Book of Jason!

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Monday, August 6th @ 12:21am.

I’m very tired at the moment. Both sleepwise and workwise; just plain out tuckered. Let’s start at the beginning, shall we'

Oh, by the way, quick tangent. I promised Jeff Griggs that I would update once a week. And I neglected to mention that he was on the first Del Close panel that I hosted. He was great and I love his Del stories.

Last Thursday night,

The Pat Shay Dancers had a show; for me it was like the IO Anniversary eve. I was very excited to do the show, it felt like I hadn’t played with the PSD in months. It was a very good one; with most of the beginning characters making connections and comebacks in the final 10 minutes of the show. It’s something we’ve been discussing and we did that... the same for varying the energy of scenes. How we play is very dialog dependent and sometimes that leads to us just doing alot of sitting down scenes.. we noticed that and we’re making efforts to change it. We did it that night and it really felt good. I felt good about the work we do, and the work we intend to do.

Friday,

Call at the Athenauem was 5:30am. I’ve never stagemanaged before and I honestly didn’t think I was going to have to do too much. Maybe get on the headset with “Please send Tina Fey upstairs please.” That’s all, I thought. I was excited to get a headset AND a clipboard! Yeah.
The IO logo was still being painted and the two other “wing” flats need to be attached. The widescreen projector was not hooked up to a VCR yet. ARgh... lots of things still not done.
There were a few alumni filtering in, Kevin Dorff, Brendan Sullivan, Paul Vallincourt and I all arrived in front of the building at the same time. We all went downstairs to the Green Rooms. It smelled good. The catering had just been set up. There was shrimp wrapped in a snowpea. Yum.
I found the headset charger station and got on-line. There was really no one else with a headset on at the time.
Every time another alum arrived s/he was directed to go downstairs. Then you would hear a collective “HEEEY!” and then a small round of either applause or heavy backslapping. That happened with almost every single new arrival.
There were basically four IO “cliques”; the LA people, the NY people, the Chicago people and Other (people no longer in the entertainment field). It was very cool to see people who were once best friends and teammates see each other for the first time in years. People were hanging out, eating and drinking (there were some cases of pop and beer) and getting psyched for the show. Eventually, it got so crowded that it was hard to get down the narrow hallway.. no one wanted to sit in the rooms.. everyone was out meeting and greeting with each other.
I discovered that I was in charge of the house lights. I didn’t want that responsibility but the dimmer switch was right next to my podium. So, I had a headset, a clipboard and a podium. Hooray for me.

Hung out with Jeff Richmond as we set up his keyboard and the microphones. He was my boss and I his assistant to the director for the Second City show, Promisekeepers, Losers, Weepers.
I insisted that everyone on the headsets finish their broadcast with “Over.” That lasted about 20 minutes. Over.
As 8 o’clock drew closer, things were beginning to take shape. Special IO chairs ordered especially for the 20th in place' Check. Videoscreen in place' Check. Peter Gwinn and Jeff Richmond in place for their opening song' Check. Audio systems ready to go' Check. Where’s my Diet Coke' Oh, here it is. Check.

Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch, and Amy Poehler were the hosts on Friday and they were perfect; full of energy, personable, funny, and completely conversant with the show they were hosting.

“Why don’t you just lock yourself in a closet and scream, ‘The Future! The Future! I’m afraid of the future!’” - T.Fey.

The Upright Citizens Brigade did their long-form show from NYC called “ASSSSCAT.” Matt Bessers explanation of the title was hilarious (it symbolizes the moment when the actors have no idea what is going on and there’s a virtual dead space on stage. The actors would say in a high-pitched voice, “Asssscaaat... asssscaaatt..” I’m assuming that was from that particular show.) Tina played with them. Great show.

Charna gave a few speeches and the one about Del was my favorite. She introed a great video from Del who spoke about how comedians just might be doing Gods work.

The reunion of Blue Velveeta was great. I was at IO the night before and they did a special “dry run” show in front of the Slugfest audience. The show at the Athenauem was very good and fun and you can see why they were so revered back in the day.

