Austin Improv

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but since Phil had so many friends in the improv community, I thought I should let people know...

Phil Aulie passed away last night at age 25 (his 26th birthday would have been next week). I don't know the cause, but it is thought to be medical (but don't quote me on that). He was found in front of his computer. He had gone to band practice earlier in the day but didn't go into work.

If you don't mind...I just want to share a few thoughts and links...

Phil was one of my closest friends, and my best friend for many years. He's the person who got me into improv in the first place. We went to Hideout to watch shows all throughout our teenage years, we were big fans of The Well Hung Jury and the Available Cupholders. Phil started my high school improv troupe (The PITS and then Comedic Amoeba) and we rehearsed every week at his house for a long time. We learned by trial and error together. He was very passionate about it and lead our group, often using guides he found online. He brought Jeremy Lamb in to coach us a few times too.

When I was 18, him 19, we went to the free improv jam at the Hideout where I met Andy, Kareem, Roy, and so many other wonderful people. Phil is the one who picked my broke ass up with his shitty car and took me to the jam every week, and Maestro when we played that.
Phil was a founding member of Parallelogramophonograph and You Me & Greg.

He was also a very talented writer and won local and state slam poetry competitions. He took to the art naturally, I remember him writing his first few award-winning poems in just a few weeks after deciding to do it.
You have to watch this: http://youtu.be/qSbwgilIYIY

He was also a very talented musician and performed most prominently with the Austin bands SuperHouse, Maryann and the Shaky Hands, Federal!State!Local!, Electric Toy Danger, and he also wrote and performed his own solo pieces.
http://www.myspace.com/superhouserock

He played the ukulele, often writing humorous pieces:
http://youtu.be/LoKrZv4bMmY

Phil and I before an OK Go concert in Downtown Austin.

He was really very special to me, and I know many of you had great experiences knowing him. He was one of those damn smart genius people, you know? So intuitive and creative and keen.

I'm still processing all this...it just doesn't seem real.

Perhaps we could share some more photos and memories of him here.

I'll post here when I know the details of his memorial service.

Here's a video from PGraph's like 2nd show in November of 2005, featuring a very funny Phil:

http://pgraph.com/videos/Parallelogramo ... ors%5D.wmv

I don't think I ever met him, but I can tell by people's stories that I really missed out. He sounds like a great guy. My deepest condolences to all who knew him.

Man, this is really sad news. Phil hadn't been on the scene much recently, but was part of the crop of new players who really helped spark the revitalized improv scene back in late 2005/2006. Man.

Phil was one of the smartest, funniest and biggest hearted people I've ever known. i'm still kind of reeling in shock from all of this...i half expected when i heard the news last night to find out there was some big punchline, some kind of extended blue joke Phil had planned out. the full reality of it hasn't set in yet, i don't think. i just feel a tremendous loss in the world.

i first met Phil when he was playing Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream in high school (i'd graduated a few years before). he had such natural ease and comic timing, i remember Jeff and i talking about him a lot afterwards with Ms. Knifton and shaking his hand and seeing that huge smile up close for the first time. i started seeing him at Jury shows and after parties. when he wasn't telling jokes he had some great big idea to talk about or some wry observation about the world. he was great to talk to. then he started popping up in shows, Pgraph arose, You, Me And Greg started taking over every Cage Match they played and Phil would dominate in Maestros (and Blue Maestros...Good, Bad, Racist Advice is still one of my favorite scenes ever...:p), and just like that this funny faced high school kid was a pillar of the community. and understandably. he was a huge talent in so many areas...and to know him was to love him instantly.

we fell out of touch a bit in recent years, beyond the occasional Facebook message or quick catch up session if we happened to run into each other at a party or Same Year's or OOB or some such. but he still always shook my hand, always had that huge smile. he was always that high school kid to me, just all growed up and ready to change the world.

i'm sad that i lost my friend, and for the people i care about who were even closer to him than me. i'm devastated for the loss of potential and everything he was still going to do and write and perform. and i'm pissed off that someone so young, so kind, so fucking brilliant could be gone just like that.

cheers to Phil...hope to catch up with you again on the other side someday, my brother...

Phil was one of the nicest, most talented and earnest people I've ever met. This is shocking. He will be missed.

Yesterday, Austin lost a talented man when Phil passed away. I'd only spoken to him a handful of times, but You Me & Greg is one of the first improv troupes I ever saw. I immediately wanted to have the kind of fun I saw them having on stage. Improv, music, slam poetry. This guy did a lot of impressive things in his short time here. Knowing how influential and special he was to others who knew him better than I did, who are each amazing in their own right, really brings home what a loss this is.

I'm so sorry to hear this. Much love to all who knew him and are grieving right now. If there is any way I can be of help let me know.
Julie

shando wrote:Man, this is really sad news. Phil hadn't been on the scene much recently, but was part of the crop of new players who really helped spark the revitalized improv scene back in late 2005/2006. Man.

Look at the people in that picture. "Helped spark the scene" is an understatement.

Kaci, Thank you for posting the links to those videos. It's so great to be reminded of Phil's talent and charisma. I, like many people, am stunned to hear the news of his passing.

happywaffle wrote:

shando wrote:Man, this is really sad news. Phil hadn't been on the scene much recently, but was part of the crop of new players who really helped spark the revitalized improv scene back in late 2005/2006. Man.

Look at the people in that picture. "Helped spark the scene" is an understatement.

original Pgraph, baby. fresh faced little fucks that they were back then.

It just occurred to me... Phil was on the forums back in the day. His username is phlounderphil.

Also, when we were forming our Troupe, Phil was literally the only person that Kareem, Wes and I all agreed on (Valerie tricked her way in)

This is silly, but before I had met Phil I was told he was the man that I "should marry". I was still in a state of figuring out immigration stuff, and that was the constant joke in those days, who should marry me so I could stay in the country. It was 2005 and I was back in Austin visiting from New York, having dinner with friends in (still just rehearsing together) PGraph. After he joined us at the restaurant we all made a pro/con list of us getting married, on a napkin I think. One of the pros was that he could use my car while I was in NYC. We didn't get married, but he did still have my car for awhile.

My other most vivid Phil memories are him singing "Paraplegics In Love" during Thursday Night Awesome, and long chats on the catwalk.

Phil was one of those people with a warm joyful hustle that brought the funny time and time again. As much as we wanted him all to ourselves, he was gleefully unapologetic and true to his creative heart, spreading into music and poetry in a way that'll continue to inspire.

His always-laughing mother was one of ColdTowne Theater's most reliable patrons in our first year, and my heart certainly goes out to her today.

Phil was a force of nature on stage and off. He was so kind, funny, smart and talented and I liked him very much. I must have had a hundred smoke breaks on the catwalk with him when I first started my improv journey. He would often roll his own and I was pretty impressed with his skill with that as well. I loved watching him in "You, Me & Greg" and performing with him in numerous Maestros and Blank Shows. I was also in awe of him when he took his super awesome improv troupe and turned it into a super awesome rock & roll band. Phil was a badass and I can't believe he's gone. RIP, brother.