"A Song Time Ago" is chugging alone nicely. The songs sound terrific and the dance routines, so far, are hilarious. The show is scripted but it constantly evolves as each person adds a bit or two here and there. That's my favorite part of directing. The cast is so full of energy (still?) and it's fun to watch them play with each other. Six weeks. Six weeks left. It seems like far away and then it feels like tomorrow. I'll tell you what (can you tell I've been watching/loving the King of the Hill reruns), I freakin' love doing this show. The poster is in pre-production right now and I'm looking forward to seeing the prototypes. Why is this entry here? Shouldn't it be in the shows section? Ah, too much to flip around posting stuff.

I have officially rejoined the Pat Shay Dancers. I've only done one show so far and I think it went pretty well. We have a show tomorrow and then our first rehearsal with Craig Cackowski. Yay!

Tomorrow. I have a show with PSD and then rehearsal for "A Song Time Ago." That should run till around midnight or so. Then on Friday, "Felt" opens up. My stomach is all a'flutter. Come on by and check out "Felt"! It's a small room with about 30 seats so we need the people. Please come by!

END OF LINE

Wednesday
March 13, 2002

There are several things that prevent me from updating this website more often that I would do- time, my mood, lack of anything particularly relevant to discuss. Tonight I shall attempt to post this after the festitivitites at ImprovOlympic and while I'm watching my taped episode of Survivor and Dave. I'm not going to spell check it.

The Jeff Griggs joynt, Felt, opened last weekend. It went very well, I thought. Friday was better than Saturday in my opinion. Saturday night some very nice people from the cast of A Song Time Ago came to see the show. That was very nice of them. Anyway, the show begins and I take my seat in the audience. Just as the scene begins I notice a strange tickle in my throat. It feels like there's a bit of dust or something in there. I begin to cough and it won't go away. Then I kinda begin to panic as the mote threatens to activate my very sensitive gag reflex (how sensitive you ask? You know how sometimes you will hold a pencil in your mouth as you look through some papers? I can't do that.. it makes me gag. Sometimes thermometers make me gag. If someone put a ballgag on me, I would probably vomit into my own mouth and die. Just so you know. So if you manage to render me unconscious and intend to gag me don't use a ball gag or I'll die. Thanks for caring, my sweet, sweet kidnapper. My safe word is "bunny.")

I'm sitting there, in the front row, interacting with the amazing Nickie Vavrik and I think I'm going to throw up any second. In fact I contemplated how to exit the quickest as I looked around to see if anyone in the audience had something to drink that I could steal. Calling upon my years of big brother torture experience, I begin to build up a nice amount of spit in my mouth and I swallow it. That works. By this time we're about a quarter of the way through the show but no the danger seems to be passed. Whew! That was aclose one! Am I glad I didn't vomit! Wouldn't that have been--- what? Oh, shit! I just missed my cue! Aw no! Well, there goes an entire scene. Oh, well. Oh, and Kim Wilson from the Chicago Reader was there. Great.

What the Reader has said about some of my shows:

"Well, I'll come back and re-review (Superhero Society of America) when ImprovOlympic refunds all the money to everyone who saw that terrible show."

"Someone is sure to get a boner."

"...half-assed props...should be a failure, yet somehow feels like a success."

The review comes out tomorrow. We'll see what happens there. It seemed like she was interested, but we'll see. I have no opinion. I've seen Reader reviews that were dead on target, but others that made no sense whatsoever. It don't matter. The show is the show. More importantly, a show is your show and what you make of it. Having fun? Doing good work? People paying to see it? What does it matter what one person in the audience wrote about it? Keep doing your work; let that be your testament.

There are these candies that come in wrappers that have proverbs from the Bible printed on them. I saw them once and I stupidly did not but them all. The name? "Testa-Mints"

I'm no longer the coach for the team Metropolis. There were some problems with personal style, but they're getting a new coach and I'm sure they'll be better off with him/her. I'll miss them as I do really like them all, but at least now nothing will interfere with my D&D game. I'm really good at in-character patter; "Attacking us in our sleep, eh? Let's see how you like it!" said I, casting a successful sleep spell.

Let's see. Still playing D&D? Check. Still buying comics? Check. Still doing wacky pop-culture musicals? Check. Eating too much junk food? Check. Still obsessed with TV? Check. Still asking out girls who want nothing to do with you? Check. Well, good. Nothing like not changing in 15 years. Sometimes I want to get hooked on coke or the Horse or something just so I can into rehab. Then everything will be better.

Loving my new life with the Pat Shay Dancers. My hiatus was good and coming back in time for Craig Cackowski coaching is great. He's been giving us smart, constructive, long-term notes. Our first rehearsal was wonderful. Really a lot of fun and educational as well. I'm so glad he's our coach. I feel like Clark and Lex on Smallville.

