If you follow The Dandies, you know that we have a wide variety of shows. We’re always thinking about new fandoms for our geek improv comedy shows though. How do we decide what fandoms are the best fit for us? There are a number of criteria we use:

The five questions The Dandies ask when picking fandoms for our geek improv comedy shows

 

1. Is this fandom inclusive?

The Dandies is an inclusive space with a diverse cast – and that’s very important to us. That’s why, when we consider a fandom, we look at whether the fandom is inclusive as well. Now, sometimes we choose fandoms that aren’t inclusive, knowing that we then have the chance to bring greater inclusiveness and diversity to them in our shows. When that happens, however, we always discuss this first, making sure that we all feel comfortable taking the fandom on – and addressing the lack of inclusiveness in our satire.

2. Does this fandom have an immersive world?

We don’t just want to spoof the stories you know; we want to play in the larger spoof world of a fandom. In order to do that, the fandom has to have a large, immersive world. Luckily, fandoms generally come with this kind of world!

3. Does this fandom have complex characters?

If you come to The Dandies’ geek improv comedy shows, you know we always have our own characters that satirize those you know and love from your favourite fandoms. Why do the characters in the original fandoms matter? The depth of those characters speaks to the depth the fandom goes into… and it’s always more fun for you and us to be able to have character development in our geek improv comedy shows.

4. Do we love this fandom?

We never do a fandom that the majority of us don’t know and love! We believe that great geek improv comedy comes out of love; we don’t touch fandoms that we don’t feel that way about. Of course, we don’t always all know a fandom. In those cases, though, the Dandies who do love the fandom take the opportunity to introduce the newbies to what’s awesome about it!

But the most important question The Dandies ask when picking fandoms for our geek improv comedy shows is…

5. Do you love this fandom?

Of course, the most important thing at our geek comedy improv shows is that you have fun. We want to make sure that any fandom we take on is well loved. That’s actually part of why we offer so many fandoms – we want everyone to have a chance to engage with, and laugh at, their favourite worlds!

Now that you know how we pick our fandoms at The Dandies, come see one live! Check check out our Star Trek geek improv comedy show Holodeck Follies this Saturday at Comedy Bar!