Last weekend we had our final rehearsals, and I think we had reached a point of self-doubt. Self-doubt because the sketches no longer felt funny. A few of us realized this was just funny fatigue, and recognized that we just needed to get our show in front of an audience. Well, tonight we got our audience, our splendidly talented actors delivered, comedy was delivered, and laughs were paid in full.
Tonight had a different feeling to our Gorilla Tango show back in March. For that show most of us were together for several hours before the show. Today, it was more ad hoc. I didn't even see the actors until a few minutes before the show. Brian and I went back stage at the Skybox and hung with them before the curtain went up. Personally, it was also a very different feeling this time around because I wasn't acting. The nervous energy was markedly reduced by not acting. My sketch is toward the end of the show, and whatever insecurities I may have about the script, I know that it's in great hands with Andy, Brigid, Dave, and Sam delivering the lines on stage. So, this worrier felt pretty good and excited before the show began. (This is a stark contrast to my feelings about the sketch I contributed to our show back in March.)
So, the show began. The opening sequence looked great. It really did. As mentioned before, it was every actor on the stage in a freeze frame from the various sketches. As this sequence ended, the actors took their marks for the first sketch -- Laura's harrowing tale opt a date gone awry. This is a very strong piece and was rightfully in the lead off spot. We made a strong promise to the audience with this sketch: this is going to be a good show. We delivered on that promise, as far as I'm concerned.
In previous post-show posts, I've given a somewhat exhaustive blow-by-blow of each piece and the crowd's reaction. I'm not inclined to do that this time. (It's tedious, and it's now 1:30 a.m. and I have my first conservatory class tomorrow at 10:00 a.m.) One new thing that I did tonight was I took notes of where the laughs are in each sketch. My wife gave me this idea because she heard that stand-ups do it.
For me, this exercise was fascinating, almost like taking score at a baseball game. That sounds mega-nerdy, but hear me out: if you take score at a baseball game, you will pay more attention to the game than you otherwise would. You'll notice subtleties and nuances that may have otherwise escaped you. Tonight I took crude notes of the phrase or action that preceded a good laugh from the audience. This information still needs to be processed (which will be the topic of a future post), but it will be interesting to see what crowds consistently laughed at, which jokes bombed, and which sequences may be loved by one audience but get no love from another audience.
Again, our actors did a phenomenal job tonight. Getting back to my contribution to the show, I cannot say enough wonderful things about the life and energy they injected into my sketch. My sketch began as something that was very "talking heads." (That is not a reference to the avant grade 80's band; "talking heads" is NOT how you want your work described in the sketch comedy world.) These talented thespians dressed up my piece with accents, action, great timing, and wonderful chemistry. I thank them.
And a funny (bad pun) thing happened tonight. As I sat there watching the same sketches that I have seen over a dozen times in the past few weeks, the funny fatigue evaporated. I was laughing and chuckling and chortling once again, even though I knew the jokes, the plot twists, and punchlines. What a great feeling.
Pre- and post-show footage:
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| Fully-clothed and tasteful junk shot. |
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| Yuk-Yuk-Yuk. |
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| Slice of life. |
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| Oh yeah, up-jean action. |
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| Milling about. |
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| Scored me a backstage pass. |
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| Pretty much sums up our weekends for about the past year. |
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| Andy, Anne, and David. |
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