Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Pownce Entry (2:07 AM)
First show was sold out. I played What are You Doing? Louge Singer, Dinner at Joe's, 5 things. Beastie Rap and Obect freeze. improv (Pownce)

mypalal: finished first show which sold out this afternoon. Second show also sold out. improv (10:02 PM) (Twitter)

Pownce Entry (2:07 AM)
Second show was a good one too. Played Sideline Debate, Columns, Good Advice - Bad Advice, Mystery Where and World's worst. improv (Pownce)

MyPalAl checked in @ National Comedy Theatre (12:19 AM) (BriteKite)

Friday, November 07, 2008

Yellow Power - It's the Asians Turn Now

Now that the African-Americans have one of their own in the White House, it’s the Asians turn now! It frustrates me that I can’t achieve what the average American can achieve, because of this racist nation, we call the United States.

Where’s my two acres?

Where’s my mule?

Fellow Asians, stand with me until we are equal with the whites and the blacks.

We will no longer be patronized by the man. C’mon Julie Chen, you can do better than Big Brother.

My white friends…imagine a world where your clothes are no longer clean. A world where your nails go unpolished. Where the only person left to cut your hair is Jose Eber?

I expect my deed and stable next week.

Yellow Power!

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Improv Tweets for 11/1/08

mypalal: is performing tonight for the NCT Spooktacular. I think there are still tickets left. improv (12:49 PM)

mypalal: getting dinner after Level 1 improv - http://bkite.com/02902 (5:51 PM)

mypalal: is getting the theater set up for tonight's Spooktacular. 1st show sold out. improv (6:21 PM)

mypalal: just finished first spooky show. play Ghoul Yard Insults, Spooky Line, and Death Pedulum. Ah Ah Ah! improv (9:38 PM)

mypalal: finished 1st half of 2nd show. I'm DJ. played Spooky line scene in reverse and 5 things. improv (11:05 PM)

mypalal: played blind freeze stab, and last action line. improv (12:02 AM)

mypalal: is heading home at midnight improv (12:03 AM)

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Improv Tweets for 10/29/08

Mochrie happiest doing improv (12:23 AM)
This is an article about one of my favoriate improvisors.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Improv Tweets for 10/25/08

Thursday, October 23, 2008

National Comedy Theatre #1 Live Comedy in San Diego

For the second year in a row, my improv troupe was voted by San Diego Channel 10 viewers as the #1 Live Comedy show. We beat out the Comedy Store in La Jolla and the Mystery Café Dinner Theater. It’s funny but our competition TheatreSports came in 5^th and they closed several months ago. I’m not sure if we won because we have really loyal fans or our ballot stuffing campaign worked. I will say that this year it was one e-mail, one vote, so I only got to vote 3 times this year.

http://kgtv.cityvoter.com/winners/10news-com-s-a-list/1997/arts-and-entertainment/live-comedy

Our owner is pretty proud of this honor and I am too. Let me start by saying that I am just a part of a large group of performers. In fact, I only perform on Saturdays. But what it does say is that we have a really great fan base and we produce a good product.

Not too brag, but our competition (other improv groups) is lucky to pull in 20 people per show. We average about 60 per show and it’s not unheard of to sell out once in a while. That’s 105 seats sold. We are also the longest running show in San Diego. (Thank God, Triple Espresso closed a few months ago)

I’ve been with the theater for 7 years and I’ve seen the audiences come and go. I was hear when we were sold out solid from January to June. I was also here when we were lucky to get 20 people per show. For us, I truly can gauge the quality of the show based on the number of people in the audience. When we were on our run of sold out shows, we were good. Our improv was tight and we were funny. When our numbers dropped, our show stunk. I was on the verge of quitting because I hated the show we were producing.

Now we have a nice group. Sure there are improvements that need to be made, but it’s a quality show. There’s a mistake that our competition has made when it comes to improv and I’ll blog about it on another day, but we are just not into what I call wacky improv, where we stand on stage and do weird things. Our style is very scene and story oriented. We are able to connect to the audience and make them laugh at the same time.

