So the show Friday night went well, really well, especially considering the ass Harold we put on for dress the night before. But as we walked to Ramiro's for the after party (an apt. decorated like a veritable robin's nest of geeky lost-and-found), I became obsessed with understanding why exactly the show was good and what made it different from our previous Afterglows. We decided (humble folk) that we had done solidly good improvisation. What does that mean? Well, for me personally, it means that Friday night I finally stopped laugh-whoring. In fact, joking and mugging and steamrolling were at an all-time low last night for everyone. As a result, the audience felt different, even though it looked like all the same loyal regulars had come out. The laughs were smaller, but consistent, shorter, but earnest. Getting a laugh felt less like hitting a jackpot and more like investing a paycheck. The group mind wasn't amazing, but it was functioning just enough.
After previous Afterglows, I've always felt intense relief and euphoria after a show which is usually followed in a day or so by the onset of paranoia and doubt over my abilities and our cast's performance. Particularly after the last Afterglow I immediately felt. . . dirty, even though the show was a success. I don't think I'll feel dirty at all about this show, though. I like the fact that it wasn't a raving laughtastic funnyfest, and I like the fact that some of the characters we created are memorable enough that I can recall them.
Speaking of characters, just this past Wednesday we all went up to see TJ & Dave, which is a 45-minute long-form show wherein two improvisors create by themselves a scenario featuring multiple characters created and sometimes shared between the two of them (plus, Dave has appeared in Strangers With Candy as well as the psychiatrist in Groundhogs Day). It was a really sublime spectacle, notably because the two of them begin with absolutely no suggestion or impetus. They both saunter on to the stage over music, and for the first few minutes they just meander around each other, peek at the audience, and exchange wry smiles or exchange comments that the audience can't hear. It doesn't look at all like theater, it just looks like two guys standing against the far wall of a party killing time. Then the music stops and they immediately drop in to character and launch into a handful of continuous. What makes it so astonishing to watch is that the two of them have an honest-to-goodness group mind going between the two of them so that it really looks like they've planned all this out in advance. It's the feeling you get when you listen to an old married couple tell a story that's thirty years old, only TJ and Dave look like they're reenacting it from memory.
There was a "Blammo!" part of the show in which TJ and Dave are two golf buddies standing around playing pool and smoking cigars. At the start of the scene TJ mimed a cigar cutter, which he placed on top of an imaginary cabinet down left. It was just the smallest little throwaway mime, one of the little gestures which are inessential but are curiously interesting to watch, but I didn't even think Dave saw it. Until the scene is about to end and the characters are about to walk out, and Dave says, "I think I'm forgetting something," and TJ immediately answers, "your cigar cutter?" And without hesitation, Dave walks straight over to the exact place of the imaginary cabinet and mimes taking a cigar cutter from the exact same height TJ "left it" 10 minutes before. A few people in the audience audibly gasped, and the girl behind me muttered a flat, "NICE."
I'm bracing for a backlash from Nick, but I'm going to put myself out there and say that I really, really, freaking-doom-buggy-loved the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie. I was expecting a respectful adaptation, but I wasn't expecting it to actually make me laugh. My three favorite moments being:
1. The falling whale and bowl of petunias (my favorite moment in all 5 books).
2. Two sofas talking:
"Ford, I think I'm a sofa."
"I know how you feel."
3. VOGONS!!!
Dear God, the Vogons. I can't remember the last time I was REALLY impressed with Jim Henson puppets in such an un-ironic way. The puppets in this movie are genuinely expressive. I just wanted to carry a Vogon home with me, riding it piggyback of course.
By the by, why is May so awesome? New Ben Folds album, new Weezer album, Episode III (which no-foolin' is actually looking good), and (you were right, Clarke) The Adventures of Pete & Pete on DVD!
After previous Afterglows, I've always felt intense relief and euphoria after a show which is usually followed in a day or so by the onset of paranoia and doubt over my abilities and our cast's performance. Particularly after the last Afterglow I immediately felt. . . dirty, even though the show was a success. I don't think I'll feel dirty at all about this show, though. I like the fact that it wasn't a raving laughtastic funnyfest, and I like the fact that some of the characters we created are memorable enough that I can recall them.
Speaking of characters, just this past Wednesday we all went up to see TJ & Dave, which is a 45-minute long-form show wherein two improvisors create by themselves a scenario featuring multiple characters created and sometimes shared between the two of them (plus, Dave has appeared in Strangers With Candy as well as the psychiatrist in Groundhogs Day). It was a really sublime spectacle, notably because the two of them begin with absolutely no suggestion or impetus. They both saunter on to the stage over music, and for the first few minutes they just meander around each other, peek at the audience, and exchange wry smiles or exchange comments that the audience can't hear. It doesn't look at all like theater, it just looks like two guys standing against the far wall of a party killing time. Then the music stops and they immediately drop in to character and launch into a handful of continuous. What makes it so astonishing to watch is that the two of them have an honest-to-goodness group mind going between the two of them so that it really looks like they've planned all this out in advance. It's the feeling you get when you listen to an old married couple tell a story that's thirty years old, only TJ and Dave look like they're reenacting it from memory.
There was a "Blammo!" part of the show in which TJ and Dave are two golf buddies standing around playing pool and smoking cigars. At the start of the scene TJ mimed a cigar cutter, which he placed on top of an imaginary cabinet down left. It was just the smallest little throwaway mime, one of the little gestures which are inessential but are curiously interesting to watch, but I didn't even think Dave saw it. Until the scene is about to end and the characters are about to walk out, and Dave says, "I think I'm forgetting something," and TJ immediately answers, "your cigar cutter?" And without hesitation, Dave walks straight over to the exact place of the imaginary cabinet and mimes taking a cigar cutter from the exact same height TJ "left it" 10 minutes before. A few people in the audience audibly gasped, and the girl behind me muttered a flat, "NICE."
I'm bracing for a backlash from Nick, but I'm going to put myself out there and say that I really, really, freaking-doom-buggy-loved the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie. I was expecting a respectful adaptation, but I wasn't expecting it to actually make me laugh. My three favorite moments being:
1. The falling whale and bowl of petunias (my favorite moment in all 5 books).
2. Two sofas talking:
"Ford, I think I'm a sofa."
"I know how you feel."
3. VOGONS!!!
Dear God, the Vogons. I can't remember the last time I was REALLY impressed with Jim Henson puppets in such an un-ironic way. The puppets in this movie are genuinely expressive. I just wanted to carry a Vogon home with me, riding it piggyback of course.
By the by, why is May so awesome? New Ben Folds album, new Weezer album, Episode III (which no-foolin' is actually looking good), and (you were right, Clarke) The Adventures of Pete & Pete on DVD!
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