Semi-live show blogging
Okay, picked out the Brooks-Rogers show from Winter Study of 1997 because I have no recollection of it. I'll do it in the comment section. Maybe I will do another show afterwards.
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UPDATE: I included another show in the comments. The Great Spam Hunt from November 1993.
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UPDATE 2: Yet another show posted. Magary's and Sadru's first show, November 1, 1996. Highlight of the show is Jeff McMahon's bad man speech, but the whole show is solid.
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UPDATE 3: Probably the final show that I will post, but we'll see how much work I get done over the next few days. Brooks Rogers, January 1996. It might be the final show for Heather and Fred. Still in the first year for Kravis, Emily, Jeff, and David Taylor -- so they aren't at their sharpest. Felipe and Peter were gone. Steve was about to check out. Perhaps the group at its least functional.
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UPDATE: I included another show in the comments. The Great Spam Hunt from November 1993.
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UPDATE 2: Yet another show posted. Magary's and Sadru's first show, November 1, 1996. Highlight of the show is Jeff McMahon's bad man speech, but the whole show is solid.
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UPDATE 3: Probably the final show that I will post, but we'll see how much work I get done over the next few days. Brooks Rogers, January 1996. It might be the final show for Heather and Fred. Still in the first year for Kravis, Emily, Jeff, and David Taylor -- so they aren't at their sharpest. Felipe and Peter were gone. Steve was about to check out. Perhaps the group at its least functional.
posted by (d)avid at 1/11/2005 11:09:00 PM
14 Comments:
Okay, hey, the sound quality is pretty good I can hear almost everything clearly.
Opening is Singled Out. I'm wearing an ugly plaid jacket, but look good in it despite all expectations. Could be my awesome haircut. Damn, I look good. Whatever happened to that randy young man? Jeepers. I was wearing contacts, too. I wonder when I started wearing contacts for shows.
Emily Christiansen is the bachelorette. Our bachelors are dancing. Rich Leimsider is the most frightening Jenny McCarthy you have ever seen. First dividing line: Ugly or Stupid. An angry John Magary stomps off after Emily Christiansen chooses stupid. Second dividing line: Jimmy Carter (Truthful) or O.J. (Liar). Um ... the OJ joke didn't go over well, but the fact that no liars walked off stage got a big laugh. The laughs got even bigger as Felipe walked off. Third dividing line: Introverted Mommas boys or Testesterone Monkeys. Jeff McMahon and Steve are extremely disturbing as lewd testesterone monkeys. Fourth dividing line: Hands or stumps. One of my favorite, Pete lines, "A MAN DON'T NEED NO HANDS TO PLEASE A WOMAN!" Only two people left, Sadru and Jon Kravis (inside joke was that Jon and Emily were dating). Lightning round: Leather or lace? Missionary or Mercenary? Hannakhah or Rammadan? Falkland Islands or Grenada? Sadru is hilarious as he hops around and practically buries his head in Emily's belly. The prize? A discounted trip to Wy-O-Ming, where you can enjoy horseback riding and the comedic stylings of ... Combination Pizza!
General impressions, we got everyone involved. The audience knew what to expect, so they could focus on jokes more than structure or plot. A solid B.
Oooh, introductions. Rich and Felipe just came back, so I introduce them to the crowd. Good times.
First Line prop is a book. We really should have learned to plant props with the audience. A bunch of good jokes though. Hmm ... menu, bad special effects UFOs,. best joke Emily Christiansen, "We're going to play I'm a town you're a town. I'll put this roof on your head and you're a house." Followed up by bio-degradable yarmuckle, elective surgeryto look like Silverstein's Light in the Attic, and lice can't read. And we're out! Quick hitting. No duds.
Jeff McChan! Hostages are dancing with terrorists in Peru. Jeff comes in to beat up terrorists. Hostages thank Jeff and continue to dance.
Madlibs with me and Sadru. Sadru gets a big cheer, as well he should. Wow, I'm really good at fronting. Where did that self-confidence stem from? I'm clear, personable, and telling jokes. A far cry from those earlier tapes I was watching my freshman year. We're at a taxadermist and Sadru wants to know what part of my body I want stuffed. Nope, it's my armadillo. Sadru, "My that's a ___BIG_____ armadillo." The audience was giving lame suggestions. Still, the audience was laughing.
Tackle Me Elmo!! Flying bodies!
Steve and Peter in Altered States. Peter is hirsute. Steve comes out and asks, "So, what was it?" Steve is getting big laughs. His sense of the absurd really worked in guessing skits. Rich tried to clap in, but they aren't giving him a chance. Wow, Steve is cracking them up. Ain't hard when you are a coronorer in Alaska.
Jeff McChan fighst Proposition 209! Felipe is dressed up in paper. Geez, this is stupid. We turned off the lights before it finished.
Uh oh, Bodies with Magary and Emily. Wow, cute audience members moving the bodies. Fairly creative. The audience members are making John and Emily do performance art type stuff. Suggestion was lame, they are showering. Um ... John is upset about the shower and the positions. John is generally upset. The audience likes this skit even though nothing funny happens. Emily and John just make exclamations about their new positions. Hell, the audience is laughing, so they are doing something right. Relax, baby, it's bodies.
Suckle Me Elmo. Alexandra says it is disturbing. The audience is both cheering and boo-ing. Ah, the hoi polloi.
Roshomon. Felipe is Solomon. Peter, Jon, and I are having an argument about where to sit in the movie theater. Felipe was cute with hair, shame the military doesn't know that. For a national moot court champion, Jon is pretty funny. Peter said "Salmon" and no one laughed. Peter is a 15 year old girl on a date. Um ... no laughs. Too slow. This skit just takes too long. Need to flip it on 45. Biggest laugh so far was Peter pretending to make out with an imaginary person. Jon Kravis is up talking about being an usher and I see that he is destined for the Supreme Court. Bad skit. D-.
The OCC in the Third World. Jon Kravis wants to be an I-banker, but all we have are openings in sweat shops and the foreman from the banana farm will stop by later. Not that funny but it was short.
Concussion with Jeff and Steve. Baptism is a good suggestion. Jeff is the baby and the Priest. Steve is both parents AND THE VOICE OF GOD. They introduced Jimmy the Janitor (Jeff), JIMMY IS SATAN. Jimmy, go mop the floor. Okay. Solid. `It did a decent job of getting some energy back into the room after Roshomon killed it. Alexandra was very impressed that Jeff managed to get in the way of Steve's punch from across the room. Steve starts a fight with two of Jeff's characters. Well done, Steve and Jeff.
Jeff McChan takes on small pox. He is beating up Rich for no apparent reason (perhas he has small pox?). "I'm broken." "I don't care."
Film strip narrated by Rich about Breeding Chiuaha's. I recall Rich being really good at this. Every bit of Rich's narration has received a laugh. Well done, Tron. The scene was short as well.
Combo Za Mail bag. Something we tried once, I series of self-referential one-liners. Emily's idea. Steve makes a dictionary joke. Peter makes a crystal meth joke. Felipe is on stage and talking about Proposition of 209, Rich was beheading monsters. We have only one woman in the group because all the great groups in history had one woman. How many members of Combo Za does it take to screw in a lightbulb? We take drugs to let us see in the dark. Sadru: "The Walls are bleeding."
Segue to Don Rickle Me Elmo. Audience laughed a lot more than I remembered. The audience was initially confused and offended, but understood the joke (we announced the product after the insults).
Voices: Jeff and Sadru and talking for me and Rich. It is a bank robbery. A great suggestion. Lots of activity and random things to pick up and pass around. Pretty quick. Pretty funny. All four of us are working well together.