Enough of my bragging. It’s an honor to be recognized in San Diego. Come see me for the next few Saturdays before the holidays start.

National Comedy Theatre, 3717 India St, San Diego. Friday and Saturdays 7:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Improv Tweets for 10/21/08

My improv group was voted #1 Live Comedy in San Diego on the KGTV reader poll. (via FriendFeed) (1:57 PM)

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Improv Tweets for 10/18/08

mypalal: is iin San Diego right now waiting for his level 1 workshop to start. improv (2:38 PM)
mypalal: is done with level 1 workshop. Now getting dinner before setting up the theater. Oh, I'm PRIC tonight. improv (5:55 PM)
mypalal: just finished the first show. We lost. Played dimestore novel, blind line, freeze tag, da doo, 185. improv (9:44 PM)
mypalal: is driving home after a very political second show. Pray that I'll stay awake. improv (12:31 AM)

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Improv Tweets for 10/11/08

mypalal: getting my notes ready for today's first Level 1 Improv Workshop. Today is teamwork day. Soon I'll work on the garden. improv (7:23 AM)
mypalal: is rushing to get everything ready before class 1. improv (11:10 AM)
mypalal: just finished Level 1 improv week 1 - teamwork. 18 students. whew improv (6:11 PM)
mypalal: having dinner at Saffron before show. improv (6:13 PM)
mypalal: is waiting for the 2nd show. Played Laugh out and 185. Let my people go. improv (9:29 PM)
mypalal: improv challenge. I must use the word Cogent into the second. improv (9:47 PM)
mypalal: Just ended the 2nd show. We skipped intermission. Very low energy show. We had a very low energy crowd. We had a good Dinner at Joes improv (11:18 PM)

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Improv Comedy Theory, Part 4 - Creating Characters

I’ll admit, I’m not the best at creating characters. I’ve only got maybe 5 under my belt and I don’t really call them characters. They are just people with specific mannerisms and physical characteristics. The group I perform with, National Comedy Theatre in San Diego, actually has a few performers that are exceptionally good at creating interesting and quirky characters. I’m not a character guy. I’m a story guy.

So what credibility can I bring to this discussion? I come from the perspective of someone who does not have the skill of characterization, but of someone who relies on creating characters on the fly. Hopefully with this basic skill, you can hone it and perfect it.

One of the games that used to intimidate me in the past is the game, Dinner at Joe’s. The game is simple, we interview a member of the audience and this person describes various members of his or her family. We ask for minimal information such as occupation, personality traits/quirks, dreams and desires. We probably get about 3 or 4 descriptive items about each person. The audience member then assigns each family member to a performer. The performers now perform a scene with each of these members interacting with one another and the audience member lets you know if you are acting like the person or not.

If you are having problems creating characters, this is a really good game to learn and perfect. I’m not necessarily creative enough to create a character from scratch, so now I get to have a little help.

Here are a few examples of the suggestions I got.

April – 22, never went to college, lives with girlfriend in a nearby apartment, has no job.

Joy – 18, performs drama in high school, bad driver.

Mary, no Kristin – 21, college, probably drunk at the moment

One thing about this game… 80% of the time I play this game, I’m playing a woman. Not that I have a problem with it.

What you want to do is not imitate these people on stage, but what you are really doing is creating a caricature of a person. You’re trying to latch on to some quirky element about the person and now exaggerating it.

Example of exaggeration – Mary, no Kristin. During the interview, I picked up on the fact that this person was probably drunk, she’s a college student and would never answer a question directly, but had to be evasive. So I basically played her as a smart-ass, Girls-Gone-Wild drunk. She really hated me after the show. I felt bad but it was comedy gold.

Giving a character depth is also important. Its one thing to act drunk, but it’s another to have a reason for being drunk. Maybe she’s drunk because she’s trying to fit in with the college crowd, or maybe she’s trying to forget her past trauma, giving history creates dimension. It’s the difference between just acting silly on stage and having a story to tell.

