Grantblings

Puppet Up Down Under – April 17, 2014 – Improv

Today was a pretty great day. I woke up this morning and quickly headed down to the lobby to meet up with Peggy for a walk across Melbourne. We were headed over to & Studio and Gallery to meet up with Patrick and Brian because Patrick was teaching and improvisation class to some of the local Melbourne puppeteers and artists. The day could not have been any better to go for a great walk. It seems as if the weather here in Melbourne is trying it’s best to convince us to stay now that our visit is dwindling down to just a few days.

We got over to the gallery around 11:00 AM. From bed until about 2:00 PM, Peggy, Brian and I, helped Patrick teach the improvisation class. It was a fun time meeting local artists from Melbourne. Included in the group where the two improvisers that Dan and I saw perform yesterday. Also I’m the class was my friend, the uber talented, Lana Schwarcz. I had convinced her to bring her amazing mini puppet show called The Curator. I was so happy she did and that Patrick, Brian and Peggy got to see it. Always fun to hang out with Lana.

After the class, I decided to take a taxi cab back with Patrick and Brian. When we got back to the hotel, Brian and I went and had lunch. Then we walked around downtown Melbourne including stops at a shoe store to look at a pair shoes Brian was looking at, and then to the comic store where I picked up a few comics.

After that we headed back to the hotel. Brian got to work on his writing while I read some comic books and then headed down to the gym to work out. I ran on the treadmill for a bit, lifted some weights and then headed back upstairs to get ready for the show.

Exciting to rehearsal today as today was the day that I showed my song improv to the rest of the cast for the first time. They all seemed to be pretty excited to work on new piece for the show. It is a fun piece that involves all the rest of the cast. We did sort of a stumble through blocking out some of the choreograph, and everyone seemed to like it. No word on when it’ll make its debut in the show, but it will probably happen sometime here in Australia.

Then it was showtime. We had a great show tonight with a great audience. The hotdogs gave birth, we learned about the dangers of working in a hospital, and we played a game show all about getting Brazilian waxes. We also had the alien barbershop the topic of which was regicide.

If you do regicide,
Some folks will cheer.
But I would not,
Because the prince is here.

That was a reference to Prince Harry who is currently visiting Australia with Kate and the baby. All in all, a great show filled with some very funny scenes and some awesome audience suggestions.

After the close of the show, and taking audience photos, we headed back to the hotel. Then Dan, Juliana and I went out into Melbourne to see a comedy show. We saw Marcel Lucont, a character played by comedian, who is a French expert. The show was okay. Not necessarily my cup of tea but there were some funny parts.

After the show, then I grab some dinner and then we came back to the hotel to hang out a bit with Brian. After that it was time to do some writing and then head off to bed.

Puppet Up Down Under 2014 – April 16, 2014 – Sleep

This morning I had grand plans of getting up early, working out and then going to catch a 10:00 AM kids show with Dan. The comedy fest has kids shows that run during the day because many schools are on their ‘Spring Break.’ However, I had been up until after 2:00 AM the night before and when I woke up after 8:00 AM, my head hurt and all I wanted to do was sleep. So, I begged off Dan and went back to bed and wound up sleeping until noon!

After waking up, I went straight to the gym to work out, run on the treadmill and such. Then, I came back up and showered. Around 3:00 PM, Dan and I walked over to catch a different kid’s show, this time an improv show for kids called Improvilicious. It was a half improv half scripted show that was a brief history of theatre. I can see how these guys, I believe Australian, would be very popular in schools and libraries. Fun to see different forms of improv.

After the show I grabbed some food, hadn’t eaten all day, and then just relaxed back at the hotel. Soon enough it was time to head to the theatre for tech call and tonight’s show.

The show tonight was great fun. The audience was really into the show ant their suggestions were great. We saw an HR video about working on the Death Star (Do not make eye contact with the Emperor). We saw the Hot Dogs sell insurance. There was the game show Cocaine & Chlamydia (the show about Snorts & Warts). And the first act in our puppet variety show was ‘Puppet Up’, so puppets doing a puppet show. I got to do Alien Barbershop again. The topic was Tight Rope Walking.

When you’re tight rope walking
Just don’t look down
And either way it ends
Your underwear will be brown

I slipped a little during Java tonight. On the final ‘spin’ that Big Java does, his foot slipped off the rail a bit. Need to look at that tomorrow to try and nail that better. That hasn’t happened too much, but I really want it to be as clean as possible.

After the show we went to see a show called Sammy J & Randy. This is a show involving a puppet, Randy, that our puppet wrangler Bek has done work for. The show is just amazing. As a puppeteer to sit there and watch what ‘Randy’ does on stage is mind boggling. You just can’t describe it. I will never again complain about holding my arm up during a long scene again. Ever. Look Sammy J and Randy up on YouTube. Funny show, funny songs. A good time. Look them up on YouTube and check out their album.

After Sammy J and Randy, Patrick, Julianna and I went out and found a place to eat. We had some good conversation about ideas we have to make the show even better. Some pipe dreams, some that may happen. Who knows.

After that it was back to the hotel to write this and hit the sack. We still have a bunch more shows to do, but our time is getting shorter here and I’m getting the blues. But I’m going to enjoy every minute, for sure.

