all hail molly hale

my dear, lovely molly halestorm moved this week. another sad teaspoon full on a shitheap of a week, really, but i've chosen to embrace this one as a positive. i hate when people i love move away, and in this business, it's pretty common that people come and go. what i've learned, though, is that all friends are really closer than miles seem to allow. LA doesn't seem that far away anymore - we all come and go, and travels bring us closer and farther. as i get older, it feels like the world isn't so spread out.

molly left for LA to start something different, to move, to motivate, to shake things up. i like that about her. it's simple to get comfortable in chicago like a big easy chair; there's wonderful people, performance opportunities at every corner, and a general sense of "this is good enough".

i love it here, but i don't want to become stagnant. i appreciate that molly went before she felt like she might. bold.

best to molly; don't sell your bod until you have to.

lord of the nation

thank you, tim ryder, for this:
KID NATION.

i know where i'll be in the fall.

with arms wide open

uh-oh.

i guess standing on top of a hillside isn't the only place creed-bot got high.

Mighty, mighty news

i wasn't allowed to tell anyone even though i found out last thurs-fri... but now, i can...

My week has been consumed by this piece of info: I'VE JUST BECOME A MEMBER OF SC's BLUE TOURING COMPANY!

touring & working with sc is what i moved here for, and i've been lucky enough to be an understudy there with them for almost a year and a half, as well as worked with BizCo there for a long time. now, i am full-time city with Blue... and it's just the best news.

i'm nervous about some things, and excited about most.
i can't wait.

quick change

this came up tonight, and i finally found it. seriously, what's going on in here?
confetti?
really?
magik is r3al, dood.

Hartford, Connecticut

comedysportz brings me to lovely (and sort of zzz) hartford this day, with pals rance (player), monty (stage mgr), and jeff b (one of our music directors). a fun twist is that this was a gig not just for our touring company, but for the WCL (world comedy league - you heard me), so one city must mix-it-up with another to play an all-star show (three players and a ref - me). (there are a lot of parenthesis in this joint.) it was fun to meet two players from the newer CSzNYC, Kim and Robert. and then you get to have that weird energy of wait, how do you play?, which can be a good way to get you on your toes again.

the CSzNY dudes had to drive back tonight, but rance, monty, jeff and i found one of the only pubs in town to sit in and diffuse from the corporate show. jeff introduced us to the game Ghost, which is pretty addictive and easy to play. we came back to the hotel and browsed the sundries, which included all of the following: condoms, speedo swim caps, hot buffalo wings pretzels, a scrunchy from 1986, and sarongs.

hartford.

lady merms

myself and all girls of merman, an old improv team of mine, got together for much needed hangtime. these girls are just so nice and wonderful. we had a nice night of doing quickened catchup over beers at el jardin after shows, and honestly, the fact that we were at el jardin seemed like a throwback in itself.

at the end, we stumbled out to a cab and went to megan's new condo which she shares with ltboyf alex. we screeched like screech owls and took off our shoes and danced on the new wood floors, cooing over the subzero fridge and the dopeass roofdeck.

bitch gotta get outta debt.

pictionary, part 5000

lots of SC shows last week all over, including one for bizco at a museum benefit. sheryl burton was a host of the evening, who was super nice and pretts and had killer shoes on. seriously, how do people do it? joan cusack was also present, and it was neat and strange to be standing behind a curtain with her an inch away.

one of my favorite things in the world that others hate is to do a scene called Pictionary. here's tom flanigan lamenting that we have to do it again. it's an oldie but a goodie, relying heavily on the aren'tmenandwomendiffffferennnnt? muscle, but it's well written and fun to do. it's a scene that is nearly impossible to blow but also hard to completely ace. you can't be "too-too", as my mom says. it has to be just right. i like really noticing when an audience gets it as you perform it nearly every bizco. all audiences are the same. it's a study.

comedy study.

night tara/tara firma

two weeks ago on a night of late shows, i had the pleasure of doing something straight-up fun in the early evening: going to the windy city rollers all-star match in cicero.

this is the best thing ever.

ever!

the cicero stadium was packed, and we were lucky enough to see a match between seattle's team and our own. it was an easy sport to watch and learn about quickly as they even provided a tutorial in the program with all the rules. after we crammed facts and got ready to watch, we had fun noticing all the names of the contenders, sort of old-comedysportz like, sort of american gladiator-y. the best in the program by far in my opin was a girl named Amber who tacked on -Waves of Pain to her first name. america. at the beginning of the match, we each picked a roller wife. i picked yvette yourmaker purely on a feeling, and she was incredible. i also would have an affair with malice with chains, who was truly unbeatable as a jammer.

this would be an awesome first date, a great birthday party, and a wonderful night out of the city. i got to go with a bunch of people i don't always get to hang with, which ruled too (see friend ann throwing the horns, above), and ran into lovable zach & kiki thompson as well. see? find more fun. they have bouts every month. let's go. every time!

cinco de fux

anyone care that we're celebrating mexico's independence? anyone?

a transcript of wrigleyville on saturday:





shit, you guys!


you guys iamtotallywasted! no, more than usual! and it's three pm!


you guys, you guys, get out of the street.
come on, get out of the streeeeet!


that policeman is coming at you in his cruiser!



