Midnight Maddness!

Midnight premiers are one of my favorite communal experiences.  It’s not often you get to sit down with like minded people who are all super fans of the same thing.  There is a heightened sense of excitement and enthusiasm in the room, especially when the film lives up to all expectations.  I recently had the opportunity to watch all 5 Avengers movies in a row leading up to the premier of The Avengers.  That may have been my all time favorite movie going experiences, the excitement and suspense in the room was palpable to all in attendance.

When you get to the end of a Broadway musical or a live performance there is typically applause, something you generally do not see in a movie theater.  At the end of most midnight premiers there is a loud applause when the movie is finished.  I think this is an ovation to all of the people who worked hard to put that film together.  It’s also apart of the fun communal experience everyone feels when something spectacular is seen.  It’s moments like these that bind us together, and make us feel apart of the whole.

I have seen several midnight premiers, and then gone to see the movie in theaters again a few days or weeks later.  I can tell you the midnight experience is much more fun then any of those later experiences.  There is a higher level of reaction by audience members, be it through laughter at just the right times or cheering when the protagonist makes just the right move!  The times I have gone to a repeat showing I have often been let down by the audience, which completely changes the movie going experience.  Sometimes it even gives me a different perspective on the film, and there is often a let down in what was so magical the first time around.

If you have not been there you need to go, positive emotions truly form great impacts on the world.  With regards to how we feel, our outlook on life, and the success of an improv scene; midnight premiers is one place in the real world where you can find a definite outflow of positive emotions.  The summer season is just beginning, and I will take in at least one more midnight showing when the batman returns to the big screen, and I can promise one thing on that night, a positive and highly eclectic movie going experience.

Marvel at the Avengers

Time to get back at it for another summer.  Every year when summer blockbuster season comes around, I feel like a little kid waiting for Christmas.  I just love heading to the theater eating popcorn, and just taking in the magic of blockbuster fun.  As with past posts, my summer reviews will be a bit shorter, and I don’t plan on doing that typical movie review stuff.  I hope to make some connections to improv and then write a summary paragraph with a little rating on a scale of 1-5 stars.  Enjoy my reviews, and I would love to hear if you agree and disagree with my thoughts!

There was no better way to start off this summer then with The Avengers. The build up for this movie has been a long time coming, and I have been exceedingly impressed with what Marvel, now thorough Disney has done in building this franchise.  I actually went to a movie marathon of all the previous films leading up to the midnight premier, and it was really great to see how all of these movies were intertwined and building into one film.  When improvisers perform a harold the ultimate goal is to create a complete piece where the characters intertwine at the end in unexpected ways.  I felt like that is what this movie was, the last beats of a harold, the place where we get to see what happens when all of these characters happening in well-defined separate worlds collide and need to interact.

This film was also hilarious.  You can imagine Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man just making fun of other super heroes and how funny that would be, but that was only part of it.  I found this movie to be very funny through out, even when we get to the action orientated all out war climax scene.  This movie also presented several moments to clap in happiness at the action occurring on screen, this could have been exacerbated by the fact I was with about 100 people who spent fifteen hours in one theater together, and I like to clap!  Either way I feel like I need to go back and watch this film again to catch some of the lines stated after those break out moments.

If there was any lacking issue in this film it was the character development.  You can imagine we didn’t see much of it, because there were only 10 different main characters to deal with.  To me this wasn’t an issue, because in improv land we don’t necessarily focus on the plot heavy development of scenes, but more about pushing the action forward, and if this film had anything it was a crazy build up of momentum constantly pushing forward.  I would also like to confess, I am definitely not a Hulk fan, especially with the two films produced in the build up to The Avengers.  Alas, I think the Hulk got the most character development in this film, and I enjoyed him the most.  Maybe it was because there was a limit on the amount of time he was on camera snarling, but it was also because this is the first time we really saw Bruce Banner able to control “the other guy” on screen, and I think that is a crucial development point to make his character more enjoyable.

Overall, this film was awesome.  For me it lived up to all the hype and the year’s long development.  It seemed like everyone else loved it also, as it made the most money all time for an opening weekend.  Now my secret hope is The Dark Knight Rises can over take that as my most anticipated movie this summer.  The Avengers was fun, fast paced, funny, and action packed, everything you could want in a super, super hero movie.  Make sure you wait until after the credits for the second secret scene, it was amazing, and something I feel like had to come out of improvisation!  I also can’t wait to see the future of this franchise, I want more single hero films developed and then Avengers 2. Disney the fall is in your court not to mess this up!  (4 ½ out of 5 stars!)

TED: Charlie Todd: The shared experience of absurdity

This week’s TED is directly improv related.  Charlie Todd the founder of Improv Everywhere in New York City discusses his organizations goal of bringing fun, play, and positive shared experiences to public places.  I really love this quote by Todd describing the reason for his missions, “There is no point and there doesn’t have to be a point. We don’t need a reason. As long as it’s fun.”  I improv, because it allows me to play as an adult, and Todd backs me up on that idea in his talk.  So find a way to play today!

