Kimberly Swetland

For Erik Furuheim, improv comedy isn't just a passion—it's a lifelong journey that's taken him from high school stages to professional performances spanning over three decades. With a wealth of experience under his belt, Furuheim is now at the helm of Rough Sets Improv, a dynamic troupe set to redefine the improv scene in Spanaway and beyond.

Furuheim has been involved in improv comedy for thirty-plus years. He started improv comedy in high school at South Kitsap in Port Orchard in the mid-’90s and then went on to perform it in college. In his twenties, he joined a team in the Port Orchard bar scene until he moved to Southern California, where he became involved with Improv Shmimprov.

“It kind of was a college group that morphed from UC Irvine,” said Furuheim, “and it was connected to the theater that I got involved in and ended up being a partner in. And we performed every Friday and Saturday. It’s still going, actually.”

After his daughter was born, he moved from California to Oregon with his family, where he did a few workshops every once in a while, still passionate about comedy. But he eventually decided that it was time to start doing theater regularly again, and it was in Spanaway where he ran across the right opportunity. “There was a pizza shop here, Chi Town, and I just happened to like Chicago-style pizza. I pulled in, and it said, ‘Second City Stage,’ and they were trying to do comedy—so this pizza place has an actual stage facility, but it didn’t have any improv. I thought, A stage named Second City—without improv?“

It seemed a little odd to Furuheim. “That’s where the idea came from. I reached out to a lot of my theater friends and we just kind of networked out, and now we have a pretty good-sized team.” Rough Sets Improv was born.

The show that Furuheim has created delivers improv in a fast-paced, high-energy format based on his own past experiences. “We have an amazing formula for a show. What kind of really rocked my boat was when I performed in the open mic night at Unexpected Productions in Seattle and I realized that their format just wasn’t as fast and furious as the format that I was used to in California. I thought, Well, I guess I’m just going to have to do this on my own.”

Rough Sets Improv is similar to Whose Line Is It Anyway?, but with some substantial differences, as Furuheim explains. “Short-form games are very much like Whose Line? The game mechanic is some sort of limitation or some sort of trope that you have to follow. The basic short scene is three to five minutes. We get a written suggestion from the audience. And then we have a variety of different games that we play that kind of riff on audience suggestions. But the format of our show is vastly different, and a lot faster. There’s music and lights—it’s kind of rock ‘n roll meets improv comedy, so it’s high-energy.”

Furuheim adds that show ends with a thing they call Game-o-Matic, where the team gets initials from the audience and then come up with a brand-new game, developing new mechanics on the spot. Then the audience gets to pick which game gets played that night, and two of them are played.

Right now, Furuheim is also hosting free improv classes in Spanaway at Second City Stage, inside the Chi Town Chicago-Style Pizza Bar. “I have met and pulled in several people from those classes who show a knack, talent, or comfort and are just having a good time.” And there’s all different levels of people who attend the free classes, said Furuheim. “People who have Second City training, who worked for Disney for ten or fifteen years as improv people. We’ve got some college kids who are just naturals, and we got a couple other adults who are performers. We got a drummer who really enjoys it. A couple husband-and-wife teams. I’m still looking for more people!”

The Troupe will be performing at the Spanaway Second City location, and they also have upcoming shows at Renton Civic Theater in Renton. They’re currently working on getting the dates locked in for the Renton shows. “I’ve got one show a month for the remainder of the year in Spanaway already scheduled,” said Furuheim.

The cast list includes: Ariel Van Dyke, Jessie Van Dyke, Khiana Jeanniton, Guthrie Bettinger, Michele Greenwood Bettinger, Shawn Bettinger, Lindsay Hovey, Doug Mackey, Charles Ames, Ava Wadleigh, Rafe Wadleigh, Tawnie Fransen, and Curtis Anderson.

Furuheim would like to expand the cast to about 25 players. He has a few people who have moved up that were in his group in California that will be performing with the troupe as well.

The sound and lights for the show are done by Gary Chambers.

Furuheim mentioned that in the years he’s been doing this that he’s found that there is a formular for an entertaining show. “Whose Line Is It Anyway? will perform for 3-4 hours and leave three and a half hours on the cutting room floor.”

“I went and saw Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood at the Pantages in Tacoma” and “it was okay. Colin Mochrie is a genius, he’s fantastic. I’ve watched him for decades. And, it’s hit or miss. What we do to combat that specifically is pacing –and energy. The host drives the show and is responsible for all of the audience interaction.”

Currently, Furuheim is hosting the show until people are more familiar with the format, the pace, and everything else. His focus when he’s out there is to keep the energy up. “I end games on a high note. As soon as a game ends, music blasts and the lights flicker and change, and then I immediately come up, they sit down and then we charge right into the next game and so there’s very little down time and the whole point is there’s an hour to an hour and a half worth of games to play. And the idea is to not let the energy fall.”

Even if things fall flat, the energy is really the driving force behind improv. “Whether or not what comes out of the improver’s mouth is funny is up to the audience, but the reality is even if its not funny, if they’re able to just keep coming up with stuff – that’s the entertainment.”

Furuheim said that listening is actually the number one skill that’s critical for Improv, and it is actually a muscle that needs to be trained. You can’t be in your own head because, “you’ll be missing everything else that is being said around you, or you’re missing triggers that are mechanics for the games.”[1] 

Admission for the show is generally five dollars, but there are a couple unique ways to pay if you’re feeling lucky. You can roll a ten-sided die, and the admission could be anything between $0 and $9 based on the result. Or you can choose to go 50/50, where both you and someone from the show roll a six-sided die and the highest roll wins. If the house wins, you pay $10 to get in, and if you win, you get in for free.

Furuheim has created this creative, dynamic show out of a hope that it will leave the audience feeling as energized about improv as he is, and that he can build up a following comparable in size to the one his troupe had in California. “Come in and buy a drink and a meatball sub or something,” he says, and then stay for the show. “Everybody who loves improv will enjoy this.”

The next Rough Sets show is on April 12th at Second City Stage in Spanaway, inside Chi Town Pizza Bar. Admission is $5 (cash preferred), unless you’re feeling lucky and want to gamble with the dice. Doors are at 9 p.m., and the show begins at 9:30 p.m. More info is at www.roughsetsimprov.com.