Gut Class hosted by Steven Ehrenberg. A class on Pork Rinds. The Jew had no idea what the audience member was saying. Felipe's the first essayist. Steve drew up a pork rind that looks like a C. And the C in pork rind stands for Carnage. And another C is important, Morrissey. Meat is murder. Well done, Felipe. Innards and outtards of the pig. Emily is supposed to talk about the theory of pork rinds. She's the least convining art student ever. Steve looks a lot like Mark Rheinhardt. SWINE, WINES (that will kill you the same way), INE -- now that could mean anything. I think we just witnessed the first instance of to recap. Not terribly funny, but short and had its moments.
Jeff McChan verses Elmo. Jeff is fighting with Elmo on stage. Oh, he fell off the stage! It ends with, "Oh, I can't stay mad at you."
60-30-15-5-1: Felipe, Kravis, and Magary. Received the suggestion of wheelchair basketball and decided against it opting for a hijacking. Definitely pre-9/11. Magary is a passenger that needs to get in the toilet. Kravis is the attendant, and Felipe is an inept terrorist. Every one of them is mad and yelling. It ends with John getting Felipe to shoot himself. What is our obsession with Peru? Was this topical at that point. Lots of yelling. People need to say less. Tupac! Okay. I vaguely remember the crisis now. They are doing a great job of distilling it down. Tupac Lives! is the last line. I liked it when they weren't talking over one another.
Ending with Dysfunctional Family. Wow, this guy has old parents. 60 and 65 with a 14 year old brother. Jeepers. Emily, Kravis, Me, and Felipe. What a functional family. The audience loves this and Kravis is awesome playing a 65 year old. He'll make a great crusty old guy. Emily is good at this skit, too.
And that was it. We ended it without the pain and humiliation that was/is Limerick. The audience ended cheering and laughing.
So aside from a competent, but not too funny and waay too long Roshomon, this was an extremely solid show. And the interspersed skits worked pretty well.
It does make me worry about the reunion. There is no way I will be that at ease on stage. Nor will I be that cute. Good thing I am married. And a good thing that all these funny people are coming back to cover up for me. Seriously folks, when Jeff had the book on his head, I looked at it and said to myself, it is the estimation of Jeff (Jeff^hat) instead of the actual Jeff. Argh! Stats jokes! Beware! BEEEWAAARRRE! I better think of some good pop culture references to throw in before the show.
Jeff McChan? It seems really strange to me now that I apparently did so much physical comedy. I am far from being coordinated or graceful. I think I was just willing to fall down and not afraid of hurting myself. With my new bionic leg will I still behave the same way?
Not sure I would describe you as graceful, Jeff, but you were definitely adept at physical comedy. Your drag out fight with Elmo was awe inspiring and your "tantalizing" dance for Emily was disturbing. But it probably wasn't as strong as your vocal humor.
Reading through my description, I see that I neglected to mention that Peter Rubin was the author beginning with SWINE, WINE, INE. Hence, the origin of recap.
To recap: I screwed up. Sincerest apologies.
Brooks Rogers, November 1993
Spam hunt! Spam escapes from local Stop and Shop. Jason plays a Tom Lee Jones type character. Sean, Betsy and I set up a roadblock that spam busts through. The audience seems to like it every spam is thrown across the stage. Busts through a Williamstown Council meeting (just after the old guy hit a student). Heather makes out with a can of Spam. Spam spurns her. When Jason comes, Heather grabs his gun and leads the charge. Goose is a drug dealer that Spam hooks up with -- vaguely offensive accent, but good joke to go with the fake id ("remember, from now on, you're Velveeta."). Why did spam break out of jail? It wasn't for love, it wasn't for money, it wasn't for drugs, he wanted to see ... "Combination Pizza!"
Pretty good opening. Everyone had a role, there was a lot of energy, and a can of spam was being slid across the stage at high speeds.
My hair is a bowl cut. Lots of jeans and t-shirts. Goose seems to be wearing his comics t-shirt. Betsy is wearing a shirt that looks like the Italian flag. I like that her hair looks like Peter Frampton's. Goose has a nice pseudo-bouffant.
Two good props came up. Shame to waste one of them, but we selected the sieve. Well, the fencing mask was the second joke. Goose makes it a spittoon for his chaw stapled to his chin. Steve makes a joke I can't understand (it sounds wandering algae). Heather makes a weird viking hat joke. Goose amkes it into a magnifying glass: Steve's response, "It has become warped." Betsy makes an awesome human fly joke -- the experiment was only a partial failure. Jason dubs Steve sir shrimpy. Heather is melting. Sean's yarmuckle was screwed up again, getting big laughs. Steve is making bubbles. Goose has a cod piece for his rock band. I am complaining about the position of my dialysis fliter. Betsy has the latest in contraceptives, which had a great moment. You could hear the audience hesitantly groan when she made the joke and cheer when Goose clapped in quickly. After a moment to think of something, Goose hands Jason a speciman cup. Sean is pirate strainer. This is goiing on a long time. The laughs are fairly consistent, so I suppose it is a good thing. Keep the audience happy. Jason, Sean, and Goose are carrying the load. Jason interupts the pirates to strain the surface of the moon. Betsy has a broken microphone. Uh oh, there is a lot of silence and time between jokes. Steve: "Time for the hoop fleas. ... NO! You can't get through!" Thankfully, a big joke to end the segment.
Dave is fronting Altered States poorly. I really like his hair, though. Actually, he's pretty cute in general. Dave has to fish a LONG time to get astronaut after a series of weird jobs. Jason grabs Timbuktu. Goose has a great entrance walking like he is on the moon behind Jason. Jason isn't giving Goose much to work with: "I'm afraid there isn't much to do around here, so let's get to it." Goose is managing tobe funny and give Jason good clues. The skit has descended into two guys talking. Wow, they have descended into 20 questions. Goose is doing a great job, but Jason isn't get it. Meanwhile, all Goose knows is that a band is named after the town and it isn't Boston. "I like Rock N' Roll." "Me, too." At least Jason didn't say "no." Why is noone clapping in? Jason is now reduced to doing his own clap in clue. Very good. The audience is enjoying Jason's "sounds like" contortions. Betsy came in to do a clap in: Rim-Fuck-Two. Goose is glad the location isn't quite as far as Guam or East Jabib. East Jabib got a good laugh. This skit is taking a LOOONG time. Steve comes in with a second clap in clue -- JFK was the guy that CASTRO FOUGHT. Goose: "Let's go do what I do and listen to Timbuk 3" Jason: "In this place, we like to call 'One Less than Timbuk 3'" Goose looks embarassed, but it was a great line.
Heather and Betsy walk out to do Madlibs. They are both short and they will be sheering sheep. Heather is allergic to the sheep. Betsy is massaging the sheep a lot. She seems to be getting into it. The audience is laughing at the suggestions more than the actions on stage. I guess that is par for the course with Madlibs. Betsy is now licking the sheep. The scene would be two people standing around talking, except for Betsy's efforts. Neither one of these two has looked out at the audience yet. The scene is going on a long time, but Betsy and Heather are getting better as they go along, so I guess it evens out. The audience is throwing out gross suggestions, Heather is cringing and Betsy is seizing them. Sometimes funny, sometimes cringe worthy, almost always makes Heather visibly flinch. Last suggestion was proctology.
Jason is Solomon for Steve, Heather, and I. I can't hear the suggestion, we really need to repeat the suggestion loudly. The suggestion appears to be a frog in a swamp who ate a lilly pad. I own the swamp and the audience seems to like inbreeding jokes. I'm still going on about lilly pad. We're all talking over each other. Roshomon, seems to be a flawed skit. It is LONG and the jokes are not guaranteed or consistent. Sure it can be great and it is fun to do, but it sure hasn't stood out in the two shows I have watched. Oops. Heather is explaining how we teamed up to get her. Good, we're ignoring her. I'm telling Steve that if he wants to get high, he needs to lick frogs after they eat the magic lilly pad. It is kind of disturbing watching me pimp out Heather to a lecherous Steven. Jason puts a stop to it. Steve's monologue is getting good laughs. It is all in the delivery. Heather is my watch frog. Heather just jumped Steve. "I'm afraid you're going to slowly die, because she's poisoned." Heather and I came up with a couple of good ways to torture Steve. Jason breaks in with, "Okay, I get the point." Steve wins. The audience usually does a pretty good job of rewarding the funniest person. Solid, but man is it long.
