So far, I’ve taken two improv classes out of 8 at the Bad Dog Theatre<\/a> and in our class I can see the future comedy stars, shining through the nerves and the flumbled scenes… and I can also feel the black holes sucking all the comedy out of the room.<\/p>\n

There are a couple people there who get up on stage, have the instructor fires off a scene or a set up at them and freeze. And I have the hardest time keeping my mouth shut, stiffling suggestions like “HE SAID YOU’RE IN A MALL. PRETEND TO SHOP!” or “HE JUST HANDED YOU AN AXE. NOT A SOCCER BALL!” It’s maddening for me to see people with absolutely no imagination. Our instructor says “There is only one wrong answer in improv – to stand there and do nothing or say ‘I don’t know’ when offered a scene.”<\/p>\n

Bless the black holes for making an effort though. At least they’re there trying to overcome shyness or be more assertive or think faster on their feet.<\/p>\n

Why am I there? Fucked if I know.<\/p>\n

Maybe I want to be on stage. The other day the BDT newsletter fell into my inbox looking for volunteers to be on stage to flesh out an upcoming show and I bolted upright in my chair. Reading further they were looking for second series students. I was dissapointed but I was more surprised at my reaction.<\/p>\n

I wanted to be on stage…<\/p>\n

Weirdly enough right after thinking that I thought “Would anyone think I was riding on my brother’s coat tails, trying to be like him?” and it dawned on me that I have been saying that since high school. That I hadn’t gone into theatre (which I thought I was pretty good at back in the day) because Mike was there first and I probably would not be able to live up to the competition. Now I think I’m a bit past it to pick up acting but I do know that I’m having a blast in this class and I have good comedic timing as well as an active imagination.<\/p>\n

I get up on that stage intent on killing and I will milk that class of 18 people for laughs at every opportunity given to me.<\/p>\n

Who knows where this will take me? Maybe I might get serious about it but for now, I will gladly act like a goof for this room of strangers.<\/p>\n

UPDATE<\/strong>: My bro has been voted best playwright for 2005 by eye weekly readers<\/a>. Congratz!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So far, I’ve taken two improv classes out of 8 at the Bad Dog Theatre and in our class I can see the future comedy stars, shining through the nerves and the flumbled scenes… and I can also feel the black holes sucking all the comedy out of the room. There are a couple people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":430,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9WjY-dU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deadrobot.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deadrobot.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deadrobot.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deadrobot.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/430"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deadrobot.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.deadrobot.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deadrobot.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deadrobot.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deadrobot.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}