Gotham City Improv‘s Off the Top of Our Heads show delivers spontaneity that would be calamitous in life. Here on the stage, it’s hilarity. The downtown troupe specializes in one thing: inducing outsized belly laughs on economy-sized ticket prices.

Several taboos are tossed out the window here. This is comedy and theater and few holds are barred. The limits of tastefulness are observed, though. Players include Curt Dixon, Lee Solomon, Jamie Maloney, Alex Decanaes, and Rachel McFarland. The group has a dynamic chemistry that sizzles like show time itself. All the usual suspects are here, in terms of the different styles of jokester that are needed. You have the peppy comedienne, the gentlemanly comedian, the straight shooter with a straight face throughout every joke, the edgy one, and other archetypes.

Speaking of archetypes, accents and such are worked solidly into the routine. But they are also fair game for parodying. As the cast showcased their chops with a round of audience-suggested ethnic stereotypes, they simultaneously lampooned the standard practice. A thick German accent birthed this brilliant one-liner: “Velcome to ze stereotypical Bank of Germany!” Afterwards, one comedienne seemed to come down with a case of accent-parody confusion. She then demonstrated an exercise in negotiating the fine points between doing an Irish, an Italian, and a lovely New Joisey.

Bonus — Gotham City Improv does 10 minute one-man version of The Empire Strikes Back: