Before they were packing houses or booking professional stages, the members of Phat Dragon were squeezing nine people into a dorm room and trying to make them laugh.
The four members of Phat Dragon, Hunter Gill, Ian Toppall, Ben Tree Levy and Josh Hoover, met their freshman year at Columbia College, and by sophomore year, they were living together.
“That’s really where our chemistry really, really took off,” Toppall said.
Gill said the group didn’t overthink it. “We were just, like, I think we all want to practice some improv.” They invited nine people from their dorm to watch a short set. “We were, like, this is good enough. Let’sdo this every single week,” he added.
That weekly consistency became their identity.
The name Phat Dragon came just as spontaneously.
“We were just riffing,” Toppall said. “Someone said, ‘Fat Dragon’ and we all laughed.” When someone suggested spelling it with a P-H, “we were like, yes. It was perfect,” he said.
For Levy, the appeal was immediate. After one of their early dorm events, he remembered thinking, “I would love to live with these guys.”
What sets Phat Dragon apart, Hoover said, is long-form improv and genuine friendship. “I think long-form, for one, is pretty uncommon,” he said. “And also, definitely, the fact that we are like friends, and we didn’t really audition. We just made something.”
That closeness shows onstage. Levy, who has done stand-up for five or six years, said improv with the group feels different. “I feel so comfortable with these three people, failing with them,” he said. “If I mess something up…they’re going to support me.” Even with 120 people in the crowd, he added, he doesn’t feel nervous.
Where improv groups typically don’t use physical props, Phat Dragon experiments, having used a bag of rice, keys from someone in the audience, and a toy fish.
The biggest challenge, however, has been finding a spot to perform. Gill explains that navigating the maze of booking spaces on campus can be complicated. However, fans keep coming back every week, for the craftmanship and connection among the actors.
Now, Phat Dragon is thinking beyond dorms. This semester includes shows at The Annoyance Theatre. Long term, Toppall jokes, the goal is world domination.
Hoover has a specific dream: “I want us to perform in the Chicago Theatre. That doesn’t feel that far away.”
For four friends who acted on an impulse, that goal comes closer every week.