April was a funny one. Aside from the fact that I got to play a lesbian, what I was able to pick up from the interview was that the person we interviewed was a high school senior, who was excited to go to college. Her father was in the audience and he was very proud of her. When she described her sister as having not gone to college, has no job and lives in an apartment with her girlfriend, I decided to put the pieces together and deduce that in her current situation she was living off her the college tuition that she never used. My contribution to the scene was simple, I came home wanting to get my college tuition money. My line of the night was “You don’t understand. I have the right to have the college tuition money for an education that I’ll never get.” Later I would end the scene a lesbian joke.

Joy was a practice in silliness. She’s a drama student and bad driver. I basically knew that I’d be the last person on stage. So I went to the rear of the stage and grabbed anything that could make noise. I grabbed a stool and a metal helmet. Just as the scene called for my entrance, I made a sound effect of a car, then I threw the stool and helmet on the ground and made an all too realistic car crash sound. I then dropped to the ground and in the best high school overacting I pretended to have survived the most horrible car accident in history. ACTING!!!

In conclusion, I find that creating character is more than having an accent and strange physical mannerisms. To give a character dimension, create a quick history for the character. Why does the person act that way?

Having said all this, I will admit my worst game is Good, Bad advice. This is a purely character driven game and I only have 3 that I feel comfortable bringing on stage.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Improv Tweets for 9/27/08

mypalal: just finished his last Level 1 Improv class. it went great for beginners. see me tonight 7:30 9:45 improv (5:44 PM)
mypalal: just finished a really good first show. Did an awesome blind line. Missed you Tom improv (9:30 PM)
mypalal: just finished the 2nd show early. I had to ref, but was fun, but I still hate it. Time to go home. Will miss midnight show. improv (11:20 PM)

Monday, September 22, 2008

Improv Tweets for 9/21/08

mypalal: is making the 100 mile drive home. improv (12:04 AM)

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Improv Tweets for 9/20/08

mypalal: is heading to SD for workshop and show improv (1:57 PM)
mypalal: traffic was horrible in Oceanside. I'm so late. improv (3:16 PM)
mypalal: I'm in such a rush. will be barely on time improv (3:25 PM)
mypalal: Just finished level 1. One more class next week. If you're in San Diego, come see me 7:30 and 9:45. improv (5:46 PM)
mypalal: finished 2nd show. for once did not play a woman and made a customer scene work. improv (9:29 PM)
mypalal: is about to start 2nd show. I'm captain again. improv (9:47 PM)
mypalal: is done performing for a drunk crowd. improv (11:24 PM)

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Improv Tweets for 9/19/08

mypalal: is looking foward to performing on Saturday, 7:30 and 9:45 in San Diego. improv (3:44 PM)

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Palin/Clinton Opener on SNL

The opener to Saturday Night Live was freakin' hilarious. As a conservative, I couldn't help but laugh. The sketch was a nice jab at both sides and Tiny Fey has the impersonation down perfectly. Politics aside, if there is a level of honest to the person you're impersonating you have comedy gold. Where political comedy often fails is when you rely on stereotypes that don't necessarily apply to the actual person.

Enjoy!!!

Monday, September 15, 2008

Obama Jokes Taboo?

I was just watching the season premiere of Saturday Night Live with Michael Phelps. Overall it was pretty funny. Tiny Fey was spot on with her impersonation of Sarah Palin. Even as a Republican, I had to laugh.

I found it interesting that amongst the barrage of McCain and Palin jokes, there was not one joke that entire night that made fun of Obama. Even during the race between Hillary Clinton and Obama, there were very few jokes poking fun at Barak Obama.

My first thought was that this could be a race thing. There are certainly comedy taboos that apply to Obama and other African American public figures, but none of those taboos are funny, nor apply to Obama. They will also make fun of Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton.

My second thought is obviously the liberal media and SNL writers really want Obama to win so their attacks are solely on McCain and Palin. But then again, they were pretty ruthless to Hillary Clinton and she certainly has a lot of issues in her life to poke fun. SNL certainly has had a lot of fun at Hillary’s expense.

