Category: True Life Adventures
Puppet Up Spring 2014 Tour – March 9, 2014 – Park City, Utah
It is rough losing two hours. Yes, while most of the U.S. only lost one hour, the Puppet Up crew lost two because we travelled to a new time zone AND had daylight savings. Needless to say, I was exhausted all day.
Our tireless crew, Cameron, Matt, Julianna and Sean (who is pulling double duty) went to the theatre early to do all the really important work of making us look and sound good, as well as making sure the 80 Miskreant puppets are ready to perform.
We headed over the the theatre around 2:30 PM and soon we had our microphones on and were running through the opening and closing numbers. People often say, “You’re an improv show, why do you have to rehearse?” But our show has a lot of technical elements to it and we need to make sure those elements work exactly how we need to. We never rehearse the actual improvs but we rehearse the opening and closing or anything that has a heavy technical element.
Not too long after, we were in our blacks and ready for the show. The Park City, Utah crowd was just amazing. They gave their laughs freely and their suggestions were amazing! Suggestions ranged from a kitten giving birth to New Jersey to Ski Patrols. They laughed right along with us and were not afraid to get naughty. Just a super fun show.
All the puppeteers were on fire tonight. Vanessa made a sassy Miley Cyrus. Peggy sang the hell out of the James Bond song. Sean was hilarious as a cow milking farmer who spoke in tongues and Victor kicked ass with his rap. Very lucky to be working with the group and a little intimidated that, after this, I move into the host slot and, attempt, to fill Patrick’s shoes.
After the show, we went to the lobby to take photos for Facebook and that is always a blast. The Park City crowd was just fantastic. This show also marked the first time a four legged friend saw the show. Missouri, a guide dog in training was there for both acts (though we were told he slept through most of it.) After the show he was very interested in meeting our Pug Puppet. Hopefully those pictures will pop up on Facebook. They are cute.
After leaving the theatre, we went to a restaurant called Blind Dog and had a reception with donors and VIPS. It was a lot of fun discussing the show with the folks who had just seen it!
Tomorrow is a day off in Park City. We’re going to be making some fun vines for our upcoming Pittsburgh show, so if you’re on Vine, look for PuppetUp on there and follow us. The first one is live and it’s a doozy! After that, I hear there’s a barbecue place that’s pretty decent, so you’ll know where to find me come lunchtime. Excited to see a bit of Park City.
For now, I’m hitting the hay because I’m exhausted.
Puppet Up Spring 2014 Tour – March 8, 2014 – Here we go again!
And we are off on another fun filled Puppet Up Tour! This one started, as they usually do, at The Jim Henson Company lot to get a shuttle to Los Angeles International airport. Soon all who were going on the shuttle were on board and we were off.
There was some worry about getting to the airport on time due to some construction, but we needn’t have worried as while we were driving we got word that our 4:12 PM flight was delayed until 5:15 PM. Once we arrived at the airport and were through security, we were informed our flight would now be leaving at 5:50 PM. So we had a nice long wait at the gate.
Eventually, we were on our way to Salt Lake City. The flight was fine, nothing to write here about. We landed in Salt Lake City and then had a thirty minute shuttle ride off to Park City. Once there we got to our fun condos and put our stuff down. Then we were out foraging for food.
We found out that not much is open on Main Street Park City in the way of places that sever food. We finally did track one down after a bit of walking and finally it felt like we could relax.
I’d like to commend Park CIty on their HEATED BENCHES! Just the thing when sitting out in the cold waiting for the free bus that does a loop of downtown! Very nice.
There’s a lot of laughs off stage with this particular group of puppet people and I think that bodes really well for the shows!
Tomorrow is our first one, and because of that I’m going to cut things short and hit the hay. We are an hour earlier AND we have the time change tonight. That’s losing 2 hours! Need my sleep!
Here we go!
PUPPET UP!
Creative Mondays #009 – Seize the moment. Or regret it later.
