So the review was in and it was good. The Gazette enjoyed our show and had nothing but great comments about it. Here are a couple of quotes from the write-up:

"This brilliant group uses a wide variety of songs and characters in discussing the green movement."

"As an audience member I found myself laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of some of the characters. As a critic I found myself amazed by the subtle things..."

To say the least it was a very nice article and one that I am proud of. I will say that overall, the show is doing well, but last Saturday, I don't know what happened. I couldn't squeeze out as many laughs as we had in previous shows. It was almost as if you could read their minds saying, "What the hell is going on here? Are they for real? What does this have to do with any other thing in this show".

Well, it was an older crowd and I do feel that we seem to target a 21-40 year old group. On Friday night we had a great audience and they were a bit younger. I mean, just like the quote above states, it is kinda ridiculous and we are asking the audience to keep up with our antics. There is a lot of 'potty' humor. Obviously the younger crowd digs it a lot more.

Overall I am pleased with the show and feel that it's another step up for us. We need to keep growing together and tighten the lid. I am glad that I was apart of this process from beginning to end. I now see all the hard work that goes into and have more faith in the process.

The next step for the Pigs is our admission into the Baltimore Festival in another week. This is our second year and it's important to me because Baltimore is my other stopping ground for improv. So now that area gets to see me mix it up with another group of people.

Then after that we get to jump into our 15th Anniversary show with some of the alumni and sketches and then we focus on the upcoming season. We won't have a show again for another month, when hopefully, we will tighten up our show more and continue to introduce some new games.

In terms of B.I.G., I am finishing up my directorship with Mister Licorice. It will be a bitter-sweet end. I get to perform with them at the Del Close Marathon in NY at UCB in August. It will be a really great way to end it with them. The ED is dissolving the troupe, which at first I didn't think was such a good idea, but now I feel it is for us all. I am still working with Gus, but not feeling it any more with them. I practices leave me feeling unsatisfied. I don't know if it's me or the dynamics of the group. I still feel like the new kid on the block. Prescott, our director, gives me the weird vibe sometimes like I am just not meshing with him. He points out a lot of my crap and it tends to drive me a little crazy. I think it is time for me to move onward. I'd really like to do a 2 person show, perferrably with one of the girls from B.I.G. But haven't been able to make it happen.

Well, all of this is going to continue to keep me busy on the weekends until Aug. 10th. Then I won't know what to do with myself. Oh jeez...

Hello all peeps, There's a Run 'At the MET'! And what an exciting week it was! Last week the show was rehearsed from Sunday to Thursday for 'There's a Run in My Ozone'. In the industry we know this as tech week (or more accurately "Hell Week"). In the end it's all about tightening the show for opening night. Working out the kinks so-to-speak.

We opened last Friday to a packed house. Not quite sold out but almost 60 people, which really isn't bad for an opening night. Considering that the marketing was not as aggressive as a normal mainstage show, we were very pleased. It was important that we jammed the house as much as possible because we had a reviewer from The Gazette. Hopefully the reviewer was in the front row because from what I could tell, eveyone in the front row was laughing a lot.

The characters are great and the show has a variety of new sketches that have moved us to a new level. We have singing, dancing, magic, improv, acting, and of course a ton of comedy. The characters are a ton of fun. My favorite sketch in the show is one called "Hot Topic". I am not in this one. It stars: Laura Stark, Clayton Meyers, and Tres Dillon (who wrote it). This was inspired by a non-fictional character who has tried applying for a job at where she works. His strange persistence is what has made this character interestingly weird. We call her Regina Michelle played by Tres. I love the way she has captured this character, so much that we've had to have this as a re-occuring character throughout the show.

My characters are:

Mitch is the character who opens the show. He is a middle-aged married man who works for the state unemployement agency. He is not very interested in his overly affectionate wife, who he noticeably shrugs off every time she pays him some loving attention.

Then there is Michael Recycle. Think of Pee Wee Herman's Playhouse or Mister Robinson's Neighborhood (Eddie Murphey character from SNL). I've had the most trouble with this character. I didn't think that I would but I think it's because he isn't really a children's TV character. His perversion kind of adds to his creepiness and complexity. He is somewhat manic when he notices trash everywhere and yet very jovial when engaging to the audience. I wasn't able to capture his nuances on opening night but I did a much better job on Saturday.

Ladies and gentlemen, Cliff Morgandale. A game show host on the $25,000 Eco-Pyramid. This is a reccuring character. I played him about a year and a half ago at our very first show. He is very bright and bigger than life. Throughout this show, he comes back 3 times because he is so engaging to the audience and incorporates them into the show. Basically he is introduced as a character then later reappears to the audience as a barrier to the show and breaks into the audience. He comes out at the end of Act 1 to bring the audience back in a happy mood before they break for intermission with a parody of Michael Jackson's, Beat It.

