Austin Improv

Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell wrote:Brett: you've got one of the biggest hearts of any guy i've known. tell me about the first time you fell in love.

Ug, gross.

There was this girl Vicki who I'd had a major crush on for YEARS but she had been in a long term relationship from around the time I met her. So nothing happened there until they finally broke up. I asked her out, she said yes, things 'progressed' quickly, we had a fiery six month relationship, fairly healthy. We fell in love and then she fell out of love and then it was over. I saw her randomly after that but we've been out of touch for years. I think she's married and has at least one kid. ANYWAY she was super hot and laughed at my jokes and loved sex. We didn't have too terribly much in common and I think that's what finally ended it for her. So, whatever.

Barfy question.

Jordan: You have now performed on TV, in film, and on stage. If you could only choose one of the three to continue to perform which would it be?
And do you see yourself ever producing anything on stage /screen in the future?

B. Tribe wrote:

Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell wrote:Brett: you've got one of the biggest hearts of any guy i've known. tell me about the first time you fell in love.

Ug, gross.

There was this girl Vicki who I'd had a major crush on for YEARS but she had been in a long term relationship from around the time I met her. So nothing happened there until they finally broke up. I asked her out, she said yes, things 'progressed' quickly, we had a fiery six month relationship, fairly healthy. We fell in love and then she fell out of love and then it was over. I saw her randomly after that but we've been out of touch for years. I think she's married and has at least one kid. ANYWAY she was super hot and laughed at my jokes and loved sex. We didn't have too terribly much in common and I think that's what finally ended it for her. So, whatever.

Barfy question.

YOU BARFED IT! YOU CAN'T UNBARF IT! but yeah, i'm sappy, i admit it. good answer. familiar story. you get manly bear hug when next we meet.

Mike wrote:Jordan: You have now performed on TV, in film, and on stage. If you could only choose one of the three to continue to perform which would it be?
And do you see yourself ever producing anything on stage /screen in the future?

ooh, man, tough one. i love all three. film would be the easiest to give up, i suppose. everything i love about it is in TV, but TV acting has the advantage of being able to develop a character over time which really appeals to me. i love serialized storytelling so, so much. there's also the old saying, "film is a director's medium, television is a writer's medium." which has some kernels of truth, so far as it goes, and i tend to be drawn more towards writing. but man...theatre is my first love. the rush of live performance just can't be matched. the amount of time you get to delve into the emotional life of a character, explore the world of the play, bond with the rest of the cast over rehearsals. it exists to a limited degree in the other two media, but the interaction and dynamic with a live audience can't be duplicated. i would miss being on a stage far more than i would being on camera (and i would miss being on camera A LOT, lol). but if i had to choose, i would choose the stage.

and yes, i'd absolutely love to produce something on both stage and screen. i have ideas all the damn time. it's just finding the time and resources to make it happen. i also desperately want to direct something onstage again. it's a set of muscles i don't get to use too often, but it always feels good when i do.

Mike,
If you had to be on a reality TV show, which one would it be and why? ALSO, I want to know if you had to be any animal cartoon character, which is most like you? (Not which one you want to be, but which would you be?)

I like hypotheticals, sorry.

mia wrote:Mike,
If you had to be on a reality TV show, which one would it be and why? ALSO, I want to know if you had to be any animal cartoon character, which is most like you? (Not which one you want to be, but which would you be?)

I like hypotheticals, sorry.

Hmm. Reality show? Either "Chopped" from the Food Network or Hell's Kitchen. I like cooking and both of those shows would probably suit me as far as the reality goes, as I'm used to working in a kitchen. I'd probably get booted early as I'm not a classically trained chef, but I'd try to give the rest of the contestants a run for their money. I'd also love to get in Gordon Ramsey's face. He's all hot air. It's an act. Most chefs do yell and swear, but Ramsey has taken being mean and rotten to his contestants to an art form, and most are too intimidated by him to stand up for themselves. There was an episode of Hell's Kitchen where some guy undercooked hard boiled eggs and Gordon slammed them against the guy's chest - and they guy just stood there with a stupid look on his face. I'd have either made Ramsey eat floor, or walked off to the producers and stated I wanted to file assault charges. That would have made the show a bit more interesting, as they have him hitting me on tape, and they can't risk their chef getting arrested in the middle of taping.
But asshole celebrity chefs aside, I'd like to try my hand at one of those reality cooking programs.

As for the Animal characters, there's two answers.

When I was a kid up through High School, most of my friends told me I reminded them of Br'er Bear from the Disney movie "Song of the South" Even my friend's parents said that when they saw the movie, they couldn't help but think that I reminded them of the character. The movie isn't able to be screened any more (It's considered to be really offensive by today's standards) but here's a pic:



Not the most flattering, but who was I to argue?

When I hit college most friends had changed their mind. I started getting Foghorn Leghorn stuff for my birthday, as again "He reminds me of you".
I do admit I can be just like him at times; a loud-mouth jackass.



So if you ever see a 6'2" Rooster on a cooking show giving the host and judges grief, that's probably me.

