IC No Shame 2/27/2009 aka super awesome night
We had a show and I'm calling it a super awesome night. We had some new performers and stuff. It made me happy.
Order in the comments
Order in the comments
posted by luke at 1:51 PM
Sunday, March 01, 2009
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23 Comments:
1) No Shame History Presents The Irish Potato Famine by James Shamrock Roth.
2) Wigger Syndrome by Josh Carlson
3) Karaoke Katharsis by Dick Roberts
3.5) Me is these Words by Matt Bovard
4) Luke and Eric do Improv
5) Publishmentarianism by Mirri
6) A Mortal Man in an Immortal World by Soren Olson
7) A Mortal Man in an Immortal World by Jkai Block
8) A Song by King Sophie
9) Soil; or a Candid Conversation among Men Trying Out for a Reality Dating Show by Jake Bellman
10) Death Manifesto by David Philips
11) Auction by Andrew J Daniels
12) He who Scalps Last Scalps Best by JC and KB
13) Scene 6: Oh Baby by Luke Christensen
14) Walt and Rufus...on desert islands surrounded by sharks. by Eli, but not really
15) Harry Potter Spoiler Alert by Eric Jesteadt
Also somewhere in the middle should be "Me"s stories about getting bested
I want to say that yes, this was a great show (with a full order!) and I hope all these people keep coming back!
1) No Shame History Presents The Irish Potato Famine by James Shamrock Roth.
Very well performed, excellent irish accents!
2) Wigger Syndrome by Josh Carlson
In case this came off the wrong way, I was making fun of all the stupid white kids who grew up in my hometown who were constantly trying to act like hoods. So if anyone was offended, my bad, but your bad too. And yes I know, right said fred is not rap.
3) Karaoke Katharsis by Dick Roberts
Takes balls to sing Billy Joel, wasn't it to it, but he gets respect from me on it.
4) Luke and Eric do Improv
Another good installment.
6) A Mortal Man in an Immortal World by Soren Olson
7) A Mortal Man in an Immortal World by Jkai Block
This to me was the skit of the night. Loved the words, loved the passion, would love to see them do it again.
8) A Song by King Sophie
Loved it.
9) Soil; or a Candid Conversation among Men Trying Out for a Reality Dating Show by Jake Bellman
Took me a while to get into it, which was what made it all the more funny in the end. Built up well.
10) Death Manifesto by David Philips
You need to be on tour doing standup. I would pay to hear you wander from topic to topic for an hour!
11) Auction by Andrew J Daniels
We were going to bid, but those dishes needed to be washed.
12) He who Scalps Last Scalps Best by JC and KB
Yeah, we sucked it up on this one.
14) Walt and Rufus...on desert islands surrounded by sharks. by Eli, but not really
This skit was worth sitting through only because hot crustaceans were in it.
This show rocked my socks off. By the way, Is anyone interested in running lights for a couple of shows? I will pay you personally like $5. I just haven't got to actually watch a show and not worry about lights for like a year now. I'll set them up. I just need someone to run the slider up and down and follow along in the scripts.
1) No Shame History Presents The Irish Potato Famine by James Shamrock Roth.
-This was cute. well done.
2) Wigger Syndrome by Josh Carlson
-I liked the idea behind this one. The delivery could have used a bit more energy. Also in the case of the "gold digger" line... if you feel awkward saying that word, then I would have cut the line.
3) Karaoke Katharsis by Dick Roberts
-enjoyed this, good job.
3.5) Me is these Words by Matt Bovard
-I love Bovard's stuff. Favorite was the "it was a wonderful day!" poem. The look in his face when he said that made me so very happy.
4) Luke and Eric do Improv
-This had some good moments... but overall kinda fell flat for me. Sorry guys.
5) Publishmentarianism by Mirri
-I enjoyed this one
6) A Mortal Man in an Immortal World by Soren Olson
7) A Mortal Man in an Immortal World by Jkai Block
-Really great. One of my favorites of the night. Rock on guys.
8) A Song by King Sophie
-LOVED LOVED LOVED this song. Fantastic job. Seriously... if you have a cd of this song or something... I would buy it. no joke. Please do more :)
9) Soil; or a Candid Conversation among Men Trying Out for a Reality Dating Show by Jake Bellman
-Who doesn't love poop jokes?
10) Death Manifesto by David Philips
-great standup. Amazing job. I would love to see more.
11) Auction by Andrew J Daniels
-Very cute. I was just pissed my friend expected me to pay for her piggyback ride.
12) He who Scalps Last Scalps Best by JC and KB
-There were some good ideas here... but I think the script could have used some work.
13) Scene 6: Oh Baby by Luke Christensen
-Don't really remember this one. Sorry.
14) Walt and Rufus...on desert islands surrounded by sharks. by Eli, but not really
-had some really good and funny moments... but it went on for too long. I think for improv maybe someone should time it so the actors can shoot for closer to 5 minutes?
