WOW MOMENTS

[jillybee72]

Adsit and Lutz not only made me want to be better at improv, but gave the hint as to the way - a calm mind for clear choices.

My favorite moment, though, was when Roy fell in love with his lady character in the P-Graph show. I was beyond tickled.

I LOVED DOING SPIDER DANCE SO MUCH!!

[happywaffle]

Having a good conversation with Scott Adsit wherein he asked me to promise him I'll start at least one troupe by the end of the year, no matter how small.

*sheepishly raises hand*

[shando]

Let me add that my interactions with Scott Adsit were also pretty great. He is an incredibly genuine and generous person. I also loved catching him and Tom Booker seeing each other and embracing and catching up like the old friends they are. I know we love to bust Tom's balls about name dropping, but it's pretty incredible how deeply connected he is to a HUGE chunk of American improv history and American pop culture in general. It's an incredible asset to have him living here.

[trabka]

I know we love to bust Tom's balls about name dropping, but it's pretty incredible how deeply connected he is to a HUGE chunk of American improv history and American pop culture in general. It's an incredible asset to have him living here.

I remember the first time I became aware of Tom Booker's existence once I started doing improv and immediately recognized him as the guy from the NBA on TNT commercials when I was in high school. I think that counts as impressive for one or possibly both of us.

Back to the real topic though, I gotta say the Stool Pigeon and Sunday Adsit & Lutz shows were some of the most fun I've had watching improv. Like Jill, seeing them work really made me want to get better, and gave me insight on how that might work.

I also am glad OoB gave me the opportunity to see friends of mine from college perform with their troupe without me having to schlep up to New York.

[Kayla Lane]

Adsit & Lutz! Incredibly inspiring.

[Seth Johnson]

I know this is the AIC forum, but my favorite OOB moment was at the end of the Your Terrific Neighbors show. It was Joel's last show before moving and so his friends and former sketch partners Adam and Braden of the Plurals were also in the final sketch. The whole show was hilarious, demonstrating again why YTN have really raised the bar not just in sketch but comedy in general in this town. But when the three of them hugged goodbye at the very end, it was one of the best and most genuinely moving moments I've ever seen on stage. (Good Lord, I'm embarrassingly sappy!)

It was even worth leaving the wonderful Super Mega Art Show five minutes early and apparently missing the crowd body surf Dartanion London. Those two definitely need to be invited back next year.

I still haven't figured out how to post pictures on here, so here's Steve Roger's album of the YTN show: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 414&type=3
Check out the last 12-13 pics and just try not to weep openly like a child who's been told Joel's no longer in Your Terrific Neighbors. Can't be done.

[PyroDan]

So many great moments and shows, it's hard to pick one.

I would have to say that seeing so many great performances from different groups and regions that validate my own improv philosophy. It's a selfish WOW moment, but it helps justify some of the sacrifices I have made to do this thing I love so much. Performing/teaching/watching improv is an all natural prozach.

[jose]

Adsit & Lutz:

- twirling through timelines and characters

- the moment we discover that 10-15 minutes of what we had just seen (an entire sequence of Lutz's nervous high schooler character meeting his prom date's dad, taking his prom date outside of her house to meet his dad, his dad's flash photography turning his date into dust, him owning up to what happened to his prom date's dad, prom date's dad telling him how get her back via a single tear dropped into her remaining dust, etc.) was just happening in the imagination of Lutz's character while he was meeting and interacting with his prom date's dad.

- the moment when we discover that everything we saw involving Lutz's nervous high schooler character was him explaining to his dog, Blue, how things would be if his dad had been alive instead of his mom (reversing the reality of when we were introduced to the kid, his dad, dog, and the understanding that his mom had died and wasn't around).

It hurt my brain to figure out how to convey what happened in words and, on stage, Adsit & Lutz did it simply and effortlessly and it was breathtakingly amazing.

[kaci_beeler]

My real WOW moment slowly dawned on me as I went from show-to-show throughout the festival.

I saw Zed Talks on Thursday night and it was so hilarious and charming and made me want OOB to have more and more specially curated events for the festival.
I had a gauntlet where I did a super fun Available Cupholders show then ran out immediately and saw an all-female sketch group from Chicago doing fun dancey sketch stuff -> Butt Kapinski doing her amazing crowd reading clowning/storytelling act -> The Five Deadly Improvisers improvising actual Kung-Fu fights within an improvised Kung Fu Film -> Spirited having some beautiful moments improvising a dreamscape. And then the very next night seeing 3 FOR ALL with their precise yet playful, dramatic yet enthralling narrative show, later followed by an incredible piece by Adsit & Lutz - which was honestly like nothing I've really seen lately in terms of pacing, it was calm yet energetic, filled with amazing surprising moments. I wished I wasn't so tired so I could have laughed harder.

Anyway! It was all so different and SO. FUCKING. COOL.

I've been fortunate to travel to lots of festivals around the globe and I can honestly say I've never witnessed such very high quality variety anywhere else.

[happywaffle]

Another WOW moment occurred to me. Or WOW realization, whatever. It was the moment I realized that, with all the stuff I saw over the course of the festival, some of the best improv going right now is right here in Austin TX, performed by my friends.

[ratliff]

Adsit and Lutz holding hands and spinning, and spinning, and spinning, and each time knowing which character and timeline they were in. "And fix our relationship"
Awwww.

... and Adsit remembering that he was chained in a basement and being yanked back as they started that particular spin.

[annarenz]

I got home yesterday, and I have started to process what just happened in Austin!
I am very thankful that Jeremy gave me the opportunity to play in your festival. He encouraged me to cement my crazy plan to come along -for despite being troupe-less for one night I had a new troupe to call my own at Out of Bounds.
I want to say thank you to the producers and all helpers of the festival for building and sustaining such an event! I must say that the hospitality of the Austin Improv Community was every bit as wonderful as I had been led to believe.
Yours is a vibrant and thriving improv scene- there are many lessons to be learned, and ideas to mull over, and I hope to see your smiling faces again in Melbourne, or back in Austin one day.
xxAnna

[happywaffle]

Super-awesome to have you in Austin, Anna. Hope we meet again.

[Ryan Hill]

You came from so far away and blended right in immediately. Thanks for coming!

[Asaf]

Some of my Wow moments came from watching the workshops. There was particularly some moments in Deanna Fleyscher's classes where everything in comedy was distilled into one perfect gesture.

Todd Hart and Todd Geldon particularly made me laugh in the most deeply real way possible. I was impressed at what they accomplished and impressed at how Deanna got them there.