Austin's 40-Hour Improv Marathon and Hideout Fund Raiser

[Spaztique]

Well, after teching 3/4ths of the shows and staying in downtown Austin for nearly three days (if you Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), I just want to say, YOU'RE ALL ROCK STARS!!!

My favorite moments include...

Hours 1-2 - Maestro: One solid-ass Maestro, in-general.

Hour 4 - Start Trekkin: Again, a solid Start Trekkin show. Gotta love the Klingon wedding ceremony.

Hour 7 - Cochise: The only other time I saw Cochise was during OoB 2008, so techin' this scared the hell out of me, but luckily, the fine improvisers of IfE brought us one of the craziest, twisty-turniest plots I've ever seen, turning into what TVTropes call a Thirty Xanatos Pile-up.

Hour 8 - Your Terrific Neighbor: Although they had their own tech guy and all I did was supervise, the show was so bizarre that it'll be hard to forget Curtis' crazy Mexican Talk Show intro involving a luchador and a bunch of goldfish, and the classic game "Wuzzat bird called?"

Hour 9 - Available Cupholders' Game Theory: A fustercluck of rules and really good improv.

Hour 10 - New Movement's Character Based Deal: Amazing character-based improv turned into an even-more amazing narrative longform involving three geniuses who try their hand at making a movie, a boy and his really old dad battling the ocean, and young cartographer uniting Russia and Uzbekistan, only to later get fucked up the ass by Poseidon.

Hour 12 - Snackers' All Night Diner: A beautifully crafted single-scene 3-act-play-esque story with memorable characters, a sharp plot, and Journey music.

Hour 13 - Late Night with Midnight Society: Two words: Beef Party. If you don't get it, that means you missed it, and if you missed it, shame on you.

Hour 14 - The Starter Kit presents "Give it Up"'s second-to-the-last episode: The strange thing was that it felt plausible for such a show to exist: the main characters are cosmic playthings, and since this is nearing the end of the series, they pull off every [ur=http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... ngTheShark]Jump-the-shark inducing plot point[/url] they can: the main character is getting married, the dad who ran away to become a dancer in Las Vegas comes back for the wedding, and to top it all off, it's all during a clip show!

Hour 28 - Improvised Shakespeare: One of the more bittersweet Improvised Shakespeare shows I've seen, which is just how I like it. Great characters, great acting, and excellent Hamlet reference at the top ("These are the world's finest actors, whether it be for historical, comical, tragical, historical-comical, historical-tragical, comical-historical-tragical, or scene unlimited!")

Hour 29 - Holy Sleep Deprivation, Batman!: Despite having so little Batman-related sound cues to work with, I'd say this is the one superhero-related improv format to rival KA-BAAM!!. It was that good. Plus, hat's off to Roy's "The Slug", who was the perfect(ly disgusting) Batman-esque villain. "It looks like slime doesn't pay!"

Hours 30-31 - Musical Maestro: My favorite meta-scene of all time between Belinda and Kaci.

Belinda: Are you gonna teach me how to do this?
Kaci: Nope. We're gonna talk about our relationship!
*LIGHTS*

It scored a five.

Hour 32 - Dubbed Indemnity: The awesomeness of it can easily be distilled into these words, coming out of Jack Nicholson's mouth during the bar scene from The Shining: "Did you put ruffees in this drink?" "Yes, sir. I put ruffees in your drink." "... Give me another."

Hour 33 - The Bat with Coldtowne: Knights Templars, sex, time-traveling, and a whole lot of simulations. Madness in total blindness.

Hour 38 - Junk's Opera of Soap: Plot twist after plot twist and a whole lot of sleaze, this format really, REALLY needs a mainstrage run.

Hour 39 - McNichol and May!: Just a classic flowey donut with two classic improvisers. This video just about sums it up perfectly. Well, almost perfectly; they cut out the part where Troy, strapped to the front of the car, says, "I'm getting plenty of air up here!"

Hour 40 - Landline to Earth: Super-post-modern narrative longform at its finest! Great characters, funny, and filled to the brim with metahumor ("Yes, this story has not just one unreliable narrator, but a bunch of unreliable narrators who convey different events, plot points that the audience can't figure out until they're 98% through the book, and the whole thing feels like it was written by a bunch of people who have been sleep-deprived for nearly forty hours!"). The title comes from Troy's character trying to reach NASA from a space station, trying to bypass the computer-gone-haywire by using a secure landline. Cue somebody running out to provide the visual of a phone line running from a space station.

And, of course: We can't forget the many running jokes between sets, including Midnight Society's Beef Party and Kaci's running gag of giving different characters Amstel Light whenever they order a drink.

We need to do this again sometime. I hope you had as big of a blast as I did.

Until then, GET SOME SLEEP!!! You earned it!

[ashleylowe]

I was a part of one hour of improv.
I volunteered.
I watched 9 hours of improv.
I laughed.
I was confused.
I fell asleep.
I drank tequilla at six in the morning.
Let's do it again!

[HerrHerr]

Great job. Wow. I was limited to how much I could see b/c of work. And b/c of work, I couldn't play in my favorite show. Dammit.

But I was around for about eight hours worth of improv and chillin' and got to see the final four hours.

What a blast! All the babies in the morning were great. And the final three shows were all awesome.

Congrats to everyone who was a part of this. I loved it. Again! Again!

[Justin D.]

What a blast! All the babies in the morning were great. And the final three shows were all awesome.