My conclusion is that Barak Obama is a boring guy. Much that came up during the RNC was the fact that Barak has not done anything in his career. And we know very little about his personal life, except that he attends churches where the pastors have questionable character. Aside from that, who is Barak Obama? We don’t know enough about him to make fun of him. He’s just a middle-aged African-American from the Midwest who has sat in the Senate and voted on legislation. He’s never headed a committee nor written a piece of legislation. Really, what do we know if this guy.

My next question is who will be the brave comedian to make the first Barak Obama joke?

Monday, September 08, 2008

Improv Tweets for 9/7/08

mypalal: had a great second show for about 60. Now drive 100 miles home. improv (12:04 AM)

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Improv Tweets for 9/6/08

mypalal: is about to perform for about 80 people. I'm DJ first show. improv (7:40 PM)
mypalal: Just finished the level 1 improv class. Great class. We talked about thinking quickly and establishing relationships. improv (6:06 PM)
mypalal: is getting ready for Level 1 improv. He's performing tonight in San Diego at 7:30 p.m. and 9:45. improv (9:52 AM)

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Returning to the Stage this Saturday and Working with New Performers

After a 3 month sabbatical, I am finally returning to the live stage at the National Comedy Theatre in San Diego. I must say I really miss performing and I miss teaching as well. If you are in San Diego or are willing to drive to San Diego, come see my show. The first person to contact me, alan@mypalal.com gets two free tickets.

Enough shilling! I’m a little nervous because I haven’t performed in a while and we have new performers as well, which usually means we have to change our performing style just a little to cover for inexperience and provide a successful environment for the new performers.

I really like performing with new players. I know a lot of people who don’t. I have a lot of experience in not only adapting to the challenges presented on stage, but to correct scenes as they progress. I’ve mentioned before that scenes are successful when a good foundation is being built. New performers have a lot going on in their head that sometimes laying a good foundation is secondary to fighting nerves and the need to be funny. I understand that and my job as a veteran is to correct the problems of the scene. By doing this I’m able to teach new players what is needed to build a scene and also give them stage success. When a new performer experiences stage success they begin to feel confident in their performances. All improv performers need a high level of confidence or its over.

The only thing I ever tell a new performer before the show is that there is to be no more than two people on-stage at one time. Now, there are always exceptions to this rule, but this should be rare for the new performer. The reason is if the new performer is not on stage at the beginning of the scene, then that performer is trying desperately to find a way to get on stage. Often they come in too soon and thereby not allowing the first two players to properly establish a scene. Also, the performer is not paying attention to what is going on, they are just looking for an in. This always results in the performing coming on stage as a random character or worse the wrong character. If I’m setting up a scene where two people are having an affair, often the third character is the unsuspecting spouse. Instead, they come in as the nosy neighbor or best friend of whomever. Now the story has to take a different path because we did not choose to go with the most logical character.

Anyways, let’s see how we do this Saturday.

Friday, July 11, 2008

The Myth of Improv Magic - Structured vs. Unstructured Improv

I took a 3 month sabbatical from improv and I’m about to return. I miss performing so badly. While I was on my sabbatical, I pondered whether I wanted to join a team up here in Orange County. I was a little disappointed at the quality of improv in my local area. I know I’m painting myself as an improv snob and I don’t mean to. I’ve had discussions with others and I’ve come across this rarely discussed gem. There are two types of improv. I fall into one camp and most groups fall into the other.

The two types of improv are what I’ll call “structured” improv and the other is “unstructured.”

I trained with ComedySportz here on the West Coast. I would say they are structured. My current group, the National Comedy Theater, is also structured.

Most improv groups that I see are “unstructured.” They live by the motto, “Let Magic Happen.” My experience with TheaterSportz is indicative of this “magical” unstructured style. My first professional group, Just Us, was definitely unstructured. In fact, I got into arguments all them all the time. They would throw their arms up in frustration, telling me not to over think.

