From a petting zoo to your grandma’s closet, My Mother’s Fleabag has no limits. Whatever the scene or setup, the troupe will turn it into a bit and run with it like their lives depend on the punchline.

Thursday marked the first fall show for the improv group this year, and students from every corner of campus trekked down to Lower Campus to cram into the beloved, slightly-too-small Vandy Cab Room. 

Witty and original, the group began with a recorded skit titled “Senior Time Capsule.” One of the four directors, James Julian, CSOM ’26, started with what was supposed to be a heartfelt homage to preach his thanks, but the jokes began flooding when the bit suddenly sped into a manic time-lapse. Immediately, the crowd roared with laughter.

The video rolled on with a sit-com worthy performance. Joe Labarge, CSOM ’26, and Saige Joseph, MCAS ’27, who played around with camera work and cinematography cues, referencing cult-classic sitcoms with mock-serious zoom-ins. At one point, they spiraled into a slapstick fight sequence that was hilariously reminiscent of an episode of Ed, Edd, n Eddy or The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, where the twins scream “Stop copying me!” while brawling on a hotel cart. Annabelle Bryant, MCAS ’27, and Mary Gormly, MCAS ’29, sealed the video with references to ​​The Office that amplified awkward pauses and deadpan delivery.

After senior introductions, the actors launched into the improv, revving up the crowd for the night’s games. Up first was Double Blind, which relies heavily on audience participation: An audience member places two Fleabaggers in a position to begin the scene. Audience members then yell out “freeze,” and two new actors take their place, creating a new scene based on the previous actors’ poses. 

In a particularly funny round, an actor froze mid-bend, and suddenly the duo was “carrying a car.” The audience absolutely lost it.

Some jokes, however, landed flat. Blowing up “I finna” is not a punch-line, but rather adds to the Predominantly White Institution stereotype. It’s a cheap shot that uses African American Vernacular English as a joke and takes away from a nuanced and culturally significant dialect.

The group played around with themes, asking the audience for ad-libs that ranged from kinds of board games to things you’d find in your grandma’s closet. This choice brilliantly keeps the production chugging along without a single derailment, all while giving the audience a delightfully chaotic way to stay involved. 

The improv closed with the group’s iconic “185 (blanks)” walk into a bar. As 185 cereal brands walked into a bar, the witty jokes came parading in. The Fleabaggers fired off rapid-fire punchlines, but one stood out above the rest: “If there’s frost … Ted Flakes.” It was equal parts clever and groan-worthy, wordplay that only improv can pull off.

To end the night, Fleabag shifted gears with their “Opera” segment with an 8th-grade prom theme. The melodramatic high notes and excessive theatrics sent the room straight back to middle school awkwardness. It was a walk down memory lane, complete with the kind of cringey, embarrassingly funny moments everyone tried to forget—and those in the crowd absolutely squirmed as they relived them.

The group followed that up by breaking into a comedic rendition of “We Are Young,” weaving in painfully relatable BC-student jokes like midterm exhaustion, hiding alcohol from the RA, and that one smelly mini-fridge you pray your situationship never gets close enough to notice. One thing about Fleabag is that the jokes will always be chaotic and self-aware—they really know how to break the fourth wall. 

It’s no surprise that the heavily-celebrated Amy Poehler once took part in this club, as the actors must be ready to think fast and be quick on their feet. The troupe didn’t waste a second reminding everyone why it’s the most prominent improv group at BC.

The crowd was left nursing sore stomachs and chattering about their favorite bits after the show’s finish. It was the perfect performance to recalibrate everyone’s mood and let you forget, just for a second, that you have three midterms and a discussion post due at midnight. If exams are the villain of November, Fleabag is the chaotic hero we didn’t know we needed.