Photograph courtesy Wisenheimers
Have you met the Wisenheimers, a comedy group that riffs on cult classic movies in a Mystery Science Theater 3000 style? They’ve been laughing it up at the Esquire Theatre every third Wednesday of the month and Mariemont Theatre every fourth Wednesday and now can be found every second Wednesday at the Kenwood Theatre. “We are comedians, not marketers,” says group board member Christopher Filippi. “Slowly but surely there’s a group of people that come to every show.”
Fellow board members Kevin Bauer, Cat Ward, Zach Mingie, and Liz Looney agree that every comedian brings his or her own film tastes, comedic style, and delivery to the table. The Wisenheimer group has grown to 19 contributors who rotate as hosts or writers or assist with pre-show activities.
“It was a matter of working with management and finding the timing,” Filippi says of expanding to Kenwood. “It’s an example of small businesses supporting one another. We’re bringing a crowd in on a slow night while doing something we absolutely love. I’m so thankful for their partnership every time we do a movie.”
Along with rapid joke delivery, attendees can expect pre-show fun like trivia, costume contests, and games. Win at trivia and you may even score a themed button. Giveaways can also get wacky: For Critters 2, the crew gave away cat food.
“When we first came together and decided to grow this thing, we recognized the fact that anybody can just come to a movie or they can stay home and watch a movie,” says Filippi. “We want to give you a reason to get out of the house and make it an event.”
Since launching with regular shows in early 2024, movie screenings have included everything from Nicholas Cage and John Travolta’s action hit Face/Off to the Zack Snyder-directed Sucker Punch to glam rock vampire flick The Lost Boys and early-2000s staples like Final Destination. Wisenheimers jokes appear to be off the cuff, but their delivery is a well-oiled craft. Once assigned to write for a flick, cast members will likely watch the movie at least three times, if not more. Filippi jokingly likens the process of becoming a Wisenheimer to Stockholm Syndrome—the crew will watch a movie so many times they have no choice but to love it.
“There’s a cycle, especially if I’ve already seen the movie a couple times,” he says. “I start out saying, I can watch this, and then I hate it, but by the very end it becomes, I completely understand what the director was doing in the movie. This is brilliant! This is a work of art, and I’m just ripping into it now.”
Bauer particularly rewatches movies on loop for his bit-writing process. When delving into a flick, he says you can tell when someone puts their heart and own money into the project, even if their technical skill is lacking—which makes him love the film even more. Rewatching a movie also comes with noticing its patterns and quirks. “In my mind, I’ve watched a movie so much that it makes me present,” he says. “You’re able to make that moment into a repeatable thing that I’m always thinking about.”
Ward says the group tries to watch movie selections at least once altogether to play off one another’s humor. From there, they go their separate ways and write jokes for the selected movie on a deadline. After jokes are compiled, they’re whittled down via a voting process. “Once we have the bones of the script, we let the hosts watch it together, practice it, figure it out, and refine it to their taste,” she says.
Mingie says that some of the best jokes come after the initial structure is laid out. “Like in Outsiders, the scene when they’re trying to drown Ponyboy, we started singing the Friends theme song,” he says. “No one wrote that.”
Instead, that joke was improvised during a read-through. Creating each show’s energy, says Ward, is a collaborative effort between hosts; as they get to know each other, they also get a deeper understanding of what humor clicks with the movie.
While several members come from Cincinnati’s improv scene, Looney says her work is informed from a background in sketch comedy. Her writing for Wisenheimer shows has taught her to cut out the fluff and get straight to the punchline. Her colleagues agree that quick delivery is necessary when riffing off a movie. “I’m big on cutting everything down,” says Mingie. “Cut that. Make that shorter. I’m the Hemingway of the group.”
Photograph courtesy Wisenheimers
Along with running bits, hoaky one-liners, and even some high-brow humor, attendees might also hear impersonations or goofy voice acting. For example, when they screened Free Willy in August, Bauer not only donned a killer whale onesie but Ward gave voice to the iconic orca.
Looking ahead to their 2026 lineup, the group calls out a few highlights, including Outbreak in January and Fifty Shades of Grey in February, just in time for Valentine’s Day. While they’re still nailing down screening rights, the lineup is shaping up to include Body Heat, Pretty in Pink, Blade Runner, Anaconda, The Fast and the Furious, The Evil Dead, Batman Returns, Friday the 13th, Pet Sematary, and American Samurai.
While their movie selections are bent on camp and nostalgia, Looney nods to one of their guiding principles: They’re making fun of the movies, not tearing them down. “You can be a fan of the movie that we’re doing and also come to laugh at some of the things we point out that are silly about it,” she says. “You can be a real fan of the Batman franchise, come see a Batman movie, and laugh with us. We strike that balance really well.”
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