3AM Improv Thoughts by Jill Bernard

Check out this awesome video by Jill Bernard.  I took a workshop with Jill about two years ago, and she was so awesome and refreshing.  It’s reiterated in this video, but Jill definitely taught me to let go in my improv and to like what I did on stage.  It’s easy to always be judgmental while I was in the moment improvising, and especially once I got off stage.  Thanks to Jill, I let that go, at least a little bit!

Need Improv

I have been out of the improv game for 51 days, and each moment seems like an aching pain to my body.  While I was living in North Carolina and more specifically for the last year, I have been doing improv in some form or another about five nights a week.  To get out of the game cold turkey as I moved across the country has been a hard transition to make.  While the wheels are slowly starting to turn in the direction of reintroducing improv into my life, here are my thoughts on why I need improv.

We live in a world of no, and sometimes negativity comes along with that.  In the everyday world we hear the same old answers ad nauseam, “there is not enough money in the budget, it can’t be done, that won’t work.”  While living in that world on the everyday, it is so nice to walk into a place where you know that every single option put on the table will be accepted and heightened! “Yes and,” invigorating and refreshing to the soul!

Improv is journey taken together.  When you and your scene partner are on stage, you have to be going in the same direction, even if it doesn’t appear that way to the audience.  Whatever the adventure put forth, there needs to be an acceptance of that is where the scene is going.  Sometimes that doesn’t happen in the real world, hey lets go here this weekend, doesn’t always end up being a cool trip planned and implemented.  The journey wanted and needed!

The ultimate creative outlet, at least for me!  As you can tell from this blog, I am a bit of a nerd when it comes to creativity.  I thrive on it, my way of life.  I was recently on the phone with a college friend and I was talking about creativity.  She said with the most direct of tone, “you certainly are creative!”  I have come to learn I am great with the idea generation, but not necessarily the details on making it happen.  In the real world I need to live in those moments of creativity, and then get down to business.  In improv it’s the other way around, I need to get down to business, and then be endlessly creative!

Being a bit goofy!  I love to be goofy, weird, sarcastic, and a little crazy.  Something else I need to really temper in the real world.  It makes people uncomfortable and question your validity, especially when you are the boss.  I need to be goofy, and that is where the improv outlet helps me the most.  I love scenic, game based scenes, and I think they are even better when it feels true to life.  But, I love myself a good scene that goes to crazy town!

Wow, it felt good to get that out. I have been feeling a bit of angst recently, and this was my diagnosis!    Now the hard part, making the improv happen!

Mister Diplomat

On February 22nd, I had the honor of being the guest monologist for Mister Diplomat.  This is the headline show at DSI where some of our top improvisers play scenes based off of stories told by local celebrities.  It was so fun to tell some of my stories, and then see how the team used the different details to play their scenes!  Enjoy the show!

As Del Lay Dying

Image of Del Close from improvcomedy.org

Del Close is considered by many to be the father of modern improv.  He created the harold which is the most widely performed improv format.  He worked to create improv into the art form it is today.  On of my harold coaches always pushed us to have the theme of our show be artistic and a commentary on life.  As we were pushing to do those types of harolds I always felt that is probably what Del always wanted.

Sunday marked the anniversary of the day Del died in 1999 at a Chicago hospital.  Here is a link to a short little article by the Chicago Reader, which chronicles the last couple days of Del’s life.  The article is an excerpt from the book by Kim “Howard” Johnson, The Funniest One in the Room: The Lives and Legends of Del Close (Chicago Review Press).

I have come to love improv for many reasons, the art of creating something from scratch in a collaborative environment, the art form, a place to comment on the world, its fun(ny), but I think mostly because it is a supportive place to create.  That place I don’t think we find many other places in the world, but we find it on the improv stage.  And I think that is all summed up in this quote by the master!

“And tell them all that we succeeded where others have failed. We created Theater of the Heart, a theater where people cherish each other to succeed onstage. Tell the students, Theater of the Heart.”

Ladies Night 2/24/2012

Check out this video of one of my last shows at the DSI Comedy Theater.  I sat in with Ladies Night an awesome improv, stand up, and storytelling comedy show by all female comedians, except for me on my last weekend!  Enjoy!

Perfect Endings

The DSI Comedy Theater in the snow after the last show of the 2012 NCCAF!

The last two weeks of my life have been an improv explosion of awesomeness, which is probably a pretty good thing since my next foray onto the stage might not be for a while.  With improv week of the North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival and the next weekend featuring several shows where I got to perform in a bunch of them as a sendoff, who could ask for anything more.  I would say a pretty picture perfect ending to my DSI improv career.

During the North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival I got to run tech on the main stage, which was a pretty awesome responsibility.  I was pulling the lights on some impressive acts including: teams from Boston, New York and Chicago, featuring Armando Diaz, Emo Philliips, Death By Roo Roo and Dual Exhaust.  Signaling the end of a show while not on stage can be a pretty tough task, it’s an art form and a philosophy onto itself.  There is always the worry did I pull it too soon, and the improvisers had a great button up their sleeve, or did I let it go on too long and missed the biggest laugh.