My next character that appears in the show is from a sketch written by Paula Pitts, "Naughty Night Out". We actually did this sketch one time for one of our audiences at a late night improv show back in April. It went very well and it has gotten even better. I play Ann, who I graciously refer to as the Marlboro Lady. She has a very rough smokey voice. Has dark, 50's style sunglasses and where's an out-dated brightly colored flower dress. The sketch gets a ton of laughs and ends with us in a cat fight with each other behind a strobe light, which is visually hilarious (from what I've been told). The four ladies in the scene realize that they are all sleeping with each other's husbands.



Then I get to play my favorite character - the Godfather's, Don Vito Corleone. I love this character; however, have found him to be a challenge as well. It's hard to keep his voice and still be able to project it to the audience. In the sketch he is the head of the N.Y. mob, who has always desired to follow his dream as a magician. He does about 5 tricks overall in the show. Three of them come at the very end for the finale when he reveals the most impressive trick of the night - the vanishing act. I scare the remaining characters that are on stage and force them all to be apart of the disappearing trick; of course, all but Regina Michelle from the Hot Topic skit. He counts to 3 while they hold a black curtain standing behind it and when he comes out after three, he becomes Regina Michelle and the Godfather appears at the back of the stage. Frigin brilliant!!The audience is dazzled and mesmerized. They absolutely love it. I have to be honest, I din't think it would work at first. But you should see their faces at the end. The are intrigued by it and very surprised. It's so much fun to watch their experssions.


So that's the show. We opened on July 11th and will go every Friday and Saturday until Aug. 8th. Then on the 9th, we will have the Comedy Pigs 15th Anniversary Show. Tomorrow the review of the show from the Gazette should be in the paper. I am eager to find out how they appraise it. Details to come. I really hope they like it.


Also, today we got an email from the Executive Director, Tad Janes of the MET, who wants to rent another space in the same building for our own spot. This could be a spot that the Pigs could do more shows and have a larger presence. More details to come on that as well. Very exciting news.

Hey all fans (I think I might be the only one!). Just wanted to say that last Saturday night's Pig show was very smooth and very tight. We introduced our 2 new piglets, Laura and Tres, to the troop. First we started with a video though that Paula and Ali put together. It was their creation and they did a fantastic job. The concept is about all of us being in various places around Frederick and getting calls from one another about having a show tonight. My part is filmed mostly at Taco Bell.

First I am order things in Spanish (using words that have nothing to do with what's actually on the menu). The whole time I am on my motorcycle. Then I pull up, get my order and a call from Paula. I rush out on my bike.

Later it comes back to me, sitting on my bike, stuffing a taco in my face and getting it all over the place with Paula calling me back again asking if I am on my way. The whole time I am telling her that I am stuck behind a tractor trailer and on my way. Each of us have very funny parts.

Then we rush in and begin the show. I think we actually need to work on that part a bit because the audience is just kinda there. Not really sure what's happening. But they seemed to like it.

We played a bunch of short form games in our first set and introduced a couple of new ones that the audience seemed to like. After our intermission we came back and had them write suggestions on the back of the this little hand out that we give them at the door with our schedule. They rip off the bottom piece and keep the rest. The bottom piece has a place for them to jot down their contact info so that we can get them on our Pig list.

Okay, so this second set was not my favorite and usually I like this the best. Just the other way around for me that night. I think I liked the short form a lot better. The long form stuff we were trying to create didn't seem to go that well (or at least for me). I was going for the joke and it was becoming a very 'blue' show for me. But I am ALWAYS too critical. I never seem to be happy with my performance.

However, I did like the one hour show we did for the 72 Play Festival with Wendy, Mikael, and Pat (from Washington Improv Theater). This was held in Frederick and we had so much fun. Mikael and I are even talking about doing another project together.

At the moment though, I am so completely tied up with the Comedy Pig show 'There's a Run in My Ozone'. As you can tell by the title, it's our take on 'going green' and saving the enviroment. We have a bunch of zany characters and sketches that were all written by us. Ali and Paula spent the last 2 nights getting the frame work of the show together. They did an awesome job because there were a lot of challenges with the transitions, making sure everyone was in enough sketches, varying the types of sketches, and having a baseline or through line. In our case it is centered around a family with sketches in between scenes.

I am actually feeling pretty good about it now. It looks like we have something that could be very entertaining and funny. I am excited about doing it. Our cast is Paula, Ali, Anne, Laura, Tres, Clay, Frankie, and myself. Denny is directing and Carey is stage manager. So it seems we have a show now! And thank goodness cause it opens in about one month from the date.

