the Book of Jason

January 20, 2003

The Continuing Ridiculous Adventures.

This past weekend was a refreshing respite from the crapfest that had so far been my 2003. The first seventeen days of the new year were just, you know, crappy. One day worse than the next; a lot of long, sad walks. The details are inconsequential, but, boy, I thought, if this was how the rest of the year was going to be… I quit.

Saturday.
A few weeks ago I was asked to be on a panel for Sketchfest discussing, well, I assumed, sketch comedy. Actually, they asked for Charna but she was going to be out of town and they asked me to do it. I’m like the vice-president… hopefully, there’ll be a nice state funeral in France soon. I was very excited and honored to be asked to be on the panel in the first place and then I was shocked to learn of the other panelists (shocked because of my inclusion among them, that is); Dave Razowsky (who was just amazing in the very first Second City I saw and saw and saw again, "Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been Mellow?"), Mick Napier (founder of the Annoyance and my Second City Level 2 teacher), Anne Libera (director from Second City), Sheldon Patinkin (Artistic Counsultant for the Second City and chair for the Columbia College Theater Department) and Gary Austin (founder of the Groundlings, member of the legendary Committee).

I was at ImprovOlympic early on Saturday to take care of a few class things and then I ran over to Second City. I hadn’t been there for a while (Craig Cackowskis last night, I think) and the Mainstage was reconfigured for the new show ("Thank Heaven It Wasn’t 7-11"). I spied a few of the other panelists hanging about the bar area, but didn’t see Brian Poeshen, the head of Sketchfest and my contact for the whole schmiel. Charna had asked me to say "Hi!" for her to Gary Austin, so I introduced myself and conveyed her message. The lovely and talented Rachael Mason was in the Box Office so I went in there to rap with her a bit. Mick was also in there and we tried to figure out what we were going to speak about. Brian appeared and I spoke with him. He asked me for a few sentences for my introduction. ("Jason Chin is the Associate Artistic Director for the ImprovOlympic as well as the Director of the Training Center. He has performed, written and directed in over 20 sketch and/or improv shows in Chicago over the past seven years.")
I wandered about and ended up back in the Box Office when someone told me that they wanted all the speakers back in the Green Room. I went back and everyone else as already there chatting as they have all known each other for years. I said hi to everyone and someone asked me if there were water pitchers on stage (I think he thought I was an intern.)
Eventually, we were introduced in (last name) alphabetical order so I was second. There were too many chairs on stage and I sat on the chair furtherest stageright.

After we were all seated Rob Chambers, the moderator, entered and had us all introduce ourselves. Since I was at the stageright end I went first. (we were all seated in the same order as the descriptions above.) I just said, "Hi, my name is Jason Chin and I’m the Associate Artistic Director for ImprovOlympic and I’m also the Director of the Training Center there. I’ve either been in, wrote or directed over 20 sketch and/or improv shows here in Chicago in the past seven years." There was some applause which made me laugh so I said, "Thank you, thank you very much- I’ve been living my life."

The panel overall was fun and interesting. Perhaps too much emphasis on Second City, in that (after I asked) most of the crowd did not use improvisation for the creation of their sketch shows much less improvised at all. Mick and Dave were hilarious; old friends talking about their craft and goofing on each other. Gary was fun and fascinating- I would love to hear him speak more about the Committee days. Anne was great; she kept asking us questions and pushing the dialog further. We were up there for two hours and we took some questions from the audience- that was the best part. Anne mentioned that there tons of failed television pilots on tape in Kelly Leonard’s office and I said that we should watch them all. I think it’d be fascinating. Did you ever see that "Working Stiffs" or "Men at Work" pilot with Michael Keaton and Jim Belushi? Oy, Terrible! So much fun.

Questions were varied and interesting:

"Why isn’t there a great sketch show based in Chicago?"

"What do you think the future of sketch is?"

"What do you do if you have a jerk for a director?"

"What do you do if you keep failing?" (mostly about writing)

Now that I'm updating/continuing this entry on Wednesday night, most of the panel eludes me. I met some really nice people afterwards. I handed out some passes and 2-for-1s for IO and talked some more on a personal level with some out of towners. That was fun. I think the Sketchfest is/was a great idea. People seeing other sketch shows besides what's on television can only be good and should help people expand what they're doing doing back home.

I'm watching "American Idol" and I don't know why, when JD Adams comes in to try-out. He's related to John Adams. The real John Adams, second president and all that. Weird. Hey, he's going to Hollywood. Alright, I'm actively rooting for him now. Ironic that Simon Cowell liked him since JDs ancestor hated the British. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. flavin. Someone should do this same exact show with stand-up comedians. How painful would that show be?

Later Saturday Night.

