Ian Bagg wants to know..."What do you do?"

Jay and I went to see Ian Bagg last night at the DC Improv and unfortunately, since we were in the absolute last row, we were unable to inform Mr. Bagg of our occupations. But that didn't stop him from asking every. single. other. member. of. the. audience. that. question.

What do you do?

Bagg relied so much on crowd work that I think we saw maybe ten minutes of actual material. Now I'm not saying I disliked his set as I enjoyed the material he had and was extremely impressed at some of the places he was able to go from the audience participation aspect of the show. The best part of the night had Bagg doing almost ten minutes straight of improvised material after a member of the audience volunteered that he had only one testicle.

The improv is fine (especially since the show occurred at the Improv) but why oh why did 95% of it have to come after Bagg asked his favorite question of all time, "What do you do?"

Sample Dialogue from last's night's show:
"Hey ma'am. Yes you, the lesbian with all of the tattoos, what do you do? Oh you're a lesbian, right on. Hey you sir, What do you do? Oh you work in the Navy. huh? Sounds like a lazy job. Bet you'd be late for war if you had that lesbian on your boat. You three, what do y'all do? You work for a non-profit? You think you're better than everyone else? You sir, what do you do? Too late, moving on. This table, what do y'all do? We'll just have to guess, cannot wait for response. The back section! What do you do? Everyone in the audience...WHAT DO YOU DO!? What do you do, what do you do, does not compute, what do you do, malfunctioning, what do you do!!!!!?

It was at that point that Bagg's circiut board shorted out and the show was over. But that didn't stop Jay and I from asking each other what we did for the next hour straight. Despite that one glaring annoyance, the show was pretty good, and you wouldn't be doing yourself a disservice by checking him out tonight or tomorrow. For more info, check out DC Improv's homepage. Read more!

Comedians of Comedy of Memories Past....

This picture is the what my brain told me I felt like last night...on the inside.

Jason commented on the Comedians of Comedy show that we went to last night. I actually bought Jason’s ticket so it was like a date (Jason didn’t put out). I agree with Jason’s comments, with the exception of the “I think Brian Poshen isn’t funny.” I like his comedy. I think he’s funny. Jason is biased because Jason was raped by a “scary man” when he was little.

Anywho, the point behind my blog is that I felt a familiar feeling at last nights Comedians of Comedy show, and I’m going to blog about it. Yaaayyyy!! While some of your people (a.k.a. readers of this blog) might think DC is a shitty place for comedy, we have all witnessed some great comics get their start here. And that’s what I saw last night: I saw great comics in their element. And that’s what made me so nostalgic; I’ve felt the exact same way at local open mics, showcases, and club shows where I’ve watched my friends and I perform. It’s getting to watch something great. It’s getting to be in the right place, at the right time and be totally amazed at the magic someone creates with the curveballs their thrown (wow, that was an odd metaphor). I’ve been lucky enough to be friends with a lot of great comic, and I’ve seen them all crush (and bomb), and last night just reminded me of that. I don’t know why I felt so nostalgic last night, but it made me start thinking about all the kick ass comedy moments I’ve witness personally and then talked about on a smokey car ride home.

If you don’t value comedy…you should Read more!

Comcast Showcase @ The DC Improv

This past weekend was the Comcast "Open Mic" Night at the Improv. The show was pretty much stacked with the best comics in DC. Besides myself and Kojo I'll try to remember all of the comics on the show. We had Ryan Conner, John McBride, Erin Jackson, Seaton Smith, Herbie Gill, Mike Aronin, Rob Maher, Roger Mursick, and Bryson Turner. Bryson Turner hosted the show, and I thought he did a kick ass job. Hopefully, the club took notice of how talented the younger comics are, and more work will come from their solid performances.

The format of the show was that all the comics got 5 mins to perform. The odd part was getting interviewed prior to the show. It seems like it's always the same cheesy questions: "How do you get your jokes", "Describe your comedy", "What can we expect from your jokes", and "What was your first joke"? What stupid questions, especially the "what can we expect from your comedy?"....how about fucking laughter?

Kojo Mante (the comic who never blogs on this site) had the best line of the night. He finsihed a joke that got a great laugh, and then witout missing a beat said, "That was Comcastic!". That in return got an even bigger laugh, to which Kojo said, "Yep, they aren't cutting that out."

I hope that the Improv continues to do these local showcase shows. It can only help the comics and the club. If the club helps foster new talent, help them establish a fan base, then in return the club gains audience members every time the perform. Plus, it was a really good show. Read more!

WIT's opening weekend recap rewind review

Yeah, ya know autumn is like my favorite freaking season right? Seriously, the weather is awesome and a welcome change to how hot it was all summer here in DC. WHOOHOO! So psyched about football, Halloween, my birthday and……..(settle down)……Autumn also marks the beginning of Washington Improv Theater’s Fall Run of Shows: Up and Autumn! HAHAHA see what they did there?? Yikes…Anyways, bad puns and my over reaction to Fall aside I had two shows with Jackie last week, including one on Saturday night for the Opening Reception

I also had the chance to see Exes and Ohs, Justin Purvis and Natasha Rothwell’s awesome two person show about relationships. Not only do they both kick ass on stage, the show has a pretty cool structure that I like alot. They establish characters at the top, getting great personal suggestions from the audience about their past lovers annoying characteristics. Then both of them take on several characters at a time using those suggestions and then interact with each other in a way that naturally heightens the story. The show Thursday night had the two lovers struggling to decide whether or not to look past their obvious flaws and stay together. Justin’s “smelly” boyfriend character was especially funny. Plus, there was “face raping” and I quote Natasha on that.

Check out Exes and Ohs this Thursday and next @ Flashpoint Theater.

So anyways, Saturday night had Jackie, Caveat and One-Sixty-One performing for our “Opening Night”. Jackie’s show was a lot of funny fun funny, with my personal favorites being the thought bubbles that came from people’s heads as they got distracted in various scenes. I am digging what we are doing now with our new show. We have incorporated “Ghost Edits” where one person begins a scene having a conversation with a “ghost”. A few lines later another person comes out to take the “ghost's” place. The best of these scenes are when we surprise each other. Example being when I was starting a scene as a stoned guy in a dorm telling someone that I wasn’t going to class, Joe later entered and took the role of my father. Nothing more was needed; just the reveal that my father was in the dorm with me. Those types of surprises are great for us.

Caveat is now down to four people after the departure of Anne and Cissy, but I feel that the four guys (Justin, Dan H., Joe and Dan) are really starting to gel great together. I was talking to them about it after the show and I have to say I am a big fan of 3-4 improv groups. I believe it helps the chemistry build quicker among the cast members, but more importantly I think it engages each cast member into the show more by having them be more involved in each scene. It doesn’t give a person a chance to rest, so the energy is always up. I know some groups that try to keep a 6-8 person minimum in case of absences, but I really feel that when a group is always incorporating new people it tends to keep the core group from clicking as best they can. Get 3-4 people who really love performing with each other and you have a kick ass show. Caveat is a testament to that.

One-Sixty-One had a great show as well and it was a smaller cast situation, too. I am telling you. There is something to be said about it. A lot of the shows this run have smaller casts (Exs and Ohs, Shrimp on a Barbie, Your Phone Company, Etc.) and they are making me laugh a bunch.

Then after show we had a reception Except for the Keg Stand Gone Wrong that I, stupidly was a part of everything went smooth and it was alot of fun. I shouldn’t come within 10 feet of someone who is upside down drinking beer. Lesson learned.

So come see Jackie this Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights! And be sure to check out the other great shows that WIT is putting up this month.
http://www.washingtonimprovtheater.com Read more!