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Improv Under the El: Recent Stand-Up Comedy Show Held in Memoriam of Todd Samuel Reilly


Improv Under the El, a bi-monthly improv and stand-up comedy night at Mascher Space, an arts space at Cecil B. Moore and Mascher Street, generally books a few improv groups from in and around Philadelphia to perform at the space. While that is still what happened at the most recent rendition of Improv Under the El, a bit of a special wrinkle was added to the comedy night this time: the performance was held in memoriam of a person near and dear to the hearts of the group, Todd Samuel Reilly, the late brother of Improv Under the El co-founder Caitlin Reilly.

Todd, who went by TJ for short, suffered from an extremely rare form of brain cancer called Gliomatosis Cerebri. According to the Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center, Gliomatosis Cerebri is highly aggressive and very resistant to treatment. Less than 100 cases are diagnosed in the United States each year.

Improv Under the El started last August at the El Bar on Front and Master, with Reilly and her co-host and improv group partner Kayleigh Liggitt kicking things off.

“We just wanted to do a [comedy] show,” Reilly said, “there just wasn’t a lot of [comedy] shows up here in the Fishtown area.” Reilly enlisted the help of Liggitt, who already hosted a comedy show at The Grape Room in Manayunk and had six years of improv experience under her belt. The comedy night has since moved from the popular Kensington bar to the quieter, more intimate Mascher Space.

There were several improv groups who performed, including TAFT, Yung Dad, Brioni, Den Mother, Public Secret, Where the Trees Are, and TJ’s sister’s own improv group, Dames de Chat. The groups took us to many places in their improv performances such as two inmates at a prison yard play a game of catch, to a recently divorced father taking his inconsolable daughter on a Christmas-time submarine ride, to a bickering family of dinosaurs facing the imminent doom of an approaching giant meteor.

While TJ himself did not have a direct relationship with improv or comedy, the spiritual link between the two did not seem that distant for his sister. “He was just a funny little dude and I felt like, well I do improv, so this is one way I could give back and do something in his memory,” Reilly said.

The proceeds from the show went to An Avalanche of Love for TJ and The Make-A-Wish Foundation Philadelphia, North Delaware, and Susquehanna Valley. Reilly explained it meant a lot to her “to help out an organization that was very important at the end of his life.” The inspiration to donate to Make-A-Wish came from TJ’s own experience with Make-A-Wish in which he got to go to Maui, Hawaii with his family this past October.

“We went to a top of a volcano, we went to a luau — he just had such a great week,” Reilly said. “Anything that can help a kid be able to do something that’s their wish is just something that I want to help with.”  Improv Under the El was able to raise more than $400, which was split between the two organizations.

Among those in attendance were Caitlin and TJ’s cousin and mother. Their mother Chrissy Reilly, said, “TJ and Caitlin had a really special relationship and I think he’s looking down laughing and enjoying it.  He was a cool kid.”

If you would like to make a donation to Make-A-Wish Philadelphia, North Delaware, and Susquehanna Valley, you can visit their website at http://philasv.wish.org/

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