We had the Instant Karma show. It was such a blast. Completely packed appreciative house. Had a great crew striding the boards as well. What I do love about the show is the combination of IO people from people just out of 5B to old hands. And we really nailed the ending; something that had been eluding us for a while. I had a great time, and so did the audience. I love seeing various cast members being chatted up by complete strangers. That's fun.

Have you ever heard of Urban Spelunking? It sounds cool, but the "wildlife" would be daunting.

Sunday.

Early morning I had a rehearsal with the brand-new team I'm coaching. Our "slavename" on the schedule is "Gags of New York." get it? Bah. Rehearsal was great and we made plans to meet about an hour before the show later that night.

Later that night.

I hate the pun name so we used the temporary name of "Alpha Squad" as we were introduced. The show was dynamite with a few "opening night" jitter and stutterstarts. It was good. The best thing, to me, was the use of applied learning. Something we actively worked on that morning in rehearsal was used to excellent effect during the show. Love that. It was only 19:40 minutes, but the show was jam packed. I really enjoyed watching it, much less taking notes during it.

After they went up The Pat Shay Dancers were up third. We've been working on the Harold and it was really fun. Swell show with some cool insights about self-esteem. The suggestion was "Cheerleader" and during the Opening Rich Sohn (I think) said in a dread monotone, "Hey, let's form a low self-esteem pyramid." Somehow we all just plopped on the floor and Chris Day said, "Everyone get on the bottom row." And then, 34 minutes later, we ended the show with another pyramid, but a real one this time. We also managed to accidentally fall into a "Machine" during the first group game. We laughed about that immediately after doing that and then Pat initiated a "History of Cheerleading" which was great. A Living Museum of Improv Games. That was fun. It was a good show and I really enjoyed it.

We might be keeping "Alpha Squad" as a team name. I also suggested "Mrs. Malinsky." We'll see what the group decides next Sunday morning.

So it was a good weekend and it really picked up my energy and spirits. C'mon, 2003, keep on going!

This site used to have a message board. No one ever posted anything and somehow all these ads kept popping up on it. I hadn't checked it for sometime; maybe two months. Then, last week I got an e-mail from someone that read merely, "Dude! What's up with your Pete Townsend message board?!?!" So I took a look and the entire board was filled with links/ads for kiddie porn and incest websites. I wonder who the posters think is coming to this site. The message board on my Olsen Twins fansite is ironcially filled with ads for improv shows. So, uh, the message board is gone. I couldn't find the passwords. I think they're still on my computer at the investment firm downtown. ACh well. No big loss.

I wrote an essay for The Greenroom messageboard/webzine called "The Golden Age of Geekdom." Check it out.

January 30, 2003

Already the year is going by very fast. Already!

We're keeping "Alpha Squad" which is cool. I like that name.

I need a vacation. Don't think I've had one since, well, the 80s, to tell the truth. Went to Jamaica with some friends and it was very beautiful. I love the ocean. I miss it.

Writing.

I love to write. I wish I could do more of it. I think I lack sticktoitiveness. Deadlines help me write but now that I have no real deadline it's been harder to get going.Got going today on an idea that's been running around my head and I'm taking a Letterman break right now. It's fun when the dialog just comes out and and it's flowing instead of me staring at a blank screen. When I worked at the office downtown it was much easier to do. Office, full computer services, plenty of free snacks, drink and delicious coffee. It was great. Here today I had some leftover pasta and some flat RC Cola. Words words words. Thank you for literacy.

Ultimate goal/dream? A novel. A couple of more plays. A comic book. I don't know.

I used to go on lots of auditions. Really back in New York I went on plenty. The thing is, is that I hate taking buses, trains and the like. That hasn't changed so I don't go on many auditions here in Chicago. I think the last movie audition I went for was for Mel Gibson's Payback. Bah. I felt like an asshole. They told me to go as a gangster so I put on my pinstripe suit and went. I was the first one there. Then the REAL Chinese gangsters showed up. I just signed out and left. I looked like an arse. I think the dude with the really long hair and mustache from Die Hard (and, well, just about every movie with a ton of evil henchmen in it) was there. I betcha Rich Prouty knows that guys name. The last audition I went on was for a game show called "SMUSH." I was really excited about because I love gameshows and I think I'd be a great host. The audition went fantastic and it went really long because we ended up talking about all kinds of things and we had to retape it. Afterwards, they were very complimentary and asked me for another headshot and resume. But I knew there was no chance in Hell I would get it and now that guy from that MTV gameshow hosts... whazis.. Ken Ober? Anyhow, I don't go on many audiitons, but I'm going on one next week that I'm very excited about and I hope that I get it. More information as warranted.

Alright. That's it.

END OF LINE.

Book of Jason!

January 20, 30