After having one of our best ‘Felt’ shows the week before, last week’s show brought us back to earth a little. It wasn’t a bad show, but we just wished we had been a little smarter and quick at the top. So we had fun, but ran out steam too fast which I think might have affected the overall quality of the type of show we know we’re capable of. We’ll get ‘em this week. 
In a weird way, I didn’t mind too much not having such a good show myself, because it meant the possibility existed that I may have a good show the next day. (That’s how actors think sometimes).
See, the next day was, as friend Tara D. put it, “Get Famous Thursday”.
On Wednesday I was notified that I was selected to be part of a showcase the next day for Mr. Lorne Michaels himself.
What started out as a small evening quickly turned into a full running order that was going to push the showcase to a little over two hours. Which in my opinion was a bit too long. But maybe that was a good thing for the improv cast.
See, the whole day, I was obviously nervous about how the night would turn out. Would I freak out? If not me, Who? Would I get in my head from the pressure? Would I do good? Bad? Horrible? Argh!
The showcase started off with an improve set by the talented group “Cook County Social Club”. Then, what was supposed to be about 25 minutes of solo pieces by different performers, turned into about an hour and 15 minutes of solo material, which was then to be followed by the other improve set I was in.
So after waiting forever to go up, I think the wait helped me get rid of the willies and instead I just wanted to get it over with. This led to me not being nervous and not once thinking about who was out there watching. Instead I just had fun.
The set itself was not indicative of what could have been accomplished with the cast that was put together, but it was still fun. There were some rocky moments but I think we pulled it off and in the end had fun. So again, not the best show this cast could have put up, but not the worst either. And based on other people in the cast I spoke to, maybe the long wait had something to do with it. Who knows. But bottom line is we were fortunate enough to have the opportunity and we might have been lucky that Mr. Michaels stayed through the whole thing.
The showcase as a whole had a lot great stuff in it and I was very proud of iO and its players on this night. But I couldn’t help but feel bad for the MANY other people that I think deserve this sort of shot.
I have no idea what SNL is looking for -if anything-, so maybe that had to something with the cast that was put together this evening, but I will be honest and say that on pure talent, I can easily think of several people that I would have gladly given up my slot for so that they could be seen, and I can think of many more that I think deserve to be seen by this sort of audience on any given night. That’s how deep iO is with talent.
So I am super grateful I got the chance to play this night, but in no way do I think this puts me above any of my peers in any way.
Whether it be from iO or Second City, I really hope the show is able to cast someone from Chicago because that would be great for that person(s), and it would be great for the Chicago Improv community in general.
We’ll see. The Guffman came, and the Guffman went. But his visit alone should make us all proud.
*
Friday’s highlight was a very fun audition for a Sonic commercial. Other than that, the only other highlight was watching the end of “Guy Friends” at iO later that night. They had their “season finale” show where they invited back all the guests they had over the past year, and by some weird schedule coincidence, only the guys that were guest were able to show up. So there were about 20 dudes on stage at one point. Then, for some reason, they all eventually ended up in their underwear on stage.
I was finally able to convince some lovely ladies that were watching to help end the show by surprising all the men on stage. So Dina Facklis, Sara Fineout, Jill Fenstermaker, and Kristen Studdard made their way backstage and knocked on the door. Since they weren’t expecting anyone else, everyone on stage looked surprised, then asked whoever was knocking to come in. The ladies walked in, took a beat, then said “Wrong Party” and walked out. The lights went out. Classic.
*
I was asked by an old friend to be part of an independent film. I gladly said yes and my scenes were being shot on Saturday. So I spent most of Saturday on the set waiting and shooting. I had a blast and can’t wait to see the finished product. Thanks, Emily!! I’ll post the film site once it’s up.
Later that night I went on to enjoy one of the most fun shows I’ve had my iO team, “The Diplomat Motel”. Really fun stuff with some really great people. I later whispered to friend Timmy, “I wish I had that show Thursday!”
I later ended up boozing it up with Timmy at the Holiday Club and some friends met us later. So Saturday as a whole was a great time. I had a lot of fun. Crazy Pineapple Fun.
*
Sunday I worked at iO and Monday I went to see ‘Angels & Demons”….by myself! I’m a movie machine!
And guess what? I had the theater to myself again!! Well, at least I thought I did. Apparently I didn’t realize a couple of older ladies had walked in, so when I saw a friend on screen and thought I was alone, I yelled “Yay, Pasquasi!”. I then heard “Shhhh!” from way back in a corner and saw two little old ladies sitting way back there. David Pasquasi is a very, very talented actor and improviser that is getting bigger and bigger roles these days. So it was cool to see him on screen for most of the film. I still got excited from time and whisper-yelled stuff like “Yay!”, “Boo!”, or “Aw, man!”, because I wasn’t going to let those little ladies ruin the illusion that I had the theater to myself.
I like these kind of movies, so I enjoyed it. I’m sure many people won’t like it for different reasons, especially the subtext, but like Dean Koontz says, never think too much about subtext, because then the magic goes away.
I followed up this day with some cheap wings at Mullen’s with friend Jason, then a fun ‘Armando’ show.
Ahh, fun times.
