Calling Mach I
Hey, can whoever was at the '90-'91 first-line-a-thon recreate on this thread for me the story of Randy's extremely long first line that involved a talking tiki-head prop making a phone call or something like that? I remember it being truly legendary and am jonesin' to reacquiant myself with all the details. Thanks, Toby
posted by Toby Miller at 12/14/2004 03:56:00 PM
3 Comments:
Steve Ehrenberg had a similar moment in a show where his hand developed another character. I believe it was in Stetson Court. I can't remember who sought out a man with two heads, but Steve was the next one out. His interaction with his other head was definitely better than our interactions with the other characters on stage more generally. Definitely one of Steve's Oscar Winning moment.
Damn, that was close... I very nearly had an out-of-screenname experience... just by chance I noticed that the radio button was checked for "Posting as: Godmother"! I'm sure that would have thrown everyone for a loop.
Welcome, Pavel! What a joy to have you aboard. Any thoughts of reuniting in the material world as well, or will we be seeing you only in the BlogSphere?
Anyway, Steve was largely correct. The prop was a gargoyle statuette, an ugly little thing with folded wings perched on a little block of stone. The size and the contours were just about right for a cordless phone, with the block of stone as the mouthpiece.
Ragin' and myself were in the bit. The initial premise (I'm not sure whose) was that two wizards were having a phone conversation, with the statuette serving as a sort of gothically styled telephone for one of them (me). The idea then evolved- I would speak into the gargoyle-phone, and the gargoyle-phone would then have to fly over to the other wizard and relay my message. Along the way, the gargoyle (voiced by me, in a high-pitched, whiny, largely manneristic attempt at ventriloquism) expressed some angst and concern about garbling the message.
A brilliant turn: when the little guy mad it over to Keith, he reeled off an outgoing answering machine message. The gargoyle hesitated, and delivered the line Pavel quoted. The next brilliant turn- Keith cut the poor little bugger off midstammer with a BEEEEEP.
I think that may have been Keith's only involvement. The gargoyle was absolutely shattered (figuratively), and launched into an exhaustive monologue, exposing its deepest fears, sharing its secret dreams, revealing an astounding depth of character and range of emotion. An Oscar-winning monologue, delivered by THE PROP, while Keith and I stood idly by... trumping the time honored trope of Two Guys Standing Around Talking with the new gold standard of skit breakdown: Two Guys Standing Around NOT Talking.
Pavel captured the moment perfectly- the rest of the group (including Keith) went into spectators-at-a-train-wreck mode, transfixed by the horror of what was going on but unable to end it by clapping in. It went on a LONG time- and only 'Thon vets can understand just what LONG means in that context!
Wow -- was there anyone in the audience? How did they react? At what point in the 'thon was it? How long had you been working with that prop? What clap in did finally end it?
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