Ladies who Lunch

This past Monday night I spent much of my day off at Second City: First I did an interview for a show about 1983, kinda like all those VH1 "I Love the 80's"/"Best Week Ever"/"What I Had For Lunch Today and the Witty Quips it Provides" shows. I don't know how they fit all those shows in between all those music videos! Anyway, I was 8 for most of 1983, so I think I had some pretty great insights.

Following that I watched the final touring company show of Lori McClain, who I toured with for almost a year. My last show with that group was nearly a year ago, and I hadn't seen one of their shows since I'd left. Lori and Andy (whom Erdmania fans will remember from the ship. How's that Van Dyke Brown going down? Perfect drink for a summer day, don't you think?) are the only two remaining cast members from my days with the group, in addition to Joe, the musical director, and Josh, the stage manager. Anyway, it was fun to see a few of the same things in from when I was there, and to see how much had changed. It's a great group of a people and a fun show. It made me miss touring, but then again I've missed (the fun parts of) touring ever since I left. Kind of like college. I miss college in a general sense, but I'm not interested in writing any more papers. But there's a relationship you form with people touring - from the travel, the weird situations you find yourself in, sharing hotel rooms - that you don't get anywhere else. I've already grown close the mainstage cast now, and I'm sure that will continue even more through the upcoming writing process, but you never really know someone until you've spent some quality van time with them, I think. But for all I know the rehearsal/writing process may be the equivalent of a good, long van ride. An eight-week one, in fact.

And speaking of the rehearsal process, here's a link to Mick Napier's mainstage journal, which not only explains that process but gives some amazing insight into that of one particular show: http://www.annoyanceproductions.com/mainstage.html

I actually haven't read it in several years, but I plan on re-reading it. I do remember one particular part that has really been ringing true for me lately: people work for so long to get to the mainstage, and then once you reach that goal, you're working six nights a week and find yourself relatively isolated from the community where you spent so much time. I think I've been working hard, maybe too hard, to combat that - spending a lot of my time off doing or planning or seeing other shows, or just having lunch with people who I'm afraid will forget about me. But now I have to go because, and I'm not kidding, I have to meet some friends for lunch. But I will say, in my defense, that I think I have to do that sort of thing, because when you're with the same people six nights a week, you have to make sure you're getting some sort of outside stimulus, especially for improv and writing. I think that all these things I do, movies I see, conversations I have, all become weapons in my improv/writing arsenal. So don't try to fight me.

Back in my sea days...

Faithful Erdmania readers may remember a story from early on in the cruise about an older gentlemen telling me he was in the movie "Pickle." At least I think I posted that story. Ok, well, I'll recap, just in case. In the following scene the part of Me is played by me, and the part of Man is played by a Russian gentlemen in his 70's. The setting is a bank of elevators on the ship.

Man: You work on ship?
Me: Yes I do.
Man: What do you do on ship?
Me: I'm an entertainer?
Man: What do you do?
Me: I'm with The Second City. We did a comedy show earlier in the week.
Man: Is what kind of comedy show?
Me: Well, are you familiar with Saturday Night Live?
Man: Yes.
Me: It's sort of like that. Sketch comedy.
Man: Oh. You are SAG?
Me: Yes, I am.
Man: You have your card?
Me: Not with me.
Man: I always have my card.
Me: Oh, are you an actor?
Man: Yes, I do movies.
Me: What movies have you been in?
Man: Pickle.
Me: Pickle?
Man: Pickle.

It goes on from there, but I must stress the importance of the delivery of the word "pickle." Imagine the simplest, most matter-of-fact way of saying "peeckle."

Anyway, this whole Pickle story has haunted me for a number of reasons. First, I love the story and the fact that there is in fact a movie called "The Pickle," that this man, Josif, was most certainly in. I looked it up on IMDB, and he played "Russian Man Coney Island." At one point when I was staying in New York for some Sonic work, I went to see the Woody Allen movie "Melinda and Melinda." One of the actors was the woman from "Silence of the Lambs" who Buffalo Bill is keeping ("I've got your dog, mister!). I decided to look her up on IMDB to see what else she'd done, and wouldn't you know it, she was in "The Pickle."

We do a scene on the mainstage called "Madrigal," where Antoine and I get a word from the audience and do an a capella madrigal-style song about it. One of my first nights, we got the word "pickle." Afterwards I told Antoine the pickle story, which made it very funny when we got the word again a couple weeks later. And then, just earlier this week, I was telling the story to the rest of the cast, and then sure enough, tonight we got it again. Antoine and I barely made it through, and now even worse, the rest of the cast was laughing too. Ah pickle, you mischief maker!

