Austin Improv

cargill wrote:Comedic Amoeba ! I love those kids !

Yeah! So awesome. I do remember the folks in Tight were SUPER supportive of us when we performed. It was so nice!

valetoile wrote:And watch out everyone, Karrem, Roy, Wes, Phil, and I are starting a troupe which is not yet named. We're planning on doing plot and character driven long form. I think.

I love that Val spells Kareem's name wrong here.
I also love that it says, "I think." at the end.

I can travel back in my mind to how the Hideout felt back then...with the Twofer...and Jen Cargill and Erika around a lot. I thought it felt pretty magical at the time. Does it still feel magical to newer people today?
Man. Almost 6 years ago...
How bizarre...

Kayla wrote:Mind. Blown.

In just 6 years Austin improv went from a handful of troupes to what it is today??

... Guys, I think we're right on schedule for our plans of world domination.

heck, even that was considered a boom compared to the drought of a few years prior to that. get us old men drunk sometime and we'll tell you the tales...whether you want us to or not.

nice job Sara Farr.

Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell wrote:

Kayla wrote:Mind. Blown.

In just 6 years Austin improv went from a handful of troupes to what it is today??

... Guys, I think we're right on schedule for our plans of world domination.

heck, even that was considered a boom compared to the drought of a few years prior to that. get us old men drunk sometime and we'll tell you the tales...whether you want us to or not. :P

DO IT. doitdoitdoitdoit DO IT.

kaci_beeler wrote: I can travel back in my mind to how the Hideout felt back then...with the Twofer...and Jen Cargill and Erika around a lot. I thought it felt pretty magical at the time. Does it still feel magical to newer people today?

Yes, it absolutely does. :))

kaci_beeler wrote:Does it still feel magical to newer people today?

To be honest, with everyone talking about how magical it USED to be, it starts not to.

Twelve years ago I would sit at the bar next to the guy who went on and on about how Austin's cool days had passed. He'd mention Liberty Lunch and Steamboat and the Electric Lounge, and I'd nod my head and feel like a poseur for showing up in 1999 instead of 1989.

Now I'm that guy at the bar, rambling on about the cool things that used to be. When I catch myself doing it, I smile and shake it off.

But with improv, I'm again the guy nodding his head and feeling like a poseur. And that's not really anyone's fault -- it's natural to wax nostalgic about times past. Just remember that every day is "back in the day" to somebody. I have never felt as warmly welcomed by any community as I have Austin improv, and it didn't matter to me that there were a hundred of you instead of twenty.

Brad Hawkins wrote:

kaci_beeler wrote:Does it still feel magical to newer people today?

To be honest, with everyone talking about how magical it USED to be, it starts not to.

Twelve years ago I would sit at the bar next to the guy who went on and on about how Austin's cool days had passed. He'd mention Liberty Lunch and Steamboat and the Electric Lounge, and I'd nod my head and feel like a poseur for showing up in 1999 instead of 1989.

Now I'm that guy at the bar, rambling on about the cool things that used to be. When I catch myself doing it, I smile and shake it off.

But with improv, I'm again the guy nodding his head and feeling like a poseur. And that's not really anyone's fault -- it's natural to wax nostalgic about times past. Just remember that every day is "back in the day" to somebody. I have never felt as warmly welcomed by any community as I have Austin improv, and it didn't matter to me that there were a hundred of you instead of twenty.

to be totally honest, i would take the way things are now in a heartbeat over back then. back then, it was like being a rock star during the Great Depression. i love the earlier days because it was my intro into that world of improv, and so closely tied to my theatre education in high school and college as an actor and writer, because i was in a troupe with some of my best friends doing things we thought were impossible because we didn't know any fucking better. the doomed fatalistic punk rock romanticism of knowing it was all going to fall apart at any second combined with the sudden transcendent epiphany that it never, ever would.

but there were only a handful of us doing it back then, and audiences were hardly in abundance. there was no Hideout or Coldtowne. no Institution or New Movement. SVT didn't even have its own space. no Out of Bounds, LAFF or Waffle Fest. there was no real Austin improv "scene" or community...so we had to build it. and other people built on that. and so on and so on...so i suppose there's a certain frontier mentality and pride..."we built that!"...

...but i still prefer having indoor plumbing and audiences.

eeesh. this

This is awesome.

i agree with jordan 100 billion per cent. way better now.

i just looked up movements gallery, the place on 6th street where we did our first ever shows that weren't at our high school or in my backyard, in 1998. that place was a DUMP, big time. we had to bring our own lights, set up the chairs, bring our own staff for door and tech, and that was only after a few weeks of marketing to get people there. also, i dont think there was any air conditioning. oh, and people were living there 4 feet form the stage in little curtained off pods. awesome, yes, but mostly a huge pain in the ass. i'm drunk.

Kayla wrote:In just 6 years Austin improv went from a handful of troupes to what it is today??

Yah. I came into this via GGG somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 years ago and it's been like watching an explosion from the inside. I guess the only real complaint I have about the whole thing is that when I started playing you could still know nearly everybody (at least peripherally). Now I'm not sure that's possible.

I'm not sure why that bums me out a little, but it does.

On the other hand...

valetoile wrote:I know individual people who are in 8 troupes/projects now.

An abundance of opportunities is almost never a bad thing. Plus, new people bring new things to the table; and stagnation is death to any creative community.

drunkenlamb wrote:i agree with jordan 100 billion per cent. way better now.

Nonetheless, I think the folks who've been around for the long haul should be justifiably proud. Y'all braved uh... well... apparently pod people if I'm reading that right and now I think the Austin improv scene can be mentioned alongside any in the country without suffering by comparison. When I was in Edinburgh (thanks to Austin improv) I listened to all the New York girls I was there with talking about what a special thing Austin had going on and even I felt a little proud. Those who've been around twice as long (and longer) than I have have certainly earned the right to wax nostalgic and pat themselves on the back now and again.

As long as they aren't insufferable pricks about it.

mpbrockman wrote: As long as they aren't insufferable pricks about it.

well, if you're gonna take all the fun out of it...

Oh buddy... Don't get me started...

When I was forced to move from Austin there were less than 10 troupes performing regularly... Now that I'm back there are upwards of 70...

As much as I have issues with my time in Monk's Night Out B troupes, you can't discount the fact that the first time anyone looked at Austin as a viable improv city were the Big Stinkin' festivals. There are badasses still residing here (and coming back) that came out of those festivals...

After directing troupes during that time, I can still say that Austin is RIPE with improv talent...

That being said, the OOB and LAFF and Marathon and Wafflefest all make me so happy... They represent the spirit of Austin... (if only there were dogs at every event) I love being a part of this "new" improv community and love speaking of the past...

Also, I'm an old man who's been drinking, so take that for what it's worth... I LOVE talking about old Austin. Whether it be improv, or life...