...oh, he's just waving. he thinks we're hilarious! so do i. oh my god, the spaniiiish!





central has a mariachi band!
you guyyyys, mexico!
look at my midriff top and my fucking uggs!
it is crinco de playo!
what is it called again?
dude, get me a yuengling!
no wait, make it a corona! it's fucking mexico day!





(sounds of piss)

crown plaza... taking it too far

staying at crown plaza here in NJ, i think a place that's affiliated with maybe like, holiday inns and hamptons. could be wrong, but it feels sim. anyway, upon arrival, the crownski provides you with a little sleep pack. it's a super nice gesture, and it felt awesome to imagine a zzzz-filled evening in my white, crisp linened king bed with seven pillows. but wait, seven pillows? man, that's a lot. overwhelming, actually.

more overwhelming? an eye mask, lavender linen spray, and earplugs. really? well, that's nice, i guess. but why can't i sleep here? oh, you've provided me a sleep cd that lulls me down? sorry friend, i still can't sleep. it's like you're psyching me out.

but this - this is the piece de resistance... really, it really is. my friend kirk found this in our main hallway. we took bets on whether it was a bit, but sure don't think it is.

"no children, leisure groups, marching bands or circus animals will be assigned to this area."

...

... ... hot bits? hot hotel bits?

if not, how do i get assigned to the wing where there are seals? please advise.

"

woke up this morning

realized i'm in new jersey, sitting here watching the sopranos. ah. yes. as it should be.

SC brought me here on a business gig, and after a long day, we finished a successful show for a well known petroleum joint. staying at a nice hotel, which is always nice since it's a tiny break from living in-community, i'll call it. most people probably don't love hotels, but i have grown to like them. it makes me feel like a grown up as i still feel like a kid.

shows are neat.

congrats, mr. prouty

...to a lovely appearance on the WGN morning news for improv match game the week of CIF. any of you who didn't see it - or couldn't see it - it went remarkably well and the show and prouty looked charming and fun.

come see improv match game any saturday at iO, midnight in the del close theatre. it's fun. sometimes, you'll even get to see this ol' mug on the celebrity improv panel. yeah!

save ferris

the first day of promos was thursday (makeoutmannequinday). on saturday, i had a fun run of following around a mascot-uniformed bookworm, taking polaroids with my team onfoot. this proved to be a long but pretty fun day of seeing happy kids (and adults). that same sunday, the teenage mutant ninja turtles were present, and another team of us was assembled who spent most of the day playing carnival games with kids inside the mall. some people wanted to be stationed outside on parking lot duty (watching cars pull in and out of spots safely - or not safely, if you were in bland's row). you even got to use those little flight-landing sticks to guide people in. for those wanting a tan and less mall-lighting, this was desirable. i chose outdoors.

luckily, my first shift proved even greater when i got to work - gasp - the ferris wheel. there was a fair-like ferris wheel assembled in the parking lot that kids and parents were eager to ride. i was interested in becoming a carnie and imagining that i was 16 working at wyandot lake, pulling the levers on the baracuda or watching kids puke on the octopus or scrambler.

but, soon the job became more hard than what you'd expect. my position became the ultimate sad one - the person who had to tell kids they were too short to ride, and hold a height-stick next to their tear-stained cheeks. a little of my afternoon was spent convincing kids it wasn't that fun anyway, and high-fiving their sobs away.

stupid growing.

start 'em young

macy's opened a new store in bolingbrook, so again, csz was hired to do some promo work. always semi-fun but long days, but this one became very long - a car hit a transformer outside the new mall and all the power went out on their opening day. the promotional work quickly became damage control, welcoming customers to the romantically lit department store, then asking if they wouldn't mind paying by check instead of cash (seems backwards, doesn't it?) or walking the stairs instead of taking the escalator.

one highlight of the day, though, came when a young kid came up to us and sat next to this mannequin. the kid was probably 4 or so, and noticed the lounging woman mannequin on the platform. he sat down next to it and touched her palm. normal. he then sort of pawed at her wig, feeling if it was real hair. still normal. then, with no warning, he cupped her boob and sat there for a solid 20 seconds.

go get 'em, tiger.

we laughed even harder when we realized how disheveled the model looked - necklace askew, hair tousled. she looked like she'd just gotten out of the back seat at makeout point.

a cute, 30 year old dude walked by and smiled at the kid. wanna get in there? i said. he then sashayed up to the mannequin and cooed what's your name? and laughed a bit. i realize now this was probably supposed to be my husband.