Stand up by Sean Kelly. That must be why he tucked in his shirt. Someone in the audience yells, "I love you, Sean." "I love you, too." Meandering string of adjectives. Okay, it's picking up steam after he's called by the freshman crew coach. Nope, he's back to stringing out verbiage. Biggest laugh so far: "I was an automated landscape technician specializing turf removal." This material would be better if Sean put himself in the first person rather than going through hypothetical situations and then saying, "life isn't like that." Reading off the list of vaguely pornographic movie titles like Free Willy and Free Jack and The Firm is getting the audience going. Sean just called his own transition lame. Ah, here's the "Be Funny" joke. You don't go up to a wrestler and say, Put me in a half nelson. Sean just cut on Fleetwood Mac. Only to us, only to us, only to us. Might possibly by the lamest standup sendoff in history.
Wow, I have a twang when I talk. Was it always there?
World's Worst Plumber: Drano tastes good; I broke a nail; My pants will not fall when I bend over; There's hair in there, I'm not touching it; Chewing gum should hold; some drilling thing; plunging for gators; lightsabers; crazy straw; you need a WENCH; Why aren't we switching professions; lots of silence ... ; I'm only in this cause I like listening to the flushes; In order to check my work, I'll need to sit on your can for an hour. Finally, a new occupation: Plastic Surgeon: Hello, my name is picasso (GOOSE!); Man, I was born with ten thumbs; Hello, I'm Dr Leather face; Let's say we go for the Cirano look; blind woman; screw on noses are cool; tape is better than sewing; Maam, you don't need any help in that department; which face would you like; Okay, Ms. OPera singer, let's get out the handy vac; why would you want to do surgery on your penis; Let me get this straight, you want REALLY big lips and a REALLY big nose ... that's just weird (go figure, the audience laughed); Steve nails a meta-joke, I'm going to take fat from your ass and put it in your lips ... oh wait, that's how it is really done; You remind me of my ex. New profession: Grave Digger: Steve is doing it with his hands; jackhammer; mobster; landslide prone hill; Alas Poor Yorick, Goldberg?! (Jason); right next to an old folks home; we can always use the old graves; I don't reckon I see how the Navy can use my services; I dig them verically; you stay there until I find a gusher; the short guy trying to jump out of the grave. What a lame ending, we just sort of herded off the stage.
Stetson Court. Sean and I are starting off. Lance and Chase Clay in a gay bar. "I'm really happy to be here. This must be the happiest bar in Brooklyn." I look frickin' weird with that bowl cut. The next character has no nose. The audience is laughing a lot for no reason I can discern. Betsy comes in with Alexandra VonYowlernick. I'm not good at character driven humor. Betsy and I are dying on stage. She's got these long monologues interspersed by my puppy dog antics. Hey, I got a cheer for a ten fingered man who speaks with a lisp named Sicily Sossel. "You killed my father, I will avenge his death! But first, I need to get a sword, excuse me." "Why did you bring me here to meet the son of a man I killed?" The audience didn't laugh as hard as they should have at Sean's joke. The scenes go much better than Sean on stage. Betsy is tiresome. WOw, this skit is dragging. Needs to go faster. Get fuckin' Dr. Flint on stage, so we can move on. Dr. Flint is an irritating happy man. So we have a skipping happy Dr. and a lisping ten fingered man at a gay bar. Not so good. Hmm ... difficult to be a pathologically happy character in a scheming soap opera. Geez, I'm bad. Keep me out of Stetson court at reunion. Um ... Betsy is back on stage speaking in a low voice that sucks up energy. Hey, Sean and I just introduced a two-headed man we play bridge with, Calvin and Balvin Alvinfray. Steve's killing sequence is classic and to think I almost fastforwarded through the end of this skit. He's talking to his hand and his hand talks back with a falsetto. Steve is being sinister -- that is always funny. Why do you think Alexandra VonYowlnerick had no nose? Because Balvin was hungry. Balvin are you getting bored? No, no, I'm not. Okay. Tune in next week when Sicily Sassel says, "I'm not playing bridge with any more freaks!" Okay, this skit was bad until the last two minutes. It was WAAAAY too long and involved too much standing around.
Styles with Goose and Steve. 70s porn, noir, circus. This show is REALLY long. Pizza delivery teacher and student (combining, too). Steve has a nasal nebbish character I don't think he ever performed again. Shame, it is stereotypical but funny. "Ignore hunger pains, ignore hunger pains, mind over pizza." Goose is playing a drill sergeant type. Not many landmarks for the first scene, but funny. They are in a car, but not facing out into the audience. Jeremy Fox laughs really loudly. Steve is taking off his plaid shirt. Goose chose not to take off his shirt. The audience is really forgiving when it comes to porn. Steve broke the window to get into the car. I don't know what Goose is doing as a film noir. Oh wait, finally, "Kid, if you follow me, we're both going to die." I don't get it. The audience was amused, but confused. Circus! Steve is juggling. They missed the really small clown car joke. Steve just honked Goose's nose to great applause. They now running in and out of the car. Steve is really carrying this scene. I have praised Goose enough while watching these tapes to call a spade a spade and say that Goose is not at his best in this styles.
This show is LOOOOONG. We're now doing Spinx. Goose fronts with, "Hi, I'm dumb! Some of you might have seen me on TV in those Encyclopedia Britanica commercials." Good stuff, but his delivery is halting and annoying.
Q: What will you do if someone asks you about the rock fan?
A: Physics destroys everything.
Q: What is this thing on the bottom of my shoe?
A: Metallic Gods prey upon lint.
Q: Didn't catch it
A: Italians antibiotically assemble via cars many times a year.
Q: Who really killed JFK?
A: Fuzzy things go boom.
Q: Who's going to win the next election?
A: Callous hooters see forward into the next millenia.
Q: Is Mfume Uncle Eph?
A: If you like, then you live with Peaceful Uncle Tom what ever in your mind.
No more questions. I still don't understand why the audience finds this skit funny.
Ending with limerick:
THere was a fellow who listened to the cranberries
And when he was happy he ran merry
He grew on a vine
and drank some wine
and he was soo hairy.
There was a girl who slurped with a spoon
she used it to bludgeon her goon.
She wasted his head
Until he was dead
Now she plays it like a bassoon.
Big laughs from the audience on that one.
there once was a boy who liked shampoo and conditioner
[Death by Super Nova]
And to prove he was a good parishioner
He swigged all the lanolin
The he put the flannel in
a super sonic fissioner
Taking too long. THis whole show takes too long. Boredom. Pain. Should be writing dissertation.
I like fruits that we both red and yellow
and said hey that's mellow
he moved to malaysia
and contracted a fasia
cuz he's one hip fellow.
End of show. OPening was great. Had a couple of good lines, but generally lack luster. I was definitely not comfortable on stage my freshman year. I suppose it was only my second show, but still ...
I dunno, Jason. I seem to recall you had some pretty good court rooms. Can't remember if you were prosecutor or criminal, though. Ya just weren't at your best in this one, but you did get one of the biggest laughs of the evening, "In this place we like to call one less than Timbuk 3."
Spencer Homecoming Novemeber 1st, 1996
We crammed people in as tightly as possible, I think we sold 85 tickets before the show and and another 30 at the door, but we had to pay back some people who didn't like watching through the windows. Oh well.
Mayor of Williamstown Debate
"My name is Jon, I believe that acapella is the devil's music and should be abolished."
[Jon's Voice Over: I hope I don't become visibly aroused.]
"My name is Sadru, I believe the environment is diminishing at an alarming rate and I think we need to plant more trees. Trees everywhere. On the roads, on buildings ... TREES!"
