Chicago, IL

So, I’m not going to write about the Taste of Chicago. Why? Because everyone else in the entire world is. Instead, I decided to talk about my life. The last few weeks for me have been what I would call…philosophically stretching.

I went to the 6th Annual Lottery Reunion show at iO last week. Basically, the Lottery is a show where iO draws the names of some random students out of a bucket, and they get to perform with amazing and legendary improvisers in a regular show. If that sounds unpredictable to you, you should see the Lottery REUNION show. Sheesh. Each of the last 6 casts did a 10-minute piece. Each team had about 4 people I would call “Headliners” and 2 or 3 students. So, in an hour, I got to see 24 diverse veteran improvisers, and about 15 students trying to keep up. Amazingly, there were students on stage that were performing seamlessly. Others were struggling. But, that’s beside the point. The great part about the show was that each team had their own personality, and it was extremely interesting to see the range of style in such a back-to-back way. One that stood out to me in particular was the “Annoyance” set, starring Mick Napier among others. Now, I have heard of Mick Napier. He is one of the founders of the Annoyance Theater and has essentially achieved Improv God Status. But, I had never before seen him perform. Basically, my brain exploded. In a mish-mosh of intersecting scenes and non-linear storytelling, I realized that I am a very vanilla improv fan. But, I was told not to judge the “Annoyance style” based on that show, because it was done, after all, with students.

Then, on Saturday, I had the extreme pleasure of having Joe Bill, another Annoyance founder and cast member of Bassprov, fill in for another teacher at my improv class. (He. Is. Awesome.) And, at one point, half of the class did a montage of the most obnoxious, irrationally arranged, crazy-person scenes that I have ever seen. Then, Joe starts talking to us about leaving aside our style preferences. Maybe watching improv isn’t about what we “like” or “don’t like,” but maybe it’s about expression and art. Then, he looks at me, and apparently, I had a gross look on my face, because he said, “Ok, Miss Linear Thinker, what was wrong with that?” HA! Then, I debated with him for a few minutes, because that’s what I do. But, really, I’m open to comedy that breaks rules. I’m open to Improv being about art and expression. Maybe I’ll try to not only judge something based on whether I “like” it or not.

Perhaps.

Last night I went to a show at Acme Art Works, and one of the performances was a guy reading screenplay treatments written by a person that was clearly either on drugs or in some other way mentally incapacitated. For all intents and purposes, it was a guy, on stage, reading for half an hour. I LOVED IT. So, in light of all that I have been thinking about for the last few weeks, I’m trying to appreciate it from a non-preferential standpoint, but I’m at a loss. I guess I have a lot to learn.

In any case, I think I’m going to start checking out more things at Annoyance. I still haven’t seen Messing with a Friend, which apparently makes me a horrible person. When people talk something up as much as they talk up Susan Messing, it sort of makes me want to avoid it. And every time I say that to an improviser, they die a little bit inside. Because Susan Messing has also achieved God-Status. Ok. I’ll go. Soon. I promise.

Annoyance Theater, Mick Napier, Joe Bill, Susan Messing, Acme Art Works, Chicago Improv, Comedy