Then was intermission.

It was extremely hot backstage. My earpiece was all sweaty. I was out of Diet Coke. We were out of pop.

Tina and Rachel did a great scripted musical piece as the Staley Sisters. Tina brought her guitar and Charna rented a cello for Rachel. Very funny and very dirty.
As the show went on, more and more improvisers were coming upstairs to watch from the wings. Soon we had about 7 chairs on each side with plenty of more people standing around watching.
Charna thanked the Chicago IO staff by name. She said about me, “... Jason Chin, who hates every show, but works to make them all better.” True enough, I guess. Hate is a strong word though. With improv shows I either love, like, dislike or strongly disagreee with the approach/philosophy.
The Family went up and their suggestion was “QuarterPounder.” I wrote that down, but I really wasn’t there for most of their show, sadly. What I did see was great. I remember that everyone backstage was as excited to see them perform as the audience.

“That headset works on you.” -Rachel Dratch

Bob Dassie and Stephnie Weir did a scripted scene from their show. I had not seen this scene and it was very funny and touching.

Then, from LA came Beer Shark Mice. They were lots of fun with Brian Stack and Tim Meadows sitting in. It was a great show. I will always watch Stack and Flynn improvise if I can. They are still two of the best.

Freeze Tag was on the Running Order, but we decided to cut it. The show came out to about 2:45. Long, hot show.
Everyone left. I walked through the theater and then headed over to the ImprovOlympic. I helped Louie and Dan “bounce” at the door. The midnight shows were cancelled and only IO students/performers were to be admitted after the 10:30 shows. The party was an IO party; crowded and loud and lots of fun people.

What the heck goes through your mind when a shark attacks you' I wonder.

I got to sleep around 3:30am or so. I was very sleepy.

The next day, Saturday Noon.

I got to IO thinking I had to set up the tables and chairs and podium for the “Up Close and Personal” panel discussion. John Abbott was there and had already set every thing up. That was very cool. We added a table and some water pitchers and that was about it. People began showing up. I really had no idea who was coming to be a guest... Charna said that “everyone” was coming the night before, but what does that mean' Anyway, Craig Cackowski was there to just watch and I asked him to be a guest, but then all these “older” alums showed up and he was kind enough to watch. I feel bad about that... later this year I want to do another panel discussion and this time use all of the IO teachers. I think that’ll be fun.
The guests ended up being Charna, Susan Messing, Jay Leggett, Neil Flynn, Pat Finn, Matt Besser, Pete Gardner, Ali Faranahkian.
I must admit I had about two questions ready, but nothing besides that. The first panel we did I had about 7 questions ready to go... I had “Tell us about the first time you met Del,” and.. really that’s about it at that moment...
The guests were so energetic and opinionated they really ran the discussion. We quickly got away from speaking about Del and went into the topics of the Harold and long-form in general to the improv boom here in Chicago and LA. Oh, I did ask the panel, since they were all from different parts of the country, if the improvisation was that different in other cities. They mostly had disdain for LA, but were glad that IO was now out there.
The tape I used to record the panel is running as I write this and man, I hate my voice on this thing. I normally like my voice, just listen to me ramble sometimes, but not on this tape.

Matt Besser and Mitch Rouse were particularly vehement with their dislike for short-form, but not so much short-form games per se. It seemed to me they weren’t so much anti-short-form, but SO pro-long-form. I thought the fear and acknowledgement that short-form is more accesible and when the public thinks of improv that’s what they think of, is what they were railing against.