When I first thought about the topic for today’s post, I figured this would only work for those who are in the performing side of the creative arts world. But the more I thought about it, the more I feel it applies to everyone in the art world and, heck, everyone in general. Again, it’s a saying we have all heard a million times, but it bears repeating:
Seize the moment. Or regret it later.
This has rumbled back around in my brain this past week because I failed to seize a moment presented to me this past week and I’m totally regretting it now. Let my tale be a lesson to you all.
As you may or may not know, I am a ringside interviewer for Championship Wrestling from Hollywood. It is a totally fun job with a great group of people and last Sunday (February 23) I worked the latest round of TV Tapings for the show.
Before the show I found out that we would only have one permanent commentator for the day, the fantastic Johnny LaQuasto. He would be joined periodically on commentary by manager Stu Stone, but for the most part, he would be on his own. During the tapings, I sit next to the commentators table to ring the bell for the start and finish of each match and to be able to hop down to ringside to conduct the interviews. So I’m very close to the ‘action.’
Before we started the show, Stu Stone took me aside and said, “Listen, I have to be ringside for a lot of the matches and LaQuasto will be on his own. Hop on to commentary when I’m not there.” I nodded and said, “Okay.”
Now, I have never done commentary before. I had thought about it, yes, but never have I stepped up to the mic to actually call a match. My brain started tumbling with thoughts, “Yeah, you should totally do it. But what if I suck? Well, then they’ll never have you do it again, but you aren’t going to kill anyone by doing it. But I know I will suck.” The old negative brain hard at work.
The show started and Johnny and Stu were on commentary and soon Stu was off to head to ringside. I put on the extra headset (earphones and a mic) and sat there and…I didn’t say anything. Not that I was prompted to, Johnny was doing just fine solo. But in my head I felt, “I don’t really have the okay from someone in charge to do this so I’m not going to say anything. Plus, I’ve never done it so I’ll probably be bad at it.”
At one point during a match, Stu came past the table while running around the ring and yelled at me, “Why aren’t you saying anything?!” I laughed, but deep down I knew he was right. I should just start talking. Stu Stone is one of the best managers working the ‘indy’ wrestling world today. He got to that position by seizing EVERY opportunity that came his way.
So I sat there, pretty much the whole taping, with the headset on and I didn’t say a word. Because my brain was telling me that I’d be bad at it and I had this fear that I would ‘get in trouble.’
Days after I’m still regretting that decision for several reasons. First of all, I wouldn’t have been ‘bad’ at doing commentary during the match. I wouldn’t have been the next coming of Jim Ross by a long shot, but I wouldn’t have been as ‘bad’ as my brain had me convinced. I’m a strong improviser, I’ve been watching wrestling since 4th grade and I know all the guys in the ring. I could have done it. And, besides, if my commentary had been REALLY bad, I would have realized and I could have just dropped out at the end of the current match and not done it again. No biggie.
Secondly, I wouldn’t have ‘gotten in trouble.’ I wouldn’t have been fired or drummed out of wrestling. The worst case scenario is that Dave Marquez, our director and executive producer, would have just told me not to do it again. But again, knowing Dave, that would have only been if I would have been miserably bad, which we already have stated I wouldn’t have been. Had I seized the chance and it had been halfway decent, it would have shown to Dave and the other producers of the show that there is another place I can be plugged in during the shows.
I should have seized the opportunity. Now I just regret it.
Don’t let this happen to you. If you get the opportunity, seize it. Or regret it later.
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Okay, let’s hear about the opportunities you failed to grab hold of. Why didn’t you jump? What did you learn from not seizing the chance to do something?
Puppet Up at The Kirk Douglas Theatre – Recap
I was very fortunate to be involved in three Puppet Up! Uncensored shows at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City, CA this past Thursday through Saturday. While I did write individual blogs on each of these nights, I’ve decided not to publish them. Instead I’m just going to do this post that will wrap up the experience. The reason I’m not publishing them is just because these were local shows, we were trying out new things and there were some things in the individual blogs that I just didn’t feel like putting out there. You’ll get a nice overview here, if you continue to read on.
