As always: Energy. Support. Energy.

A couple weeks ago I was up at the New York Musical Improv Festival with the improvised-rap group Yo Gloria! And we had a pretty good set.  After the show I got a compliment about a segment of the show. I was told that it was great when I kept yelling something over and over again (yeesh, that might be part of the style). As usual, after a show I completely forget what I just did. So I started to talk with this guy about what moment that was, and I rattled off some of the more (to me) clever things that I did during the show. Nope, nope and nope. We couldn't figure it out.

One the way back to Pittsburgh I think I realized what he was talking about. It was the end of a scene and I got into a huge call and response with the team (repeating the word hologram: HOLO! GRAM!).

 It wasn't a character line, it wasn't a joke, it wasn't really anything except us all pouring everything we had into one tiny idea.

I fuzzily recall an applause break after that too. It was a great moment of enthusiasm and team commitment. It was a bold-faced expression of group mind. And now that I think back on it,  that's exactly the kind of magic I see all the time in the shows I especially love (hi, The LuPones!)

And a little humbling to realize that one of the most memorable parts of the show for this guy wasn't us "being funny" or doing something really clever with the world, or acting the shit out of character, but us simply being big and supportive.

Rein in the People

Last weekend the sketch show that I was deeply (and to the distraction of a lot of other stuff) involved in went up for its two show run. The show was called Rein in the People and it was a stressful, scary, and incredibly fun to do. I haven't done sketch show.... well really ever ... and it was a great stretch to try a staged show after years of improv. Boy, preparation is hard. 

Some small observations:

• I was lucky that RitP had all excellent improvisers as the cast. As we ran through scripts it was fascinating to see characters that were only briefly sketched (I'm, err, a very  novice writer) in the script gain depth and nuance. It helped me understand how to write better, watching how things evolved in the moment. 
• The ideas I had that were the dumbest sounding to me ended up being some of the most fun ones. One sketch in particular I thought was way too just-makes-me-laugh, but it ended up going over really well. Never know what'll hit, just throw it out there. 
• You have to, have to, have to have a good tech person. Thank god for Aaron Tarnow.

It was a pleasure and privilege to work with everyone on it.  I already miss it!