Friday, February 7, 2025

National Comedy Acts Charm Scene and Orange Tuxedo Return for Last Word Comedy Festival

Charm Scene, left, and Orange Tuxedo, right are returning to this year’s Last Word Comedy Festival (Carter Wright/Craig Cackowski)

WILLIAMSBURG — Chicago’s Charm Scene and Los Angeles’ Orange Tuxedo are among the returners that will hit the stage during the Last Word Comedy Festival, taking place from Jan. 30-Feb. 2.

WYDaily recently sat down with the two groups to discuss their upcoming performances.

Charm Scene

Charm Scene (Carter Wright)

Charm Scene, a Chicago-based improv comedy group, returns to the festival for the second year. Members of the group include Lily Ludwig, Austin Packard, Adam Eleven, and Sam Scheidler.

The four-person act is bringing a new kind of comedy to this year’s festival — a live, in-person podcast, featuring suggestions and improv ideas from the audience.

The long-form, music improv is all off the cuff and inspired by whatever thoughts the audience throws out at them. After attending the festival last year, they are excited to return this year.

“It was one of our first festivals that we had ever been to. We’ve been to a few of them now, but the biggest comparison is that Chicago feels like there is something happening all the time, we are so surrounded by improv and music improv all the time that it feels like we are living in a festival out here,” Packard said.

“That changes the way people approach things, it changes the way that audiences engage with it, where they are used to it,” Packard continued. “To take the work that we’re doing and put it up in front of communities and people that don’t have this as much, it’s a fantastic reminder of how cool and fun it can be because you don’t get that level of enthusiasm and excitement as you do in front of new, fresh audiences like the kind that you get at Last Word.”

Ludwig echoed Packard’s statement but also shared how she hopes to inspire the next generation of improv comics.

“Every performer we met, every audience member that we met, there was such an excitement and hunger for improv and it was such a cool reminder of how exciting our jobs truly are,” Ludwig said. “For the young people out there who want a career in improv, go see as many shows as you can. You can watch videos but go see all the shows you can in person. I feel like I got so good at improv because I just inhaled it for two years.”

In addition to their podcast performance, the group will also perform with Baby Wants Candy and Shamilton during the 2025 festival.

Charm Scene will perform on Jan. 30 at 9 p.m. as part of the free college comedy night. The group will also contribute to the Shamilton performance on Jan. 31 at 8 p.m. and the Baby Wants Candy performance on Feb. 1 at 8 p.m.

For more information on Charm Scene, visit the group on Instagram.

Orange Tuxedo

Orange Tuxedo (Craig Cackowski)

Orange Tuxedo, married couple Craig and Carla Cackowski, are also returning to the festival. Craig, a William & Mary alum, got his start in comedy while attending the college as a member of IT Improvisational Theater.

“IT was my first exposure to improv comedy. They performed in the cafeteria the first week of my freshman year in 1987 and they seemed like the coolest people on campus to me. I was too intimidated to join the group until my junior year, but I ended up directing it the next year, and I started a pipeline of W&M alumni that moved to Chicago to study the art further,” Craig said.

Orange Tuxedo came about after the couple was performing improv with other groups.

“Carla and I improvised in various groups separately for a number of years, even after we were a couple, but it just makes the most sense to improvise with people who know you best and trust the most, and it’s a lot easier to tour with your life partner than seven other randos! Orange Tuxedo is named after our two deceased cats, Bronco (an orange tabby) and Audrey (a tuxedo), which Carla hates for me to tell the audience because it bums them out,” Craig says.

While Craig was familiar with the area from his college years, Carla was new to it. The couple attended the festival last year and left having had a great experience.

“We were really impressed with the variety of acts that Last Word put together: headliners from Chicago/NYC/LA but also all the local and college troupes. You can see the full range of what improv has to offer: games like you might see on “Who’s Line Is It Anyway?”, musicals, genre parodies, fast and furious scenes inspired by audience interaction as well as what we do, which is slower-paced and rooted in character behavior and relationships,” Craig said.

While attending this year’s festival, the couple will perform together and as members of Waffle Party, a four-person improv team. Orange Tuxedo’s performance is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Feb. 1, following Waffle Party’s performance at 10 p.m. on Jan 31.

For more information on Orange Tuxedo, visit orangetuxedoimprov.com.

Passes for the festival and more information can be found at lastwordfestival.com.

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