Crazy busy week! Start off with a little improv with my troop, Gus, in Baltimore on Friday. Geesh, it took me 2 hours from Fairfax, VA to get there. It was an ugly commute. When I finally got there, we had a reporter sit in and take notes, ask questions about us and what improv is. She was a trooper - we had her do some exercises with us and then spent the last hour working on the improv play that we are planning in Dec. I will not be apart of it due to Christmas Carol. This will be my third year and I don't want to give it up.

Yesterday, Tuesday, I was asked by my friend, Mikael, to do some improvising for this 72 Hour Play Festival in Frederick. It was so much fun. We had an hour to do a full blown set with a bunch of scenes based off of these suggestions that the teams that are participating in the event got to choose. From the board we would pick things like, climax of a scene and/or character relationshiop and improvise a scene. The teams watched us and will then put together a full 10 minute show as a competition. Again, it was a lot of fun and the other 3 improvisers that I performed with were so much fun. It makes such a difference when you are out there with decent players.

Tonight, is the Comedy Pigs practice. We have so much to go over in 2 hours. Denny is the director of our summer show and we have few sketches submitted so far. I haven't written a thing. Actually, I hate to admit it but I started writing a monologue for our June shows, which opens this Saturday and next. I thought since our theme for the poster was Schools Snout for Summer and we used our graduation pictures, I would put together a 3 minute commencement speech. Of course, it would be something that could differentiate the younger with all of the hypocrisy of getting older (i.e. 40 is the new 20 and wisdom comes with age) kinda stuff. Something that our audience could relate to and laugh about. But I think I wrote too much and now I've got to shorten it a bit and polish out the funnier points.

Then tomorrow and Friday I have rehearsal for Wow, It Works in Hagerstown. It's a yearly play that the district does. My friend Dave writes it and then we perform it like 3 times. So, my mom and dad are coming to see it this weekend. Our show is this Saturday. As you can see my schedule is completely filled. And it's mostly 'cause I hate work and I like to do crap that doesn't let me focus too much on myself. Got to stay out of the head!

Oh, last night after that little performance. Ali taped me for this video that we are doing for the show. I can't get all into it but it's going to be hilarious. I was ordering food at Taco Bell on my motorcycle.

What...you want more? Well you'll just have to wait. I'm busy!

So, it was another busy improv weekend with a show on Friday night in Baltimore and a nice long workshop with Upright Citizen's Brigade on Saturday. Then Sunday was filled with 2 hours of a writing session for the Pig summer show. Applied to Baltimore Improv Festival for the Pigs. Ran some errands and tried to relax a little on Sunday (not easy to do when I feel like I have so much to catch up on or in some cases, start)!

Friday night's show with Gus introduced Alex as one of our newest members. I am no longer the new guy; however, Alex has been involved as a performer with BIG longer than I have. He was doing a lot of short form with another troop and then came on board as one of the first members of Mister Licorice, which is a long form troop I started in November. I'd say he is doing well with both. I like his physicality on stage and how he adds to the scene. I think our styles are very similar and compliment each other well.

Overall, I thought our show on Friday night was okay. I would have to say that it wasn't my best stuff but I enjoyed being out there. I thought we all did a pretty good job of listening to each other and trying to be creative. My major problem is that I doubt myself a lot and, honestly, we don't get complimented by the audience very much. I mean, at least for me (and maybe this is true for others), nobody pulls me aside or even in passing and says, "Great show" or "I liked that scene where ______." Just doesn't happen much. But then again, maybe I am not that good, which is certainly a possibility. Does this mean I would stop? Not ever! I just need to keep practicing and perfecting myself in this art.

Satuday's workshop was with Neil Casey from UCB. I saw him perform with one of my favorite troops that I watched at the Dirty South Festival this year, Death by Roo Roo. They were so over the edge and came up with same really interesting characters. He was really good at showing us how to pull the game out of long form. We concentrated on the Harold, which is a well known long form format. We only concentrated on and opener of word association and then 1st and 2nd scenes of a Harold. Typically there are 3 scenes for each and then a group game and then those three scenes are brought back again, group game and then 3 more times it is completed. We just did the first set of 3 and then another set of 3. But actually we were focused only 2 person scenes so we did it 4 times. I learned a lot about responded realistically to my partner. I mean, like having a honest reaction to what they are saying and then responded appropriately.

Yesterday I went over Anne's house and we just tried writing down every thought or idea we have about "Going Green" and recycling. I think we came up with some cool ideas. We are going to split up the list we made and try to write something on our own. I think it will be cool to see what develops. I don't do a lot of sketch writing so this practice will help me improve.

