Improvisational comedy and erotic content both seem to be having a banner year at the Orlando Fringe, and audiences can kill two bawdy birds with one smutty stone at Improv Erotica, the latest boundary-pushing production from the creator of 2024’s Woman’s Guide to Peeing Outside.
Brinkman starts her show with an extended retelling of a sensual shower scene from the novel Like Water for Chocolate that left a lasting impression on her, as an example of the impact of flesh-focused fiction. She’d love to craft a naughty novel of her own, but that’s a lot of work. So instead, Holly employs her improv skills to generate audience-driven raunchy romances, bringing crowd suggestions for steamy scenarios into aural existence as PG-13-rated pansexual pornos which frustratingly fade out as they’re getting to the good stuff. Hot tip: If you want to toss your own turn-on into the mix, scan the onscreen QR code during the preshow to contribute your own anonymous amorous confessions.
Improv Erotica involves an unusual amount of foreplay for a Fringe show, with chatty crowd work consuming the first third of the running time before the first story is told. At the press preview, Holly eventually invented a 10-minute fantasy about a dominant sea captain and disguised female sailor. That was followed by a rapid-fire mini-improv inspired by trashy paperback-cover artwork and another original tale inspired by ambient music.
Brinkman is gifted with a sharp ear for the formulaic rhythms of romance writing, and makes a strong case that sexy books are more than just the sum of their private parts, even if she sometimes stumbles over her character names and common nouns. I’m not personally a big consumer of either improv or erotica, so I didn’t find this show particularly stimulating. But for devoted readers of bodice-rippers and Mad Libs, Brinkman’s genre-blending may make your mouth water like peanut butter and chocolate.
Holly M. Brinkman Presents: Improv Erotica
Silver Venue, Orlando Family Stage
60 minutes; 18 & up
$15
Get tickets
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This article appears in May 14-20, 2025.