Click the kids to go
back to the home page
The Raves
Novi Woods students enjoy a night of comedy and ice cream
Thursday, January 30, 2003 page 12A
By Ramez Khuri
Staff WriterChildren left Novi Meadows Elementary with tears in their eyes on the night on Jan. 24, but it wasn’t because they were sad, hurt, upset or scared. It was because they were laughing so hard. Doug Scheer, of Scheer Genius Productions, was up to his old antics again as he performed " The Laugh Factory Fun Show."
The show, which is just one of 10 that Scheer performs, is described on his web site as "A complication of the funniest moments from Doug Scheer’s 20 years as an educational comedy. It’s a traveling comedy club for kids. There’s magic, wacky contests, jokes and 100 percent controlled craziness all rolled into a 40-minute laugh riot."
P.T.O. Vice President of Volunteers Kim Rinck coordinated the night. "The P.T.O. sponsored the event based on fundraising," she said.
The P.T.O. sponsors 20 different committees and it tries to collect donations for fundraisers so it could provide different activities, like this one, for the students at Novi schools. It’s for families to get to know each other and for the kids to have fun together outside of school.
Scheer came up with the idea for "The Laugh Family Fun Show" because he wanted children to experience something unique. "This is a comedy club show for kids," he said. "There are adult comedy clubs that are real popular, and I thought why not have a clean, fun comedy night for kids. That’s what the show is all about. It’s called the laugh factory and I go up there and I do goofy stuff, tell dumb jokes, trivia questions, kids play silly games, they win gag prizes and we just have a lot of fun. It’s a chance for a lot of kids to get out, giggle and have a good time and just get silly."
Scheer described the show as an outlet for the kids that doesn’t have any educational value. "It’s just 100 percent fun," he said. It’s not a magic show, though. There are a lot of magic shows out there that the kids have seen, so it’s something different. It works out well."
Some of the show’s contents included feeding cheese to a spring snake, ‘accidentally’ destroying a borrowed shoe, messing up a little girl’s hair with an air bazooka, a raccoon puppet, giant underwear, a "who’s smarter" contest and a game called "pass the gas," among other things.The show received excellent reviews from the audience. Third graders Chad Smith , Madelyn Haustein, Jessica Jarvis, Nathan Haustein and fourth grader Andy Bagdady all had a wonderful time.
"I really liked it when I went up on stage," Smith said. "I paused because it made people laugh and I like it when I started playing jokes on (Scheer). It was a good concert."
Bagdady said, "I think the show was very funny, especially the part when he tricked me into putting the plunger on my head and I just thought it was a regular wizard hat. It was very cool and I’m glad I came. My favorite was when I was on stage."
Madelyn Haustein said, "The show was funny and exciting. I liked when they did pass the gas. That was my favorite."
Jarvis agreed. It was really funny and it was really fun," she said. "My favorite part was probably when he did the snake part."
Nathan Haustein also shared the same thoughts. "I thought that the show was really funny. My favorite was when my friend Chad went up on stage."
Need more information? Give us a call. There’s a school in your district that’s already seen these programs.
We’ll just let them brag for us.