Other than that the weekend was fair to moderate in terms of my mood. This was my 3rd weekend in a row without seeing Susan and it's still tough. I am sure that it hasn't helped that we've spoken on the phone during the week and talked about why we shouldn't be together. But for now - Que Sera Sera!

Okay, you may want to stand back for this one! I am in one of those mean moods where I don't care what I am about to say but then later I look back and say, "dude, you are over dramatic man."

Well, first let me say that my girlfriend and I are calling it quits. So that has me in a really really bad place right now. I am not going to get into all the particulars about it but let's just say that I know we need this time away but it is very upleasant. I miss her and I hate this terrible feeling that I have in the pit of my stomach. Will it go away? Sure, eventually. But in the meantime, the second hand on my watch is reminding me of how precious my time really is and what am I doing with it? I mean, really. What am I doing with my life.

I hate my job. I want to go back to school and am very hopeful that I will but it is somewhat an overwhelming process when I start to think about it. In the end, I know that it will be the best thing I could ever do for myself. In the meantime, I am scared and worried about my finances. I am concerned about how I can make this all work and still survive. Will I fail? Will I fall completely on my face? I guess I'll never know if I don't do something. I just need to get past all of this insecurity first. And the only way I know how to do that is by just doing it. If it's mean to be it will!

Well, I was going to talk about my frustration with the MET and the Comedy Pigs but now that doesn't seem as important. I will just say that there are a lot of expectations about putting up an original show but not a lot of support. Where's the support? I have no clue how we are going to get a show on its feet by mid-July when we don't have a concept that we all agree on, no director or stage crew for that matter, and a bunch of chiefs and no indians. It worries me. I mean my Baltimore troop is doing a fully improvised play in December and our director has already begun to work on the concepts and mechanics for it because there is a matrix to make it work and come together.

Anyway, that's all I can say for right now because I think my emotions are tied up in other directions right now. This is when I have to be careful what I say to people and what I think. I have a tendency to get very negative when I think things are fallen apart. And they may not be right now but it's my perception at the moment because of uncontrollable circumstances. My wants not being met.

Life is just tough sometimes. Here I am in my mid 30's and there doesn't seem to be much stability. I have all these goals and, while they don't seem out of reach, they aren't close at hand. I would love to be one of those "go lucky' guys, who has the world by the....well, you know...by the cajones.

So this hasn't been a great start to my month. My girlfiend, Susan, and I called it quits over the weekend, I hate my job, and just plain bummed about things. You know, you try so hard sometimes but when you look back you realize that what you were doing was never going to match up to your effort. I mean, some things just aren't meant to be. Some things are. Guess you never can tell until you do.

And I do and do and do and it seems futile. I watch everything with a wary eye because you never know if it's going to work or hit you in the bum when you're not expecting it. I have compromised and sacrificed and for what? I know what I want in life and yet it seems to be so far out of reach.

First, I want to have a family. I want to raise my children in a decent home with lots of love and fun times together. You know, a typical suburban type family: yearly vacations to the beach and maybe to somewhere in the U.S. that we haven't gone before like the Grand Canyons, pizza and a movie rental almost every Friday night with the wife and kids, go to work and come home to my family every night for dinner, do stuff around the house and play with the kids, go to church on Sunday's or visit family. I mean, that sounds like a dream. I freaking dream that I've had all my life but I keep muckin' up.

The problem is me. I am too difficult. Sure, I am funny and creatively can come up with cool stuff to do. I love people and enjoying almost everything and anythihng. You won't find me sitting home on Football Sunday in front of the TV. I am just not that kind of guy. I'd rather make a pasta dinner with my wife, if I had one. But I've been told that it can be like walking around on egg shells with me. I hate that about myself. I hate that I make someone I love feel that way. Nobody should feel that way.

Look, I have no problem admitting my faults. I do try to be right as much as I can cause I've always felt that I am wrong much of the time. However, admitting something about yourself and actually doing something about it are two completely different things. I have difficutlty figuring it out. Or maybe I am just completely stubborn. It's surely a good possiblity.

I don't know. I just want to be a normal guy, doing normal things, living a normal life. The problem is that I am far from normal. I'm not crazy but I know I can be a little weird and strange at times. I've got a ton of energy that can seem out of control. Like people will say, "Jiggy, what the hell did you have for breakfast? Chill out, bro!"

Okay, I am going to post this the way it is. If I read it, I will think about it too much and then it whatever I post after the edit won't be 'real' or 'sincere', which is the difficulty I have with bloggin personal stuff. I believe it's better to write out what you're feeling on paper. When it comes out and you see it, it makes better sense and can be relieving.

Later....