Crowning Moments Of Awesome 2011

[Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell]

the first Violet Underbelly show.

all of it.

[Collin]

I think making the front page of Funny or Die has been the highlight of my year so far:



Eye for an iPhone on FoD

[Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell]

towards the beginning of episode 2 of Showdown, Clarinda (Katie Van Winkle) was confronting Clement (Clay Towery), her boss who was hunting her down after she tried to escape his employ as a prostitute to protect her unborn child. Clement had previously tortured and mutilated Doc Parrish (Jason Vines), cutting off his hands and ear, to learn her location. as she held her gun on Clement, she tried to make a deal to return but protect her baby, Clement tried to talk her into putting the gun down and Doc Parrish cried from the ground for her to shoot him. the tension built up until Clarinda finally screamed...and turned the gun, shooting Doc Parrish in the head to put him out of his misery.

highly dramatic, incredibly intense and capped off with a huge "holy shit!" moment at the end.

[Halyn]

Troy and Jason's superhero scene from Maestro with audience volunteer, Reese.

Reese is the son of Jay's friend who came to see the show. Reese is autistic. Jay doesn't know what kind of autism Reese has, or his age, but his age is roughly around 11 I'd say.

The scene was set up so that Reese was Captain IQ, the main superhero, and Jason was his sidekick, SAT. Reese was very shy, and didn't speak or move hardly in the beginning parts of the scene, and that's when it became clear that he had some sort of disability. Jason took over, and created the entire world for him. He did it without making us uncomfortable, or Reese. Troy came on "screen" through the window as the president, and said that he was needed for a mission (there were some Billy Joel references, but I don't remember them really...). Jason asked if he wanted to go to the helicopter to fly off to the villain's lair, and Reese quietly agreed.

Whenever Reese would talk, the entire theatre would go silent. The audience (and Maestro players off to the side or in the audience) waited until his entire sentence was finished, and usually cheered whatever he said, as he only said about four sentences the entire scene. All he said was, "Yes, let's go" and the audience cheered him on.

Jason and Troy justified anything that might have been unclear to the audience. When the got in the helicpoter, for example, and Reese sat in the passenger's side, which is somewhat unusual for a lead superhero to do. Jason said something to the extent of "Ah! You've chosen the passenger's seat, of course!" and when they arrived to the lair of the villain played by Troy, Jason told him to attack. When Reese said nothing and stood still, Troy shouted, "NOO! He's thinking!!!" and Jason mimed waves coming from Reese's head, and attacking Troy, which got an insane laugh and cheer from the audience.

This is about where I started crying. I cried because I was so happy that everyone in that room was instantly on his side. Not because they pitied him or because they felt obligated, but because they genuinely wanted him on the stage. I was so humbled to know all the people on stage. It was an incredible display of how much you can do in improv. Troy and Jason were effortlessly creating a world and a story based around Reese, and he was clearly loving it. There wasn't one uncomfortable moment because they kept it going non-stop, and made Reese look like a champion.

At this point in the "battle", Reese walked off stage without a word. This caused a bit of concern, but Jason saved it with, "Captain IQ has gone invisible!" which Troy took over by beating himself up, making it look like Captain IQ had indeed gone invisible and was beating him up. Andy, who was directing Saturday night, jumped back staged and gently helped him get back on stage. When he appeared, Troy acted scared, and Jason told him to attack, Andy also was behind him telling him to go for it. When Reese "punched" and "kicked" Troy, the audience went wild. The loudest cheers and applause I've ever heard in that theatre or in an improv show. It was such a great moment, we all wanted it so bad and when he defeated the villain, he had such a big grin on his face. After that moment, he seemed to open up a little bit. Kristin ran on stage and asked for his autograph in a sweet girly voice, and he happily said, "Why sure little girl!" and when he was done giving her his autograph, he said "There you go, Cinderella!"

The scene ended with Jason and Reese on stage, with Jason congratulating him on using his smarts in his mission, and Reese ended the scene with something like, "Yeah because it's cool!" If someone can remember that line, that'd be awesome.

