All Work and No Play

Don't be dull monks.





Happy Thanksgiving.

PS The older generation can try to explain how this masterpiece came to be.

Za Trivia, Part I

From the Delacroix-like rendering of Za history as sweeping pageant to the Pointillism of trivia, I ask the following:

Realm: Za's Early Days

Sub-realm: The swordplay of wordplay

Question: Famed American President/Williams alumnus James Garfield once memorably phrased his ideal of education being "Mark Hopkins on one end of a log and a student on the other". Famed Combo Za President/Williams Alumnus Dave Allen once memorably rephrased that ideal to describe a vexing development in Za's performance schedule. For five points, what was the rephrasing and, for an additional five points, what was the development? (Comments on that development, which I'm sure were not limited to Dave's tenure, will be accepted once it is duly revealed).

Best of Basement Tapes

Basement Tapes were always my favorite show -- probably because I was better at writing skits than performing improv. Lots of people have invoked their favorite moments (such as Vomit Clowns and Nursery School for the Really Gifted and Senior Guilt Trip and Evil Avenger). So try to describe your favorite Basement Tapes moments in sufficient detail that old folks like me will know what you are talking about.

Bringing back the love

The following poster from spring 1997 seemed appropriate:



Rich Leimsider and I teamed up on this poster (my roomie for this year). Unlike me, Rich knew how to use the internet and found a picture of Telly Savalas. Second semester of my senior year and Rich opened up whole new worlds for me.

Everything Steve says goes on the blog II

"You're going to delete that post, right?"

"Take down that post."

"And you wonder why we don't talk more often."

An Appreciation

I just wanted to acknowledge the presence on the blog of Ms. Betsy Spear, who must have been one of the best sports in Za history. I think it can be said, at least in the last two years of my tenure, that Betsy also had some trouble integrating herself into the comedic and social aspects of the group. But man did she hang in there, even when we were relentlessly making fun of her eating habits, or lack thereof. And now here she is again amongst us aging dorks. Salut!

Everything Steve says goes on the blog

In my continuing effort to make Steven Ehrenberg self-conscious and resent me, I offer the following words "Don't fuck up my post, Dave."

More to come, if Steve ever speaks to me again.

History of Za, Part IV

In his controversial comment on the other Betsy, J-Ice made the following statement about his conflicts regarding his handling of the problematic (but, as this very project has itself shown, not at all uncommon throughout Za's history to date) group dynamic during his senior year:

"What I'm even less proud of is how it didn't take me long to get over my justified anger and rejoice with the rest of the group once she was gone, for we flourished in a way we hadn't since 1991-1992. We were truly a Comedy Viking Army once again. Houses were packed. Student organizations started throwing money at us. I broke a good egg named Betsy, and Za made one hell of an omelette. It was a defining moment for me, and a bittersweet one."

Aside from his, to me, shocking remark about student organizations throwing money at the Za, which would draw a crowd long after nudity and sex had lost their appeal as far as I'm concerned, it gets to the heart of what I intended for this history, something that I imagine the current and future generations of Za could find useful long after we're out of the picture. It takes an incident, unimportant in itself, and shows us, in its complexity and, in this case, painful humanity, how it fits into the larger picture of what made Za what it is and hence, what would be over if the group were no longer to exist. I made a comment on the controversy that's come up around it on the original "Sense of Where you Za" post, as per Keith Faigin's suggestion to address questions about the history itself in the original post, so will just take Ice's lead and continue with a fairly classic historical perspective and ask: What were the most pivotal moments in Za history to date? And to celebrate this question's provenance, I'll start this off in the first comment with what I'm sure will be a factually inaccurate, but nonetheless morally accomplished combination of anecdote and personal memoir about something that happened just before we took the stage in the first Basement Tapes that I think was, in a way that's illustrative of the time in which it happened (the '91-'92 Za Ice refers to), a decisive moment in Za history.