[Sadru's Voice Over: And what is so wrong with this devil's music?]
"I'm Emily Christiansen, if elected, at birth all children will taken from their families, raised communally and put to work in my sweatshop."
[Emily's Voice Over: Yes, I believe this.]
Moderator: How will you prevent teenagers in Williamstown from putting jello down their underwear?
[My voice over: I said wear!]
Jon: That is a good question, David, and one that I think deserves a good answer. I would put the youth of Williamstown to work on my little IRS problem, sorting out my back taxes willl take a long time and prevent them from putting jello in their pants."
[Jon's Voice Over: Jello ... pants ... uh-oh.]
Sadru: Plant trees. Trees.
[Sadru's Voice Over: You know, I think Jon is becoming visibly aroused.]
Emily: After working in my factory all day, they won't have the strength to lift anything and put it in their pants."
[Emily's Voice Over: I'm doing the work of the devil, isn't that right? YES IT IS!]
Moderator: We'd like to ask a broader question now. What do you see being the biggest problem facing Williamstown as it approaches the 21st Century?
[My Voice Over: I said, broad.]
Jon: I'd like to use this question to tie together my two themes for this evening, the evils of acapella groups and my tax troubles. I think the acapella groups are informing on me to the IRS and they need to be abolished. That is the problem I will address.
[Jon's Voice Over: Yup, that did it ... I'm aroused.]
Sadru: Didn't you hear me? Trees TREES!
[Sadru's Voice Over: You know, a good firm grasp on the English language would have helped me in this situation.]
Emily: I believe the biggest problem facing Williamstown is the breakdown of the American family and the lack of really cheap labor. My plan will end the family and let children work for pennies a day."
[Emily's Voice Over: You know, I'm a man.]
Moderator: What are you three talking about? the biggest problem in Williamstown is Combination Pizza!
Introducing Sadru and John Magary to the crowd. I'm wearing my vinyl jacket.
First line prop is a large inflatable globe: Enormous goiter (a joke not made by Peter); too big clown nose; practice kissing tool (john Magary is cracking up the audience); A BOMB!!! (thank you, Jeff); I've grown the world' biggest pea; That's first base, but you want to nibble more than chomp; we skimped on the special effects budget, so to preserve this anonymity, hold this blue circle; You're not God; Look what I learned in group therapy; Waterballoon! (Wow, I'm taking a lot of grief from the group): Dave, that was the best lap dance I've ever had, but I am out of dollar bills; Yeah, ho, ho, ho, what do you want little boy?; Can I feel it kick? First, alien joke, then deflate the ball to make a water breaking joke.
Excellent first line. Jokes were quick and consistently funny. The timing was excellent: jokes had enough time to develop, but the next joke came in once the other one had peaked. Well oiled machine, my friends.
Carrot Cake as a Presidential Candidate.
Emily is introducing the biography of carrot cake as a Presidential candidate (he attended Northwestern), with two secret service agens present. Fields a couple of questions: "Is carrot cake over 35?" Then Peter runs on stage to attack carrot cake. I tackle Peter who is yelling, "Jodi, Jodi, Jodi!" while Magary throws himself on top of the cake to "protect it."
Strange but the audience is laughing, so I guess that counts. I don't get it to be honest, but we thought it was funny at the time.
History of ... the blender. Steve is fronting "Arcane trivia at 3 in the morning"
Magary is a third degree black belt in Tai Chi. Sadru milks the cows. KRavis is the associate dean for the school of mime theory.
So far so good, each one of the characters is doing his sctick and they are building up each other. Unfortunately, not getting very far onto the blender. Kravis is trying valiantly to move the skit forward. Mags and Sadru and getting a lot of laughs, so no harm no foul. Oh, Sadru is picking up and helping out Jon. Magary just ended it. Probably a good call, once they started to describe the blender the audience stopped laughing.
A Day in the Life of President Franklin Pierce: President Pierce Eats Breakfast.
Peter is eating cereal and drinks out of the bowl and then smiles.
New Candidate: Hi, my name is Bill and I'm running for President. The problem facing is military spending. We're spending too much money on national defense.
[Turns to Steve standing behind him silently] Das ist nicht gekommen (or something like that). [Steve giggles.]
Unilateral disarmament is necessary to make our economy stronger and show leadership to the world.
[Turns to Steve again]: Das ist nicht gekommon!
We also need to devalue the dollar against foreign currencies. Currencies like, I dunno, say the German mark (how quaint). If our neighbors are stronger, we ourselves will be stronger and more secure.
{das is nicht gekommen!)
My name is ... Tom and I'm running for president on a platform of unilateral disarmment and devaluing the dollar.
Scrabble with Peter and Emily (I'm fronting, my favorite activity).
Situation on a ranch (suggested by Julie Hesse). The scene is kind of funny in its own right. Emily is doing her butchering thing: Dare I Zebra-fy these eggs.
Peter is great at running with these odd phrases. And his Scrabbles are off the hook and the audience loves them. They fit the scene perfectly and are clever.
Really, this scene is a pleasure to watch. Emily and Peter have great rapport. Both are funny within the context of the scene. The pace of the scene is about perfect.
"Cow Give Up a Good Gallon of Milk!" Grade A.
Some Candidates are for a flat tax, some candidates are for social security privatization. Meet Timmy, he's just four.
Magary is holding a lollipop and making the gestures of a candidate. then he says, "Poop!'
Oscar Winning Moments: Don't shoot, we're molecular biologists. the whole group is in synch here. Given the suggestion, we all turn to Emily and make a face and the audience laughs.
I start out by throwing out a lot of jargon. Sadru responds, "Well, professor, it was the salt." Steve marchs in with a gun and immediately has an Oscar Winning Moment. "Because I'm mad, being mad is great cuz you can have guns."
My response immediately leads to an Oscar Winning Moment with one good line "Beaker never hurt anyone." Steve is unpersuaded and shoots me, leading to an Oscar Winning moment for Sadru.
"You think I am a mild mannered professor." Great start off line. Downhill from there. What a great skit. It was short, characters were funny, and the plot moved along. Sadru wins the Oscar. Well done, Sadru. I now think that Oscar Winning Moments is a much better skit than Roshomon (just not as fun to perform).
Jeff is the Evil Candidate from a bad 1890s melodrama!!
"My fellow Americans, I want to be your President! Wooo-hoo-hahaha! (oops, his mustache fell off during the laugh) Enough of this charade (takes off glasses), I'm not really a nice intellectual guy, I'm just plain bad, you're going to elect me, and you'll like it!"
"Some of you might want to know what I am going to do when I am elected President. Well, I'll tell you ... I'm going to run this country into the GRRROUNDDD!"
"How many of you women here tonight are interested in me? You, hi there, do you think I'm SEXY. You'll ALLLL have a piece of me. I will spread my seed over the entire country. As for the men, YOUR SEED WILL RUN DRYYYY!"
"My seed will cover the Earth! Wa-hahahahah Wahahaha!"
"Ah, yes, and I'm very glad that carrot cake has been crushed."
Wow, you really need to see the delivery to see how hilarious this speech is. Jeff has the audience going bananas. Once he got to the part where he took off his glasses, the audience went from laughing to hysterics. Well done, Jeff McMahon.
A Day in the Life of PResident Franklin Pierce: President Pierce Proposes a Bill.
"From this day forth, should this bill pass, America will be known as Happy Fun Land. Heh? Heh?" (pats Kravis on the ass)
The audience likes it and they don't even know that a relative of President Pierce was in the audience. Paul-jon just likes the ass grabbing.
Skridlow Family vacation. Jeff and Emily are headed to Alaska. They both have great Minnesota accents. Imagine Garrison Keilor, only funny.
Their interplay is really excellent and makes the scene. "It really shows off your chestal area. ... We are married you know!"