11:58pm

Just got back from ImprovOlympic. What a great night for improv in general, really. Carl and the Passions had a great show based on the suggestion of "dragonboat". I love it when teams create, physically, an object. Boats, cars, trains, spaceships.. love it. The C&P started with a giant dragonboat and ended with one. Cool. I was the host for the festivities tonight. I spoke with Preponderate before the show began. They wanted to do a sports arena type entrance with TJ Jagodowski introducing them on a microphone. John Abbott helped me set up a mike. So, of course, we didn't use it. Great intros. My favorite? "She's got eyes like a bush-baby... Jill Benjamin!" The show was a great on and ran for an astounding 53 minutes! Were all the scenes homeruns? Probably not, but the show as a whole was great. Amazing breadth of callbacks and return of characters. Terrific stuff. The penultimate Preponderate show on last Sunday was dynamite as well. Great for them to go out at the top of their game. They're all so busy with so many projects we'll be seeing lots of them around Chicago and elsewhere really soon.

After the more-than-capacity crowd left, another full house was created for what I called the "Ski Tour"; a two-man show with TJ Jagodowski and fellow Carl and the Passioner, Craig Cackowski. That show went almost 45 minutes and only had, on-stage, four characters. A wonderful show so realistically played by two master improvisers. A joy to watch. Honest. TJ surprised me afterwards by announcing that next weeks show would be with Jimmy Carrane. Jimmy is the teacher that taught all the other teachers. He's the man who directed the pivotal Jazz Freddy show. Plus, he's crazy and amazingly talented. So much for sleep on Wednesday nights.

It surprises me that all these morons on Survivor apparently DID NOT WATCH THE PREVIOUS SURVIVORS!! You are all morons! Argh. By the way, March 14th is the birthday of Selina Kyle, according to the ol' DC Comics calendar.

END OF LINE

"Beware the fury of a patient man."- John Dryden

"Sarcasm makes all girls fat." - Rich Sohn

"Make one mistake and you're a pirate." - Dan Sipp, on the complexities of time-travel.

March 25, 2002

I recently read a preview copy of Rob Kozlowski's "The Art of Chicago Improv: Shortcuts to Long-form Improvisation." It's an excellent book. Though the title is misleading; it seems as if it's going to be an instructional book, and while it does contain several definitions of different long-form styles, it's actual intent is to tell the story of Chicago improvisation. It's begins with the University of Chicago and what a buncha kids there began and some 40+ years later the book closes with a look at what a Chicago improviser's day might look like. Very accurate, I was especially pleased with the objective and journalistic approach. The exact opposite of another recent improv book called "Whose Improv Is It Anyway?" That book is an "alternate" history of the evolution of Chicago Improv from the minority (re: female, minority) pov which, in my opinion, is a difficult thing to do since there hasn't been a history of improv to be alternative to!

My emotions are not my own of late. I've been quicker to anger and sadden while joy and happiness were constantly eluding my grasp. This happens from time to time, but this lasted longer than other "blue periods."

Why do I mention this? Both have made me introspective and I've been remembering what scenes and shows that make it all worthwhile. I'm going to share some with you, if I may. Click to another site now if you wish. Some of my recollections may be hazy and some were memorable only to me, but here they are:

- the very first Second City I ever saw was Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been Mellow? Without checking any references, I think the cast included Scott Allman, Jackie Hoffman, Steve Carrell, Dave Razowsky, Fran Adams and Steve Colbert (who left and was replaced with the amazing Jon Glaser. How do I remember that? I saw that show about 5 times before I even moved to Chicago.) I was visiting just about every other weekend and watching the SC shows. It was astounding. John Mulhern was constantly after me to move here but watching the improv sets and show convinced me that there was no way I could ever do that. The first act of Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been Mellow? Ended with an improvised song, which in my mind, has never been matched for it's intensity and sheer quickness.

- The seemingly order-out-of-chaos that was ImprovOlympic 6 years ago. The teams Frank Booth, Faulty Wiring, The Tribe and Lost Yetis were the big kids on the block back then. I remember one show by Frank Booth where the entire team would walk through a door and each say/represent something from (first) a different decade, and I think, the last game of that was each member being something or someone from team member Kevin Mullaney's life. Frank Booth and Lost Yetis always were a joy to watch because they knew each other so well. It was a bunch of friends, who would be hanging out anyway, on stage. Teams are slicker, more professional now, but that intimacy is more rare as well.

- From the Armando show.. Laura Krafft remains to me, the greatest monologist that show has ever seen. While her monologues, perhaps, not the funniest or most revealing, they were so amazingly well-crafted pieces of improvised literature. She would begin with an opening statement, continue on to speak on a seemingly tangential topic but then bring it all together and have a concluding paragraph. She was terrific. I'm speaking of her like she's dead- she's at IO LA teaching and performing.