After the lights had gone down and come back up again, some audience members were on their feet. All of them were cheering wildly. The scene got a unanimous five, obviously and rightfully so. I was practically sobbing.

After the show during notes, Jay informed us that that was his friend's son, and he did indeed have autism. He said, "He usually keeps to himself, and it was great to see him come out of his shell." Tyler Pratt said his heart was full after that scene, and Andy summed it all up when he said, "That was something really special, and the audience won't be forgetting it anytime soon."

EDIT: Jay has informed me that, "He has a combination of Autism and Mental Retardation (PC: Intellectual Disability), neither of which is dominant but of course is not a great combination. He was able to tell me that my birthday (Nov. 6th) was on a Sunday . . ."

[Brad Hawkins]

Ditto to what Halyn posted. One of the awesomest scenes ever.

[kbadr]

I am sorry I missed this and overjoyed that something I was tangentially related to created that moment. Well done, guys.

[vine311]

The scene ended with Jason and Reese on stage, with Jason congratulating him on using his smarts in his mission, and Reese ended the scene with something like, "Yeah because it's cool!" If someone can remember that line, that'd be awesome.

I told Troy (the Mayor) that Captain IQ and I would like to take a vacation and go to Disneyland. Reese yelled "Yeah! Disneyland is cool!".

[Halyn]

The scene ended with Jason and Reese on stage, with Jason congratulating him on using his smarts in his mission, and Reese ended the scene with something like, "Yeah because it's cool!" If someone can remember that line, that'd be awesome.

I told Troy (the Mayor) that Captain IQ and I would like to take a vacation and go to Disneyland. Reese yelled "Yeah! Disneyland is cool!".

That's right! Thanks, for the line correction and the scene.

[Roy Janik]

I just watched the scene online. Super well done!

Skip ahead to like 55:16 -
http://vimeo.com/channels/austinimprov#21926292

[Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell]

okay, i was IN this moment, but it's certainly not my part in it i'm "nominating." episode 4 of Showdown, my character (Zeke) had been condemned to death and to avoid a public spectacle was to be shot in the courtroom immediately following the trial. Zeke's best friend Robert (Jericho), who was also the sheriff who arrested him, volunteered to execute the sentence. left alone in the courtroom, i got on my knees and Jericho questioned how i could have fucked things up so badly, then started reminiscing about the farm we used to raid as kids, the peaches we used to steal and eat from the tree. i mentioned the farmer's dog we used to throw the rotten peaches at.

Robert: "Yeah...what was that dog's name?"
Zeke (looking up and smiling): "...Clyde!"

and that's when Jericho pulled the trigger.

after the lights went down, i went off stage and cried for a few minutes...a very touching, violent and tragic moment, and a wonderfully bold choice on Jericho's part that seemed to subtly inform his character choices for the rest of the night. just awesome.



oh! and Jason's violent emasculation and murder of Andreas, followed by an equally violent emotional breakdown.

oh! and Katie's fevered lullaby as her condition worsened from losing her baby, with a bereft Julie who looked like she might shoot Katie or herself at any second.

oh! and Shana's pitch perfect blend of stoicism and dread as she was interrogated for her assassination attempt.

oh! and Liz's hysterical grief over losing the man she loved turning to detached resignation in her confrontation with Clay, pulling a gun on him while he had a gun aimed at her head, practically forcing his hand to shoot her as she fired on him ("suicide by cocksucker," was the thought that went through my head).

oh! and Clay in turn, who's played Clement as the meanest, coldest, most sadistic son of a bitch, responding to getting shot with all the fear and hurt of a wounded child.

(actually, can i just nominate that whole episode? )

[Spaztique]

Here are the many from the 42 Hour Improv Marathon (that I saw):

Hour 29-30 - Maestro #2: After Lisa gets CJ eliminated so she can stay, it turns out there's a whole bunch of time left in the show, so they keep going, but everyone begins demanding to bring back CJ. When they go looking for him, he's already missing, so Peter calls him in the middle of the show, and he actually comes back for the second-to-last-round to play with the other players.

