The wind blows through a trolley full of chuckling passengers departing the Red Lion Hotel bound for downtown Boise. At the front of the trolley stands Greg Sisco, a local stand up comedian, with one hand on a microphone and the other wrapped around the ceiling crossbar. The crowd shoots a heckle at Sisco as the trolley pulls onto the road, setting the tone for the rowdy night ahead.
“We’re trying to bring the valley together with comedy,” said Kendall Shew, owner of Shewtonio Productions and PR manager for Boise Trolley Tours.
The trolley’s confined seating allows the passengers to get to know one another, laugh together and “build a little bit of a community,” according to Shew.
Shew came up with the idea of bringing comedians onto the trolley tours about 2 years ago. He approached local comedians Greg Sisco and Krystal Moore about doing a historical tour with comedy. The idea instead turned into a club atmosphere and Shew says “we kind of discarded the historical element.”
Sisco and Moore are the trolley’s main comedians who “take turns” performing at the front each touring weekend. Both comedians feel that the unique setting allows them to connect with the audience.
“It’s been really interesting from a performance point of view,” Sisco said. “We get a chance to socialize, and you get a chance to meet people and figure out what their story is.”
“The trolley is a different environment because everyone is there to have a party,” Moore added, “You’re more like a circus ring leader herding cats through the city.”
Sisco took the first shift last weekend, managing the crowd by riffing off of their heckles and comments. At various stops, he also got off the trolley to interact with the audience, ensuring they felt involved with the show.
“Doing comedy is a way to bring people together,” according to Sisco, who feels the Boise crowd is the right one for him. “In Boise it’s [heckling] not something that comes up all that often and if it does it’s usually enthusiasm.”
Although he identifies with the more structured side of comedy, the rumblings of the trolley mixed with the rowdy crowd often force him off script. After making a joke about the Tesla cars and how they don’t appeal to anyone. An audience member pointed out a Tesla and Sisco proved his improv skills using the comment to then poke fun at the company’s consumer base.
“Not everybody’s personality would be able to pivot like that,” Moore said. “Greg’s just really good for that sort of general audience.”
Moore began in comedy after she was prompted to get on stage at a local Story Story night in Boise.
“I walked in dressed very theatrically, and the gal taking the ticket said, ‘You look like you have a good crime story,’” Moore said. “So I put my name in the hat, they let me tell a 13-minute-long story and I won the slam that night.”
After some encouraging words from audience members, she felt empowered to attend a local open mic.
“I killed on that first open mic, which is the worst way to start because you need to be humbled first,” Moore said. “And my second open mic was in New York, and I bombed terribly.”
Moore bounced back after returning to Boise where she built her audience and confidence as a clown comic. She took that style of comedy to the curbsides of the city of trees during the pandemic, performing 54 shows in just a year.
“I learned a lot about performing and how to read a room because they’re only six feet away from you,” Moore said. “You could really kind of hone into how this joke works for this group.”
That close quarters comedy was on full display during Sisco’s set. Despite the number of passengers dwindling, he didn’t miss a beat, making the trolley feel twice as full as when they started and just as rowdy.
“We all want sort of extra light brought into our lives in some form or another,” said Sisco. “ Entertainment in general is a way to brighten our lives.”
The tour ends for people at many different places. Some stay at the final bar while others go all the way back to the Red Lion. The comradery built on the tour, while temporary, gives Boise residents and comics a chance to connect with one another on an unconventional stage.
Boise Trolley Tours continues next weekend with the Slam Tours series on Sept 26.