Before I get into the differences between the two, I will say, I like structured improv better because; you will have a high degree of success every time you perform. With unstructured, you will make people laugh, but unless your group is super talented, you are going to fail most of the time.

The National Comedy Theater in San Diego performs four shows every weekend. We usually have 80 customers in our 100 seat theater every show for all four shows. I’ve been privileged to perform for 5 straight months of sold out shows. Our success has nothing to do with star players, because we rotate every show. We also have a wide range of experience. No individual can claim to be the key of our success. We keep customers coming back because we are performing solid shows and performing solid scenes.

The key that we keep hammering away at is the structure. If we have a bad scene, which happens, we can look back at the scene and know were it went wrong. It’s because we failed to follow the structure.

Why is unstructured the wrong way to go? Let me describe it first. I’m going to use a extreme, yet common experience you’ll get when you watch an unstructured scene. In an unstructured scene, performers are given a suggestion by the audience, the performers then walk about the stage trying to figure out what to do. They call upon their best cleverness to come up with the first line. The first line is said, and the performer prays to the comedy gods, that the other person knows how to respond. Assuming this happens, the scene progress is some direction, and if you’re lucky you can progress the story, but more often than not, the direction is deemed weak by the performer and they change the direction of the scene or a third or fourth person comes on stage to save it. All at the same time, everyone is trying to be funny.

The first real problem is that the performers spend the first 30 seconds to a minute trying to figure out what the scene is about. When you place a game on top of it, then no one is focused and the performers begin to react to the game suggestions. You see this a lot in the game of theater styles. The performers start a scene about nothing, then the scene becomes a western, then porno, then Shakespeare. What happens is the scene just becomes a series of clichés of these styles. There is no story thread that can be strung throughout the game.

On the other hand, structured improv focuses on the scene and creating a story. The improv game is overlaid on top of the story to provide flavor and comedic elements. Stories involve characters and a plot. When structured improv performers step on stage, they are given a suggestion and they create characters, or RELATIONSHIPS, that logically fit that suggestion. Now the scene starts with two people have a relationship and know each other. To continue the story, the performers need a story to tell. The easiest thing to do is create a conflict between the two characters.

Conflict is easy because if you’re in any relationship, you have conflict. I have conflicts with my wife, my parents, my siblings, my boss, my girlfriend/boyfriend, my co-worker. The options are endless. Now that you have the beginnings of a story, you overlay the improv game on top. If the story is a an employee trying to get a pay raise from his/her boss, then when you moves from Western genre to Porno and then to Shakespeare, you can take elements of those genres and incorporate it into the scene and tell a cohesive and funny story.

I still remember all of the conversations with my old groups about overthinking. Honestly laying a good foundation to start a scene does not require overthinking. If the unstructured performers can just take two seconds and do this, they will see a growing popularity in their shows.

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Improv Comedy Theory, Part 3 - The Myth of Yes And...

I am back to impart a little more wisdom about improv comedy. A friend of mine is taking over my level 1 improv workshop at the National Comedy Theatre in San Diego. As I was passing my notes on to him, I began to recall discussions I’ve had with fellow performers and I thought the idea of “Yes, And…” was a good one to discuss.

“Yes, and…” is one of the foundations of improv that is imparted to new performers. In fact there is a famous exercise that is called “Yes, and…”. It goes a little like this.

“What a nice day!”

“Yes and the weather man said it would rain tonight.”

“Yes and he is an idiot.”

“Yes and he was tested with a 50 IQ”

“Yes and he was legally declared a moron.”

“Yes and morons like Jello.”

Etc.

The foundational principle that is being enforced here is “Agreement.” It is vital that improv performers follow the rule of Agreement. Whatever is said or done on stage is truth to that scene. Performers can not deny what is brought forth. An instance occurred two week ago. I came on stage and my intent was to play a woman. I walked on stage, sat at a computer, played with my hair, walked feminine and acted as feminine as I possibly could. Mike, my fellow performer, and referred to me as Christopher. He was not denying the information I brought. Because I did not explicitly state that I was a woman, I could be labeled as a man. Which is what I had to do by becoming an incredibly effeminate man. I could have denied him and said, “I’m not Christopher, I’m Christine.” Clear Denial.

