Keita Williams admits she has a bit of an overactive imagination. Walking down the street one day, she was struck with a funny thought. “Wouldn’t it be fucked up if you were a stripper, and you were also narcoleptic?”

Most people would tell their friends about the narcoleptic stripper and have a few laughs — she, however, told her producer. And her cast. And she’ll tell her audience Friday night.

The second-youngest member of a “controversial sketch comedy” troupe called Urban Scenze that formed in August, Speech senior Williams turned her demented sense of humor into one of the pieces the group will perform this month in their first round of shows.

“We push the envelope,” she says. “You name it, we address it. We poke fun at the black community; we poke fun at the Caucasian community, everybody. Our topics aren’t sit-down-at-dinner-and-discuss.”

Williams chuckles as she recalls how she was chosen to join the eight-member cast. Her audition was classic comedy in itself — the girl who’s terrified of auditioning is called to try out the next day, leaving without her monologue, completely unprepared. The show’s producer threw topics at her, and she improvised.

“He’s like, ‘How’s your credit?’ I’m like, ‘My credit’s trashed! I can’t get a house for seven years! I’m going to file bankruptcy and then get married,'” Williams delivers, in a voice that could say the Pledge of Allegiance and still sound hilarious.

It was clear she was a natural.

“I’m always cutting up anytime I have a captive audience. I’m a Leo and a middle child, so I crave quite a bit of attention,” she smirks.

The other members of Urban Scenze are from all over Chicago, are different races and sexes and include everyone from a hairdresser to a secretary to a teacher. For six hours every week, the group meets, rehearses and practices improvising wacky situations.

“Today I’m a stupid taxidermist,'” Williams demonstrates.

The end result is a Saturday Night Live-like montage of twisted sketches that intentionally include controversial subjects such as domestic violence, stalking and child molestation. And don’t forget the narcoleptic stripper.

Williams admits that the topics they raise are potentially unnerving but insists that the group is only there to make the audience laugh, not to “touch lives or unite the people,” as she puts it. She shrugs, “We just want you to go home happy!”

The draw toward controversy makes sense for those who, like Williams, are comics at heart. The stronger the audience reaction they can evoke, the greater their success. Urban Scenze’s flier makes this intention clear:

“We’ll make you laugh until you piss yourselves,” it reads. “If you don’t, we will!”

Williams enthusiastically seconds that motion. She isn’t nicknamed “Crazy Keita” on the Urban Scenze Web site for nothing — she seems to be all about pushing everything to the extreme, including her future career in comedy, which she hopes will take off after her debut this week.

Unfortunately, her mother has other ideas.

“She said, ‘You’d make an excellent lawyer,'” Williams says. “I’m an asshole! I’m loud and I’m obnoxious, I have a twisted sense of humor — hell no, I won’t make a good lawyer!

“But I’m going to do this while I’m young and chase a dream. If that doesn’t work, I’ll take the damn LSAT and go to law school. That’s my punishment for not making it. That’s what will motivate me.” nyou

Medill senior Monica Khemsurov is a nyou staffer.She can be reached at [email protected].