**WARNING- SOAPBOX ALERT** WARNING- SOAPBOX ALERT**

Is there a difference between short-form and long-form, of course there is. There’s supposed to be. Short-form games are great to play and to watch; if I didn’t think so I wouldn’t participate in the Jam as often as I do. I love long-form and if I had a choice I would only do that for the rest of my life.. wait, I guess I did make that choice. I think short-form games, when done right and by talented people are a joy to watch and I’m rooting for the Chicago ComedySportz to win the national competition that they’re hosting this week. Is it a shame that short-form is the more recognizable form' Maybe, but it’s like a gateway drug, really. How many people reading this first saw short-form and then discovered the rest' Is it a drag having to explain to people that “no, it’s not like Drew Carey'’ or having to explain to people in the audience that we only take one suggestion, thank you' Yeah, sometimes. But at least they’re asking, at least they’re there. You want long-form to be something more than jokes and a big HaHa' Then do better shows. Prove that it deserves more respect.
Alright, that’s enough out of me on that subject. Buy me an italian ice and I’ll tell you more.

**END OF SOAPBOX ALERT**
The panel discussion ended around 3pm. I was interviewed by Rebecca Langguth for yesand.com. I got home around 4:30. Call at the Athenauem was at 5:30pm. I showered, changed, screwed around on Aimster.com (LOVE IT!) and walked over there.

Saturday.
There was no running order. Dave Koechner, Jimmy Carrane, Charna and I holed up in a dressing room and tried to scratch one out. I had typed up and made copies of a preliminary RO, but it was almost completely changed by the time we went up.

There was a lot more running around for this show which is odd since there were less segments and it was the second night.
The Living Room had about 20 people in it and was a lot of fun. We put this weird bench on stage and it was knocked over at the top of the piece. I was in the wings thinking, Do I go out there and help pick it up' I mean, everyone on stage was just sitting there looking at it like it had just dropped out of the ceiling. By the time I decided to go out there Ian Roberts picked it up.
The Winstons were great. I liked the new version of their song.
The Armando show was fun with Steve Dahl and Andy Dick acting as alternating monologists. The cliched “____ cop! Get in my office!” became a great callback/tagout run... let’s see, it was,
“Disco Cop! Get in my office!” “Angry Lieutenant! Get in my office!” “Guy Who Has Nothing To Do With The Cops But Likes To Yell! Get in my office!” “Jesus Christ, Get in my office!”
Ah, love that Stack.

I think Dahl had a rough go of it because he had never seen the show before and had no idea what was expected of him.

Then the show ended.
I was hot, sweaty and exhausted. So were Emily, Megan, and Josh, the interns specifically assigned to me. They were so great and helpful and we were ready to check it all and head on over to the invite-only VIP party at the Ambassador East. Hold the phone there Speedy, says Fate.
The Athenauem people tell us that everything, EVERYTHING, needs to be out of the building by tomorrow or we would get charged for another. Like in a bad SNL movie, Mike McCarthy turn to each other and say, “What'” We look around and still in the building are us and about 7 interns. There are some IO people floating around, but that’s about it everyone else was gone. Argh.

Long story short, we get everything, EVERYTHING packed up and over to IO. Everything= the special IO chairs, the flats, the videoscreen, the headsets, the rented cello, the videoscreen that was mistakenly delivered to us, the paint cans, the carpet, all the t-shirts, etc...
The following people worked their ass off: Mike McCarthy, Karen Rose, Jason Cullnan, Fuzzy Gerdes, Sven Wechsler, Megan Deimer, Steve Kaminski.

So, after all that, we headed over to the Ambassador East. When I got there, the party was in full swing. We found out that the Athenauem contract said we could break down on Sunday. What' Oh, well.
The place was filled with people. All the alumni performers, current performers from IO, friends of IO, etc. It was packed. The Pump Room is a nice place, but you couldn’t really see it there were so many people. It was fun, but really, I was so tired and kind still pissed off that I didn’t have that great a time. It was nice.

I got home around 3 or 4 am.

“Hey, ‘Dels Opium’ that’s a good team name.” - Mitch Rouse.

Tea Plankton Mink met Sunday morning to rehearse. We’re going into hard core Harold mode and we’re even going to meet twice a week to get a leg up on stuff. That’ll be awesome; I’m looking forward to that. We’re still having name problems. Usually a name appears in rehearsals or in a show, but it hasn’t so far. I have no idea what will happen. I wanted to name it ‘emetophilia’ but no one else really wants it. *sigh*

Tomorrow night, Tuesday, at Gil Park (7pm) will be the auditions for Thriller Theater 4. That’s going to be fun and terrible. I hate auditioning people.