Our three shows were at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. It’s a beautiful space with a great stage. Unlike other stages we’ve performed in, this one was on the ground floor and the seats were raked at a step angle. The thing I liked about this was that the audience was right there, at the lip of the stage. Sometimes I feel a big space between the stage and the audience, say for an orchestra pit, will cause a dip in the audience enjoyment. This is especially true with comedy. In comedy clubs no one wants to sit up front because they thing the comedians will pick on them. I’ve performed several places where the whole front will be empty and this will make it harder for the comedians to connect with the audience. This was not that case at the Kirk Douglas. And as a side note, the crew and staff at the Kirk Douglas are just amazing. Such a pleasure to work with them all.
The fan base for puppet improv is alive and well in Southern California as the shows sold out almost immediately. It really was spectacular how quickly the tickets went. Each house was just filled with people who were rabid for some puppet anarchy and we gave it to them.
The puppeteer who was sick was fine the next day. Just a weird bug. All is well.
– Thursday, February 20, 2014 –
The Thursday show was interesting. We had rehearsed the show with six puppeteers but just minutes before the show,one of the puppeteers became ill and was not able to go on. Being an improv show, we improvised! We, quickly, re-blocked the opening and then hit the stage. It was a wild night and I got to fill in so many great spots. Lady Singer on Face, Big Java in Java, I got to use the Henson Digital Puppetry Studio in that scene. A lot of fun. Moment of the night, for me, was right after performing Big Java and crossing to my chair, Brian Henson, who was also filling in here and there in spots had a big smile on his face and was laughing and he shook my hand and said, “that was great.” Pretty amazing.
I also got to do my favorite structure, Alien Barbershop. The topic was: umbrella. Yes, that was it. I went for it though.
Take an umbrella
They always warn ya
But I don’t have one,
I’m from southern California.
Not much of a hilarious joke. It got a good laugh but I was more proud of my rhyme for California.
The cast this night was the cast that will be headed to Australia in March. Australia, you have been warned, the puppets are coming.
– Friday, February 21, 2014 –
The Friday night show was different in that I was slated to host this show. The cast was a ‘mix and match’ cast of really amazing puppeteers and improvisers and it was my job to lead them all though the evening. The show went really well. The puppeteers were all fantastic andthere was some super funny stuff. Everyone said I did great as the host. I’m much harder on myself though. Being the host of this show is really complex and it’s a tribute to Patrick that he handles it so easily. There is so much you have to keep track of and looking back I realized that while I did a good job as the host, it wasn’t GREAT because I wasn’t having fun. I needed to relax, not worry so much, trust everything was going to be fine and just have fun. It’s something I look forward to as we head out on the short US tour before Australia where I will get to host four of the five shows.
– Saturday, February 22, 2014 –
This show was amazing. From top to bottom. The audience was amazing and our improv and puppetry was fantastic. It was a great group of puppeteers I was honored to perform with. Each scene was really high quality and the puppetry was amazing. Our version of WINDY that night was one of the best I’ve seen. Victor’s Usher bit to open act 2 is out of this world. And the show was just really amazing.
I made my Little Java debut and it went well. I really need to study the original because I feel there’s some beats I’m missing and I need to find out what they are in order to really hit the comedy right.
Also got to do the Alien Barbershop again and it may be my favorite of all time. The topic was Children’s Fight Club. My rhyme:
The children in Fight Club
Are as tough as shit.
They beat each other up
But they don’t talk about it.
It killed.
Another highlight of this show was getting to do the job interview/audience participation bit with Brian Henson. So much fun.
The whole show was just fantastic and I’m excited to be headed out with this cast on the mini-US tour.
So three fun shows here in Southern California. A lot of people said they wished we were running longer, so who knows? Maybe there will be more during the summer.
Every time I get to do this show I say it is the most fun thing I get to do. And it is. And I am unbelievably lucky that I get to do it.
And I can’t wait to do it again.