this place

If you haven't been to this place yet, what the hell are you waiting for? We've got the Curious Comedy Covers show this weekend and next weekend and the Portland Neutrino Project each weekend in August. There is no reason you should be looking for comedy anywhere else.

I'm not sure

Have you seen how sweet this little guy is? I know, it's been a while - so you might as well take in a little reminder of how goddamn cute Arlo is. Seriously, it doesn't get much cuter than this dumb little mutt. (he also poses for glamour shots)

New Shows startin' up

Two big things started this week at the theater, 1) we are preparing the cast for the Summer 2010 Portland Neutrino Project. We have started the rehearsals for next month's Neutrino Project. With a cast of 16, I have six of them as returning participants - so TEN BRAND NEW PEOPLE who have never seen a Neutrino Project before. That makes it tough, but the rehearsals are fun. We're streamlining the format in an effort to make a better movie. I think it's going to work. You should check it out every Friday and Saturday in August at 8pm.

Escape Velocity from Curious Comedy on Vimeo.

2) We have begun rehearsals for our next full sketch show. It will open in October and have an experimental format. Right now we're still working it out, but we're looking at doing a certain number of scenes in a specific amount of time in random order. We will have areal artists and a musical director, performer/writers and just writers. So, a lot of people will be working on this show that, as of right now - has no specific format other than "Variety Show". It's going to be crazy fun. The cast is awesome.

stop doing terrible improv

Please,
If you are a college improv group and you're having fun doing short form improv and being really jokey and hilarious, do me a favor and stop. Learn about what you're doing.
If you ever are on stage and you say a line and then look out to the audience for approval - stop performing. Stop doing improv and stop performing all together. You are doing it for all the wrong reasons. You are an asshole and you shouldn't be on stage.
It makes me angry. Sorry for my tirade.

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!