Volunteers sit behind a bank of phones on stage, soliciting donations from callers. Grinning hosts beam at the live audience before switching to their somber faces and urging people to donate. No, this isn’t another fundraiser for the earthquake victims in Haiti. The cause: raising money to buy plasma TVs for prison inmates.

“Give Us Money” is an improvised comedy show that takes place during the final hour of a 24-hour charity telethon.

The show—which ran at the Gorilla Tango Theatre, 1919 N. Milwaukee Ave., in Bucktown—finished its four-week run with an 8 p.m. show Jan. 25.

Colin Espinales, 23, co-wrote the show and starred as Chad, the telethon’s charismatic and slightly sexist host. He said the cast purposely chose ridiculous causes for each show so nobody would take the telethon at face value.

“We never wanted it to be anything real because we didn’t want people to actually donate money to us,” Espinales said. “[The causes] would never get the money.”

Causes for past shows include preventing the 2012 apocalypse from occurring, putting an end to “Douchebag Syndrome” and keeping the McRib as a permanent McDonald’s menu item.

Most of the laughs the show elicited from the audience depended on uncomfortable moments, both between Espinales’s character, Chad, and his co-host Chastity, played by the show’s co-creator, Jennifer Staben.

The two hosts bickered with and insulted one another, all while putting on friendly smiles for the audience, whom they addressed as the live studio audience for the taping of the fictional telethon.

However, Espinales said such audience interaction wasn’t always part of the show.

“Our first show had none and it kind of was draining,” he said. “That was the beauty of having a show that we could change every week—we figured out what was working and what wasn’t working.”

Kelly Williams, marketing and public relations coordinator for the Gorilla Tango Theatre, said she thought the show was fairly successful, despite the fact that it never packed the venue.

“It never really found a huge audience,” Williams said. “But it was always very steady. For a Monday night at 8 o’clock, that’s pretty good.”

According to Espinales, the show was mainly attended by friends and acquaintances of cast members and it picked up steam as news traveled by word of mouth.

“Each week, I think, it’s been getting bigger and bigger as we get friends who can bring friends,” he said.

Espinales thought as people began to talk, the improvised and fluctuating nature of the show attracted more viewers.

“You see it once, and then come back next time with some friends, you’re going to see a completely different show,” he said.

Bart Winters, 27, of Pilsen, saw the show to support some friends of his in the cast.

“My other friends came to the first show and said, ‘Go check it out,’” Winters said after the show. He said he was glad he followed their advice.

“You could tell that they’re starting off,” he said, noting the difference between “Give Us Money” and some longer and more regularly-running improv shows he’s seen. “But I think there’s some talent there. It comes together at certain points, so I can put up with the slow points.”

While the show’s ridiculous characters and situations poke fun at the frivolous and false nature of many groundless charity causes, the show’s closing song, performed by the full cast, reminds viewers of one of the most common incentives to donate to a legitimate cause: “Give us your money, and remember: it’s tax-deductable.”