15) Harry Potter Spoiler Alert by Eric Jesteadt
-This didn't really do it for me. I felt it was kinda repeating the Harry Potter Puppet Pals joke of just shooting Voldemort.
But to be fair this was a really long show and my attention span was kinda gone by this point... so I did space out for a chunk of it. I might have enjoyed this more had it been earlier in the show.
Also, Eli, if I am there next week I can run lights.
--Sammi
1) No Shame History Presents The Irish Potato Famine by James Shamrock Roth.
Good performances all around. The writing could have been just a little tighter, but quite good overall.
2) Wigger Syndrome by Josh Carlson
This one wore on a little too long for my taste. The doctor setup was a good frame for the jokes, but cutting a couple song references would have kept this one tight.
3) Karaoke Katharsis by Dick Roberts
I've always felt it takes courage to sing at No Shame, and I admire Dick for taking a risk like this. He needed to keep in time with the music and not rush though.
Note: The song Dick parodied was "Your Song" by Elton John.
3.5) Me is these Words by Matt Bovard
Reminiscent of Jesse Blaine's poetry. Overall, quite good, but I think doing one less poem would have kept the energy up throughout.
4) Luke and Eric do Improv
Yeah, I'm rusty. Luke was good as always, but I definitely needed more energy and better ideas.
5) Publishmentarianism by Mirri
I didn't care much for this one. I seem to recall Mirri (or perhaps Aprille Clarke) doing something like this a while back, and this version lacked energy.
6) A Mortal Man in an Immortal World by Soren Olson & 7) A Mortal Man in an Immortal World by Jkai Block
I really liked the concept of giving someone a title and letting them go with it. These were both very good poems and made me want to start writing poetry again. I think it's good when a piece inspires/challenges me to make my own stuff better. I hope these guys come back again.
8) A Song by King Sophie
Very pretty song. I enjoyed it.
9) Soil; or a Candid Conversation among Men Trying Out for a Reality Dating Show by Jake Bellman
I had a hard time keeping a straight face during this one. It was fun.
10) Death Manifesto by David Philips
This was an awesome piece. I loved the idea of staging the various obit photos and the wackiness of the situations that matched up with each one. I agree that this could have made a great standup routine. Good job, David.
11) Auction by Andrew J Daniels
This one went on too long. I hope Mirri actually got her dishes done.
12) He who Scalps Last Scalps Best by JC and KB
Could have been better.
13) Scene 6: Oh Baby by Luke Christensen
I hope I made a good middle-aged flaggelator.
14) Walt and Rufus...on desert islands surrounded by sharks. by Eli, but not really
Had some good moments but could have been better overall. Again, my improv skills are rusty. Eli did give us a planned ending, but we kind of ignored it and kept going on and on.
The pooping blood bit was inspired by actual events...
15) Harry Potter Spoiler Alert by Eric Jesteadt
This one was underwhelming because the concept has been overdone and this piece didn't offer any new spin on it.
"Me"s stories about getting bested
These were amusing stories, but I have to say it kind of irritates me when someone shows up five minutes before the show and wants to get in the order. The board has already put the order together in the way they think is best, and asking them to just stick something in at random can throw off the rhythm of the show as a whole. I have nothing against Me as a performer and don't want to discourage him from coming, but I find it a little disrespectful to show up last-minute on a night when the board actually had to cut pieces from the order.
All that said, it has been a long time since we had a show this full and with so much variety. I hope this is a sign of good things to come.
"The song Dick parodied was "Your Song" by Elton John."
D'oh! I thought that sounded wrong when I said Billy Joel.
Quick question to you vets. How much rehearsal do you guys do on your skits before the show? I try to get my QC crew to work on stuff a couple days before but they always put it off til the day of and I feel our timing is always off.
1) No Shame History Presents The Irish Potato Famine by James Shamrock Roth.
---So this was a really kind night opener. The accents were incredible and the skit had me laughing about 86% of the time...yeah somewhere around there.
2) Wigger Syndrome by Josh Carlson
---I may be a little biased on this one since I came with them, but I thought it was hilarious. Though Right Said Fred may not be rap- the mental image of josh strutting his stuff on a runway makes up for it.
3) Karaoke Katharsis by Dick Roberts
---I feel ya man. I feel ya.
3.5) Me is these Words by Matt Bovard
---Hahahahahahaha (enough 'has' ?) made me hahahahahahaha.
4) Luke and Eric do Improv
---This one started really strong. You two play off each other really well. Though, it ran really slow at the end which is understandable since it was improv, but you guys could have stopped at an early point.
5) Publishmentarianism by Mirri
---Corny is always good in small doses.
6) A Mortal Man in an Immortal World by Soren Olson
7) A Mortal Man in an Immortal World by Jkai Block
---These two pieces were, to me, the strongest of the night. Aside from the pieces being strong, it was incredibly interesting to compare your pieces. Both of you are strong poets with definite personalities that are very apparent in your writing, but at the same time there was also a definite coherency between the two pieces.