**WARNING- SOAPBOX ALERT** WARNING- SOAPBOX ALERT**
I find the commericials for “Rush Hour 2” extremely distasteful. It’s full of racial insults and jokes that I think are a pain in my ass. Hey, dem asians are hilarious! What crazy people! I did not see the first one. I get that Jackie Chan is some chinese cop and he’s the stranger in the strange land of LA. Lots of chinese jokes there. So, we reverse things, and send LA cop, Chris Tucker over to China. Oh, good. More chinese jokes. Great. Me' I’m a big kid, I can take it. Me' If someone does some racist jokes on and off stage, I know what to do. I’m thinking back to the 8 year old and 13 year old me that had to put up that shit and I know there’s shit loads more Chinese kids in America with classmates that think those movies are hilarious and talking to/about chinese people that way is okay. Anyway, I hate Rush Hour1 and 2. Or at least the way they’re marketed.

** END OF SOAPBOX ALERT **

Alright, it’s hot and i’m going to cool off.
How are you' Well, I hope.
More soon enough.

“Happy 20th, Jason.” - Adam McKay.

END OF LINE

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AUGUST 17, 2001

Things are coming to head now.

"I find that the harder I work, the luckier I get." - Thomas Jefferson.

Thriller Theater Four: Scooby Learns Meets the Facts of Life has been cast. As soon as we get a poster, I'll give it its own page here. One of the best things about doing the show with mostly improvisers is that they all have great ideas. I love giving talented people a script they can feel free to fool around with. Not too much, however. Working with a team of producers is a new experience. Fascinating, really. I'm going to use a Star Trek analogy here; when it was just me I was like Kirk ("THIS is what we'll do!") and now I've become Picard ("Hm. Opinions' Let's have a meeting. Who wants tea; Earl Grey, hot.") We rehearse twice a week, which is good since there's more musical stuff this year.

Last year, right in the middle of rehearsals for Thriller Theater Three: Scooby vs. Buffy; Butcher, Baker, Vampire Slayer, it was announced that a live-action Scooby film was in production with Buffy herself as Daphne. That was weird. Now, on our very first rehearsal day it was announced that a Facts of Life reunion movie was in the works. Weird. I hope no one steals my idea for Godfather! The Mafia Musical TM.

My one-man show opens in September at the Live Bait Theater. As I wrote that sentence I remembered that I need to get a poster for that show made. And revamp the show. And rehearse it. And tech it. ARGH. It's pretty much the "extended mix" of my Slugfest. The name remains the same, "Nerdography: Confessions of a Nerd." Fridays and Saturdays at 10pm. I'm gearing up a publicity campaign that will resemble the original "Jedi!" pustch I did. Man, I really need those posters. Must. Get. Ass. In. Gear...

Still no name for the new ImprovOlympic team I'm coaching. The poll stays on the front page until we get a name. I have no idea when that will be.. we have a few weeks before the next schedule.

The first week of Instant Karma went pretty well. It was great seeing people whose improv work I have admired have fun with other people they have never performed with before. (Hey, on this Law & Order rerun, Camyrn Manheim knows sign language. God Bless.) Still a work in progress, still fun.

I updated this site on Thursday night after my IO shows and hangouting. We had a Pat Shay Dancers show. It was weird and fun. We did a group game and then enjoyed it so much we decided to do a bunch more. That was fun. Afterwards I had some work to do in the office and I listened to the Sven-run AIDS cure benefit in the Del Close Theater. It was fun and educational. I really enjoyed Jihahads sketches. Also, I like asparagus. Is that spelled correctly' I just looked it up and here's what Webster's II New Riverside Dictionary Office Edition (1984) says, "A plant, Asparagus officinalis, with scales or needlelike branchlets rather than true leaves and succulent, edible, young stalks." I giggle.

