Tonight was the official debut of Blue Blanket Improv's newest members, Sande Anfang and Oleg Hansen, along with BBI intern and scholarship winner Jared Gibbs.

The new members mixed seamlessly with the old as BBI belted out another great show, complete with more than 15 different scenes and countless laughs.

Location: Enso, 131 Kelly Avenue, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019, (650) 726-1409
Time: 8:00 PM
Cost: $10 (at the door)

When you do a library show, you expect a lot of kids, and when you take audience suggestions from kids, well, you get what you ask for. And boy, did Blue Blanket (BBI) ask for it tonight.

Time and again the audience suggestions took BBI right into the toilet. It seemed that every suggestion somehow revolved around the great ceramic bowl in the sky. Those kids didn't know who they were messing with though, because BBI is like a comedic chameleon, able to adapt to any audience, any suggestion, any time, any place.

To the toilet, and beyond!

Location: Half Moon Bay Public Library , 620 Correas, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019, (650) 726-2316
Time: 7:00 PM
Cost: Free

For the fourth year in a row, BBI was a featured act in the San Francisco Theater Festival. Last year, BBI wowed the massive crowds in Yerba Buena Gardens with our unique brand of improvised hilarity, so this year, festival organizers scheduled us for two sets.

The first set was on the Stone Stage, which is the main outdoor stage for the festival. The crowd was thick and gamey as BBI accelerated through its version of "Half Life," and by the time BBI's sole "Survivor" was frantically trying to play four characters at the same time in the final scene, the crowd had swelled to a roiling, rollicking, giggling, ocean of humored humanity.

Word got out and by the time BBI hit the East Garden stage for its encore performance later in the afternoon, the crowd's energy and excitement were palpable. And they were not disappointed. From cheese wheels to stone geese to Oprah, BBI delivered up the laughs like a herd of bike messengers in the Financial District.

A great time was had by all -- where were you?

Location: Yerba Buena Gardens, 3rd and Mission, San Francisco
Time: 1-1:30 PM on the Stone Stage; 2:20-2:50 PM on the East Garden Stage

With most of the troupe on summer vacation, BBI hit the boards at Enso on Saturday night with just three players. Conrasting the small troupe was a huge, enthusiastic crowd that overflowed the available seating and kept the players on their toes all night with creative, unusual, and challenging scene suggestions.

This was one of BBI's best shows of the year and bodes well for upcoming gigs at the San Francisco Theater Festival and the Half Moon Bay Library.

Location: Enso, 131 Kelly Avenue, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019, (650) 726-1409
Time: 8:00 PM
Cost: $10 (at the door)

Saturday's show can be boiled down to one word: Boiy-yoinggggggg!! (You two from the second row, you know what I'm talkin' 'bout, eh, hum, huh, ha!)

Location: Enso, 131 Kelly Avenue, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019, (650) 726-1409
Time: 8:00 PM
Cost: $10 (at the door)

Heads spun, tongues lolled, eyes rolled, sweat trickled, and cheeks puffed. Wow, those BBI audiences really get into the show. With attendance up 29 percent from the last show, the BBI players really had the pressure on them this past Saturday night. But that's what this crew lives for.

Once again, the Coastside's kooky cut-ups layed down a veritable comedic smorgasboard of classic improv scenes seasoned with that distinctive BBI tang. It was a meal well served and well eaten.

Location: Enso, 131 Kelly Avenue, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019, (650) 726-1409
Time: 8:00 PM
Cost: $10 (at the door)

Blue Blanket teamed up once again with the First Congregational Church of Palo Alto, this time to help the church raise money to support the clearance of a minefield it has "adopted" through the United Nations' "Adopt-A-Minefield" program. After a delicious chicken dinner, BBI treated guests to a 45-minute set of funny stuff that included the unheralded superhero "Quarters Man," a cookie in the shape of a baby Jesus, a musical rendition of a high school graduation, alphabetic baseball camp, a long line at Starbucks, a, um, stained dress, and lessons in how not to skydive.

The crowd loved the show and BBI loved the opportunity to help the church raise money for its worthy cause. Here's to a world without minefields.

Location: First Congregational Church -- Social Hall, 1985 Louis Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303
Time: 7:30 PM
Cost: Whatever you want to donate to the cause

Here's one for you: if a comedy troupe held a show in the woods and nobody watched it, did it really happen? Dude, you tell us. That's like, one for the cosmos, man.

