Okay, I want to talk about this a bit, since both rounds of UCB Harold auditions are done.

My improv group Thank You, Robot is celebrating our 3rd anniversary as a team this week here:

For almost two years now, Thank You, Robot’s sole regular gig has been as hosts of our show Summer Fridays at Under St. Marks Theater. We took the slot over from the dearly departed UCB Harold teams fwänd and Tantrum, and I like to think we’ve done a pretty good job of holding down a prime-time slot at one of the highest profile non-school improv theaters in the city (was that a lot of qualifiers?). Our very first show as a team was on that stage, and in fact, at a fwänd/Tantrum show. We performed a La Ronde, a form where the opening involves a revolving cycle of two quick scenes for each performer as a specific character, then the remainder of the show pushing those characters together into scenes. Both teams did a really great job of making us feel like we BELONGED there. That we were there for the final Tantrum show, in June 2008, which ALSO took place in that slot, was an honor for us.

We like to believe we put on the type of show that doesn’t happen at other indie venues. Of course, none of that would be possible without the help of other people.

Katey Healy-Wurzburg has been our tech person for the entire run of our show. That someone would be as dedicated to a show that doesn’t have much to offer back as she has is a gift that we don’t take lightly. She’s really great at calling shows as well. There have been times where we wanted to get one or two more moves in before the blackout, but I think that just means we’ve been doing OUR job well, because there are shows where her blackouts are mercy killings. She has a sharp eye for what works and what doesn’t work, and where the peak of tying together all our nonsense arrives. Her post-show notes are always great, and she does a tremendous job of keeping us prima donnas out of our heads after particularly bad shows. Summer Fridays wouldn’t be what they are without her.

Heidi and the staff at Under St. Marks have also done a great job of tolerating us and keeping our audiences well-lubricated. That they have been patient with us throughout some behind the scenes messes we’ve created, and still allowed us to have this show, is nothing short of incredible. Heidi, in particular, has come through for us on many occasions, and thankfully has enough screws loose that she’s asked us to work with her on other shows that Horse Trade (the company that owns USM) puts on.

We’ve lost members over the last three years, which always left me in a state of panic, assuming that whichever person leaving was going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, bringing down the team. That this has never happened is wonderful. Again, thanks to the members of TYR for not letting my madness drag you down. That we’ve been together for three years as a team, with no backing from any theater group, is something I’m damn proud of.

Finally, I just want to say thanks to the other members of the New York improv community. Thanks for making TYR feel like we belong. Thanks for coming out to our shows. Thanks for sticking around afterwards. Thanks for laughing with us when things go well, and thanks for the accurate assessments when things don’t. Thanks for asking us to do shows. Thanks for telling other people about us. Thanks for making the members of this team feel like we have a skill to do something about which we’re all so passionate. Thanks for just being a great goddamn group of people. The difference between the stand-up community and the improv community is STAGGERING, and stand-ups could learn a fucking thing or two about support from you guys. I hope you can all celebrate with us tonight.

My improv group Thank You, Robot is celebrating our 3rd anniversary as a team this week here:

Each day this week I will be talking about a different member of the group, and why I love them as performers. Today: John Robert Wilson.

JR is, in my mind, a wildcard, and I mean that in the best way possible.

JR posing as his character from UCBW. In his head is only one word – “GAMECUBE!”

When people say ‘wildcard’ in improv, they often use it with a negative connotation, and I think that may be because often people who play wildly can’t back it up. The reason their crazy, hilarious idea or character is often found wanting is because that person doesn’t have the skills to keep it focused. Not JR. He creates stuff out of left field, because he initiates first, then lets his mind catch up to what he’s doing. He trusts himself that he can deliver on whatever he’s promised the audience in that first or second line, and he’s right to do so, because he can.

He also is never NOT having fun on stage. He will make himself Swamp Thing in a scene, just because. He revels in the idea that you can create anything in improv as long as you sell it, which is why you will often see him as some type of mad scientist, wizard, mythological monster, or…well, Swamp Thing. It’s infectious and exciting. So often, we get bogged down by all the notes and instruction we’re given and forget that this is supposed to be fun. JR reminds me of that all the time.

Even though he always has fun, JR is also dedicated to working hard at improving. I believe that performing is fun, but it’s much more fun when you’re GOOD AT IT, and I know JR feels the same way. When we practice, he’s usually the first person to volunteer for whatever exercise we’re doing, even if we’ve never seen it before. Even during practices where we all feel like we’re failures as performers, JR is still the first one to bounce back and try again. That also goes a long way towards keeping me out of my own head, which is where I often find myself if I am not sleeping and am still breathing.