And then, when that one guy says...

There's a part in one of my favorite movies, "LA Story," where Steve Martin, Sarah Jessica Parker, Richard E. Grant, and Victoria Tennant go to a ultra-hip LA restaurant called L'Idiot (pronounced L'Idioh). There are paparazzi out front like a big red-carpet event, but when the four of them show up the flashbulbs stop and you hear someone say "Oh, it's nobody!"

I'm not 100% sure why I bring that up, although it is a very funny movie and you should watch it. Maybe because I have no new tales of celebrity for you, merely another week-in-progress at the office.

But I do have other news: I bought a car. My very own car. With my schedule being what it is, Rich and I have had to do a lot of planning and negotiating over car use. What began as a crazy thought became a reality on Monday, and I now own a 2003 Ford Focus. I really like it, and there's a thrill that comes with buying something like that on your own. I did have a dream Monday night that I totalled it, but I'm trying not to let that bother me.

Here's another funny bit from a movie, which I quote often but I don't think anyone ever knows what it's from. In another Steve Martin favorite of mine, "Parenthood," there's a scene towards the end where Steve Martin and his wife Mary Steenbergen are watching their daughter's school play. At one point their younger son runs up on stage and engages in various shenanigans; children are running all over the stage, the set starts falling apart, etc. Steve & Mary are laughing at this (eventually), and a mother nearby yells "He's ruining the show! He's ruining the whole show!" I think I've said that (jokingly) backstage a handful of times, but like I said, I don't think anyone knows what it is. I also have a similar one from the same movie, when Steve Martin is coaching his older son's little league team, his son messes up, and another dad, played by Clint Howard, says "That kid's got no business being out there! No business!" It's that last "No business!" part that's fun to say, even if no one knows why.

Hmm, what if I changed this blog into just me talking about funny lines in movies? I'm so bored just typing that sentence. I promise to keep those few and far between.

Being watched

It's been quite a week. In addition to Uncle Lorne and the SNL folks coming to the show on Wednesday, they all stopped by before our Thursday show to meet us. They had to leave right away the night of our show, so they wanted to come say hi. I thought that was pretty nice. Then on Friday night, people from Comedy Central and The Daily Show watched our show. They came back to meet us afterwards, and then had the six of us come read for them the next morning. It went fine; this was my third time reading for them, and it always makes me appreciate my newscaster hair (see headshot).

All of us were doing our readings Saturday morning between 10:30 and 11:30; that may not seem early to most people, but after an 8:00 and an 11:00 show Friday night, and the decompressing that follows, it's early. I took a 45-minute nap in the afternoon, but we were all crazy tired at the shows. I think it was not only because of having a long day, but also - and maybe moreso - because of the anxiety over the week's visitors. We certainly had a few chuckles of our own during the shows, but we pulled through ok and were lucky enough to have four guests come by to play the set after our second show.

Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there. It's weird this time of year to see the word "dads" without "and grads" after it.

Just another night at the office

Early last week our cast was told that representatives from Saturday Night Live would be coming to our show this Wednesday (last night). This, of course, is cause for excitement and anxiety, but then more so when we found out yesterday that Lorne Michaels, the man himself, would be part of that group. Now, this is going to sound like I'm playing it really cool, but a) if you've been reading this blog at all, you know it is virtually impossible for me to play anything cool and b) no, I'm serious; I really wasn't that nervous. I think the reasons for this are multi-fold. First, unlike when they come to watch an improv show, there is much less left to chance in the mainstage show. Sure - timing can vary, my voice can quiver adorably as I struggle though a couple of songs, but generally, you know what you're going to go out there and do. Second, I had no hand in writing this show, so in a way I felt like I was there to hold the show together for the benefit of those who created it. Who knows what SNL is looking for - performers, writers, both - but certainly knowing that someone created the material they're performing is important and beneficial. Finally, and probably most importantly, I just got here. That's not to say I wouldn't want to be hired by SNL or whomever, but if the worst thing that happens to me is that I have to stay in Chicago and write my first mainstage show, I'm doing ok.

So Lorne & the gang were there last night; we were all guilty of peeking out from the curtains to see them. They didn't stay for the improv set, which disappointed me a little at first, but it was probably a blessing for us. I think we were all a little giddy and ready to blow off some steam, and we had a really good set. It would have been nice for him to have seen it, but had he been there, it probably wouldn't have been as good.