The upside down slide joke got a good laugh. Predictable, but funny. Way to go Emily and Jeff, the banter is hilarious and they are using the slides without relying upon them.
Out of focus. Not as good as upside down, but still got a laugh.
"Here we are at the end of our vacation and yo're just sitting on the beach."
"I was working on my tan."
"It was permament twilight. You're insane!"
"Yes, I am."
"And I love you for it."
How often did Skridlow end on an audience saying, "Ahhhh." Seriously, it was loud and in unison.
Uh-oh, part of the audence is leaving for some reason. Great line from Jeff, "Now that they are gone, the real comedy can start!"
Sadru: Hello, I'm Reveveren Thomson, of the Southern Baptist Church. If I am elected President, the United States will become a real Garden of Eden. There will be no snakes. THere will be no apples."
"I'm a tolerant man. I'm not against homosexuals, bisexuals, or transexuals. No. BUT GOD HATES YOU ALL!"
Hmmm ... I wonder if this joke would be more funny or less funny nowadays. It certainly is more timely than in 1996. Pretty big laugh though.
Peter and Steve performing chopsticks. "Steve's leaving the room so I can explain the real purpose of the skit, which is a naked Steve." Chopsticks.
Steve is carrying something enormous and playing it up. Again, formulaic, but the audience likes it. "It don't work none!" Another great formula, "I worked overtime for four months for this thing." Steve is just masterful at guessing skits.
Peter is pretty good at the clues. Steve is hostile. "Let me tell you what I did with it!" Then comes up with a strange story. Good effort.
Clap in clue, "Mop licks." "The fortune cookie said you'd buy something real nifty soon and my lucky place is Copenhagen."
Great ending to the scene: "Maybe I shouldn't have expected my wife to be impressed by ... chopsticks."
Bad ending to the scene, waiting for the audience to fall completely silent, bow together and drone, "Chop-sticks." Leaving the audience in a confused silence rather than cheers.
I believe this was the first show that Steve and Peter did this stuff.
Magic 8 Ball as president.
Jeff: Mr. Presidnet, would you like to go to Camp David this weekend? ... It is certain"
Sadru:Mr. President, what do you think of the welfare reform bill?
Jeff: No, no, no. You have to ask the right way. Do you like the welfare reform bill?
Sadru: ... ask again later. Ok.
Me: Mr. President, Mr. President! The Russians just invaded India and we need an immediate response!
Sadru: What do we do? What do we do?
Jeff: I told you, you need to ask the right way. Should we bomb the Russians? ... My sources point to yes. Okay, that was easy.
Movie Review: Doorboy and Jeff are reviewing, Magary and I are acting.
Doorboy: We need a fictitious title for a movie.
"scott of the Antartic."
Jeff: It's not fictitious.
Doorboy: It's not? Jeff: No!
Doorboy: Okay, we need a FICTITIOUS title for a movie.
"Proleptic Wednesday"
Magary and I make a big show of getting the word explained to us.
Jeff chooses a REALLY annoying character, who speaks too slowly. Jon is just hostile towards him. Jon tries to talk over him, but Jeff keeps droning on. Really pretty funny.
Doorboy: It was like the movie had started, but yet it hadn't.
Jeff: I thought the movie was toooo fast paced (said reeeaaallly sloooowly).
Doorboy: That doesn't surprise me at all.
John and I are just standing around. Kind of like Waiting for Godot. I ask JOhn if he wants to buy some burlap. Oddly enough, the audience is laughing at everything we do.
When Jon is mocking Jeff, no one laughs, but when he gets to talking about prolepsis really quckly, the audience goes bananas. The past is becoming the present is becoming the future, or maybe it was just bad editing. There was definitely a lot of Communist propaganda.
Jeff: I liked how there was a plot twist, then another plot twist, and another, then you thought there would be another, but there wasn't.
Doorboy: Maybe that was just you.
Wait, some dropped a spoon or something loudly. Jeff's character's reaction?
"AH! Ghosts! Beware! Beware! (lays down to put his face over a floor light, casting creepy shadows across his face) BEWARE!"
Doorboy: Let's watch the clip.
"I'm not a burlap salesmen. I'm Trotsky"
"Trotsky slept with my wife!" (SLAP!
"Wait, wait, that wasn't good, can we do it again?"
(Lots of takes, retakes, and bloopers)
"No, I didn't I'm impotent."
We came back to the Trotsky wife sleeping thing.
Doorboy: Maybe you can see why I hated this movie.
Jeff justed attacked Kravis.
"Rudy, Theo, get down here."
"John Magary pretends to get out the dictionary and flips through it. Prolatariat, what does that mean?"
"Propoleptic!"
"Prooo-lep-tic"
Amazing how many times Magary can mispronounce that word. The audience seems to like each time I correct him.
"Pro-leptic. It means ...(muttering under his breath)."
Rapture overcomes Magary as he collapses onto the stage yelling Proleptic and he dies.
I was left standing there, open mouthed, watching a masterful performance just like the audience. The only difference is that I need to come up with a snappy one-liner to end the scene. Best I can come up with?
"I knew I should have brought you on this date with me. You ruined everything." Maybe I should have just said "I'm Trotsky" and left it at that.
Jeff: I still don't know what proleptic means, but I am assuming it is an epileptic who gets paid. .... You touched my thigh."
The scene was pretty good. How good was it, a large portion of the audience was convinced we planted the suggestion. Fat chance.
A day in the life of President Franklin Pierce: President Pierce holds a cabinet meeting.
The secretary of defense is in the bathroom, so Peter asks the Secretary of commerce to fly with him free of clothes.
Definitely the least funny of the three Pierce gags.
Steve running for President as the voice of reason. He's running against all the fringe candidates we've introduced.
Franklin Pierce is dead, you can make carrot cake. He wants to return to a position of normalcy, stepping out from behind the podium to reveal that he has no pants.
It was an inside joke, only because Steve has body issues. The audience was only mildly amused. Bad idea, I should probably apologize for thinking that torturing Steve was funny.
Fiona Maazel is the Dysfunctional Family participant. Problem is that Peter dated Fiona and knows the family.
The casting takes a little too long, but it is probably worth it. Jeff as the mother: "I spend all day in front of a keyboard>' Funny, because Jeff doesn't know that Fioan's mother is a pianist.
Fioana is good about the feedback. The audience is laughing pretty hard. Peter has already made a Kools and Hemroid joke about Fiona's step-father. Paul-Jon has a distinctive laugh.
Steve and Pete are making lots of closetted jokes about Fiona's brother.
No wonder we thought this skit couldn't fail, the audience is rolling pretty consistently.
"So ... let's talk about feminine hygiene products."
Carrot Cake reprise: Magary is showing off the cake spread across his sweater.
Peter: Cake.
Kravis: I don't understand, it's just carrot cake.
Peter: Cake.
Kravis: What's the big deal. It's not alive.
Peter: Cake.
Kravis: I mean, how could it even run for President? This is stupid.
Peter: Cake.
Voice: GET YOUR GRUBBY HANDS OFF OF ME! ... Men, doth not a carrot cake have eyes?
Kravis: I say we worship it.
The audience liked the shakespeare reference and Jon's response.
Hey, it's Magary's birthday, so maybe he can figure out what day precisely this show took place. His first show. hey, I just had the audience sing happy birthday to him. The group is singing VERY poorly.
We're ending with Limerick. Shame that. Goose, take heart, I didn't get rid of it immediately.
There once was a girl who liked red
Thank goodness she isn't dead
she mixed it with blue
and then ate her shoe
and went to sleep in her bed.
There was a woman who liked the show Home Improvement
(Death by toilet plunger -- lame)
(Death by Philly Cheese Steaks -- really, really lame)
It was symptomatic of the Woman's right movement
She watched it with Mayor Guilani
(Death by Gerbil -- pretty funny "I think these gerbils are tainted)
(Death by computer virus -- stacking boxes of computers ... beyond lame)
Her favorite movie was Jumangi
Then she knew what the word Louvre meant.