Getting back to the “Myth of Yes And.” My job as a performer is not to simply “Yes and” everything. My job is much broader than that. It’s to add information to a scene. Let’s remember that we’re telling a story here. Each performer with every line and action is laying the foundation of a story that is being told on stage. My first line generally established a relationship between performers. My second line often sets some kind of direction the two characters will move toward. The third line establishes how the characters feel about each other or the situation. The subsequent lines now begin to build the story. The game is now overlaid on top of the story to provide unexpected twists and turns for the characters.

The problem with “Yes and” is that if you follow it strictly, the scene moves like a snake in the grass. There’s not direction and there only movement. Rather than focus on a single story line, the story moves in one direction and then in another. This happens because we’re focused on the last thing that was said, rather than in the story that is being developed.

Don’t get me wrong. “Yes and” is a great exercise for beginning improv performers, but for advanced improv performers story telling is where you place the focus of your scene.

Until next time, please come see my Improv Troupe, the National Comedy Theatre in San Diego. www.nationalcomedy.com

Monday, January 14, 2008

Funny Fortune Cookie Story

This story happened 15 years ago. I had just broken up with my girlfriend and she had been talking about trying to get back together, something I was not looking forward to.

This particular night I was out with friend, my ex being one of them and we all went to a Chinese restaurant. At the end of our meal, we got our fortune cookies.

My fortune cookie said,

"Do not try to revive and old relationship."

I laughed. My ex got upset and took my fortune away.

Well, I guess you had to be there.

Monday, January 07, 2008

Improv Comedy Theory, Part 2 - The Philosophy of the Improv Show

This Christmas, my brother gave me a $20 gift certificate to Best Buy, which was cool (although I gave him a $25 gift certificate to Best Buy for Christmas). Anyway, I love to have an excuse to shop at Best Buy. There’s not a lot to get for $20, except for bad movies.

After about 20 minutes of wandering, I saw that they had the first two seasons of Whose Line is it Anyway (British Version). Now I remember how bad the first season was, so I almost passed it up. But since you really can’t get anything for under $20 at Best Buy, I purchased the DVD set.

I suffered through the first disc. Then last night I popped in the second disc. The best part of the second disc, was the interview with the Producers Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson. As an improv performer myself, I was really interested in what they had to say from a show creation. They brought up two good points when it comes to producing an improv show.

The reason Whose Line uses a host (Clive Anderson) was give the audience someone to focus attention to and act as a foil to the performers. Without the host, you have a show where performer come out and tell they are going to make you laugh and they play games. As simple as that sounds, the performers come off as arrogant. We are here to get suggestions from you and we’ll make that funny. The role of the host is to take the heat off the performers and put it on the host, who can make fun of the performers. Now the host comes off as the smart ass and the performers are likeable. This is important in improv because you have a high chance of failing on stage and if the audience likes you, they will root for you when you perform.

Awarding points was also a vital part of the show. It gave a reason to have the show. Without the points, the show becomes an improvised sketch show, which in this case now becomes a very bad sketch show. The points are actually the glue that holds the show together. The funniest part is that everyone is in on the fact that the “points don’t matter.”

I’m performing in San Diego a week from Saturday for the next 7 weeks. I’m teaching workshops those 7 weeks. Come and see me. My shows are Saturday nights 7:30 pm and 9:45 at the National Comedy Theater in San Diego, 3717 India St, San Diego. I’d love to see you there.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Improv Comedy Journal

Friday, December 19, 2008

Improv Comedy Tweets

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Improv Comedy Tweets

Saturday, December 06, 2008

Improv Comedy Tweets

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Improv Comedy Tweets

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Improv Comedy Tweets

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Improv Comedy Tweets

Friday, November 07, 2008

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Monday, September 22, 2008

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Monday, September 15, 2008

Monday, September 08, 2008

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Friday, July 11, 2008

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

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Monday, January 07, 2008

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