The guy is also one of the best straight men I’ve worked with. When he plays straight man, he’s hilariously unflappable. Once in a scene, he was, apropos of little else in the scene, accused of hoarding hobgoblins in his basement. His reaction was, dead faced, “guilty as charged.” He then launched into his sane reasoning for doing so, which made enough sense that I wanted to get a basement and some hobgoblins later.

If I had to sum him up in three words, they’d be: wildcard, fun, dedicated.

If I had to sum him up in three songs, they’d be these (right click to save):
The Rentals – Waiting
Lo-Fidelity Allstars – Cattleprod
Das Racist – Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (Wallpaper. RMX)

Visit JR on the web:
www.johnrobertwilson.com

My improv group Thank You, Robot is celebrating our 3rd anniversary as a team this week here:

Each day this week I will be talking about a different member of the group, and why I love them as performers. Today: Jeremy Bent.

I will posit this: the only reason Jeremy Bent hasn’t taken over the world is either because it’s not worth it to him, or he is just that benevolent.

Jeremy (front) rocking “Brandy” by Looking Glass, backed by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. For reals! He was so good, Ted kicked himself out of the band, and they’re now known as Jeremy Leo and the Pharmacists.

The guy is BRILLIANT. If there were types of letters that emphasis harder than caps, I’d use them. He is unflappable, and knows something about everything. I always know that I can discuss whatever I so choose on stage with him, and that he will not only react but add to it with some nugget of info that I didn’t even know. If you’ve never done improv before, you have NO IDEA how satisfying that feels to have someone that knowledgeable on your side. It comes from the fact that, at any one time, Jeremy is involved in 18 different things at once. Seriously, dude is a renaissance man.

He’s also great at tying our insanity together. Where we’re a bunch of flapping walruses onstage, silently panicking about what we’re doing, he pulls it together with one line. Jeremy sees the logic in whatever is happening, and grounds it in a way that doesn’t take the fun out of what is happening, but instead makes it more relatable, and thus, more interesting.

For as logical as he can play, he also knows how to make a scene explode right out of the gate. His initiations are always clear, dynamic, fun, and exciting. When he steps out and starts a scene with someone else, I find myself cursing the fact that I’m not in that scene, because it looks like so much damn, simple fun. He once started a scene, where someone else came out holding their arm, by revving a chainsaw and saying “that’s why they call me Dr. Chainsaw!” I was squatting in the corner, out of breath from laughter. I know that’s a “you had to be there” moment, but goddamn, I’m glad I’m there any time he performs.

If I had to sum him up in three words, they’d be: brilliant, kinetic, exciting.

If I had to sum him up in three songs, they’d be these (right click to save):
Julian Casablancas – Out of the Blue
Ted Leo – Me And Mia
Talking Heads – Lifetime Piling Up

Visit Jeremy on the web:
goodsongsbadlyrics.tumblr.com

My improv group Thank You, Robot is celebrating our 3rd anniversary as a team this week here:

Each day this week I will be talking about a different member of the group, and why I love them as performers. Today: Seth Lind.

I want you to think of something really strange and funny to say. Something off-the-wall. Got it? It’s still not as clever or creative as whatever Seth will come up with the next time he opens his mouth.

Seth once spent a month doing undercover work in the 1930s as a zoot suit salesman to make his olde-tymey characters more believable.

Seth loves introducing high concepts to the stage, but he doesn’t just abandon them. Most people want to drop some type of clever bomb on their scene partners and the audience, then panic and back off, leaving everyone with a limp scene about the aftermath of a cool thing that happened. Seth knows how to not only knock you back with the way his mind works, but also is fully capable of pulling you in to the world he created. He once made me a sorority girl, and himself a dragon, and made me give him a blowjob on stage. Not only did it work and make sense, but it was hilarious.

I get both excited and intimidated to be on stage with him, because I literally never know what’s going to come out of his mouth next. He often starts his characters with some type of physicality, and if his shoulders hunch, or he shifts his body weight down slightly before he opens his mouth, prepare yourself to see and hear something you have never seen or heard before. Seriously, his physicality is awesome. Dude finds ways to make standing still look interesting. He may be my favorite member of the team to sit back and watch from the back line, because I am always surprised, and always laughing when he is performing.

Regardless of how offbeat his characters can be, they’re always honest. He’s versatile, too. He is perfectly capable of playing an incredible straight man, reacting in real and honest ways to whatever bullshit you (meaning ME) might spew out. He isn’t odd for odd’s sake; in fact, there is always a logic to how he is behaving in scenes. That’s what pulls you in, and it’s what makes you want to see more.