8) A Song by King Sophie
---If you have a CD, I will buy it.
9) Soil; or a Candid Conversation among Men Trying Out for a Reality Dating Show by Jake Bellman
---I wasn't really sure what was going on at first, but it was still really entertaining.
10) Death Manifesto by David Philips
---You. You. You. I would definitely pay to see you stand on a stage by yourself and talk. You kept me connected the entire time. :)
11) Auction by Andrew J Daniels
---I would have bid, really, but it would take you more than 30 minutes to drive to my house. :(
12) He who Scalps Last Scalps Best by JC and KB
---I had fun preforming this, but (I'm sorry Josh) it was better hearing about it than actually preforming it. Perhaps Bella Sara is too much of an inside joke.
13) Scene 6: Oh Baby by Luke Christensen
---You guys are dirty. haha. I thought it was funny.
14) Walt and Rufus...on desert islands surrounded by sharks. by Eli, but not really
---Mmmm....sexy crabs. This ran a little long, but overall it was a really funny piece. I'd like to see you two do it again just to see what you come up with. Or you could even continue the story.Perhaps make it off the island? It could be a sitcom like Will and Grace...except two gay guys and no Karen.
15) Harry Potter Spoiler Alert by Eric Jesteadt
---This was a great piece to end with. I was a little confused at some points which was kind of disappointing, but I got over it because I was laughing too hard. :)
And Josh, you never try to get us together before the day of the show. Don't lie. Tsk Tsk.
Chlo - Just ask katherine how much I tell her we need to get ready and see says 'let's just play dota'
hahahaha...yeah, that's probably true.
I agree that improv should be timed. At least on nights with a full order. Maybe not put the light down at 5 min... but have someone give a sort of signal so the actors know to wrap it up.
It was also disheartening to see some people with multiple pieces in this show, and then to learn that others had been cut out of it.
Does anyone have a stopwatch that could be used for shows? If timing is an issue, with improv especially, then we should at least dim the lights at 5 to about 50% so that the performers can wrap it up in 30 secs - 1 min.
I am personally in favor of the "dim the lights at five minutes" policy that used to be in place. It definitely would have helped keep the improv pieces from dragging on too long. I know enforcing the five-minute rule and letting people perform more than one piece weren't big deals when there weren't many people coming to perform, but now that those days are (hopefully) behind us, maybe we should start abiding by those rules again.
To answer the question about how much rehearsal people do before the show, it really depends how polished you want your piece to be. I usually don't rehearse pieces beforehand because I write with certain actors in mind and then let them perform in their respective styles. Plus I typically never write anything until Friday evening, so I can't do much more than a quick run-through with my actors a few minutes before showtime.
If you're able to get people together hours or even days prior to the show, by all means rehearse. It could help you fine-tune the script in addition to the performance (sometimes rewrites can do a lot of good).
I hope my little rants are in some way helpful to people. I think the blog can be a great source of constructive criticism for everybody.
Anyone with a cellphone can time pieces, and I can take on this great responsibility.
Rehearsing is good for when you have several actors, there are complicated stage directions, or you want it memorized. But many pieces aren't even cast until the writer gets to the Theatre Bldg on Friday night and asks around, which is fine.
I was so waiting for Eric to give the checkered flag for Walt and Rufus, but he wanted to keep going.
I also feel bad that I was involved in multiple things (two improvs, no less) and that people got cut. I'll try to make sure this doesn't happen again.
ALSO to make sure that doesn't happen again. All you writers who want in the show should come more than 10 minutes before we're supposed to start. (I'm looking at you Jesteadt)
Luke, I did try to wrap things up with the "I'm gay" cue, but then it seemed like you wanted to keep going. I'm not assigning blame; I'm just saying. Also, since Eli submited a script for that improv, I considered us to be performing in his piece and not in an extra piece of our own. So don't feel so guilty about being in multiple pieces. Participating in each other's pieces is a good thing.
I FEEL GUILTY
On a somewhat guilt-related note, anyone who wasn't at Village Inn after the show missed Sammi Levine telling me I'd make a bad Jew because I touch people too much. But then she and I held hands for about ten minutes, so she's not such a great Jew either.
This is why people should come to Village Inn.
GAH! I have an idea. It is an old idea that should come back. A few semesters ago writers took on the interesting challenge of writing monologues specifically for another person in return for one for themselves to read. So like a monologue switcheroo. It was fun and I was wondering if anyone would be interested in mono-switcheroo.
I am a terrible terrible Jew.
Technically I'm not even Jewish.
Village Inn however... good good times.
I would totally do a mono-switcheroo.
We also haven't had a Lip Sync night in a long time, and we also had the odd, rare "theme night" - remember so-called Cowboy Night?
Katy, Hows abouts yous and I trade monologues next week (unless we have a theme night) for the show before spring break? Unless you want to trade with someone for tonight. Your call.
Let's trade monologues sometime, Eli!
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