Thanking Time Again

Well, this post was supposed to go up yesterday, but yesterday got away from me.

I'd like to thank some people again, because I don't think there's enough thanking in the world, and I want to encourage it, as well as encourage people to continue being nice folks.

We had a *great* ComedySportz practice on Wednesday, helmed by the inimitable Ross White. ("What do you want, Ross White?") I was in a good state of mind that night, and Ross gave the practice a really comforting, encouraging atmosphere that I really appreciated. Dave Siegel hosted an equally supporting practice last week, but I was in no state to enjoy it. This week, I had loads of fun and learned a lot. We focussed on Five Things, and specifically, our gibberish. We had an amusing time doing a monologue in English, then switch to gibberish foreign language when Ross called "switch." I got gibberish Japanese, and Ross asked me to do my Macho Man voice for the monologue, which seemed to be very fun for both me and the people in the audience. It's very hard to switch from Japanese back into Macho Man, I've discovered.

Then Dave Siegel and I did a gibberish opera while Jason Quinn introduced each act in English. I think we did quite well, and I'd like to thank Dave for working so nicely with me on stage. I enjoy working with him, and we seem to mesh well. This is the kind of improv situation I really enjoy doing: working with people I feel comfortable with, that are friendly and supporting and open. It was a joy to work with Dave.

At this point, Rogers showed up. I was really hoping he wouldn't make it to this practice, for the simple reason that I enjoy Rogers current state of gibberish, and wouldn't change it for the world. No, his gibberish isn't polished; no, he doesn't do a lot of variation in it; no, his gibberish does not have syntax like a real language. He has Fleeba Flabba. And Fleeba Flabba RULES! I love Rogers; he's a lot of fun and really funny and a great person to be around. I wouldn't change Rogers' Fleeba Flabba for anything. It's fabulously entertaining. Thanks for being you, Rogers. You rock.

Then we started running Five Things games, and I actually participated, believe it or not. In the first game, I was sent out to be the guesser. I would've been more comfortable being the giver the first time 'round, but for this very resaon, I accepted the role and trotted out into the cold. Richie Efird and Jason Curtis were my teammates in this round, and they were great. Jason was particularly clever when he had to communicate "diamond earrings" to me, miming a wedding proposal first, to get the "diamond" part over, and then yanking out the diamond and jamming it in my ears to get over the "earring" portion. Clevah!

Later on, I got to be one of the "givers" for Five Things, along with my compatriot in Zack Bly. Earlier in the evening, Zack was kind enough to give me a book on British fables, and we had fun singing Elvish songs and listening to Zack's recitation of Dwarvish poetry. He also requested that I do a reading from Lord of the Rings in my wrestling announcer voic, so that was a lot of fun. Good companionship was shared. ANYWAY, we did the Five Things thing with Zack and me presenting to Battlin' Ben Moser. I was nervous, but I do love Five Things, and Zack was very helpful and supportive, getting me through it all. We ended up having a blast, and traded off back and forth on verious items, really helping each other out and working as a team. It felt great. Ben, of course, is a master of ComedySportz, and was always energetic and attentive. The high point of the game was when I had to convey "otter" to Ben. I tried over and over, acting out the otter, doing typical "otter" moves, and he let me know he had no idea what I was trying to do. I then mimed a beaver with the teeth and the tree and all, and said "un-unh" and then "well, maybe", and went back to the otter action, swimming about as Zack mimed the water for me. Ben looked like he had absolutely NO idea what I was doing, but signalled for us to go back and sit down and he'd go ahead and guess the rest of the stuff. So back on the chairs, Zack and I are muttering to each other: "How are we going to do otter?" "We've got to sound it out." Suddenly, we hear Ben say "...and my cleats have been replaced with otters." Zack and I just stared at each other, wide-eyed--HOW DID HE GET THAT?!?! It was hilarious; Ben really surprised us. Later on, as we were leaving, we asked him: "How did you get otters?" He said, absolutely straight-faced, "Well, it wasn't a beaver, so it was an otter."

I also learned a lot from listening to Corey doing sound effects while I wasn't in the booth. His sense of when to do effects to help out the people on stage is fabulous. Mad props there.

Great fun. A fine night. Many thanks to Ross, Dave Siegel, Richie, Curtis, Bly, and Corey. An extra thanks to Jason Curtis for being so kind to take the time to say goodbye and give me a high-five while I had to be up in the booth at the end of the night to turn off all the tech. It felt nice to be remembered. Thel ittle things count.