Battle Royale. It's a Japanese film that shocked that nation, broke box office records and was rated "R-15, no one under 15 to be admitted" there. It is completed f-ed up. Basically, 42 9th grade students are fitted with hi-tech collars and deposited on a remote island. They are each given a backpack which contains some water, some food, and a weapon or tool (raning from an UZI submachine gun to a potlid). They have three days to kill each other. If, at the end of three days there is more than one person alive, the authorities will detonate the collars killing them all. There is no escape from the island.

This movie was shocking, brutal, insightful and scary. Not because, of the gore or the violence, but what it was trying to say about Japanese society. Fascinating work. Big thanks to Chris Berzac for getting me a copy after we spoke about it months ago.

I'm going to the Wizard World convention this weekend. I love these comic-book conventions. Lots of cool things besides comics. Kimmi from Survivor is going to be there! I'm going to my finger in her face. I will ALWAYS put my finger in her face. I'm still wondering if I should take my camera with me. You know, for nerd research. Some of the videos I have purchased at past conventions have been The Fantastic Four movie, Seinfeld Bloopers and the incredible Hong Kong film, Stormriders.

I'm going to go to sleep now. Goodnight. See you Saturday'

END OF LIN

"We are the slaves of objects around us, and appear of little or no importance as these contract or give us room to extend." - Goethe

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Monday, August 20, 2001

The two gentlemen who own and operate the investment firm I part-time at remind me of Mr. Mulhern and me. They're both in their late-fifties and have been friends since college. Take away that they're incredibly wealthy and replace talk of D&D, comics, and improv with talk of golf, Dynamic Completeness Funds, and stock data analysis and we're pretty much the same.

Saturday was a great, exhausting day.
I worked at the Wizard World Convention at the Rosemont Horizon with Chicago Comics. Really casual, but I was stunned at how busy our booth was. Based on the magazine 'Wizard' most of the booths at the WWC are really fan-boy based, concentrating on Marvel and DC. We had plenty of that stuff, but had tons of independent trade-paperbacks and some great weirdo books from our sister store, Quimbys. The two tables in front of our booth were what really drew people in; one table was for bundles of storylines or mini-series that were 'value-priced.' I loved that table. The guys at Chicago Comics have a great sense of humor. Each shrink-wrapped bundle had an large index card detailing exactly what was in pack and how much it was. There was usually a commentary on the pack itself like 'The X-Men Meet the Micro-nauts! First Appearance of Dark Xavier!' but most were hilarious comments like 'Buy The Comic Series that Began the Downfall of the American Comics Industry!' or 'I've Been Writing These Cards and Shrinkwrapping for 5 hours now. The Fumes are beginning to hurt my eyes. Please buy this Spiderman.' My favorite bundle was the entire collection (except for two issues) of Wolverine comics. All the one-shots, mini-series, and X-Men issues! They put it together as a joke and it weighed about 11 lbs and cost about $800. It didn't sell on Saturday, but I hope it did. Other cool bundles were Frank Millers run on Daredevil, Alan Moores run on Swamp Thing, and the complete Sandman series.

The other table, the one that really makes me proud to be with these guys, was completely covered with Alternative Press and 'zines. Cool enough that both stores have a pretty generous consignment deal for virtually any one who wants to sell through them, but they brought a bunch to the WWC. They sold quite a few too. These were the magazines and 'zines that you couldn't get anywhere else and, in fact, After looking at the entire con, this booth was pretty unique with the bundles and the zines.

Famous people I actually spoke with (if you don't read comics you probably won't know who these people are): Matt Wagner (what a great guy!!), Brian Azarello, and Mark Waid.

Famous people I took pictures of: Kimmi Kappenburg ('I will ALWAYS take a picture of your face!' ' that's for Molly), Gene Simmons!, James Marsters and Juliet Landau.

Costumed civilians (as opposed to the several paid actors at the con) I saw: Wonder Woman, Superboy, Captain America, Another Wonder Woman, Blue Bald Gal from Farscape, Stormtroopers, Boba Fett, and a Tusken Raider.

