POCATELLO — As the curtains part and the bright lights of the stage gleam, an assembly of jokers and jesters, actors and ambitious amateurs will perform skits and feats of improvisation when The Comedy Project hosts its annual fundraiser this weekend.

Improvathon will be held this Friday and Saturday on the Westside Players’ stage, 1009 S. Second Ave. in Pocatello.

The event offers The Comedy Project’s cast an opportunity to flex their talents in the equivalent of an improv marathon, proving that the Gate City’s comedians are among the best out there.

The Comedy Project began as a troupe of local college kids with a shared interest in acting and improvisation and has since blossomed into something beyond the scope of their vivid imaginations. It’s been 20 years since The Comedy Project was formed and the group continues to add talented comedians and entertainers to its lineup while it gives back to the community in new and exciting ways.

“We do shows of a large variety, some improv shows similar to like ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway’ with goofy games and some that look a little bit more like an improvised play,” said Adam Gribas, one of the senior members of The Comedy Project. “No scripts, just characters that are created on the spot and you go through a bit of a story with them. We’re very active in the community. We’ve got a number of people who coach improv teams at the various high schools, we do a little workshop at The Village, which is an after-school program for struggling youth. We sometimes are called on with businesses to perform at holiday festivals of theirs as well as sometimes trainings, because improv can be used in a bunch of different ways. We’re a group of about 22 of actors and players and we do classes and auditions to accumulate more and be better comedians and improvisers.”

In an effort to help provide funding for the largely volunteer based nonprofit, The Comedy Project put on its first Improvathon five years ago. The group was able to scrounge up a few sponsors and put on a marathon exhibition of improv to host workshops, pay some of their performers and coaches, do some traveling, meet new people and bring them back to Pocatello.

“This year we’ve got seven different groups from outside of (Idaho), some from California, some from Illinois, some from Utah, some from Washington and some from our sister troop in Boise,” said Gribas. “The goal was to make friends and we definitely made friends. A couple years back we also lost our original space, which was the MP Dance Studio over by Albertsons on Second Street. But luckily, Westside Players, a community theater in town, kind of adopted us and whenever they’re not doing their main stage productions, gave us their space to perform.”

Gribas continued, “This has been really helpful, because (Westside Players) have a bar, they have concessions and they’re really set up for what we do, which is a performance and show. So for the past couple years, we’ve been with Westside players doing the Improvathon and now our new goal with this fundraiser is to save up enough money to be able to buy our own space and create a comedy club in Pocatello.”

Beginning at 6 p.m. and running until 10 p.m. this Friday at the Westside Players, people can watch The Comedy Project’s skilled stalwarts of the stage perform skits and improv scenes every 20 minutes, with intermittent breaks to allow audience members to purchase beverages and delicious meals from the food trucks outside the venue.

The Improvathon fun begins again at 10 a.m. on Saturday with a free community workshop for local residents to learn and practice improv. The raucous Comedy Project improvisational entertainment will then continue from noon until 10 p.m. Saturday.

Among the food trucks present during Improvathon will be The Picnic Basket with Loco Moco and Wild Noodle BBQ joining on Saturday.

Discounted Improvathon tickets are available for $25 for both Friday and Saturday if purchased in advance. Tickets for Friday’s performances are $10 in advance or $15 at the door, and Saturday’s tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door.

The Comedy Project will also be putting on an adults only show this Friday at Club Charley’s, 331 E. Center St., beginning at 9 p.m. and running until 10 p.m.

“(Improvathon) allows us to obviously keep the lights on and do more shows,” said Gribas. “It also allows us to provide more free workshop options for our community and allows us to go to different festivals and bring back new things and make more connections in the improv community and the big one, to hopefully get us a space of our own someday. Come support local theater, comedy and your community as a whole.”

To purchase tickets for Improvathon visit tinyurl.com/y6kypvf9.