FIST 2025 winners Shibacle on saying “‘Yes!’ to the dance” and finding fun along the way

On Saturday April 19, the team known as Shibacle won WIT’s 17th annual Fighting Improv Smackdown Tournament (FIST), having edged out 69 other teams and 260 other players to become this year’s champions. It was a nail-biter of a competition, which featured 40 matches over a five-week period that saw some incredible improv and a handful of surprising upsets.

As the Comeback Brawl winners on Saturday afternoon, Shibacle earned the right to fight in The Finals that same evening. They would go on to defeat Semi-Finalists Penguin Magic and Director’s Cut: What’s Next to become the 2025 champions.

We asked the cast, pictured here in this order: Allison Yolo, Mikail Faalasli, Jared Smith, and Samiyyah Ali, about the experience.

Question: What is the Shibacle origin story? How did the four of you decide to form a team?

Jared: It was a few days before the deadline and I didn’t have a date to the dance again, so I decided to try and put something together. I really wanted to start with someone who I really enjoy watching play but haven’t really had the opportunity to ever play with and Mikail came to mind. Even though I really didn’t know him super well I decided to email him and fortunately he was into it.

Mikail: I had missed the matchmaker deadline and didn’t have other plans, so when Jared invited me, I thought it could be a fun chance to form a ragtag team of people who don’t normally play together. Shortly thereafter, I learned that Samiyyah had changed her mind and wanted to do FIST after all (shoutout to Bethany Stokes). I acted fast to check in with Jared and then invited her to join.

Samiyyah: Jared’s comparison of FIST to a high school dance definitely checks out. After asking a few people out to FIST and learning they were already committed, I decided to awkwardly hang out by the punch bowl alone. Once Mikail saved the day, I was excited for the chance to play with him outside of [WIT company ensemble] Uncle Gorgeous, and it had been years since I played with Jared in [the 2022 WIT production] (Y)Our Town. Asking Yolo was a no brainer. She’s been fantastic every time I’ve seen her perform, and we were lucky she was available.

Allison: Having only done FIST once before, I had wondered if my team from last year would come together again. Realizing that each year is a fresh start (and that those three folks were already on teams), I was settled on being an active audience member. But then I felt that “You want to play!” itch, and finally reached out to someone who’s in touch with lots of folks in the community and she mentioned my availability to Samiyyah who I think had been in touch with Mikail and Jared. I think that’s the story… guess we’ll find out.

And what exactly does the name Shibacle mean? How did you decide on that name?

Jared: I pitched the idea of having our team name be a made up word that was fun to say. I came up with Shibacle as one of my suggestions because it was the name of the last-ever company softball team I played on. We lost every game in the regular season before beating the top seeded team in the first round of the playoffs. A true Shibacle, which is a fun way to describe a playfully sh*tty debacle.

Allison: I’m sure I mentioned some weird names. I think Shibacle caught on quickly and voila! That was our name. I like it. I feel like I’ve been involved in a fair amount of shibacles in my life, so it feels good.

Mikail: We threw out a few quirky made-up words but ultimately, I think we liked the punchiness of “Shibacle,” and that it sounds close enough to a real word that people could derive some vague meaning from it.

Samiyyah: I was in the Bahamas when the others decided on the name, but still feel good about giving them my proxy.

The Comeback Bracket was introduced in 2018 and has been featured in six FIST tournaments. Shibacle is only the second team to win the tournament after having been eliminated and then returned to the competition via the Comeback Brawl (the first was Double Date in 2018). Notably, you are the only FIST champions to have been eliminated in the Elite Eight, meaning you had to fight your way back through the whole bracket on your way to The Finals. How did your Comeback Bracket experience affect your mindset in the latter portion of the tournament? Tell us about the whole experience.

Allison: Credit goes to Samiyyah and Mikail for carrying us through in Rounds 3 and 4. I, too, missed those shows and was super excited to hear that they made it through because then we’d get to play together again. I wish I could time travel and see their duo though. I don’t think being in the comeback bracket affected my mindset. I was just excited to be taking to the stage again.

