Humor
Opinion DisclaimerSummer Improv Workshop Show
Not going to say much about this other than, last week I had my show for my Level 2 Workshop at ComedySportz San Jose. We did 2 types of longform, a modified Harold and a montage. We had a lot of fun. Watch and enjoy.
Sunday Funnies – Improv anybody?
This past week my Level 2 Workshop at ComedySportz San Jose did our performance. Luckily someone in the audience took some video and I have created a playlist of the videos she has posted on youtube. Check it out below. I do believe this is the first time I have posted anything specifically about me on this blog. Enjoy and let me know what you think.
Obstacles vs Accessories
It is not what happens to you that matters but rather how you respond to what happens to you. I could easily get metaphorical about this with the many things that have happened to me (especially in the recent past) but I’ve got two very specific things to bring up regarding this concept.
Parkour, Freerunning and overcoming obstacles
Almost 4 years ago when I first found out about parkour, I was drawn to the concept of training to overcome obstacles physically and using this training to help you overcome all obstacles – mental and physical. Well this year, in my new home of San Jose, I’ve decided to train parkour at a facility called Guardian Art. At Guardian Art they don’t relate the same way to obstacles. In fact, they don’t relate to obstacles at all. Everything is an accessory.
When I look up the word accessory, this is what I get:
For the sake of movement, obstacles can be treated instead like accessories. You can choose to use it or not to help you move through space. Knowing how to use an accessory in your movements makes your arsenal of motion more complete, adds convenience for you in getting from place to place and with practice your movements may even be pretty.
Yes, and…
One other thing I’ve begun training recently is improvisational comedy. I started taking classes out at DSI Comedy Theater in Carrboro, NC and am now training at ComedySportz San Jose. First off, I highly recommend everyone take an improv comedy class. There is something for everyone. Second, improv has given me practice in relating to whatever life throws at you as accessories.
When I’m on stage with my teammates doing improv, I have very little idea what is going to happen. However, we have been taught to take whatever each other does or says as a gift to help the scene move along. You’ll often hear improvisers use the term “yes, and…” to describe what they do. This is because you always say yes to the reality someone is bringing into the mix and you add onto it. In other words, they bring something onto the stage and you use it as an accessory to help out the scene.
In conclusion
If you find yourself trying to overcome some sort of obstacle perhaps you could instead try to adjust your point of view. Can that obstacle be an accessory? Have you accepted the reality of your obstacle accessory yet? Can you add to that reality to create something even more amazing? I’d love to hear where these concepts have worked for you in some way. Please comment below to let me know how you can see this in your own life.
Sunday Funnies – Improv-A-Ganza
I love improvisational comedy. I loved watching “Whose Line Is It Anyway.” My wife could always tell when I was watching it because I would be truly laughing out loud and that laughter went to 11. I have also recently taken up studying improvisational comedy, first at DSI Comedy in Carrboro, North Carolina and now at ComedySportz in San Jose, CA.
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Earlier this year when I found out Drew Carey was getting inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, the promo reel they played talked about his new show “Drew Carey’s Improv-A-Ganza“. It started this week on GSN and I’m looking forward to seeing more comedy gold from many of the same faces that I saw on “Whose Line Is It Anyway.” Barring an unfortunate cameo by Mr. #winning#15minutesAreUp himself Charlie Sheen, it has been as good as expected. The following is a clip from the show that once again had me LOLing.
Sunday Funnies – Insurance Execs
I know this is old, and was specific to a certain conversation that the country was having at the time. I’m just in a very annoyed at insurance BS right now and we still don’t have a public option. So here is a short little video talking about who the real victims are in any talk about health care reform.
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Sunday Funnies with the WWE
In honor of the PPV tonight I thought I would post a great advertisement for the Royal Rumble pay per view on this day in 2005. The WWE has done some great commercials from time to time to show that they don’t take themselves too seriously. For the Royal Rumble in 2005 they decided to really swing for the fences with a parody of the musical ‘West Side Story’
There have been many great ads from the WWE, what has been your favorite? Until next time, keep on laughing.