I never thought I'd say this. Not only did the babies in the audience for the last show not disrupt it, but I'd say they might have even enhanced it.

[zyrain]

Not everyone got a mention on stage, so I just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone:

Roy, Kareem, and Jessica for saving the hideout and continuing to provide a community where amazing things are possible and everyone is welcome.

Andy and the rest of the marathon cast for proving that the impossible can be done.

All the volunteers that I worked with including Noah & Madeline for house managing with me, David, Sara, and DJ for amazing tech, Chelley, Leanne, John, Jennifer, Todd, Ashley, Susan, Tune, Kim, and Lindsay for the long hours on box office and raffle and tickets.

Of course, if I've forgotten anyone due to the 48 hours of delerium, I apologize.

It was really special to be able to be a part of this.

Thanks everyone!!!!

- Neal

[Jon Bolden]

Not everyone got a mention on stage, so I just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone:

Roy, Kareem, and Jessica for saving the hideout and continuing to provide a community where amazing things are possible and everyone is welcome.

Andy and the rest of the marathon cast for proving that the impossible can be done.

All the volunteers that I worked with including Noah & Madeline for house managing with me, David, Sara, and DJ for amazing tech, Chelley, Leanne, John, Jennifer, Todd, Ashley, Susan, Tune, Kim, and Lindsay for the long hours on box office and raffle and tickets.

Of course, if I've forgotten anyone due to the 48 hours of delerium, I apologize.

It was really special to be able to be a part of this.

Thanks everyone!!!!

- Neal

And you, of course, Neal!!! For being there the whole time and not getting the chance to see much of it. And being the only person available to warm up with me before a show. What a guy!

[vine311]

Not everyone got a mention on stage, so I just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone:

Roy, Kareem, and Jessica for saving the hideout and continuing to provide a community where amazing things are possible and everyone is welcome.

Andy and the rest of the marathon cast for proving that the impossible can be done.

All the volunteers that I worked with including Noah & Madeline for house managing with me, David, Sara, and DJ for amazing tech, Chelley, Leanne, John, Jennifer, Todd, Ashley, Susan, Tune, Kim, and Lindsay for the long hours on box office and raffle and tickets.

Of course, if I've forgotten anyone due to the 48 hours of delerium, I apologize.

It was really special to be able to be a part of this.

Thanks everyone!!!!

- Neal

And you, of course, Neal!!! For being there the whole time and not getting the chance to see much of it. And being the only person available to warm up with me before a show. What a guy!

Let's also not forget Mike and Montanna who made tons of food for our marathoners.

[kbadr]

Thank you everyone who played, watched, volunteered, and generally supported the stupidest thing I have ever done.

I am reading all the hideout blog entries now. I don't remember doing most of what's been blogged about.

Success??

[Matt]

Kareem is alive!!!

[hujhax]

Okay, here are my photos from the marathon:

Start Trekkin':  flickr, facebook.
The New Movement:  flickr, facebook.
Northshore Local:  flickr, facebook.
The Life Game:  flickr, facebook.
Lola:  flickr, facebook.
After School Improv:  flickr, facebook.
Improvised Shakespeare:  flickr, facebook.
Junk/Soap Opera:  flickr, facebook.
McNichol & May:  flickr, facebook.
The Final Countdown:  flickr, facebook.



--
peter rogers @ work | http://hujhax.livejournal.com

I kind of try to treat it like a job with a deadline, because otherwise, I don't do anything. I just take naps and watch TV.
      -- Adam Schlesinger, on songwriting

[Justin D.]

Thank you everyone who played, watched, volunteered, and generally supported the stupidest thing I have ever done.

I am reading all the hideout blog entries now. I don't remember doing most of what's been blogged about.

Hell, I was only an audience member for a great deal of it and I don't remember many of the scenes pictures come from in Peter's albums. I can only imagine what the eight main players remember and don't.

Success??

Success.

Kareem is alive!!!

The proper term is undead, Matt. Kareem is now one of the undead.

It should be noted by all that Kareem and Caitlin are the only two who didn't sleep at all (other than maybe a few seconds here or there) during the whole run. Whether they should be praised or admonished for this is up to you.

[Curtis + computer]

Yes yes yes.

Huge thanks to everyone who volunteered, played, watched, etc.

As tiring as it was, and as sick as I was with myself by the end, I could not be happier that I did it.

[exquisitezombie]

Hour 32 - Dubbed Indemnity: The awesomeness of it can easily be distilled into these words, coming out of Jack Nicholson's mouth during the bar scene from The Shining: "Did you put ruffees in this drink?" "Yes, sir. I put ruffees in your drink." "... Give me another."

This was one of my favorite shows too. Especially the clip from DUNE when somebody was like "Al, what year is it?" Ahh, Quantum Leap humor.

[Belinda]

It should be noted by all that Kareem and Caitlin are the only two who didn't sleep at all (other than maybe a few seconds here or there) during the whole run. Whether they should be praised or admonished for this is up to you.

I was VERY impressed with Kareem's ability to play a ranting Brit after 34 hours without sleep. One of my favorite lines at Maestro was:

Me: Are you drunk?!

Kareem: Of COURSE I'm drunk, I'm British!!

Congrats on a great run everyone!!

[ashleylowe]

And you, of course, Neal!!!

Indeed!

I never thought I'd say this. Not only did the babies in the audience for the last show not disrupt it, but I'd say they might have even enhanced it.

'You may want to look under the hood'-most adorable sound affect makers ever!
I'm still learning the way of the quote haha