Mikail: Although our priority was more about having fun than winning, we at least wanted to get past Round 3 so that we’d still get to keep playing even if we got knocked out (which happened in Round 4). It was a long shot, but I was happy that we’d have another chance to play as a full team. At that point, we just leaned into having fun along the way.

Samiyyah: The Comeback Bracket is great, but intense. This was my second time trying to fight back from an Elite Eight loss. (Shout out to Baggage Claim!) In that moment, you’re grateful for the do-over, but it’s also a little daunting to have an extra show in a knockout round of four really good teams. I was really just trying to take one show at a time and figure out when to squeeze in a meal.

Jared: For me I’m just glad it exists. I was really sick in the middle of the tournament and missed Rounds 3 and 4. When I woke up in the middle of the night to check my phone and saw that Mikail and Samiyyah won as a duo in the third round, I was so excited I’d get a chance to perform again as Shibacle and not go out like that. Every show in the Comeback Bracket was a gift I was so grateful to have.

What was the secret to your success?  How did you arrive at Shibacle’s unique chemistry?

Allison: I find it funny that most of our time backstage before shows was spent going over how to enter with our kick ass music queue. I mean, have you heard that track? “It slaps,” as the kids say. We already knew we were all strong performers with lots of experience, so we kind of stayed away from talking too much about the set itself. If we did talk about the show it was something like: “Do the weird stuff. We’ll support one another.”

Jared: We didn’t practice, but we were able to hang out a couple times before the tournament. From my perspective, I always wanted us to go out there and focus less on technical improv and more on just not passing up on any opportunity to do whatever funny thing came to our heads during the sets. The more unpredictable the better. I think the audience usually likes that, too.

Mikail: We socialized a couple times to bond and build rapport, learning more about each other personally, our individual strengths, and general senses of humor. An ethos that emerged from our chats was a collective desire to shed preconceived notions of what a “good” show looks like and to instead lean hard into pure playfulness by making choices we felt would be the most fun at any given moment (and radically supporting those choices). We discussed having a lively entrance to complement our name, and I suggested entering with a semi-choreographed dance, powerful music, and dynamic lighting to set the tone at the top. I even suggested our music (“Good Times Roll” – GRiZ x Big Gigantic), which became something of a theme song for us. Whenever I stressed out about the competition, even right before finals, I’d ground myself by remembering our fun-forward mission. The outcome of FIST is ultimately out of our control, so why not enjoy the journey?

Samiyyah: I’ll admit that I frequently derailed attempts at actually warming up. I was just nervous about getting in my head, and sometimes practicing right before does that to me. Honestly, I think our chemistry (and trust) grew over the course of the tournament. By the time we got to The Finals, it was a free-for-all to just grab onto the fun things and make them explode. So I guess the extra show was helpful.

What was the most memorable moment of the tournament for you — on stage or off?

Allison: After the comeback bracket and before The Final, I took a disco nap on a couch in a quiet spot in the theater — a memorable moment because I don’t find myself doing that often. What I’ll most remember is entering the stage to a packed FIST show house. There are few things more awesome than that feeling. The energy makes me super giddy and chomping at the bit to play with my team. Big LFG energy.

Jared: After being sick and missing the third and fourth round shows the prior weekend, I was healthy enough to perform but still way down on energy and struggling with some terrible remnant vertigo and nausea throughout the final weekend. I’d barely left the house the prior week, but the second we took the stage to our opening song in the semifinal match and the crowd went absolutely nuts I got so much energy and just wanted the opportunity to do that again as many times as we could over the weekend.

Samiyyah: The Sweet Sixteen, when Mikail and I first did the duo show (which was the first time I’ve done a two-person improv show). There was a moment like, “Should we get a sub or should we just go on stage and see what happens?” To Mikail’s credit, adding an extra 16 beats of dancing under a spotlight at the top of the show really set the tone that anything could happen and it would still be okay.

Mikail: Aside from hearing our name at The Finals? Probably duoprov-ing with Samiyyah in Round 3. Allison was out of town, and I woke up that morning to a text from Jared saying he was too unwell to perform. Even though we play on Uncle Gorgeous together and she’s an exceptional improviser, the calculus is still very different when it’s just two people for 15 minutes, and I don’t do much duoprov to begin with. I was frankly apprehensive about how things would turn out, but I truly believed in our team’s potential and just wanted us to have a fighting chance. Samiyyah and I were determined to have fun and give it our all no matter what. Not only did we carry Shibacle into the Elite 8, we put on a standout show and discovered that we actually play very well as a pair. We bring different things to the table but have similar instincts and natural onstage chemistry, which turned out to be a recipe for success.