Sunday Funnies – Roscoe’s Rug Emporium
Back when I lived in Seattle we had a sketch comedy show that came on the half hour before SNL. It was great local comedy and many of the jokes just aren’t funny to people outside of the Seattle area. However, some sketches seem to be funny regardless of locale. The following videos regarding Roscoe’s Rug Emporium are two that always come to mind when I see furniture stores “Going out of Business.”
Watch and enjoy!
Improv 101 – My first class
Recently my therapist asked me what I do for fun. I tried to list out some things but my list seemed pretty sparse. In order to fill those gaps I signed myself up for an Improv class at my local comedy club, the Dirty South Comedy Theater. Going into the evening I was nervous, but in the best possible way. I had no idea what to expect but I had a pretty good idea that it was going to be fun.
After the initial meet and greet we circled up and got the ball rolling. A friend of mine had told me that nothing from the real world exists in these improv classes and our first exercises made this clear. We did some very basic exercises to get into the mindset we needed for the class. After that we got into the rest of the night which was variations on the “yes…and…” theme.
The yes…and… practices were so much fun. The consisted of variations on 2 people on stage having a conversation where each following statement agrees with what the person said and adds to it, moving the story along. We still need some practice to know how to keep that story interesting but some very funny situation came to be on stage last night. Lots of fun and it will only get better.
All in all, last night was awesome and I can’t wait for next week’s class. Thank goodness the Dirty South has improv shows I can watch between now and then.
EMC 2010 Report – Just Another Magic Monday (Day 1)
The 15th through the 17th of July held a very special magical event. This event was the Essential Magic Conference. The first ever international online magic conference ( at least that’s what I got from the marketing ). At a price of just 55 euros, it was worth every penny before the end of the first day. One participant even mentioned in chat that it was worth the price after the first session.
Speaking of the first day, so far that’s all I have gotten through. Sure, I listened and watch parts of the sessions from days 2 and 3 as they were happening live but its taken until now for me to have the time to actually study the first 3 sessions from day 1. As of last Friday, all 9 sessions are available online as video on demand for people who signed up for the conference. So, if you missed this conference in real time you can still get more than your registration fee out of these videos.
As someone who still considers himself a novice magician, I gained loads from the first day( and even the first session) with speeches, performances and presentations form the likes of Lennart Greene, Barry & Stuart, Ponta the smith, Apollo Robbins, Gaetan Bloom, Max Maven and many more.
While I gained a lot from everybody, I gained the most from a magical duo I hadn’t heard of before – Barry & Stuart. They had a first day speech entitled, “Everything We’ve Learned So Far” [Registration Required]. What drew me in the most was an idea that their presentation kept dancing around and they summed up in one of their final bullet points as:
If you want to subvert your art, you need to first learn your craft.
While I have never come across as much of a rebel who would want to subvert much of anything, I do have this constant need to make things my own and I latched on to many of their ideas. Barry and Stuart are 2 young guys who have worked hard and created a niche and name for themselves in magic. And while there are many performances from day 1 I’d like to show my readership ( Ponta the smith’s performance in session 1 comes to mind ) – I don’t have access and permission to do that. So, I’ve looked up an entertaining video of Barry and Stuart for my magical and muggle readership alike. Enjoy.
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The Humor of Male Inequality
For my first post back from break, I thought I would start with a little humor. The humor I chose isn’t any humor, but it is humor related to the more serious topics written about in this blog – the men’s movement. Watching this clip was almost surreal for me because there was a part of me that thought I should be offended but I wasn’t and Samantha Bee if hilarious. So watch this fake news piece on the men’s movement and enjoy.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Male Inequality | ||||
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You may have noticed I kept this post very short. This is on purpose. The other post this week is my Wednesday Warrior post and this clip will be a great source for a topic.
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