Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Wild. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Quick Wits first appeared at the Off-Broadway Theatre on October 8th, 1994. It was meant as a cheap way to allow the theatre to have some sort of performance between their regular stage shows, and as a means to help separate them from The Desert Star Playhouse. Most of the actors at OBT had written and directed at DSP and would be doing the same roles at the new theatre.
Bob Bedore had done some improv while touring as a Stand Up Comedian and another actor, Rob Bogue, had performed improv in College in Southern Utah. But convincing the rest of the actors was tough. Improv wasn’t on television or as popular as it is today and many of the actors were skeptical about how to get it going.
Finally, Bob caught a special on A&E about improv and found a copy of it for the actors to watch. That half an hour program was enough to get things started and the group of actors started rehearsing the few games they could find. In the early days of the internet, it was hard to get a good list of games and the troupe had to create many of their stage games (quite a few of them are still played today).
Bedore named the troupe “Quick Wits” because he wanted something that sounded like “Instant Comedy”. The idea was to come up with a better name later, but that never happened and after a few years Quick Wits not only stuck as the name for the troupe but also became synonymous with improv in Utah.
The early shows with the Wits were crazy affairs with as many as 14 actors on stage for a show. But even with so many people on stage, some stars emerged. Bob, Rob, Eric Jensen, Russ Peacock, Mark Probert, Cody K. Carlson, Zac & Shawn Zumbrunnen are just a few of the players that found themselves recognized on the streets for their crazy improv ways.
When the Salt Lake Olympics were announced, Bob came up with a new show called “OlympWits”. For the first time, the Quick Wits were separated into two teams (Dim Wits vs. Half Wits) and would compete against each other. The result was an instant success and the style of a Quick Wits show changed to that format for most of its shows from that point.
In the late ’90s, Quick Wits was a huge hit in Salt Lake. It was estimated that the Wits sold out nearly 300 straight 10:00 shows during that stretch and getting a ticket to a show meant making reservations at least a week in advance. With that success came a great deal of competition as other troupes formed to cash in on the improv crazed started by Quick Wits.
As OBT went into the 21st century a split in ownership took place and Bob Bedore retained the rights to Quick Wits. He allowed OBT to use the name and show while he pursued opening new Quick Wits venues in Clearfield and Provo. But after almost a year of using the name, the Off-Broadway Theatre decided to (as OBT owner Sandy Jensen put it) “no longer be associated with Bob Bedore or Quick Wits any further” and started a new show called “Laughing Stock”.
Bob desperately wanted to make sure that the string of Quick Wits shows in Salt Lake was not broken and got a show the same weekend as the first Laughing Stock show. And by the time the Olympics hit town, Quick Wits was selling out the 300 seat location in Trolley Square.
A new group of actors was responsible for this new, updated Quick Wits. Andrew Jensen, Troy Taylor, Drew Keddington, Jon Hamilton, Joel Hilton, Ben Brinton, Cameron Stewart, Rebecca Larsen, and many others brought a new “in your face” style of improv and a daredevil spirit of improv to the Quick Wits stage and the effects can still be felt in current shows.
But the wave of improv began to die out about 2005 and audiences started dwindling for many of Utah’s troupes. Quick Wits found themselves having to move to a few different locations but has always kept the streak of performances alive (including having to perform in a mall after closing for a while!).
As 2010 was approaching Bob gave serious thought to bringing Quick Wits to a close. The show was now playing at a dance club, Studio 600, and even though superstar Russ McBride had joined the troupe, things were fading quickly. But a third wave was about to sweep him up and make the show strong all over again. Adding to some of the second wave “Witters”, actors like Jason Wild and Jourdan Dixon brought back the never-give-up attitude that has been prominent throughout Quick Wits’ history.
Quick Wits has been going for over 25 years now and up until the pandemic, hadn’t taken a week off since it opened. Even during the pandemic, Quick Wits ran virtual shows for the whole first year, until starting to produce in-person shows sporadically in the summer of 2021.
Almost every troupe in Utah can trace its roots back to the original Quick Wits and there isn’t a single show in Utah that can make the claim of longevity that Quick Wits can. This last point is a big thing for the Wits. Another troupe may tell you that they’ve been around as long as we have, but ask them to show you anything with their troupe name on it during the 1990s.
While there are many folks to credit for the longevity and success of the Quick Wits, it’s mainly the fans that deserve every ounce of our love. Without people in the seats, we’d just be a bunch of goof-offs getting kicked out of Denny’s. They’ve been there through our big times and our low times. We hope they realize that they’re not just an audience of fans, you’re a part of the Quick Wits family.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Any time that something exists as long as Quick Wits has, there are going to be bumps and bruises along the way. Probably one of the toughest challenges was the falling out between members of the Off-Broadway Theatre that saw one faction keep the theatre, and Bob takes the Quick Wits on the road.
That caused some challenging rifts and hurt feelings that took some time to heal. In 2019, Quick Wits founder Bob Bedore and OBT mainstay and Bob’s former Quick Wits partner Eric Jensen brought Quick Wits and Eric’s offshoot, Laughing Stock together as one of the final improv shows at the Off-Broadway Theatre before that space closed down. I think many folks saw that as the final stroke of putting much of that feud to bed.
One of the other biggest challenges has been the loss of players. People are going to come and go, which is always sad, but Quick Wits has lost two of its most popular players, Russ McBride and Lauren Elyse Bradley to early deaths. Like, true comedians, our grief was hard and heavy and worked out onstage in tribute shows. with full houses and gales of laughter, with nary a dry eye in the house (and nobody sure if it’s from laughing or crying).
Not a show passes that we don’t reflect on their contributions to what we’ve done, and miss their presence.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
In addition to doing our weekly comedy shows, Quick Wits stays busy with a lot of other projects.
Quick Wits does upwards of 50 corporate entertainment events each year. On top of that, we also do corporate trainings, where we work with companies to use improvisation to improve communication and problem-solving skills within companies, all while providing loads of laughs.
Quick Wits has also worked to turn many of our stage games into board and card games, with our games Out of ConTXT and Hollywood Award Show, which allow audiences and families to recreate the fun of Quick Wits in their own homes!
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Risk-taking is at the heart of what we do at Quick Wits. Many other improvs show over-rehearse and only break out onstage what they’re practiced beforehand. At Quick Wits, on many Saturday nights, Bob will show up and say, “here’s a game I created last night… let’s give it a try!”
Oftentimes, those moments come onstage much to the surprise of the actors as much as the audience. One of the mantras of improv, and definitely of Quick Wits in general is “Yes, And…” which is a brief way of saying that our philosophy is that we’re not only going to be ready for any surprises that come our way on and off stage, we’ll lean into and make it our own.
The biggest risk we’ve ever taken was when Bob sunk all of his assets into opening the Off-Broadway Theatre, and I think persevering, and making that endeavor so successful has created a blueprint for Bob to push the rest of the Quick Wits to embrace risks whenever they arise because he’s firsthand proof of the old adage, “the greater the risk, the greater the reward.”
From performing at TedX Salt Lake City, launching a podcast, building one of the most well-regarded Improv Festivals in the western states. or just getting out every Saturday night and laying it all on the line (sometimes for 20 people, sometimes 200), Quick Wits is all about leaning into the opportunities that come from risk-taking.
Pricing:
- $10 for adults, $8 for students and veterans
- Private events starting at $400
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@qwcomedy.com
- Website: qwcomedy.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=quick%20wits
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/quick-wits-comedy-midvale
