New Show in July

Coming in July we'll be doing a covers show at the theater. It's an idea Stacey had a while ago. We asked our cast to learn a stand up set from their favorite comedians and to put their own modern spin on it. It's the Curious Comedy Covers show. You can see Stacey pay tribute to Bob Newhart and I'll be doing some Emo Philips jokes. It should be fun. We'll be doing it every weekend in July!

Moratorium

I have been watching a lot of sketch/stand up/short film/live comedy lately and I've noticed a few things that get over-used and are no longer funny. Some of them I'm not sure ever were funny, so I thought I'd make a list of things for people to reference when writing or performing comedy. I want people to know what things they can avoid simply because it's not worth anyone's time. These situations/topics have been milked of all their comedic value and are not worth using.

1. The Patient / Psychiatrist Scenario.
How many goddamn movies/books/scenes have we seen a patient sitting on a couch forwarding a plot by slowly revealing bullshit story lines to his psychiatrist? Too many. It is no longer a worthy plot tool. Don't do it. It has been done. Try something new.

2. Pot Humor.
Good lord. How many movies did Cheech & Chong make in the 80's? Twenty? Has pot humor ever been funnier than the first time you saw it? No. Has pot humor changed at all since the first time you saw it? No. Pot makes people slow and/or lazy. People that smoke pot don't react quickly. People that smoke pot get hungry and are not as smart as everyone else. We get it. Stop Doing It. It's not funny.

3. Religion is CrAzY!?!
Everyone who believes in any certain religion sure is different than people who don't believe in any religion at all. Am I right? Who cares? Move on. You pointing out that people who have a certain religious belief is boring. I get it. People believe in things based solely on faith is weird. Hey, I think that too. Stop 'preaching to the choir' (ha ha...ugh.) You're not changing anyone's opinion and it's no longer funny. I just stopped listening to myself.

4. Hipsters sure are jerks.
It's true. We know. Big deal.

5. People from the south like guns and trucks.
Yes. And airplane food tastes funny. What's your point?

6. I call my scene partner "Sis" or "Uncle" to better establish our relationship.
This isn't used to make things funny (always) but it is over-used in poorly written short films and improv scenes and I want it to stop. People don't talk that way in real life, why make your movies or scenes worse by cheapening the dialogue? Stop it.

Feel free to add to this list.

making Portland more home-like

Guess what we found in Portland just this week?
A Jimmy John's!!! Delicious, rapidly prepared fresh subs - Originated in my college-town of Charleston Illinois has made its way to Portland and I am happy. I've gone there twice in 4 days. I may have a problem. PS - congrats to the Blackhawks for a Stanley Cup win.
Over the weekend we had visiting guests at the theater. Julia and Mark from Chicago brought some crazy, chicago-improv energy to the stage and we had one heck of a fun show. Thanks to a great crowd and great friends!

Arlo is 4 years old

this little mutt turned 4 on June 6th. Happy Birthday to the best, most spoiled little dope you will ever meet.

birthday recap

Not a lot of it was digitally captured, but I had a great week long birthday celebration.
It began with a quest for a new bicycle helmet on Wednesday. Stacey tried to surprise me and took me to 5 different bike shops in Portland. We eventually found out that what I'm looking for doesn't exist (or at least, wouldn't be obtainable that day - a matte brown skate helmet), so we decided to give up. We walked to the bike shop near our new house to make a donation (Stacey's 15 year old bike) and it turns out - they had a great helmet there for cheaper than any of the other places we went. We Win! When we finally got home there was a letter in the mailbox addressed to me from Chicago. Stacey got me a cat from our friend Steve who wants to draw a cat for you.

Stacey then took me out to our favorite and tastiest eatery for a wonderful birthday dinner. Thank you Stacey and thank you Veritable Quandary. We ended the night teaching Level 2 improv class at the theater to a great collection of students!
Thursday was a great show at Mississippi Studios featuring SUCKERS and LOCAL NATIVES. My friend Alex bought me a ticket for my birthday and she, Stacey and myself saw an incredibly tight set by Local Natives. It is obvious to me that they have been touring this album for over a year, but it sounded amazing. See them if they come to your town. Along with the ticket, Alex also got me this boss coffee traveler. Thanks Alex!
On Friday, my friends Allegra and Kristian (who both live in Brooklyn now) had a wedding reception at the theater. It was woodland creature themed and the theater looked awesome. Even in the day! - So it was nice to be at the theater on a Friday night at a party for two great people and not have to do too much work. It was a wonderful wedding reception. Thanks for including us in your plans Legs and Kristian!
Saturday saw our good friend from Seattle, Joel (who's birthday was on the 28th) come to town and we asked him to play in our show. It's always fun to play with Joel. He's a great improvisor and a great person to be around. I can't believe I didn't piece it together as the evening progressed, but throughout the night many friends of mine kept showing up during the show/at intermission. I didn't know why... I guess I was focused on the show - we had a sold out crowd, so I wanted to make sure everything went well. Turns out, Stacey had organized a surprise party for me. I had no idea and it was a perfect way to see all (at least MOST) my Portland friends together for my birthday.
Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate with me. I appreciate all the birthday wishes from my friends everywhere. I really needed it after a stressful couple of weeks. Things are really wonderful and I'm in a great place thanks to everyone around me!