Audience is cheering wildly, let's end it. Please. only Peter, Steve, Doorboy, and I are left.
Now gestalt entails no empiricism
But in the church it caused a big schism.
He attacked the orthodoxy
And repairs pews with expoxy
And listened to Channel live's "Mad-ism" ... which is a song.
Too bad, Pete, you're dead says the audience.
(Death by falling piano ... Peter made it very funny).
Look at my coke it is still fizzing.
Now Mary Daily wrote Gynecology
(Steve just walks up in a very charming way.
(Death by long words -- the audience liked the suggestion)
But she wasn't in the church of scientology
She hates all things phallic
(Death by french fries ... okay, pretty good).
But not all things Gaelic
And she finished with a great account of metapsychology.
Big cheers for doorboy! There is only one. THough I am a littel confused as to why mallet was nixed as a rhyme for Phallic and Gaelic was accepted. Still, Jon's limerick was pretty good.
Combo Za, ladies and gentlemen, we're smarter than you.
This show is what you get for holding a show in Spencer with all your hoity-toity friends in the audience (among the other 90 or so). Lots of verbal humor.
Great show to be honest. It lost a little steam at the end. Even Limerick worked really well. The group was clicking on all cylinders. Probably the strongest performances I saw from Emily and Jeff -- hot damn. Everyone played their role and worked with each other in the scene. Jokes came quickly and there was virtually no stepping on lines. Actually, that might be what stands out the most. People gave one another a chance to respond and it often seemed almost scripted. And this was the first show of the year. No wonder we packed them in that year.
This does sound like a fun show. I'm glad I was apparently able to recover from the moustache falling off.
In Movie Review it sounds like I was trying to be a troublemaker, rejecting a title and doing the slow character. I think I liked baiting Kravis. I have a feeling that when I did the "ghosts!" reaction that was my attempt to try to pump some life into a situation that I had caused to be low-energy. Ah, the insecure comic...
What was the joke about "God hates you all", was that the whole thing? It sounds too realistic to be funny these days. Ah, the golden age of the 1990s...
I always loved the Pete and Steve "....Chopsticks." with a bow thing they did.
Brooks Rogers, January 1996. (What the Hell else ya gonna do?)
Goose comes out and asks the audience to get out their tickets. On the back is their designated comedy champion. It is their duty to cheer wildly for that person through out the evening. Already things have gone awry since half the audience is yelling for Fred Licon. Go Fredddd! Fredddie!
Cue the Chicago Bulls opening music. The audience is kind of getting into it.
A 5 foot three debutante from Alabama, Jon Kravis.
A self-described homeboy from the mean streets of Denver, Jeff McMahon.
At two feet three inchs, 300 pounds, he likes North Adams women, unprotected sex and long walks on the beach, Fred Licon. (The audience absolutely erupts -- it sounds like a basketball game for a moment).
A rookie out of Wisconsin, the queen of cheese, Emily Christian. Emily comes into tonight with fifty-six jokes without bombing. Soon she'll be approaching the record of the great Richard Pryor, put your hands together for Emily.
Raised by humorless wolves, our performer never heard a joke until his 16th birthday, his comedy is as wild as his hair, Dave Taylor!
The next comedian floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee, he's the Italian Stallion, something or other, RIch Leimsider.
Our next comedian is a political theory major. He's a sensitive guy. Steven Ehrenberg.
Tonight after the show, our next comedian will be challenging Wilt Chamberlain's record. David Nickerson!
With a thirty-eight inch vertical leap, it is no wonder that she's Horse and Rider's ROdeo Clown of the year -- Heather Wilkinson.
Apparently, I'm a giant wizard from the Osaka Ocean, David Goose Panush.
Good idea, but WAAAY too long. When you have this many comedians, it just work. He we just did the Za cheer on stage. Wild.
First line, someone threw the prop at Jeff's head and he caught it. This crowd is really rowdy. Definitely not our normal audience. Oh, it's a cat paw; it's a pipe cleaner that reaches around -- so Fred puts it up his butt; Today's letter is one; discount candy cane (it's fuzzy); you need a new toothbrush; The paw just attacks Jeff with no explanation -- and we're done. Every jokes received huge laughs.
Argument with Goose and I. Why didn't we have them write these down BEFORE the show? Lord. I'll never figure that one out. SUch simple things would make the transitions between skits go faster and maintain energy. We just had a huge laugh and now only a small portion of the audience is involved. Why am I going on about htis? Because I am waiting for the frickin' scene to start, that's why. Maybe the younger generation can learn from my musing. Now I am suggesting that the audience throw the pens back at us. So Goose and I are dodging pens, that is a little better. "If you wrote something, please stand up. If this skit is bad, then it is all their fault." Pens are still flying up. "we need a situation from the audience." "Two guys standing on stage having pens thrown at them." Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, we're combination pizza. Okay, we're finally at a luau. Your grass skirt is longer than mine, mine hardly covers anything. Apparently, I don't understand anything. Goose is mad.
"Combo Za has a party at our suite and doesn't clean up."
"You stole my New Kids album!" (I get a big laugh with Five Bad Brothers from the Beantown land.)
"You stole my Sunny D" ("So what, you're a poser cuz you don't rollerblade" "You don't need to rollerbalde to drink Sunny D, you just need to wear knee pads" .. folks they don't get any funnier than this).
"you defecated in my closet!"
"You rammed it up ..." (Goose stops and the crowd cheers)
"You were chewing on my toenails."
Goose reads one, throws it away, looks at the audience and says, "You people are sick!" I go to pick it up and read it. Goose goes on to read, "I only ate your toenails because you ate my sweet donut holes" Me (pointing to the one Goos ethrew away, "Hey, man, at least I didn't do that to you." (Audience erupts).
"How dare you clean my clothes."
"You're thhsuspdndu."
"You stapled my girlfriend to your car."
"Besides, you ... nevermind! I'm done with this skit."
"You're not leaving until I tell you one more thing, You're wearing my toupee" Cheers. So goose and I just jumped around reading pieces of paper, but it was relatively short, high energy, and fun (though very much on autopilot).
Talk show hosted by Jon with Steve serving as the interpetter fro RIch who speaks Ewok. Rich is on the show because he invented that cat paw thing we started the show with. We're getting very self-referential. Jon is the embittered day time talk show host, whose agent won't return his calls. Once again he hates everyone and is crying out the audience for help. I think he has a schtick. Rich is doing a pretty good job of sounding like an Ewok. Jon is crying and yelling "I can't take it any more." Not funny, but when he leans over Steve to speak loudly and slowly to Rich, that is funny. Meanwhile, Rich is consistently funny. Steve is kind of funny, but getting upstaged by Rich and trampled by Jon. Okay, Steve is getting into the scene. Great answer and he asks the audience if they would like to hear Rich sing the Ewok's tradition song. Rich start singing New york, New York and the audience is dead quiet. So he sits down and says, "Nub,nub and the audience laughs." Jon has now accused Steve of not translating correctly and yelled at Rich, "What the hell is the matter with you?!" He has broken every convention. Meanwhile, Rich has been completely within the boundaries. The audience sure likes the long answer, "No" joke. The short answer, long answer wasn't quite as good. It was pretty good.
Dave Taylor and Goose in bodies. Uh-oh, a swimmer named Wonger is coming up and the back half of the audience is goin bananas. the other guy is a chubby dork wearing a Goofy hat (as in the Disney character). Wait a minute, wasn't Michael Wong, Heather's swarthy good looking friend? Dave and Dave are on the Eiffel tower. Wonger is moving Goose's hand all over the place. The Goofy guy isn't doing much. Goose is talking a lot, and moving a lot, David Taylor's guy is lame and just watching Goose. Wonger is now torturing goose, but putting him in weird positions on one lge. the goofy guy is catching on. There is no longer a scene, just two men trying to balance on stage. They are now singing YMCA. There is a lot of back scratching. Goose fainted intto David's arms and David's arms were creeping lower. Now they are tring to tango. Oddly, David and David are doing okay. Now they are cha-chaing. Man, the audience will laugh at anything. We should definitely put more swimmers on stage.
