9.27.2004

Bissett off more than you can chew?

The titles to these things really only mean anything to me.

Apparently, I've been slacking off on the blog entries. Apparently, I have some dedicated readers who want me to keep up. Apparently, I am the only thing in the sad workday lives of my peers that keeps their chins up. (Right)

Had to slow down a bit after the Fringe Festival ended. Except that I didn't. There was the Beastie Boys, which you heard about, and working, and going to lots of comedy nights, and another show in Bellingham, and Sketch in Time last night.

Work was a tiny bit thin this week, Rocking Monday, but Tuesday and Wednesday left something to be desired in the earnings department. Hoping my car holds out for a little while longer before I have to take the clanky old thing in. Seriously, it now sounds so bad that strangers in the street are stopping and looking at me when I drive by. I think the muffler is banging around down there. Plus, it's burning oil like it was a field in Iraq...(remember the Gulf War?)...and I think the brakes need to be looked at, but I'm not sure because the possible squeaking is drowned out by the banging. Yeesh. I wish I had a barterable trade, you know, like cutting hair or something. Some beads and blankets to trade for mechanical work.

Show in Bellingham this week was good, but weird. The group on before us was...um...not good, to put it gently. Like a bad cable access/Fringe show. A really bad one. It put the backstage area into a weird mood. The audience still loved us, for crying out loud how could they not, but we definitely had a focus problem. Bit of a chaotic show for us. But good, too, on the learning curve. We're really getting a chance to hone this format in an arena that's so safe and warm. It's a pleasure to be playing for such large audiences, and ones who really want to be there, who came to see a show. I'm glad we're not trying to figure out what works and what doesn't in front of ten half drunk people who have no hockey to watch so came out to drink and didn't know they were getting improv. You know, your typical Vancouver crowd. We're starting some talks about getting a space and sharing it with another company or two, so that we have a theatre that is dedicated to improv/sketch/standup...somewhere that people can remember, instead of them trying to keep track of the names of companies, and find out what venue they'll be at this week. I think people like to have a destination they can count on. Anyway, that's in the chatting stages.

Phil, my stepdad, isn't doing so well this week. Went with Susan, his wife, to Parksville to try to have a little vacation, but got quite sick almost immediately. They passed a sleepless and scary night and turned around and came home. He's spending the day in the hospital getting antibiotics and a platelet transfusion, and he's pretty whacked out. His blood sugars are all messed up, so that makes him pretty foggy. I doubt he'll stay in the hospital, though, because that always makes him sicker. Seems like, at this point, home is just better no matter what the outcome. It's always the most awful when he's in the hospital.

My friend Chad suggested that Jewish Family Services has a sliding scale for counselling, so I think I'm going to look into that. I was thinking I was doing ok without talking to someone, but it's getting kind of confusing again, so a little guidance through this might be just the thing.

I'm going to write some jokes, I think, what with all these comedy shows coming up this week. Again,

Weds, El Cocal
Thurs, Zizanie
Sun, DV8

Yikes. Still nervous, even though improv has been going so well. Although, I did have to introduce our group at Sketch in Time last night, and I did have to go out with a microphone onto the stage by myself at the Arts Club, and I never, never wanted to leave. So there's that I've got going for me. The love, oh, god, the love. I could just subsist on that feeling of standing on the stage having everyone looking at me expectantly. It makes me beam. I realized I can't be an angry comic. Even if I'm mad about stuff. Because as soon as I step out there I'm too damn thrilled with it to be mad. It's so great. So so so great. Mmmmmmm. More.

MORE!!

x
r.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Tell me more about Thursday's show...I am free and may come watch.

-Michael