Puppet Up Down Under 2014 – March 28, 2014 – Preview 2
Started out the day as I have been, hitting the gym and running on the treadmill. After showering Brian, Dan and I headed out for lunch. We wound up at Big Boy’s BBQ. This visit I ordered the Z Man which is their brisket sandwich. It was pretty good but I could have done without the cheese and onion strings. Just give me meat and sauce.
After lunch, Dan returned to the hotel and Brian and I continued to walk around a bit. On a whim we went into the Victoria State Library. It’s a working library but also has great historical displays to peruse much like a museum.
They have a big reading room called the La Trobe. It was patterned after the big round too of The Library of Congress and it’s pretty impressive. Just big long wooden benches, desks and chairs with spots to sit and read or type. Kind of fun being in a room that size that is so quiet. After hanging there for a minute, Brian and I walked around the other exhibits which included one on the history of Victoria and another that featured artwork from children’s books. Pretty neat. After that we returned to the hotel to relax a bit. I spent the time trying to plan out what other shows I can go see as part of the festival. Many of the shows are scheduled the same time as ours so it is difficult. But there are a few times here and there where we should be able to check out some of the other acts here at the festival. Soon, it was time to get ready to head to the Princess Theatre for our second preview.
The Princess Theatre is a great old theatre. Apparently it is haunted and I keep forgetting to ask about that while we are there. I will tomorrow. We have great dressing rooms but they are up several flights of stairs. We have all learned very quickly to not forget anything you need that may cause you to have to run all the way back upstairs to get it.
The second preview tonight was just fantastic. The crowd was really great and their suggestions were a lot of fun. We learned the harsh lessons of being too obsequious. We heard the story of My Two Lesbian Parents. We saw the Hot Dogs making a porn prison film and much, much more. Such a fun show to be part of.
I once again got to be in Java and Face. I love working on those and I take every opportunity to try and make them better and even more of a tribute to the originals.
For the next few couple of shows I want to work in more puppetry. I know I came to the same conclusion in Toronto but I want to focus on it earlier here. Sometimes I fall into the trap of just standing around and saying funny things. I want to say funny things while doing fun puppetry. So that’s my challenge.
After the show Dan and I went looking for something to eat. After trying a few places that either were ‘take away’ or closing, we wound up at The Pancake Parlor. Pancakes, for dinner. Ain’t not a thing wrong with that. Outside the Pancake Parlor they have the Mirror of Mirth. I call it the Mirror of Truth because, well, just look.
Puppet Up Down Under 2014 – March 27, 2014 – Preview 1
Continued my trend of getting up and hitting the gym first thing this morning. Had a new episode of my current favorite podcast, Nerd Poker, to inspire me. Also very cool that it seems some of the stars of Sons of Anarchy are in town and several were in the gym working out. Puppeteer worked extra hard to keep up with the bikers.
After a shower, went out I to the streets of Melbourne in search of the one thing anyone who has been here before told me I must try…Australian meat pies. I located a spot that is considered one of the 5 best in Melbourne that was within a few blocks walking distance and headed for it.
One of the things I think is really great about Melbourne, at least downtown, are these little alleys that branch off from main and side streets. They aren’t dumpsters and trash and but filled with little shops and restaurants. Dinkum Pies was located in just such an alley.
I hadn’t made up my mind which type of pie to get. My friend Amanda told me to get Mince but they didn’t have any Mince. So I decide to go with Dinkum’s ‘Famous Steak’ pie and one of their sausage rolls.
I have to say, after all the build-up, I wasn’t that impressed. Not that they were bad, but they just sorta tasted how I thought they’d taste and they weren’t AMAZING. I’m not giving up though. I will try one again. I did have an amazing dessert at Dinkum’s though. I’ll just post the picture and let you decide.
Yeah. Good.
I then walked over to a comic book store, Comics R Us, and had fun talking to the owner and checking out an Australian comic book store. Looks just like ours.
After some relaxing back at the hotel, it was time to head to the Princess Theatre for tech before our first preview show. The Princess Theatre crew is just amazing. Our show is not easy to tech and not ‘standard’ by any means and the Princess crew just rolled with it and had us up and running in no time.
After a dinner break were ready for the 7:30 PM show. A preview show before our opening. We’re doing a 70 minute show here with no intermission so it’s a bit different than the shows we normally do. Without an intermission they seem shorter but they aren’t really. We do all the same stuff just no, um, intermission.
Tonight’s show was great. A really fun crowd. The Hot a Dogs were swimming in a shark tank. We learned about the bad manners of being a banker. And Tom, and audience member puppeteer end in a hilarious scene that saw him trying to become a Junior Mobster.
I was fortunate enough to get to do Lady Singer in I’ve Grown Accustomed To Your Face and Big Java in Java. I love doing those pieces so much. It was really cool at the start of Java when the piece got recognition applause!
A really fun show, the cast was all on point and the audience was great. This is going to be a really great run.
