 in Roseville; $10, 8 p.m. on Saturday, August 30; at Cozmic Cafe, 594 Main Street in Placerville; and $12-$15, 8 p.m. on Sunday, August 31; at Off Center Stage, 315 Richardson Street in Grass Valley; www.wetthehippo.com.