I have a theory about an interesting phenomenon that occured last night. After the show, several audience members mentioned Lorne Michaels being there, asked us if we knew, if we were nervous, etc. They all seemed very excited about it. I had noticed that the crowd last night was very responsive and appreciative, and I wondered if it was because they knew SNL was there. If somehow they had, consciously or not, allied themselves with us and decided to help us out. I'd like to think that's the case.

I'll close with this. My fellow cast member Maribeth put it very nicely last night: it's wonderful to be at a point in your career where the producer of Saturday Night Live is coming you watch just you and five other people perform for two hours. I'll take it.

Still Standing

It's been awhile, and for that I apologize. I have a feeling this blog may turn into an account of my celebrity dealings, so I'll start with this week's highlights. Monday night I was a panelist in The Improv Match Game, as I am every week. Rich and Peter Gwinn had created this show, based on the 70's game show, a few years back, and Rich revived it just before I left for the cruise. It's fun. Come see it. Anyway, this week's guest panelists certainly gave me cause for concern: Tim Kazurinsky and Dave Pasquesi. Both Second City alums, both of various movies and general comedy fame. I had met both of them before, and to my delight and surprise, they either remembered me or chose to make me think they did. Either is fine. The show was a lot of fun; I sat next to Dave and he and I made jokes to each other, and I didn't pass out. So I consider that a success.

Later in the week, the wife of Illinois Senator Barak Obama was in the Mainstage audience. This may not seem terribly significant if you haven't seen the show, but Claudia Wallace does a song about how much she likes Barak Obama - politically and slightly lustfully. Apparently Mrs. Obama thought the song was great and called her husband at intermission to tell him about it. She met Claudia after the show and said she was going to bring him back to see it.

In other news, I got a new cell phone, which so far is working out very well.

Have a good week, everybody.

Before the Daily Show...

In the mid-eighties there was a show on HBO called Not Necessarily the News. It was a half-hour news parody, and also the birthplace of Rich Hall's Sniglets. For younger readers out there, or those who, unlike me, weren't tuning in to news parodies when they were 9-years-old, Sniglets are made up words that fill some word void for common occurences or phenomena in everyday life. Oh, I just remembered Rich Hall's more succinct definition: "Any word that should be in the dictionary, but isn't." An easy example: the goo that accumulates on the floor of a movie theatre is called "cinemuck." A more advanced one: the ability to shake out exactly the right number of pills from a bottle is "asperbayerperpairperfection." I think a lot of them were sent in by viewers, and there were several books published.

This is the long way to tell you that last night Danny Breen, Second City and Not Necessarily the News alumnus, watched our improv set, along with fellow Second City alum Audrie Neenan. Audrie came back and introduced herself afterwards, and a few of the cast went out to meet Danny, but, not knowing if he would be interested in talking about his show from 20 years ago, I stayed back. Dumb, I know. I wouldn't call that a bonafide celebrity breakdown, but more a celebrity cop out.

Anyway, that show was funny. How about a DVD?

Having our cake

If you know me, you know that the way to my heart is through icing.

Tonight when I went backstage, there were two boxes of cupcakes that Tony Hale left for us, along with a very nice note. A class act, I say! Now, just because it's been done once, don't feel like you, Erdmania reader, can't also send some cupcakes our way. They will never be turned down.

Wins and Losses

I didn't think I'd be reporting such an incident so soon, but my first Mainstage Celebrity Encounter happened this evening. The subject: Tony Hale, who plays Buster on Arrested Development. Now, that's one of my favorite shows in years, so you might think that would have been cause for a super freak-out on my part, but I really did ok, I think. He came backstage with his friend right after the show, and couldn't have been nicer or more complimentary. We asked him to play the improv set and he was reluctant at first, but we talked him into it. He had never done any improv before, but he really did great under the circumstances. And we assured him the audience was on his side, which was true. He says he wants to come back in July when he's in town with his wife (back off, ladies!), which would be great if it's true. And it would be great if he'd bring the rest of the Arrested Development cast with him. If you don't watch the show, you should. Go rent season 1 right now. Right now I say!

In sadder news, there's been an incident involving our bird family. I looked out this morning, and all the eggs were gone except for one open one, and there's nothing else in the nest. I think something was wrong anyway, since it had been about 17 days and nothing had happened, which I still may chalk up to my huge face in the window scaring the mother away. I know I run out of my bed whenever that enormous evil bird face looks in my window.