If I had to sum him up in three words, they’d be: madgenius (yes, one word), honest, hilarious.

If I had to describe Seth in three songs, they would be these (right click to save):
The Dirtbombs – Chains of Love
Against Me! – Up The Cuts
The Avett Brothers – Kick Drum Heart

My improv group Thank You, Robot is celebrating our 3rd anniversary as a team this week here:

Each day this week I will be talking about a different member of the group, and why I love them as performers. Today: Chris Scott.

I have been very lucky.

For all the bitching and whining I do about my life, I do understand the areas in which I have been actually hit with the luck stick and been allowed to be a part of something special. One of those places has been improv. About 3 and a half years ago I met some of the best performers I’ve ever had the privilege of taking the stage with. To have been lucky enough to be swept up in their madness and allowed to be a member of what became Thank You, Robot was one of the best gifts I’ve ever been given. These guys have been some of my closest friends in comedy. We’ve all pushed each other, and helped each other grow, made each other more confident as performers, and more daring as an ensemble. A lot of people that try to do comedy either go at it alone or fall in with petty people who have NO ONE’s best interests at heart. I’m proud to say that neither has ever been the case with this group, especially not Chris Scott.

Chris, serving up gifts even when he’s NOT on stage.

Chris has an amazing energy on stage, like a spring constantly extending and recoiling. He is capable of creating reserved, thoughtful characters that have the type of insight you THINK you have until you actually try to play like him and realize you don’t. On the flipside, he can also be a bounding ball of energy, screaming and hollering and exploding with emotion. My favorite characters to see him play are pompous assholes that are so confident in their meager skillset that you sit on the edge of your seat waiting for their world to fall apart around them. I believe Will Farrell and Adam McKay call that character type the “mediocre man.”

None of this means anything, though, if it doesn’t make SENSE, and that’s something that Chris makes happen when he steps out. He sees the stage like he’s not on it, knowing what needs to be clarified, and what needs to be blown out. Then, he serves up the simplest moves that not only make the scene make sense to YOU as a performer on stage, but to the audience as well. Kids, if you ever want to perform with someone that will make YOU look like a genius on stage, call Chris.

The only time I’m ever uncomfortable onstage is when I’m performing with people who hesitate, and that is something that Chris has NEVER done. He is balls out, unafraid, and revels in whatever is taking place at the moment. He shares the POV that I do – if you’re gonna do something onstage, SELL IT. This thinking has actually found us making out for reals on stage in more than one show (you’re welcome, ladies). It has also, however, found him doing scenes where he is unafraid to break down emotionally, to actually be a vulnerable character, which most people have trouble doing because you have to make yourself a lot more open than most are comfortable with.

If I had to sum him up in three words, they’d be: fearless, committed, and honest.

If I had to sum him up in three songs, they’d be these ones (right click to save):
Fang Island – Daisy
Alphabeat – Fascination
Los Campesinos – This Is How You Spell “HAHAHA, We Destroyed The Hopes And Dreams Of A Generation Of Faux-Romantics”

Visit Chris on the web:
twangofthevoid.blogspot.com
chrisreblogs.tumblr.com
obamarama.tumblr.com

*NOTE: I’m breaking this into parts, to make for less one-time reading, and to make it look like I’m really updating. This is also pretty self-indulgent, but I tend to reflect and reevaluate when I hit milestones like this. Anyway, let’s begin.*

Earlier this month, I passed the 6 year mark of chasing comedy as a career goal. Two weeks after graduating from college in 2003, after doing stand-up about 6 times in college, I went to the Pittsburgh Improv for an open mic night with the specific goal of that being the jump-off point, the very first step in what I knew would be a very, VERY long road. Herein, I’ll be looking back at what I’ve done, what I should have done, where I am, and what I still need to do.

All through my life, I knew I wanted to be an entertainer, but I didn’t really know how to do that or what it entailed. To be honest, I still barely know. I denied that a lot, because I grew up in an area where people didn’t do “entertainment industry” as a career choice. Beaver County wasn’t a place where dreams grew, it was a place where dreams rusted out, then you got someone pregnant and eventually taught yourself to hide your seething animosity for your own place in life. It wasn’t until I was hanging out with a girlfriend in college that I said I wanted to be a comedian, and she turned to me and said “yeah, I can totally see that.” That was all the validation I needed, because she’d trusted me enough to let me fuck her, so I knew she believed in me.