Grantblings

Puppet Up! San Francisco Tour Diary – November 16, 2014 – Goodnight San Francisco

Before I talk about what we did today, I wanted to say one more thing about last nights 9 PM show. During that show I did my jamboree song improv. I think this was the best one that I haven’t done yet. It is also probably only about the eighth or ninth time I’ve ever done it.

The song was about a guy who was sitting in the second row named Carl. Carl is a theater director. And I got off the best first verse that I ever have in the history of doing this song.

On the day Carl was born,
His parents were feeling fine,
Cause the first thing he did when he popped out
Was orginize a doctor chorus line.

They did their dance and people loved,
They got a standing ovation
Except for that one nurse who kept asking,
“What’s my motivation?!”

The rest of the song kind of fell apart after that, it wasn’t a total disaster, and the audience love the rest of it. I’m just eager for the day when the whole song will be as good as that first verse.

Now onto the events of today.  I slept in a little bit this morning. Then got up and did my usual morning workout.    After a shower, I headed out to get some lunch at a barbecue place named Memphis minis on hate Street.I may have found a new favorite barbecue restaurant in San Francisco. This place was fantastic.

After eating my fill of barbecue, I walked back to our place and just relaxed for a little bit.

There’s a couple of cool puppet up fans, Connor and Melissa, who are in town to see the show and I headed over to the theater a little bit before our call to hang out with them.

Tonight’s show was really great. So many fantastic, laugh out loud, moments for both the cast and the audience. We saw the Noir film The Orange Bicycle, the Hot Dogs went to Burning Man, and I rotated back into Alien Barbershop.

I just had surgery,
The bill gave me a scare.
Then I remembered,
It’s free with Obamacare!

Just a fun, fun show and a good show to go out on. I love performing with this group and throwing Brian Henson in the mix only makes things sweeter.

After the show we hiked, literally, to The Tonga Room for a closing night gathering. If you haven’t been to the Tonga Room in San Francisco, go. It’s indescribable and incredibly fun. We had fun just relaxing, unwinding and chatting.

The fantastic Krystle, who ran the box office for most our shows, came along and we chatted most of the night. She’s totally great, even if she thinks I’m a nerd.

After that, it was back to our respective homes via Uber to hit the sack for the trip home. Gonna miss doing shows, hopefully there will be more scheduled in the near future!

Huge thanks to the Puppet Up Crew who had things locked down and ready to go for the cast.  Cameron, Ry and Aaron are the tops and we are so lucky to have them on board.  Thanks to the local crew at the Marines’ Memorial Theatre as well, Tig, Martine and Greg.  Our show is unlike a lot of other shows that come through theaters and this crew was not only at the top of their game, they were super friendly and enjoyed working with us.

Finally, big thanks to the rest of the cast, Colleen, Ted, Michael, Peggy and, of course, Brian Henson.  It’s always such fun to be able to work with such talented people and I, honestly, do learn something new about improv and puppetry each time I do this show.  And, thanks to Patrick.  Our fearless leader.  Able to roll with whatever bumps in the road arise and lead us through it with a smile on his face, and a can of Red Bull in his hand.

Unless something unexpected happens, these shows will be my last for the year 2014.  And what a year it was.  Local shows in Los Angeles, a mini Tour of the US, the amazing Australia run, a Pasadena Playhouse show and this San Francisco run.  Thirty eight Puppet Up shows for the year.  I couldn’t be luckier.  I look forward to the adventures in 2015.

Puppet Up!