Hey, I just came on stage and asked the audience to give a big hand for the two volunteers. I must have been SUPER comfortable on stage.
Conscience conflict where Heather has Fred as her angel and I am the devil.
"You want Jon Kravis" "Well, that is a given. there is no conflict there."
"Should you kill your cat?" The crowd erupts when they hear that Fred is the angel.
I can't hear Fred, but everyone laughed.
"Kill the cat, because your brother tortures the poor thing, swinging it around by its tail, using it as a doorstop, throwing darts at it, put the poor thing out of its misery."
"Heather, without the cat, who would arouse you?"
"When a cute guy walks into the room, what does he say? Oh, what a cute cat and he pays attention to it. You're suffering from pussy envy, kill the cat and you'll get play."
Heather is now arguing with me and offended that I said she wasn't getting any (ironic, huh, Goose?), so I come back with, "Okay, think of your brother. He never goes on a date because he sits around the house all day torturing the cat. He might get a date if he the cat were gone. SO KILL THE GODDAMNED CAT!" I'm now doing my patented jumping around. Fred suggests that going to a frat party will guarantee getting tail and not necessitate killing the cat. "Listen, Heather, put the cat in some hydrochloric acid, go to the frat party, get some, and don't bother coming home to feed the cat -- IT'S A THREE STEP OPERATION!" Fred convinces Heather with the following line, "Don't listen to the shithead." The audience is happy Fred won. Geez, we should have put Fred on-stage a lot.
Skridlow with Steven and Jeff. The Waterpolo team is all yelling New Jersey, so mob rules. Steve and Jeff are too brothers who hate each other. Every male in the group is wearing jeans, t-shirts, with flannel over them except for Kravis, who is missing his flannel and Fred who looks like he is from Miami. The audience starts yelling Fred when he gets out there, so Jeff and Steve say, "This must be the picture when we went to the frat party with Fred." A couple of gimick get big laughs: looking down an article of clothing in shock; blank slide; out of focus & upside down. Why do I have a large flannel patch on my jeans? Jeff is crying now. Jeff and Steve are doing a great job of incorporating the slides into their banter and explaining it. Makes it worthwhile to really embarass yourself on stage. Jeff's character is a real freak.
60-30-15-1: I'm fronting, naturally. I combine two suggestions, so Emily, Fred, and Jon will be acting out childbirth on a ski lift. Jon and Emily are a funny couple: Emily is irritable and funny. Jon is cloying and overeager. Fred's sole role is when Jon yells, is there a doctor in the house? to run up and shake Jon's hand. Not a lot of action, but they are doing a good job of cutting down the dialogue. Oops, now they are talking over each other. Fred has now added lines: 1) Pretty ugly baby; 2) Shut up, bitch; 3) He spiked the baby; 4) The one second involved three people screamikng different lines. Sadly, they missed the obvious joke at 5 seconds of Emily shooting the baby across the stage. I really wish Fred had stayed in the group. The water polo and swim teams are fun to have in the audience. They laugh hard, yell suggestions, and generally add a rock and roll atmosphere to the proceedings. Of course, groupies would have been hardder to come by, but that is surely a small price to pay for drunken rowdiness.
Oscar Winning Moments with Jeff, Heather, and Myself. Jon is antagonizing the water polo team and they are letting him hear it. He did choose the lamest title, "Green Apricots from Mars." Jeff: "Well, I brought this green apricot back from Mars." Apparently, he wants to win the county apricot growing context. I'm the apricot. Jeff just made fun of his own grammar to applause. Jeff's Oscar Winning Moment was kind of a genial ambling backstory. He got laughs, but it twarnt traditional. Heather is crying about how she won't win the contest. Why is she wearing a scrunchie on her wrist? Jeff, just got a big laugh mocking Heather and then touches me. "Oscar Winning Moment, the apricot!" Biggest laugh of the skit. Decent first line, "Get your hands off me you damn dirty Ape!" After that it is all downhill. I should have broken into song. Instead, I'm crying. Jeff's response: "Get used to it apricot boy!" Strange how Jeff's nasty responses to the other Oscar Winning Moments were his best parts. Fred almost won the Oscar, but Jon disallowed it. Wow, all three people received very loud applause. Okay skit. Short. Had some big laughs.
Rich is fronting cliche and it is obvious that his heart isn't init. He looks surly and down. I don't think he wanted to be in this skit. There is only one suggestion from the audience, "All's well that ends well." So Rich's response, "How about, a stitch in time saves nine?" And then walks off to get David Taylor from offstage. The audience is all atwitter. Gotta love Rich, he's either a superstar, or he is causing havoc: perhaps the Dennis ROdman of Combo Za, without the tattoos and cross dressing and drug use ... they both slept with Madonna, people. RIch combined two suggestions to make the situation, "Washing a dog in the bedroom." David Taylor has a funny accent. Is Rich feeling okay? His usuall spark and vim aren't there. David Taylor isn't spouting off cliches, he is building the scene. RIch is doing a good job of giving clues. Rich is cracking up the audience and now he is getting into it. Maybe he just needs positive affirmation. A little love. Actually, I think Rich wanted the audience to laugh no matter what, which is why he pushed for weekly shows and did rogue shows around New England with Felipe. David Taylor is now only responding in cliches -- all of them wrong -- and the audience laughs each time. I think that is the mark of a well constructed skit, the actors can just go through the motions and get laughs. Oscar Winning Moments is a little different, because the actors need to do something special, but having laughs built into the structure of the skit is a good thing. Goose just clapped in, really early. Super early. And his lead in is long. I now see why he clapped in early, he wanted to ensure that he would use his clue, "The bitchin' mime, craves mine." He got a laugh for it, but he probably should have held off a bit. Rich and David were just getting going. Okay skit. Rich looks schlumpy in plaid flannel, his move to tight fitting t-shirts was good.
Gut class hosted by Professor Goose on "How to Garnish." I assume you all did the Prudehomme (Prude-Homey) reading. Emily Christiansen is playing a complete tool, who did all of the reading and interviewed Prudhomme at his house. She likes to make parsley look like catepillars. I don't get it, but the audience likes it every time she says catepillar. She's cracking herself up -- Emily Christiansen, ladies and gentleman, not above laughing at her own jokes. Her boardwork must be great, because the audience likes every one of her drawings. Goose's transition between oral reports was good: garnish, to the areas of the plates. Fred didn't do the reading, BECAUSE I CAN'T READ. Why can't he read? BECAUSE HE's POOR. He steals the shopping cart to take home, WHICH IS A CARDDBOARD BOX! I think Fred could take a shit on stage and get huge laughs. It was kind of funny, but the laughter was disproportionate. Goose is getting pretty good laughs with lines like, "I assigned the Julia Child abstract (tries to write it), um ... her article is square." David Taylor's essay. My lasting memory of this is his peppering his thick Southern accent with french words like fromage to great hilarity. "Where I come from, I come from France -- the south of France." Fro-maaage and we drink it with ervi ... I can't even type I'm laughing so hard. It's a funnier version of Peggy Hill in French. Half of his essay is in French, i'm shaking. -- wait it cut off. What a shame. What happened?
