Wednesday, August 20, 2008

My Mad Lib Bad and Oh My Jew!

So, last week I hosted another round of Improv Open Mic Night. Sorry for the delay in writing about it but I am still recovering from my Mad Lib Bad and the weird evening where apparently the Jewish culture was thrown under the bus...A LOT. Lets start off at the beginning of the evening, a few months ago I decided to start off the show with a group Mad Lib telling the story of my failed marriage. I thought for the August Show I would attempt to write another one. This one told the story of how I witnessed a man whacking off in public. It was not the best start, but there were a few laughs gotten and I think we set the tone for audience interaction for the evening. Now on to the night's festivities. We started off with attendance on the light side but managed to get about 35-40 people by showtime. I had several groups enter to strut their improv stuff: Matthew's Mother Reads a Bedtime Story, Powder Keg, AC & Fingerpaint, and MC Bundction. For the short form portion of the night I brought back deleted scenes from TV and Movies. We got lessons on what Bali Wood really is (thanks to Saumya and Jay) and also a lesson on The Golden Girls. You had to be there to really appreciate that one though. I learned that I may be the only person who knows what the television show "From G's To Gents" is. The biggest lesson I learned is how stereotypes can get slightly uncomfortable if done for too long. I don't know where I lost control but for some reason a major theme of the evening were "Jews" and our big noses, money and yarmulkes. Let me just say that as a Jew (who is not religious or practicing at all) I felt a bit awkward that night. So I apologize for those in the audience who may have felt weird too...the thing about Improv is commitment and being in the moment so as artists the performers that evening did a great job and showcased the lessons in Improv Comedy...to bad it was at the price of the Jews. Anyway, I ended on a high note once again with a marathon of Lines From A Hat. One line was "I love Allyson"...I still wonder who wrote that. Was it Fingerpaint or AC?
The next one is on the books and scheduled for Thursday September 11 at 8:00 pm in The Comedy Lounge. Sign-up is from 7-7:30 pm. I hope to see you there!
Try my Mad Libs here: www.dcimprov.com/madlibs/mad_lib_2.pdf