The WWC was great fun and a lot of work. We left the Rosemont around 6 and I was dropped off in front of IO around 7:20pm. Just in time to make call for Instant Karma.

Instant Karma was pretty much the same people from last week. We did a Scenic Deconstruction, which, began with a good scene that became so much better in its return at the top of the second act. This weeks shows were much looser and more playful than last weeks. I think the biggest 'problem' we have is that everyone has pretty much been playing with the same people for three or more years and now we all have to learn to play with another group. I did a long silent scene with Ryan Archibald, which was tons of fun, and I have great bruise on my shin from jumping through the window.

The Midnight show was great too. The audience had no idea what to expect and I could sense their slight disappointment when we began with a great, real, two-person scene (with Nicky Margolis and Ryan Archibald). About 2 minutes into the scene, however, the audience was laughing and sympathizing with both of the characters (two lonely people meeting for the first time). That was great.

Sunday, we had a rehearsal with the new team I coach. I think we have a name, but now I don't like it. Things at 10am on Sunday when you've had three hours of sleep are much funnier than they really are. 'Level 6' Bah. Blecch. The Harolds we did were good, though.

Last year, we went through three Scoobies before finally getting Geoff Reed. He was great and I'm really happy that he's not only doing the character again, but he's also co-producing. We're having the same problem this year with Mrs. Garretts! I've been through three so far! Oy, these shows.

Must. Get. Food.

END OF LINE

(Leaving restaurant with a wheelbarrow full of tacos) Comic Book Guy: Yes, this should provide adequate sustenance for the Dr. Who marathon.

Comic Book Guy: Yes, finally. I would like to return your quote unquote, Ultimate Belt.

Storekeeper: I see, do you have a receipt, quote unquote, sir'

CBG: I do not have a receipt, I won it as a door prize at the Star Trek convention, although I find their choice of prize highly illogical as the average Trekker has no use for a medium-sized belt.

Storekeeper: Whoa, whoa. A fat, sarcastic Star Trek fan. You must be a devil with the ladies.

CBG: Hey, I... Huh... Tha... Oh...

Storekeeper: Gee, I hate to let you down Casanova, but uh, no receipt, no return.

Bart: I'll give you four bucks for it.

CBG: Very well. I must hurry back to my comic book store, where I dispense the insults rather than absorb them.

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Monday, August 27, 2001

Well, that was a busy weekend.

We had two Instant Karma shows over the weekend. The biggest problem in past shows has been the overabundance of politeness of the cast. We definitely got over that hump this weekend. One of our biggest casts, and definitely our largest audience thus far, we had a ton of fun. We switched back to the monologue deconstruction with a variety of monologists. Just terrific, fast-paced fun with a lot of excellent scenework. I love seeing Angela Forfia doing scenes with Kristy Entwhisle, or Dina Facklis with Jim Carlson. Great fun. We go about 45 minutes, then we intermiss, and then we do about 30 minutes worth of callbacks, really. One of my favorite recurring things was thanks to Rich Sohn, who said he was painting a portrait of all the US Presidents but a multi-cultural version. A very happy and satisfied 8pm crowd left.

I went downstairs and watched the Valhalla and Deep Schwa show. Both shows were fantastic and Valhalla did a great helicopter escape! One of my favorite TV scenes (John Lutz was the copter pilot with Mike Abdelsayed and Matt Chapman lifting him up and Craig Uhlir hanging on to the chair for dear life.) Sweet Shit.

Later, that same night....

Back upstairs for the Instant Karma midnight show. Smaller cast, smaller audience, but filled with energy. For the midnight show we aim for 45 minutes and then look for the out. This show had a great scene with Dina, Jeff Griggs and Tom Hermann telling scary kitchen stories. Anytime I get to see Rich Prouty and Molly Erdman do scenes with people I've never seen them perform with before is a joy to me. We have a few more weeks at 8pm, but the midnights have an open run. It's fun stuff. Come on by and see the show.

Wha-?! Meadow? No, what are you doing on that magazine like that?! Pleasea keep doing the acting and the singing for the bellybuttons, eh?