While there were some I felt good about there were others when I questioned myself, but all of them seemed to be at the right moment in the end.  In the middle of my set I did receive some encouraging words about calling shows and making whatever moment you choose the right moment.  If you miss an out, and can also bet the cycle will repeat itself and in another 3-4 minutes there will be another button to call your black out.  The proudest moment of the night came during the Roo Roo number.  First of all, Roo Roo put on a master class performance, which certainly makes the calling of a show easier.  The moment came around where we had reached back to an opening bit from the set, and I made the signal to pull the lights.  Seconds later I looked down to see a text from the festival director that said, “now.”  Vindication on the highest level, it was pretty perfect!

I also got some picture perfect endings on the stage.  The next weekend I got to perform in several shows, and was allowed to sit in with some of my favorite teams.  I loved hosting my two last Improv Slam shows, which feature short form improv, a specialty of mine.  I got to tell stories for Mr. Diplomat our headline show, and watching the headliners take my stories and turn them into scenes was such a fun experience.  Then I got to close it all down with my awesome harold team Omaha 9 performing our signature form, suggestion box.

But I must say, the ultimate moment of the end of my time in Carrboro came during the Giuseppe show, which is the high school team I have been coaching for the last couple months.  We had our festival show on Sunday night, and I decided to change up their montage opening the day before, to a warm up activity called Wizard’s Dual which they had been totally knocking out of the park.  My team then went on to do an awesome montage that they blacked out perfectly by brining the beginning and the suggestion back in the end.  I was just so proud to watch them perform at a higher level then where I received them, which is always great when life works out that way.

To top of that show, it’s a tradition for the team to run to the doors, and high five the audience as they leave.  The second they threw open the doors of the theater, snow was falling, a pretty rare event in North Carolina.  The excitement of screams they released at that moment was complete joy, and a pretty picture perfect ending to my time with them.  It’s always a lucky moment when the lights get called on the chapters of our lives at just the right moment.  While I am sad to be leaving North Carolina for a new adventure, I know that I am leaving at just the right moment!

Book Review: Say Yes And

Say Yes And By Avish Parashar

Week in and week out I preach the message of “yes and” on this blog.  It will change your life, it will take you to new places, and it will make you happier.  Recently, I received an advance copy of the book “Just Yes And” by Avish Parashar, and it was great to sit back and read a book walking right along my philosophy.  Following the improv theory about staying in the moment, Parashar encapsulates the idea of life being a series of moments where we get to navigate through with the positive movement of “yes and” or the not so positive outlook “yes but.”

This book clocks in at a solid 89 pages, highlighting one of its best attributes, the ease of reading.  I knocked it out on a flight from Chapel Hill to Chicago and felt like I had the time to take it all in.  The pages flowed quickly and the thoughts came rapidly, making it an enjoyable and thoughtful read.  This book focused on one main concept, changing from a “yes but,” to a “yes and” philosophy, which brings it to its greatest weakness a bit of repetitiveness along those lines.  On the flip side, it is great to really delve into one portion of your thoughts and theories. I recently took an improv workshop on initiatives, and we spend4 ½ hours just doing them, and boy did it push me to the limits of learning on that skill.

The crocks of the whole book highlights how Parashar shifted into the “yes and” mindset, highlighted by his first story.  Parashar was unwilling and uninterested in going to see his college improv comedy team perform, eventually a stubborn friend forced him there, and the rest was history, and his life was changed.  It is amazing how those small moments can sometime pass us by, and we might never walk down that path of unleashing a new life journey.

Some of the most important points highlighted the idea of how we “yes but” out of control, this lets us stay in our little bubble.  We “yes but” out of fear, because we are afraid to take the trip down the path less traveled.  In all of those instances the communication with ourselves is almost just as important as our communication with other people.  Parashar talks about how to “yes and” yourself a dilemma we all find ourselves in from time to time as the gateway to pushing the yes and philosophy into the outside world.

The part of this book that really made sense to me was the section starting on page 48 where Parashar discussed how to become a superstar.  He talked about Seth Goodin in the book, and this section particularly reminded me of my favorite book Linchpin by Goodin, but took it to the next level of inserting the “yes and” philosophy into those theories.  Parashar describes, “saying ‘yes and’ is how you get the reputation for reliability.  That is how you become a superstar.”

As with all philosophies there is the shadow side.  How do I become a “yes ander” and not become a push over, or become overwhelmed.  Parashar has some great antidotes to help with that also.  Each of his chapters feature simply described to do lists on how to take his ideas and put them into practice.  He also describes how, “being skilled in the art of redirection is not about being a pushover.  It’s about being one of those rare people who helps others get what they want while still getting what you want.”

Overall Say Yes And is an excellent little read, which takes the art of improvisational comedy and drops it into the modern world of work, family, and relationships.  A simple read that will put a positive spin on your current processes of getting things accomplished in an easier and more positive way.  The book is being released today February 28^th, and if you order through amazon today, you can submit your order number to receive $200 of downloadable bonuses.  Also check out Parashar’s website www.SayYesAnd.com for more information about the different services he offers.