Meet Sam Lowy of Pizza Party Comedy in Tempe & Central Phoenix

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sam Lowy.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Sam. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Pizza Party started as a two-man improv troupe made up of myself and Michael Margetis. We were finishing up a multiyear run with another improv troupe called Dawson’s Queef (an improvised teenage dramedy) and decided that we wanted to keep things going. We knew we wanted to do something different and knew that the two of us would bring a unique perspective to the improv/comedy community in Phoenix. After about four years of successful shows across the Valley, we knew it was time for another pivot. That’s where Kyle and Michael Kohn came in. Kyle and Kohn had been some of our closest friends and partners on tons of different projects. Kyle was even one of me and Margetis’ mentors at ASU Comedy when we were first starting. They approached us with the idea to turn Pizza Party into a comedy collective—branching out from strictly improv. Since the beginning of 2019, the four of us have pushed ourselves to create some of the most unique shows in Phoenix (in our humble opinion). For the past year, our North Star has always been to have audience members leave a show saying “I didn’t know you could do that.” We’ve developed a game show (Let’s Make a Game Show), Antique’s Road Show parody (Antique’s Groan Show), as well as an all-original variety show (Comedy Supreme). We’ve performed at Crescent Ballroom, Valley Bar (both the Reading Room and the Rose Room), The Phoenix Pizza Festival, and even a few shows at The Yard Theatre in Los Angeles. It’s taken a lot of hard work, a lot of late nights and weekends, and even some yelling. But it’s all been extremely worthwhile.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has not been smooth sailing. One of the most challenging parts of doing what we do has been putting in the hours needed to develop a show. The four of us work full time. We all have hobbies outside of comedy. We all have families. So, putting on a different show every few weeks takes a lot of time. However, I think that’s one of the things that makes us so special. Since the four of us got together, we’ve had at least one meeting every week—although most weeks we meet two or three times.

Doing something that makes people say “I didn’t know you could do that” constantly puts us in uncharted territory. Our ideas are, most of the time, so big or grand that it takes a lot of thinking outside the box and working through a lot of problems as a group. Our first big sketch show required a giant whale penis as a prop. So, the four of us spent a few days talking to prop houses, looking at sewing tutorials on YouTube, etc., until we were able to figure out how to get it done. Another one of our sketches required a “robot” driving an Uber, so we figured out how to display Kyle’s face on a monitor on stage while being filmed backstage—all in real time. Our Antiques Groan Show includes a live camera feed of the “antiques” to be displayed on the screen behind us as we “appraise” them. But it’s technical stuff like that that makes our shows so different and unique. Luckily, we have an incredible tech/camera guy, Danny Gurrola, who helps us with a lot of that stuff!

Besides the technical stuff, a lot of our challenges come from the general promotion of our show and brand. We’re always trying to grow our audience, so finding new and unique ways to capture people on social, people on the street, etc. is always something we’re up against. Phoenix isn’t known for its comedy scene, and so many people here confuse “sketch” and “improv” with “stand up” comedy… which is not what we do. So, breaking through that barrier is a constant challenge, but something we’re getting better at every month.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Pizza Party is always trying to push the boundaries of live comedy performances. We want people to leave our shows and say “I didn’t know you could do that.” I’d say we’re best known for having unique show ideas. As mentioned, we have Let’s Make a Game Show, Antiques Groan Show, Repent! With Pastor Mike and an upcoming show called The Video Game Show that will feature 100% original video games, written and developed by us, that audience members can play as a part of the show.

Besides being an “innovative” comedy troupe, I think people enjoy our shows because of our general vibe/energy. We’re called Pizza Party because we want our shows to feel like the pizza parties we used to have as kids. Remember when your 4th teacher would roll in that giant TV monitor and play the Goofy Movie and surprise everyone with giant boxes of pizza? Remember that feeling of pure joy and innocence? That’s the feeling we’re trying to invoke with our shows. We want people in the audience to look around at each other and go “can you believe this?!” Our audience members aren’t just there to pay for a ticket and sit and watch us for an hour and change. We want the audience to feel like they’re part of a big ol’, giant party.

We did a show for Halloween last year that took place inside the Reading Room at Valley Bar (it’s that “secret” room in the back corner with all the couches and books). The premise was “four dads throwing a spooky Halloween show for all the neighborhood kids.” Everyone got a name tag, we all sat in a circle, sang songs, did activities, and at the end of the show, everyone got a goodie bag. That’s the kind of interactive, feel-good energy that sets us apart from anyone else in Phoenix…

What were you like growing up?
Growing up I was always a showboat. There’s a video of me at three years old, standing on a little stool with one of those spring-loaded microphones, saying stuff like “ladies and gentlemen, let’s start the show!” or “I’ll be here all week!” No joke. As for the rest of the Pizza Party, I think we all grew up as theatre kids. That’s what makes us such a tight group today. We all have that performance bug.

Pricing:

• Most of our shows are $10-$15 a ticket, but we do usually do a free show at least once a month.

Contact Info:

• Website: pizzapartyimprov.com (pizzapartycomedy.com coming soon)
• Instagram: pizzaparty_comedy
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PIZZAPARTYCOMEDYAZ/

Image Credit:
All photos by the amazing Holly Beaupre

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