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.