My first stop after arriving in Boston yesterday was The Berklee College of Music, where I was all set to enroll for my post-secondary education before York University’s School of Film & Video wooed me from a career playing drums.
I think I made the right decision, but standing on the steps of Berklee yesterday I couldn’t help thinking about what could have been…
Ah, September of 1998… At the height of our Speaker’s Corner-fueled fame, The Devils perform for Frosh Week on Centre Island, to these adoring (drunk) fans.
Now, more than five years later, no less than Whose Line star Colin Mochrie is doing college gigs himself, and on March 3rd is taking me with him to Colby-Sawyer College in New London, New Hampshire. Something tells me that the stars of this particular show won’t quite be on equal footing with the audience, but I can deal — performing with Mr. Mochrie has its own perks.
A cautionary tale for anyone bitching and moaning about the improv games they have to learn at Second City… This morning I had an audition for an American TV series called “Dead Lawyers”. All I had to do for it was play the mirror game, and nothing else. So there.
If you’ve been following the thread of commentary between Chris and I on the subject of improv, you may be interested in the show I’m doing tonight at The Hub. First the details:
Blue Moon, 725 Queen Street East, 416-463-8868. Show starts at 9pm; admission is free!
I’m improvising tonight as a birthday present to my pal Jack Mosshammer; it took a lot of whining on his part to get me to commit, so I guess another reason why I no longer jump on stage at every opportunity is because I’m a lazy fuck!
Tomorrow night marks the premiere of “Porn Writer”, the short film I did with Barb Haynes and Justin Deveaux for Darryl Gold’s Hard Liquor & Porn IV. If you want to see yours truly all pimped out, come on down!
You have to give us notice. I would have liked to come to the show tonight but the notice was too short. Keep me/everybody posted on any future shows.
Hey Chris,
My apologies, although I didn’t actually commit to The Blue Moon show until after midnight on the 11th…
You didn’t miss much anyway; the performers came close to outnumbering the audience, and I don’t think you’ll be seeing any of the premises we used ever again—the themes given to us were serenity, orange oil and dildos 
As this particular improviser gets older, he finds himself less prone to throw himself onstage with an army of others in an improv free for all.
Last year I did the set after the alumni week guys night and never found a suitable opportunity to leave the back wall of the stage; some folks, myself included, thought I had lost my edge. This year I sat out the whole affair, and was congratulated on my wisdom. Go figure.
So this is my question, as a student of the Improv game, I want to know. If you could do it again do you think that there’s a way you could keep the Improv idea fresh and interesting. You?re not the first Improver I’ve met that seems to lose the… Well I’m not sure if lose is a good term, but I’ve heard similar stories from many people in the game and I was wondering if you have any sage advice for those of us that feel like we’ll never lose the enthusiasm but fear we might.
Hopefully I haven’t lost my enthusiasm for improv; I’d like to think that in this particular case I was wise enough to spot a potentially bad situation—that is, too many people on stage with nothing to do but one-up each other.
When you get to be an old fogey like me, your criteria for good improv changes. I still remember performing with the Touring Company in Sault Ste. Marie and being very proud of myself for rattling off a series of thinly-veiled fag jokes, to great laughter and applause. Nowadays, it is a premise with legs that I hunt.
I guess that’s what experience is in Improv. I’m hungry to go on stage all of the time, you?re hungry to go on stage at the right time. I do see your point though, I have come across some people in my class that would rather go for the cheap and simple joke, then try something clever. I always had hoped people would either grow out of this or drop out.
Ed Miller is discussing. 
Ed Miller 5:36 PM on March 3, 2004 Permalink |
AC:
You mean you’d be drumming for Vanilla Fudge?
Cool, maaaan…..
Ed
Kyle Radomsky 3:54 PM on March 4, 2004 Permalink |
Y’know, I often thought of going into film & t.v. before I went to Berklee…. WEIRD….
I think I have that same picture of me when I arrived. Great city though! Have fun!
Rolf Kanjilal 12:13 PM on March 23, 2004 Permalink |
Back in those days, Boston held an allure and it had an aura all its own for persons in their early 20s planning to attend university (a 3-yr BSc.). While walking towards the Charles River and passing Boston College’s practice football field, I was forced for a short time to ponder that class is not in session and that the quietness and stillness of the surrounding area mean the college football training camp was not under way. The Ivy League School I was attending a few blocks over (Harvard University) may have had a rivalry with this particular college I was passing, but I’m not sure. If I were to pass Claverly House this day and try to walk towards the gates enclosing Harvard Yard, I would feel teary-eyed I’m pretty sure.
Yes, it was just a beginning data processing course in computer science with old keyboards and terminals, but it was also the start of something that could have been more. The subject of interest for a short time for religious reasons, I must confess, was the law, but the true learning and practicing of the spirit of America’s laws do require an American way of living, having led an American life and an American way of thinking. And I was not up to it.