#improvasylum

Geeking Out with Rachel Dratch                 This was an hour and a half long interview with Rachel Dratch and boy was it swell. The IA theater is three sided and I was front row stage left so Rachel’s back was to me for a lot of the interview but she did a good job addressing the whole room. She talked about starting out and moving to Chicago and working with different people. She touched on a few SNL things but said she really covers it in her book (which I totally bought). She was so funny and genuine. She was really fun to listen to.                 As the interview was winding down the question asker turned to the audience for questions. She picked half a dozen or so and I was really worried she wouldn’t see that my hand was raised because Rachel was kind of blocking her view of my seat. The interviewer said, “Anymore questions?” and kept looking around. In that moment, Rachel turned all the way around and looked right at me. We made strong eye contact as my hand was up high and I knew I was going to get to ask my question. She wouldn’t let me miss out.                 It was my turn. I could ask Rachel Dratch anything I wanted to but I didn’t want to ask anything that she said was covered in the book so that cut a few things down. So, this was my question:                 “Hi! In the past few weeks I’ve heard that both Seth Meyers and Tina Fey think SNL should end when Lorne Michaels retires. Do you have any thoughts or opinions on that?” She said that she can really see why they could think that since Lorne is very involved with the day to day work of the show. She said that she doesn’t really feel too strongly one way or the other about it.                 After the interview I waited in line and bought her book which she signed and I got a picture with her. I told her that want to be on SNL and she said supportive things. It was a delightful experience.

The Mom Show at Nick’s Comedy Stop                 I spent a portion of my Saturday night at The Mom Show which is a show comprised of comedians who are also mothers. It wasn’t all about mom humor although there was some of that. It was great. All of the women on the show were very good. I can’t wait until I can be on a show with some of them next year. (That is I want to be in the festival not on The Mom Show. At least not by next year thank you very much.)

The 10 o’clock Show at ImprovAsylum                 After Nick’s, Phoebe and I went back to IA to hang around and wait for the after party to start. Steven Wright walked through the lobby and Phoebe pointed and said, “Hey, it’s Steven Wright.” We still had a few hours to wait around so we figured we’d bum around in the lobby. We weren’t there for ten minutes when a nice lady said she had some extra tickets to the show that was in progress and asked if we wanted to go in. We so did. That show had been sold out for a while so we didn’t think we could get in. Myq Kaplan was hosting and we got to see the improv touring company for the Magnet School in NYC. Myq did some crowd work and closed the show and we moved to the lobby for the festivities!

The WiCF After Party                 The after party was supposed to be for festival performers only but I blended in and borrowed a badge from someone to make it look like I was totally supposed to be there. I got to meet a lot of talented people and got to hang out with great people I already knew from the Boston stand up scene. I met the owner of IA and we chatted about when IA was founded and where he studied and if he missed stand up at all. Rick Jenkins the owner of the Comedy Studio in Cambridge was there and he seemed to remember me (he then accepted my FB friend request the next day. (I sent said request 6 months ago. (Triple parenthesis?))).                 Jenny Zigrino was there! I’m always happy to see Jenny. She introduced me to a stand up from Seattle as a very funny lady from NH who hosts a regular show at a club in Manchester. Jenny then said that if she were to bet on a handful of people to make it she would bet I’d be one of them. I’ve been a fan of Miss Zigrino since before I started actively doing stand up so this was an incredible compliment.                 I left the party around 1:30 AM and drove the hour home to my big old bed. It was a really fun night although I did get tired of saying, “Well, I’m not actually in the festival this year…”

Workshop 2: Character Powerhouse                 The last workshop I did was an improv class about building characters. We practiced moving different ways and we did some scene work. The instructor told me that I need to trust myself and hold onto my choices. I tend to make a small character choice and then shy away from it quickly.