Samiyyah, you’re in a rare club of folks who have won back-to-back FISTs. How does it feel to take the title for a second year in a row?

Samiyyah: Mostly, I was relieved that people weren’t tired of seeing my face on stage. I’m grateful — for both the votes and the chance to perform in front of The Finals audience — which has insane energy. Obviously, Kinfolk [the team that won the 2024 FIST championship, becoming the first-ever all-Black team to win in the process] and Shibacle are different teams (both in aesthetics and play style), so each FIST run was unique. This year, it was really cool to get to know my teammates more as the weeks went on. We are four very different players (and I’m not married to any of them*), so we had to figure out how the pieces fit together. At the end of our Finals show, I felt like we were complete and had found our rhythm, which was a great feeling no matter the outcome.

Allison, this is your second year in a row at The Finals after making it all the way in 2024 with Milk! Milk! Milk! Was it intense having a successful team two years in a row?

Allison: First, the obvious, I am two for two when it comes to FIST teams. Milk! Milk! Milk! is made up of three very talented fellow improvisers and the same goes for my Shibacle teammates. To be honest, I was pretty clueless about it all last year. I’m not exactly on the pulse with all things WIT and hadn’t been to or participated in FIST years prior. Three amazing performers asked me to be on their team and I said yes, obviously. I didn’t ask that many questions about the tournament itself, just showed up for rehearsals and shows. I had no idea how thrilling it would be! So much good improv, incredible audiences… it’s a blast. I remember being at The Finals, even before Milk! Milk! Milk! took the stage and thought to myself,  “This is so f**kin’ fun and I can’t wait to do this again next year.”

Jared, you had to drop out of FIST last year after sustaining an injury during your first match (and your team, Chaos, made it to the finals with a replacement!). Does it feel especially rewarding to win with that backstory?

Jared: Yes! Chaos was the first time I had put together a FIST team in a long time and I was so happy for them getting all the way to the final, but it definitely was brutal missing out after injuring myself taking to the stage in the opening round. I honestly thought I had missed my one chance to finally play in the FIST Finals after watching from the audience for so many years. I really didn’t care about winning, I just wanted to be in it once because it’s the best show of the year. I had a Lisfranc fracture in my foot which required two surgeries, over two months of putting no weight on it at all, and lots of physical therapy, but it’s finally good enough now to bounce all over the stage again. I’m also again super grateful that Samiyyah and Mikail were able to win while I was sick this year, so I didn’t have to bow out due to my body two years in a row!

Mikail, you’re one of WIT’s incredible star photographers and you were originally scheduled to shoot the finals! (Thanks to Keith Mellnick for stepping in to save the day!) Did it feel surreal to be on the other side of the camera during the finals?

Mikail: Hey, thanks! FIST Finals are electrifying. I had the pleasure of covering them in 2024 and was very much looking forward to doing it again, so I was a bit bummed that I wouldn’t get to after all. That said, it was exhilarating being on the other side of the camera, and I’m happy we’ll have photos of that night to look back on. And indeed, a huge thanks to Keith Mellnick for hopping in at the last minute.

Everyone: What advice would you give to future FIST hopefuls on how to enjoy their experience and advance in the tournament?

Allison: Get a good intro song. Don’t overthink. Go big!

Jared: Have fun, be confident, and let it rip.

Mikail: A little healthy detachment helps. Don’t stress yourself over the outcome. Direct that nervous energy into having fun. Act like you belong on that stage and know it better than the back of your hand. Be authentic; the first choice is usually the right choice.

Samiyyah: Don’t try too hard. Sometimes you get a last minute invite to the dance, have a blast playing with a new team, and end up winning.

* Samiyyah Ali is married to fellow WIT improviser Krystal Ali. The pair are part of the FIST 2024 championship winners Kinfolk.

Photo by Keith Mellnick