After the show we spent a relaxing time in Patrick and Julianna’s suite and just took it easy after the wild rumpus of last night’s after party.
Now it’s time for bed.
Puppet Up Down Under 2014 – March 26, 2014 – Gala
Woke up early and hit the gym first thing. I’m really focusing on getting up and working out on his trip. After working out I got word from Julianna that her and Patrick were headed to a place down the street from our hotel called The Pancake Parlor.
I discovered the pancake parlor on the second day of the tour. It is, apparently, a chain of stores that sells pancakes. But not just pancakes but pancakes with different toppings like, oh, ice cream! Yes, a scoop of ice cream on a stack of pancakes. And chocolate. Or caramel. Yeah, it is crazy.
Anyway, when they said they were going I joined. I did not get crazy though. I had the ‘traditional’ breakfast. Two pancakes, bacon and a scrambled egg. It was good, but not spectacular. I’m looking forward to going back and trying one of the crazy pancakes.
After breakfast I hopped back to the hotel before we had to leave to do some press. This was the press we were supposed to do the other day when the puppets hadn’t arrived. So with the puppets were here, Colleen, Ted and I got driven over to Luna Park for a photo shoot.
Luna Park is Melbourne’s amusement park. A throwback tribute to Coney Island. The park was closed but they opened it for us to do the shoot. It was fun time and we are looking forward to going back there once we are back in Melbourne after Sydney.
Tech went really smooth, the people running the theatre and the show were just awesome. The show was being filmed for television so it was run like clockwork.
We left the theatre for a few hours relaxing back at the hotel before we had to head back to the theatre for the show. As I’ve said, I always love when we perform in theaters where acts I love have performed. This was an even cooler experience because we performed on the same show of two acts I think are hilarious. The Umbilical Brothers are just amazing. If you haven’t seen them, YouTube their stuff. Amazing physical comedy. The second was Seán Cullen who I’ve admired since his days in Corky & The Juice Pigs. His comedy and delivery kill be and he’s one of the few comedians who can really make me belly laugh. So much fun to actually share the stage with them.
After the Gala we went to the opening night VIP party. It was a lot of fun and I don’t usually enjoy these types of gatherings. It was fun to meet people who have various jobs related to the festival. Made a lot of new friends. Maybe I’ll try this socializing stuff a bit more.
After much too much fun at the party, we headed back to the hotel and I wrote this entry before bed. Tomorrow our first, full fledged, show. I can’t wait.
Puppet Up Down Under 2014 – March 25, 2014 – Austria
Today was supposed to be a pretty full Puppet Up day with press and a big tech rehearsal for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala we will be part of. Those plans fell through partially because of a small snafu with the box of puppets we are using for the Gala. We can’t get into the main boxes of puppets until tomorrow, Customs thing, and so a small box was being sent to us via FedEx. Perfect plan except that box of puppets wound up in Austria instead of Australia. So, the press stuff with the puppets had to be rescheduled. That gave us a more relaxed morning.
I got up around 8:00 AM and then went to the gym to run on the treadmill a bit. After showering, I met with Peggy and Colleen and we walked over to Queen Victoria Market.
Queen Victoria Market is a big indoor/outdoor Farmer’s Market in Melbourne. It’s a little touristy, but we are tourists! It was a pleasant walk over and then a nice walk around the Market. I grabbed breakfast there, including a hot cross bun and then just strolled around looking at all the different stuff for sale.
I was also helping Uncle Interloper film a few segments for his podcast when he was attacked by a fish monger wielding an octopus. Seriously. It was pretty hilarious and I’m glad I caught it all on video. Uncle Interloper was terrified and I was too.
After spending a bit of time at the Market, we had a leisurely walk back and then it was time to get set to meet in the lobby for our rides to the tech rehearsal.
The Gala is taking place in the Palis Theatre which is the largest indoor theatre in Australia. It was pretty impressive. The Gala is going to be televised so the tech rehearsal seemed, at least to me, kind of like an awards show tech. We worked through our piece, we get 4 minutes, twice and made sure everything sounded good and then it was back to the hotel. The Gala is tomorrow night so I’ll have info on how it went tomorrow.
Once back to the hotel, the company split a bit. Some went down to the river while me and Dan decided to walk a bit around the streets near the hotel and get some dinner. I have absolutely no idea how this happened, but we ended up at the only barbecue place in town, Big Boy’s BBQ. Odd.
Anyway, we had some great Barbecue and talked a bit with the owner Lance. A great guy. He said he was on vacation in the United States and discovered barbecue, then came back to Australia and started cooking it for himself and all his friends told him to open a place, and he did. And it was pretty good too. I have a feeling I’ll be going back sometime in the next few weeks to sample some other stuff on the menu.
After dinner, we walked around a bit more downtown, then came back to the hotel. I spent a good amount of time once I was back just looking out over the city. Have a mentioned I like it? A lot? I do.
Excited for tomorrow’s activities. Some rescheduled press and then the Gala. Should be a lot of fun.
