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.