Monday was my first day of improv classes and they went much better than expected. The whole class was really into it, excited, and funny. I’m not sure why I expected less, it was people taking a class that no one forced them to take, essentially to have a good time on stage. But still, I was (happily) surprised a little bit. The classes on Monday and Tuesday were two, three-hour long sessions (6 hours a day) and the time absolutely flew by, it was so fun. Wednesday (today) is just one class, which is why I can finally get to this blog entry.
It’s a requirement of the class to see two improv shows at the UCB Theatre, which is no problem at all since they are so much fun! Monday night I caught the New Team Harold show and saw two of the newest, advanced teams, which were both very funny. I ended up going out to the bar afterwards with some of those improvisers and just hung out. Around 10:30 I headed back to the UCB Theatre to catch the stand-up show, Whiplash. That doesn’t count as one of my required shows but was just a fun time.
Tuesday night after class, a bunch of us tried to go to an early improv show that ended up being cancelled for some reason (they claimed hurricane, I’m not sure about that) but we went to a bar for a drink and came back to catch Harold Night a little later. Harold Night was a bit of a marathon with 5 different half-hour performances but also a lot of fun and a good variety.
UCB has a new, second theatre in the East Village now and after Harold Night I headed over there for a brand new open mic, apparently called Tuesdays at Midnight. It was a lottery system (opposed to a list), where people put their names into a bucket and the host calls random people up to perform. You could also email the host ahead of time and if you were one of the first 5 people to do so, you were guaranteed a spot. There weren’t that many people there so I figured I had a good shot of getting up on stage and I ended up being the second name picked. The audience was small, but not non-existent like at most open mics. It was also one of the more professional stages for just an open mic. The stage lights were very in my face and I couldn’t see any of the crowd (even the front row). I told some new jokes to little response, but whatever, just trying stuff out. I also took my first ever photo of myself on stage (in a jokey way no one seemed to care for, but a cool picture nonetheless):