This was the first week of the new class session at ImprovOlympic. I'm teaching two classes right now; a Level 2 and a Level 4. Also, I'm coaching what is now called Wilton Manor (the team formerly called "Tea Plankton Mink"). I love teaching. Level 2 is some hardcore Harold and the Level 4 is hardcore scenework. Yeah. Fun.

The Halloween show has suffered a few setbacks, but we're pulling through. Casting is still settling down. Finally! a Mrs. Garrett! Oi. I gotta tell you this, though, there is some seriously funny shit going down in this show. Hilarious.

I'm very nervous about the "Nerdography" show. It's coming up but fast. I made up some cool cardstock handoutty things for the show.. there's six different ones! Collect them all! They're fun! This is the first time I've been nervous about pulling in a big enough crowd to pay the rent in about six years. Yikes.... Please, for Odin's sake, come see this show.

++++++++++++++

I resigned my duties as the "schedule maker" guy at the ImprovOlympic. I don't work on the logistics or the actual assignment of showdates or the rosters anymore. As a teacher I still sit in on the Teachers Meetings and I'm still acting as a kind of official unofficial Ombudsman, but now Jeff Griggs is going to be doing all that stuff. Poor sap. The first schedule I worked on was a bear. The first thing Charna asked me was if the Pat Shay Dancers should be a House Team. At the time , the schedule was segregated into three sections; House Teams, Harold Teams and Class Teams. We were a Harold Team at the time. I debated for a day or two. I asked our coach at the time, Peter Gwinn, and he said it was up to me. Thanks. Then I thought that it wasn't fair for my friends and team to be penalized for me getting a new job. We were on a hot streak of shows and I thought we deserved it so we did it. PSD was a House team and several teams were cut back on their accustomed number of shows. It was a tough thing to do; people were used to a certain way of "life" on the IO schedule and drastic change is tought to accept. That was about 4 years ago.

It's someone elses worry now. I'm still helping out around the theater and I'm still there for Jeff to come to if he needs something. Here's my on-line gift to Jeff:

In 1971, there was a comic book called PREZ. It was about an 18 year old boy named Prez who was elected President of the United States. It's weird and strange, but there was an amazing amount of heart and spirit in it. The love and passion for public service and the American Ideal is really strong. I was able to finally pick up the first 5 issues at the Wizard World Convention the other weekend. In 1993, Neil Gaiman wrote a modern re-telling of the PREZ story in the pages of Sandman, the celebrated comic book series. In that book, Prez is considering running for local office when the "current" president Richard Nixon comes to visit him.

NIXON: So, you're Prez Rickard, huh? You, uh, don't look so much. You're going to be the next President, you know that?

PREZ: Sir?

NIXON: Oh, don't come on all wideeyed and innocent with me, kid. It'll happen. I, uh, I got the word dow from on high already. They tell you stuff when you're president. You'll learn. Now I'm going to tell you a few things now, make it easy fo ryou in the future. Okay: NOTHING you do in the White House matters.

You know why not? Because as far as the mass of voting morons is concerned while you're in office you'll be the worst single president they've ever had. Until you stop. Then it's some other poor bastard's turn.

And even that doesn't matter, because ten, twenty years later, they'll look back on you, and wonder why they didn't appreciate you when they had you.

(there's more to the scene, but it's not really germane. Here's a bit of Prez's dialogue that I really like however:

PREZ: If I'm President, I want to make a difference. I want to try and make it easier for people to live. To heal the divide between rich and poor, between black and white, the possessors and the dispossessed. I want to make America the kind of place I dread it was, as a kid. Make it someplace to inspire the rest of the world-- a dream of freedom; a celebration of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.)

Sometime later this week I wil post my review of Lifegame and the Wayne Brady show. alright, see you soon.

END OF LINE.

PREZ's philosophy (from Sandman #54): If you find a watch in the desert, you don't assume it was spontaneously created. You figure someone made it. That there's a watchmaker. And if the watch has stopped, then you repair it.

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