Apparently I'm a pillar of Chicago comedy! Who knew? Thanks to Chicago Tribune Chilarious blogger (and my pal) Cameron Esposito for the nice tribute!
Bryan and his Blewt pals resurrected Don't Spit the Water for two Just For Laughs festival shows at the Playground Theater, and I was front and center dutifully manning my camera. Yes, that meant my feet got spit on several times. Ew! Some of our friends who have split for LA and New York came back to reprise some of their best (most ridiculous) characters, and the night was SO FUN. These are my favorite pics from the 10:30 show.
Fuzzy Gerdes as a giant scary banana:
Kristen Studard and Chip Aucoin of the Chicago Sashay Dancers (boy, those kids have moxie!):
Sasha (Steve Gadlin) and the Noob (Paul Luikhart):
Bryan Bowden's grand entrance as Timekeeper Willis - he does a mean sprinkler, no?:
Erica Reid (as Cutie Bumblesnatch) will poke you with a toothbrush, if that's what it takes:
Jared Logan, as Kelly Paynes, knows not where the boundaries of propriety are:
The awesomely nutbar (and equally lovable) Puterbaugh Sisterz:
Jared Logan, as Kelly Paynes, doesn't know when to stop:
Nick Vatterott, as The Interrogator, will get the information he needs from you!:
Chuckle, chuckle, chuckle:
Special guest comedian, back from Los Angeles, Robert Buscemi:
Dancing at the end of the show, to celebrate the winner (yeah, that's Cutie Bumblesnatch's idea of "exhuberant":
Bryan and his Blewt pals resurrected Don't Spit the Water for two Just For Laughs festival shows at the Playground Theater, and I was front and center dutifully manning my camera. Yes, that meant my feet got spit on several times. Ew! Some of our friends who have split for LA and New York came back to reprise some of their best (most ridiculous) characters, and the night was SO FUN. These are my favorite pics from the 8:00 show.
A contestant tries to resist the comedic powers of Choco Loco (aka T.J. Miller, in from LA):
The absurd and pathetic-but-endearing Chicago Sashay Dancers:
Sasha and the Noob (Steve Gadlin and Paul Luikart) try out their razor sharp knock-knock jokes:
Ken Barnard, as Krystle Strawbury, tries to charm a contestant into spitting:
...then he takes a more aggressive approach as Krystle turns into a mermaid:
Potty-mouthed cowboy Scot Goodheart (with Bryan keeping time in the background) whips out some power ballads to coax some soggy chuckles:
Bryan Bowden, as Timekeeper Willis, explains that one of that night's prizes is an autographed picture of himself, which he thinks is the greatest thing ever:
The end: darn you, Mr. Pickles!
Chicago comedy is still recovering a bit from the week of awesome that was the Just For Laughs festival. Big names came in, and lots of our local pals (including 4-5 of my show's cast) got some stage time at some fantastic showcases. After the two super fun Don't Spit the Water shows Saturday night (pics to come, see 'em on Flickr sans commentary if you want), a bunch of us rode up the street to iO, where they were having a special reunion show for the Late Night Late Show.
The Del Close theater was packed full of more people I've ever seen in there before, with extra rows of chairs in front of the stage and bar. Everyone was excited about the show's special guest, Bob Odenkirk - except he didn't show up, but David Cross was there instead! He was really cool and (of course) funny. He did a recurring bit where the host would ask him to tell the audience what his upcoming book was about (or whatever), and he'd go up and down the rows, briefly explaining it to every individual person. He did it several times and the audience was nerding out at the concept of David Cross interacting with them. When he got to me, he described Arrested Development by saying "It was a show, with people, and comedy..." then he moved on.
Another special guest, for whom the audience woo'd and cheered like mad, was Sarah Haskins, Chicago native and writer/star of the excellent, excellent "Target Women" videos on Current tv. So smart and funny, and so nice. I interviewed her for the Bastion awhile back, and said a quick hello to her right before the show started. After three comedy shows in one night, and knowing I'd need to spend all of the following Sunday writing, I started to wind down at 1:30 am and left the show before it was over, heading home on my bike. Bryan stuck around and ended up joining Sarah and a bunch of our mutual friends for a spontaneous party until the wee hours of the morning. Of course! I always miss all the fun. Anyway, some of my pics:
Sarah Haskins and Steve Waltien:
Seth Weitberg and David Cross:
Seth Weitberg, David Cross, and Jordan Klepper:
And, just for fun, one of my favorite Target Women videos:
Spending many hours learning Final Cut Pro. MANY hours. So far, I have 17 cool seconds to show for it. Whaddya think? For once I'm editing something that actually has me in it, although it's only a still photo. Also, I needed a cool, fuzzed out clip of someone performing stand-up to put under the early part, so I snuck in some boyfriend footage. Sweet.
So I've been doing a lot of not-blogging lately. It's a hip, new, transgressive form of blogging. Ha, just kidding. Yeah, my habits around here have changed, and I thought I'd take a few minutes to address that, if only for my own sake. Why am I not blogging much these days? Maybe some of the same reasons you're blogging less.
For one thing, technology has changed. These newfangled things called Facebook and Twitter began to surpass some of the socially connecting qualities of blogging, and if the point of blogging is to share ideas and media with like-minded people, Facebook and Twitter are actually better, in some ways, although I don't think that obviates the need for a longer-form outlet like blogs. Lord knows I will probably keep this damn thing up and running for years and years, through countless masthead redesigns, and, morbid a thought though it may be, it will probably outlive me. But in the meantime, I'm having a lot of fun with these new communications toys like TwitPic, which lets me liveblog or tweet right from my cell phone, using my fun new camera phone to document life's little moments.
What else? Things have been getting busier. Comedy stuff has been snowballing, and opportunities for creative collaboration and more sophisticated video work have been popping up all over the place. I've been reinventing myself and thinking even harder about what I'm doing, what I want to do, where I fit in best, how I can best use my talents to create art and make a life for myself, blah blah. It feels a little weird to be publicly musing about stuff I haven't totally figured out yet.
Also, I've been dealing with some personal changes, good and bad, mostly good. For one thing, I am now the proud owner of a chronic illness, which has taken me most of the winter and spring to adjust to. I'd rather not get into too many details, but I'll say that that while it's not a health-threatening condition, per se, but it has been incredibly uncomfortable and psychologically straining at times. Since seeing a specialist and getting treatment, I am much, much, much better, and, gratefully, feeling mostly normal most of the time, but it's taken what seems like a long time. Also, there's the usual family/friends/significant other stuff happening, which is great, but personal changes like this require a lot of quiet reflection, and, again, largely of the kind that I don't want to make public.
And, my final excuse, I am kinda bored hearing myself yammer on about things! One thing I like about the writing that I do for a living is being able to thoroughly investigate something or someone, tell an amazing story, and leave myself completely out of it. That's what I'm finding myself doing more and more with comedy, and that's the way I like it. For now, at least.
Blah blah blah, now on with the brief picture posts and other sorry excuses for blogging. See ya around!