Well, we cut to Styles with Rich and Steven. The Waterpolo team is pounding the table for Adult! ADULT!! If they chanted in unison, I bet they could get their way. MEanwhile, Rich is pointing to Kathryn Harrison, who is raising her hand in the back. She chose Noir and 50's musical. Steve then asks her if she has a third film style. The actors seem strangely indifferent to the audience in this show. Is that perhaps because the composition was somewhat different? Huh. Meanwhile, some members of the swim team are yelling "Boredom!" while Steve and Kathryn are talking. Combo Za, ladies and gentlemen, we play favorites. Why did Steve let these women push him around when he wasn't even interested in the sex? Strange guy, that Steven. Charming though and he looks pretty cute. Now the waterpolo team is chanting porno together. I'm not sure they accepted it. I can't read the board. I think Rich wrote up John Hughes without prompting. When an audience member asks about it, Rich says, "John Hughes, John Holmes what is the difference." Scene is short and doesn't have any landmarks. I think each of them will be different. First scene was Rich running around as a fireman. Film Noir is Steve's. Rich is left standing there while Steve is funny. The 50s musical is kind of funny. Both them are singing and dancing and intereacting, which hasn't happened much. Bizarre ending. They both dropped character and genre, said something unintelligible and walked off stage. Steve has a great line for John Hughes, "Oh my god, my house is on fire." Rich: "I'll pay you $50 if you let your house burn down and you give me your sister's panties." Steve: "The principal is such a goon." Steve finally makes a connection to St. Elmo's Fire. Well, this wasn't the best of styles, but it wasn't the worst. Each scene was pretty short and had some laughs.
World's Worst SKI INSTUCTOR: Emily reprises an earlier skit, I'm Pregnant; Go that way really fast, if something gets in your way turn; Steve wants to thnk about our motivation; I suggest it's like horseracing, you break a leg, we shoot you; Jeff is an Igor type character.
PROPHET: Rich, I predict everything is going to be okay; Damn, I lost all of my money (Goose is now doing the annoying finger gesture to the audience that says, you'll laugh when you figure it out); Hi, I'm David Koresh (ah, the 90s); don't send me $75, save $75, you'll be needing it.
SURGEON: smoking; blood!;leg bone is connected to the knee bone; now that I have got her under (thank you, Fred Licon); No one wants to follow that ... we're waiting ... Goose is now beating on the corpse; going through wallet; I make a sturgeon joke; virgin joke (Goose does the finger wagging again, but the audience is groaning without a hint of laughter .. David Goose Panush, the Dikembe Mutumbo of comedy).
PRIEST: Emily is female; David Taylor walks out and says, "Hi, my name is Fred Licon" to great applause even from the group (the "Hi, my name is" jokes are extremely efficient cultural references); Goose's jeans are really tight -- that isn't a bad priest joke, that is an observation about the state of Goose's pants, you can see a large square in his lefthand pocket really clearly; I don't understand most of what Steve says, but the audience does, so that is fine; Hail me; Fred Licon, again; Steve is doing here is the church, here is the steeple; Fred: "All the females, down on your knees" and the place erupts.
We ended with World's Worst. Not a bad call. It gets everyone on stage and guarantees a series of quick laughs.
All in all, an okay show. Not great, but it had some highlights. It also marked the end of the Fred Licon era. Shame he wanted to leave (and I'm not just saying that because I will be advising his dissertation). Part of the problem was the opening -- good idea for maybe a starting 5, but a starting 10 or 11? Skits that gte us moving around are generally funny. Skridlow is perfect for that (I highly suggest we do htat at the reunion). 60-30-15-5-1 suffered a little because it was mostly talking, which is odd because the situation was childbirth on a ski lift -- skiiing and childbirth should both be kind of active (okay, child birth isn't, but people other than the mother could be runnig around). One thing that troubles me is that our interactions with the audience were not always friendly. We didn't interact well together either. Something was definitely screwy with the group. Was this also Heather's last performance with the group? It wouldn't be a bad send off, she was an important part of some funny skits.
David Taylor's fromage speech is kind of like Jeff McMahon's bad man presidential speech, a hilarious image cemented into my brain.
Okay, now I know that Rich just shouldn't have written up a suggestion without prompting from the audience, but after going to IMDB, Rich's joke was funny. "John Holmes, John Hughes, what's the difference?" I didn't know that John Holmes was in 213 porn movies before dying of AIDS in 1988. I don't know whether or not they are classics, but with titles like Dickman and Throbbin; Backdoor Brides; Saturdaynight Beaver; The Good, the Bad, and the Horny; Up and Coming; Balling for Dollar$; Dracula Sucks; Pizza Girls, We deliver; Dr. Gonad's Sex Tails; The Autobiography of a Flea; Big Abner; Confessions of a Teenage PEanutbutter Freak; Over Sexposure; Suburban Satanist; The Danish Connection (starting the whole Johnny Wadd series); TRopic of Passion; and Sex and the Single Vampire -- how could he not be a real star?
My only question is, how did Rich know john Holmes? I suppose he grew up in New York City before Times Square was turned into Disneyland. But the innocent boy from Nebraska sure didn't get it.
The guy in the Goofy hat was Lafiro Gomez, who tried out for the group at one point and began a First Line with "I just pulled this dildo out of my ass" or something similar. He was somewhat unnerving to be around.
Jeff, how do you rmemebr these people. After you mentioned it, I vaguley remembered that Lafiro tried out. Pachtem? Any other losers you recall?
Reading over the last show blog, I actually forgot that Jon and Emily were not dating yet. Jon was dating a nice girl named Alethea Warkentine, whose mother made her transfer to Oklahoma Baptist University (perhaps because she didn't approve of her daughter dating? Dating Jews? Hanging out in Taxachusetts? She read Wendy Shalit's article on co-ed bathrooms at Williams? Who knows.). However, we were making jokes about how Emily had Jon wrapped around her little finger -- not always behind their backs. So seeing them about to have a child on a ski lift, hilarious for the 10 people who knew the situation.
I think I might have hit the nail on the head when I described the group at its least functional. I just can't remember a time quite so unsettled. Nothing out in the open or in flames, but quietly roiling.
We just lost four seniors and accepted five freshman.
Goose and Heather were vying for control of the goup (well, by Winter Study, Goose had more or less consolidated power ... all hail, the mighty Goose! Long live the King!);
Steve was going through a troubled time and not able to commit himself to the fullest.
Rich and Felipe? I don't know what was going on with them. I mean Felipe was finding monogamy a daily struggle, but that was true the year before, too. I suppose they might have been disruptive, but most of the memories I have occured the second semester of my senior year.
Fred was struggling with the transition to college, school, balancing work and swimming and Za. Fred probably goes down as the member of Za furtherest down the socio-economic ladder. (Makes his "I'M POOR!" Diatribe a little more poignant, huh?).
Me? Other than the fact that I was in the midst of a strange love pentagram, clinically depressed, and had seriously considered dropping out of school, everything was dandy.
David Taylor left school for some reason a week or two later. I never found out why, but I was pleased to see that he had returned to Williams and the group by the next reunion.
All the potential was there, but things weren't clicking. Strange to think that this group would manage to put on the best Basement Tapes I was a part of (and I would wager the Best Basement Tapes ever ... an easier boast since the newbies have done away with the tradition). In fact, that Basement Tapes might have been the highlight of my college career. We'd lose four people just after this show, but things started falling into place. I don't think it was cause and effect, but you never know. When people are preoccupied with personal problems, it is hard to give improv comedy a laser-like focus.
Wow, where did all this introspection come from? Holy shit. Did I mention it was a troubled time for me? I had just dropped the biochemistry major, bad news in my family. Bad news.
Jeepers. Maybe I should have watched the tape. I suppose if I rewatched that show, I could analyze each and every skit looking for turmoil. Instead, I went in innocently and just watched things fall apart despite the uproarious laughter.
To clarify what I meant by "Rich and Felipe? I don't know what was going on with them." What I should have written was "I have no idea as to Rich and Felipe's mental state during January 1996. They seemed like normal, healthy, happy college students to me, but I was so self-involved at that time, I'm not a reliable source of information. If they were having problems at that point in time, I in no way intend to trivialize their anguish. The point is that I'm ignorant of those to situations entirely."
To recap: I'm a doofus, but well-meaning.
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