- My favorite scene from Armando, exemplifies everything that Del wanted from improvisation. It was Craig Cackowski and Stephnie Weir. She was a hooker and he was a schoolboy. He had either saved up his money to go to her or was using his birthday money. He said that he was 15. Her response: Oh, me too! The rest of that scene was alternatively hilarious and sad as the two contrasting lifepaths were revealed. Powerful, wonderful creations from two of my favorite improvisers.

- The second show of the first run of Dinner for Six at ImprovOlympic. Charna and Susan Messing rounded out the audience of 8 people. The show was on Thursday nights at 8, I think... I don't remember to tell the truth. Anyway, I had saved up a lil nest egg of money to pay for the rent since there was NO WAY IN HELL we were going to make any money. After the show, Charna and Susan (who, at the time I barely knew) came up to me and we spoke. Susan said, "You should be taping these and writing it all down. It'd make a great play." And then Charna said, "Forget about the rent. This show is really good." And this was when IO was not as, let's say, solvent as it is now.

- I think the team was called Mo Green at the time. There were four of us there, plus the new gal who was added to us mid-schedule. She's sitting at the bar smoking. We tell her that we're going to go out back and warm up. She tells us that she doesn't warm-up. We do what remains to me THE WORST SHOW EVER. The suggestion was something terrible for us ... like Federal deficit or something and it just went downhill from there.

- Pantshappy Mark 1. Three men, 1 scene, 1 hour. We do a scene with me as a divorced dad, and Pat and John as my kids. Full awkwardness and estrangement, this show remains my personal performance favorite. This is the closest I've come to doing what I want to do with improvisation all the time.

- The Second City etc production of .. Fuck! I can't remember the title!!! But I remember that the audience filled out forms as if they were applying for cable or something and the cast used them in a song later. Also the video monitors were really used throughout the show. I was working a lot at SC at the time and the cast was just so nice and fun and the show so damn smart and hilarious. Neil Flynn, Brian Stack, Jim Zulevic, Miriam Tolan, Dee Ryan, Laura Krafft? that's off the top of my head... great show. I think that show may have had the Cancer song as well. Still a favorite.

- I don't the team's name, but there were only five guys on stage. I remember Miles and rob Mello were in there. But the suggestion was something like Northwestern. The very first thing said was "Someone on this stage is a teacher at Northwestern. I'm not going to tell you who, but by the end of the show you'll know." And that was the show.. every scene had this weird subtext of someone who is secretly a teacher.

- Every single show of Piñata Full of Bees taught me something. It was a Second City Mainstage show. If you didn't see it you probably heard about it. Borrow someone's illicit copy of the script or videotape. It's worth it. Every sketch show read this before doing their show. Extensive blackouts are no longer viable. There I said it.

- The etc cast was working on a scene called napalm. It was about some kids who make some napalm and they try it out on the loser kid at school. They napalm him. Jerry Minor is on the stage thrashing about and screaming. Really screaming. The audience is in stunned silence. Me, and the wait staff, we're laughing our heads off. Finally Neil Flynn comes in as Jerry's father ("My boy! My boy is on fire!") and attempts to put out the flames. Of course, that's not how napalm (the scene and the substance) works- Neil ends up thrashing on the floor and screaming as well. Really screaming. I don't really remember much else besides laughing my fool head off except for Brian Stack talking to some kids (the ones who napalmed Jerry) about creating napalm. "I asked my boss what good is fire if it won't stick to your skin?"

- Any Pat Shay Dancers show where the words are guided missiles. Sometimes someone (usually Rich, Pat, or Angela) will say something that is received in silence and I swear I can see the ripple effect on the audience. The realization that the last line they just heard is a hilarious play one words or a triple entendre. It's a slow, cool effect which is amazing to witness. You can see people contemplating the words, hearing it again in their head.. and then laughing. So great. (yes, I'm prejudiced. Sue me.)

- A scene from Second City TourCo. Horatio Sanz. Craig Cackowski, Shulie Cowen, John Farley, Rebecca Sohn... argh, I don't remember who else. A Scene Called The Roast. Mostly improvised. I remember one home show where Raj's bit (just his! Not the rest of the scene!) was almost 15 minutes long. The entire room, packed, almost had a communal pee-in-your-pants-moment. Goddamn that was some funny-ass shit.

- TO BE CONTINUED SOON...

"Well, we had some scenes with a great 'who', but no 'where', and some with a great 'where' but no 'who."- Craig Cackowski

PAT SHAY: You came here to get your stuff, right?

NICKY MARGOLIS: Maybe I came to get my stuff right.

Book of Jason!

click here for the Latest Entry!

March 6, 2002

END OF LINE

Book of Jason!

*click here for the Latest Entry!*

March 6, 2002

END OF LINE

click here for the Latest Entry!