Saturday night was one for the cosmos, too. Warm temperatures, no wind, beautiful sunset, and six hardworking troupers slinging laughs like fried hash. There was a subprime cave, a visit from Steve Jobs, and a presentation to the City Council that argued for a strip club to be built instead of a playground. From there it just got goofy. A blind date turned into Love American Style, jazz music became a dramatic scene, and everybody had fun messing with the substitutes.

If you missed it, you gots to check this act out. It's fun, it's entertaining, it's local, it's inexpensive, and you're part of the show!

Location: Enso, 131 Kelly Avenue, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019, (650) 726-1409
Time: 8:00 PM
Cost: $10 (at the door)

It takes a mighty improv troupe to pull off more than ten scenes in two hours with only four players. But there was Blue Blanket last Saturday night, hilaricizing the Coastside with but a skeleton crew. Aye matey, it make no never mind whether there be a crew of four or a crew of eight, ten spectators or a hundred, BBI knows how to run a daarrghn good show up your ole flagpole.

Location: Enso, 131 Kelly Avenue, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019, (650) 726-1409
Time: 8:00 PM
Cost: $10 (at the door)

BBI played to another full house on Saturday night, despite some chilly weather. The great show featured screenwriting, puppets, mouths full of marshmallows, singing, and even a murder (not really)! Now if that doesn't sound better than watching another rerun of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman on a Saturday night, well, you probably need more than just a dose of BBI funny.

Location: Enso, 131 Kelly Avenue, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019, (650) 726-1409
Time: 8:00 PM
Cost: $10 (at the door)

Blue Blanket Improv opened for folk rockers The Stragglyrs and really had raucous Social Hall in Palo Alto ha-ha'ing and hee-hee'ing. Per BBI SOP, many courageous audience members found their way into the scenes, and of course, hilarity ensued. A particularly guffawatory game of Twister was a crowd favorite, and who else but Steve, in front of the hometown fans, finished off the one-hour BBI set with his own one-man finale. Fun stuff.

Light refreshments were indeed served. They were both light and refreshing.

Location: First Congregational Church -- Social Hall, 1985 Louis Road, Palo Alto, CA 94303
Time: 7:30 PM
Cost: $15 for adults; $5 for children

It was hard to tell which were bigger on Saturday, the waves off Pillar Point for the Mavericks Big Wave Surf Contest or the laughs at BBI's monthly Coastside Comedy Improv show. We're going to say it was the laughs, but that's just us. Down to four members for the night, BBI still came out and ripped off some crowd-pleasing scenes, including a saucy western, a pretty much unsolved murder, and a mind-bending 90-second trip through the alphabet.

It was fast, it was fun, it was unpredictable. That's improv, baby!

Location: Enso, 131 Kelly Avenue, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019, (650) 726-1409
Time: 8:00 PM
Cost: $10 (at the door)

Never one to miss a good gig, BBI accepted an invitation to participate in the Coastal Repertory Theatre's 16th Annual Talent Show. BBI came on about the middle of the first set on Friday, opening night of the three-day show. As the only comedy act of the night, besides MC Michael Lederman, the band in blue offered a splash of variety to the performing arts show.

With only ten minutes of stage time to work with, BBI went right for the comedy jugular with tiger jokes and energy. Chris had wanted more time so that he could do his robot mime man trapped in a lucite box underwater while trying to pull himself out with a rope during a very stiff breeze, but Lederman wasn't buying it. It was art's loss. (weep)

Location: Coastal Repertory Theatre, 1167 Main Street, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019, (650) 569-3266
Time: 8:00 PM

True to our word, BBI made sure that everyone left laughing last Friday night. In addition to some comedy gold standards, BBI also wheeled out some new gems that had the crowd rolling in the aisles and howling for more. It was another great night of improvisational comedy theater on the Coastside. Did you miss it? Then get on board and check us out in 2008!

Location: Enso, 131 Kelly Avenue, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019, (650) 726-1409
Time: 8:00 PM
Cost: $10 (at the door)

A laugh-out-loud, high-energy, affordable, fun-for-the-whole-family comedy theater experience on the coast! This was the first in a series of shows scheduled for the second Friday of each month. The audience was great and helped BBI provide lots of laughs. Doors open at 7:30 PM.

Location: Enso, 131 Kelly Avenue, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019, (650) 726-1409
Time: 8:00 PM
Cost: $10 (at the door)