Puppet Up Down Under 2014 – April 14, 2014 – Luna Park Too

Woke up to the sun flooding in my room here in beautiful Melbourne. Working out as I have been the past couple of weeks I decided to take a day off. My legs have been really feeling it with all the running and squats I’ve been doing, so today is a rest day and tomorrow back at it.

After showering, Brian, Dan and I went to breakfast at a place called Self Preservation that is right near our hotel. I’ve walked past this place daily on the way to our theatre and they always have the most amazing looking food items in the window. I had three small buttermilk pancakes with fried banana and salted caramel on top. Yeah. Amazing. We had a nice breakfast and then came back to the hotel for a bit where I answered some email and just relaxed.

Around 1:00 PM, Brian and I had to vacate the room for housekeeping so we crashed at Dan’s place for an hour or so. We each had things to do so we stayed out of each other’s hair. I busied myself with watching an episode of Mr. Squiggle. Its a children’s show that Hamish mentioned to me yesterday and it’s one of the longest running shows in Australian TV history. It has some really amazing marionettes in it. The show has a very neat look and there’s a ton of clips on YouTube to check out. Mid you have some time, do a search and see.

Around 3:00 PM, Brian, Peggy, Dan and I hopped a car to Luna Park in Melbourne. It’s very similar to the Luna Park in Sydney but the two are not affiliated. They gave us free passes to ride the rides because we had done that photo shoot there the week we arrived. We road the Scenic Railway with is the longest, continuously running roller coaster in the world. It was built in 1912 and is still running today. We went on it. It was a lot of fun. There’s an actual employee who rides the coaster and acts as a brake-man. They stand the whole time. It’s pretty amazing.

After the Scenic Railway, we were joined by Patrick, Andy, Colleen, Ted, Allan and Julianna. Then we all braved the Ghost Train ride. It’s a classic Dark Ride, built in 1934. The track is the same as the 1934 attraction but the inside is different. It was supposed to be fear inducing, but it was hardly scary at all. I think the most fun thing is that we all went on it, though only two at a time. After that a few of us rode the Ferris Wheel and that wrapped up our day at Luna Park. Glad I was able to get a little Uncle Interloper footage while we were there.

We then walked over to the St. Kilda Breakwater at dusk to see the colony of ‘little penguins’ that nest in the rocks there. We didn’t see a ton of them, guess that happens more during the summer and we are now getting into fall, but we did see a few of the fuzzy birds. It’s a very popular tourist attraction though so I soon had to beg off because tons of people were crowding onto the tiny wooden dock to view them and they were getting quite pushy about it.

Afterwards we all went and had dinner together at a restaurant near the beach and then it was transportation back to the hotel.

All in all, a really fun day off.

Puppet Up Down Under 2014 – April 13, 2014 – Vine

Before I get to the rest of what happened today, I have to add a little bit to what happened last night. After writing yesterday’s tour diary, I was invited to go see Ingrid Elkner, who came and saw the show last night do some busking. For those that don’t know, busking is street performing. So I sought her out and heard her play a song on her ukelele. Then we chatted for a bit and then she went off to her tram and I back to the hotel. As I’ve said before, it’s always fun to hang out and chat with immensely creative people.

So, today, Sunday. Beautiful Sunday morning here in Melbourne. The sun is out and the weather was so great. I got up, hit the treadmill and the gym and then came up to shower. While at the gym my iPhone earbuds were acting weird and it dawned on me that some lint or dirt may be in the earbud jack. A common problem. An online searched revealed three ways to try to fix this issue. 1. Compressed air, which I didn’t have. 2. The end of a paperclip wrapped in tape, which I didn’t have and 3. A trimmed Q-Tip. Which I did have. So I trimmed a Q-Tip and carefully put it in the earphone jack. The remaining cotton on the end of the Sean promptly slid off the stick and was now lodged in the jack. Great. I was soon down at the front desk asking for a paperclip and tape. Luckily they had it and all is now right with the world.

I then headed off to the Parliament Gardens to meet up with a friend from the social media service Vine named Hamish. We had fun walking around and filing some vines with him and Uncle Interloper. I haven’t met many people from Vine in person and I think it’s funny that one of them was here in Australia. It was a great afternoon. Afterwards it was back to the hotel to relax for a bit before our show tonight.

Had a brief meeting with Patrick about the thing Dan and I had been working on. Not to give too much away but a few months ago, Patrick said I should work up a song improv that can be rotated into the show when I’m in it. Dan and I came up with one and, if all goes according to plan, it’ll debut next week! Patrick really liked it and I think it’ll be a fun addition to the show. I’ll keep you posted.

The show tonight was a big ball of fun. From the opening number to the closing it was a ton of fun. The Hot Dogs had a Sex Ed course, a beaver was in labor and had a monster for a child, we heard the story of Jerry’s Bad Day and the Alien Barbershop was on Commercialism.

Commercialism
Just makes me sick.
And I’ll protest it,
After I got to the mall real quick.

After the show we met the folks in the lobby and called it a night. Tomorrow we have a day off and there’s some possibility that we may have some super fun activities involving Penguins. Stay tuned.