What are you doing this Friday night? Movies? Dinner? Coffee at IHOP? Have you ever considered an improv show?

For the price of a movie ticket (sans the student discount), you can enjoy two hours of sharp wit, hilarious puns, British literature references and the knowledge that if only you had a few more seconds to think, your suggestions would have been way better than the inane suggestion from that girl in the third row.

If not for any of those reasons, check out an improv show performed by the National Comedy Theatre (NCT) for the rare chance of experiencing a bad joke and awkward silence. With an array of talent that includes some members of The OxyMorons, another well known local improv troupe, the NCT makes every performance an experience.

NCT puts on two improv performances a week. On Fridays, they hold their short-form competitive improv that relies heavily on audience involvement. The long-form performance given on Saturdays uses more of a storytelling style.

The NCT was born from the womb of Comedy Sportz, a national organization that specializes in the short form competitive improv. Short form competitive improv usually has between five and 10 different games that the audience help out with by yelling out suggestions for different situations.

It also includes a referee, fouls and points. Points are given to teams by the laugh-o-meter, which is calibrated at the beginning of the show by the referee and the announcer.

Along with laugh-o-meter calibration, the referee gives points to the team who gets the most laughs, and also has the power to hand out fouls. There are three fouls that a player or audience member can be called on. The first is the Waffling foul which is given out if play gets too boring. If the referee calls a Waffling foul, the offended player will have only three seconds to make it interesting; if he or she does not, said player will lose points.

The second is the Groaner foul, which is called when a player uses a cliché or makes an unfunny joke. In the event of this foul being called, the player must apologize for offending the comedic intelligence of the audience, wherein the audience will either accept or deny the apology. If denied, four points will be subtracted from the offending player's team.

The third foul, and possibly the most family friendly foul, is the Brown Bag foul. A Brown Bag foul is called when anyone makes a joke, suggestion or uses language that is or can become lewd, dirty or inappropriate. The punishment for this crime is a brown paper bag over the head.

The NCT tries to always give a family friendly performance. Craig Klugman, one of the NCT's more seasoned performers, says, "Our shows are for everybody, seven to 70." And indeed their performances are for everyone from the overly sarcastic little brother, to the hard of hearing great-grandmother, both of whom will laugh at the same joke, and laugh hard.

The different games that challenge the teams range from mild amusement to crying hilarity. In one game, "Replay," the teams are given a scene from the audience to reenact in different styles. Styles can include British, horror and rap. And, yes, these "terminally white" players, as the referee refers to them, do indeed flow the scene. In "Countdown," a definite crowd pleaser, the teams must act out a well-known fairy tale as told by one of the audience members, whether that person knows the story or not.

The NCT, which now resides at the Overtime Theatre, began in 1993 in Austin, and is the longest running competitive improv show in San Antonio. Many of the players have been doing improv for a while. Klugman, who incidentally knows the speed of light to the 18th decimal place, had been doing improv for 22 years, and Wade Minter, a 10 year veteran, is new to the San Antonio scene, but says that there is a lot of talent in San Antonio that just needs to be tapped.

"[Improv] is one third luck, one third energy and one third talent and San Antonio has a lot of talent," Klugman said. On stage at the Overtime Theatre, there is no loss of talent or confidence.

So, is it as good as Saturday Night Live, or even Second City? No. It's way better. The NCT feels like a secret. The players are so quick and so witty that it is a tad difficult to tell people about them for the fear that "posers" will start showing up and ruining the Jane Austen references. But never mind hoi polloi; this is upper class comedy, sort of.

Although it can be a little difficult to find the Overtime Theatre, just look for the brightly-lit building connected to the law office, across the street from a daycare center, then walk into the law office, look to your right, go past the men's restroom and there it is, in all of its wondrous glory.

So forget Starbucks, forget La Cantera and forget studying. The Overtime Theatre is the place to be on Friday nights. Be there, 9:30 p.m.

If you are one of many people who would rather be performing the improv instead of yelling from the audience, you are in luck. The National Comedy Theatre will be holding auditions this Sunday at the Overtime Theatre, 1216 West Ave., 78201. For more information, call 210- 380- 0326.