Ok Mia, as a fellow ulti player* turned improviser, I ask a two-parter: what was you greatest moment on the field, and how does that compare to the high of improv performance for you?

* albeit one vastly more badass than I

Oh fun!

My best ultimate moment happened last year at the National Championship in Florida. We were playing a game for 5th place in the U.S. and Canada, and a lot of teams had talked about how our team, seeded 6th, was seeded too high and that we didn't deserve it. We were also playing a team that beat us earlier in the tournament. So basically, our pride was on the line as well as 5th place. We were playing a team called Scandal from DC (I like their name ). We fought hard, and at the end we were in a sudden death situation where the next point scored would win. We started on defense, a disadvantage, but we kept them from throwing it very far and they were close to the endzone we needed to score in to win. When the girl threw it, I got an "interception" and caught it in our endzone, meaning we won! It's sort of like a safety in football, apparently. Anyway, it's rare to happen and I was totally the center of the dogpile.

The highs that I get from ultimate are a little different than the highs that I get from improv, but maybe once I get better at improv I will think differently. In ultimate, I work all year with about 25 other women to play our best at the Championships in October. In improv, it's usually a lot more "in the moment" with less preparation. So, while the "highs" in improv happen more frequently, they sometimes aren't as intense or memorable because it's so in the moment and I haven't worked towards one, certain goal with a team for 6 months of the year, culminating in that one moment or game that matters. However, I do think that's achievable in improv as well. I think that team-spirit and goal-focused run for the money happens in improv when you're with a troupe for a while and finally have your amazing show (or maybe even just a scene or moment!). I think... right? I guess I'll find out in November when I'm not playing ultimate anymore and get to focus more on improv.

Ahora, preguntale a Chad!

I want to jump in here with a question for Marc Majcher. In passing one day, you dropped the fact that you used to eat razor blades and light bulbs in a freakshow. So, my question is this: what?

Elaborate, please.

Justin D. wrote:I want to jump in here with a question for Marc Majcher. In passing one day, you dropped the fact that you used to eat razor blades and light bulbs in a freakshow. So, my question is this: what?

Elaborate, please.

That is mostly true. I never performed with a freakshow, only solo.

Marc Majcher wrote:

Justin D. wrote:I want to jump in here with a question for Marc Majcher. In passing one day, you dropped the fact that you used to eat razor blades and light bulbs in a freakshow. So, my question is this: what?

Elaborate, please.

That is mostly true. I never performed with a freakshow, only solo.

Elaborate further, please.

Justin D. wrote:

Marc Majcher wrote:

Justin D. wrote:I want to jump in here with a question for Marc Majcher. In passing one day, you dropped the fact that you used to eat razor blades and light bulbs in a freakshow. So, my question is this: what?

Elaborate, please.

That is mostly true. I never performed with a freakshow, only solo.

Elaborate further, please.

Make sure to wipe the white stuff off the inside of the light bulbs before eating the glass. It's bad for you.

...aaaaaand who's got a question for Chad?

Marc Majcher wrote:

Justin D. wrote:

Marc Majcher wrote: That is mostly true. I never performed with a freakshow, only solo.

Elaborate further, please.

Make sure to wipe the white stuff off the inside of the light bulbs before eating the glass. It's bad for you.

Elaborate on how and why you came to do that and why you stopped. Jerk.

Rev. Jordan T. Maxwell wrote:...aaaaaand who's got a question for Chad?

Hey, Chad, how's the weather up there? Okay, sorry. Real question: you seem like a really calm guy, but when is the last time you got really pissed off? Why? What did you do?

Justin D. wrote:

Marc Majcher wrote:

Justin D. wrote: Elaborate further, please.

Make sure to wipe the white stuff off the inside of the light bulbs before eating the glass. It's bad for you.

Elaborate on how and why you came to do that and why you stopped. Jerk.

In college, I became a fan of the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow, and I decided that it would be a really good idea to learn how to do some of the less disgusting stuff, for fun. I taught myself to eat and manipulate fire, pound a nail into my face, chew up razor blades (not swallow them, of course), escape from straight jackets, endure an unnecessary amount of pain, eat light bulbs, and so on. (I also used to juggle and do some magic and stuff, and got okay with bullwhip tricks before I lost interest...)

I never got to the "hang kitchen appliances from my dick piercings and drink the contents of my pumped stomach" stage, but it was still pretty fun. Pretty much all self-taught; there's not really too much of a "trick" to most of it, other than the willingness to potentially hurt yourself for the entertainment of others. (I spent a long subway ride back from Brooklyn early one morning with my hand cooling off in a pint of Ben & Jerry's, after getting drunk and playing with fire the wrong way...)

There was never a "omigod I'm stopping this" moment, it just kind of petered out over the years after I'd moved to San Francisco, and all of my friends had seen all of my tricks. I'm not sure that my teeth are 100% up to it these days, but I could be talked into showing off again one of these days, I'm sure. It's been a decade or so since I've had a nail in my face, so I'm probably a little rusty, so don't expect any miracles.