Hour 31 - McNichol And May: Aside from essentially pulling off an improvised Christopher Guest film, Troy's character's quick was not ever getting the chance to speak, and yet he was one of the funniest characters in the show.

Hour 32 - Puppet Improv Project: A group of characters enter a tavern while the Star Wars cantina music plays in the background (first by the improvisers, then by the tech booth). In the middle of the scene, Jason grabs two puppets, approaches one of the characters, and briefly re-enacts the "He doesn't like you" scene from Star Wars, much to the delight of the crowd. It's cut short when the bartender shows him a sign reading "No Star Wars References". (Also, more of a Crowning Moment Of Funny, the puppet sex scene, masturbating puppet, and the puppets having sex in the background while Andreas, the narrator, tells the audience why they originally cut that scene.)

Hour 33 - Live Nude Improv: Just as everyone else is taking off their belts during a gym locker scene (as a tourniquet for performance enhancing/recreational drugs), Peter comes in and announces, "I'm just going to get naked right here." It had to be the loudest reaction I have ever heard from an audience ever: shock, cheers, revulsion, amusement, and disgust, all at once. (And for a Minor Moment Of Awesome, I'd also mention the fact I provided sounds and music BLINDFOLDED for the WHOLE SHOW.)

Hour 38 - Your Dad's Friends: Troy's spot-on Gary Busey impersonation: the eyes, teeth, vocal cadence, mannerisms, personality tics (such as his acronyms), flying around on a jet pack as an army of lawn mowers mow his lawn, and gaining unicorn powers at the very end and flying away.

Hour 42 - The Final Countdown: The physical evolution scene with Tim. Somebody has a series of photos on Facebook with the entire thing from beginning to end (just add the song "The Thieving Magpie" and you're complete). Speaking of Tim, the scene where everyone impersonates Lisa's fallback characters, and the button where Tim does a spot-on impression of every one of Lisa's male characters. ("*in a deep, gruff voice* THIS IS HOW I IMPERSONATE MASCULINITY!")

Miscellaneous: Jason Vines spending his entire birthday doing improv!

[ejbrammer]

In False Matters on Saturday, Craig was playing a character called Roy, who was the most powerful man in the universe, personally responsible for creating an endless and purposeless war, in an effort to make himself important. He'd begun to crack, making mistakes throughout the show, and finally went to see a psychiatrist, played by Shannon. The psychiatrist gets Roy to admit that he doesn't want to end the war because he's thinks it's impossible that anyone really loves or needs him. Also during this scene they are playing darts.

So it's Shannon's turn to throw, and while doing so, he gives this speech beginning with Zeno's paradox - that an arrow has to travel halfway to its target, then halfway, then halfway, and thus should logically never get there. But it does. And he ends with something like "Impossible things happen every day. You just have to let them."

It was really quite a spectacular scene on a lot of levels.

[Roy Janik]

Hour 42 - The Final Countdown: The physical evolution scene with Tim. Somebody has a series of photos on Facebook with the entire thing from beginning to end (just add the song "The Thieving Magpie" and you're complete).

Better than that, here's a video:

http://hideouttheatre.tumblr.com/post/6 ... ew-in-hour

[Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell]

a favorite moment from the Marathon i haven't seen mentioned a lot happened during the Bat (to be fair, the Bat itself was one of my favorite moments overall, but that's beside the point...)

the suggestion was taken of a favorit song lyric, which was (somewhat ironically) "You light up my life." When the lights went down, some of us started to sing it...though we did not appear to know the words, and the tune was a bit shaky and it all got shakier as it went on. Arthur as the conductor broke his baton and quit, leaving us to direct ourselves...the rest of the show happened and at the end he came back to see how we had done in his absence. Not very well. "Well, you have 20 minutes before the President (who might have been JFK, Foghorn Leghorn or Zeus) gets here and you have to sing for him!" we cut to that scene and i counted off, "2, 3, 4..." and without any ability to check in, consult or even see each other, everyone burst into a deeply rich and harmonious choral arrangement of "You Light Up My Life"...which immediately went off the rails after a gorgeous couple of lines as we realized we still didn't know the words.