jennings rampage

It’s like Improv… Thanksgiving?

Oh man, I need to hurry up and recap me some DSIF 5 before I get too far behind.

• Tuesday night at Skylight was the most fun I’d had at an improv show in AGES. Diplomat modestly tore it up, and it was great to be back on stage with the old band. The rapid-fire “Cagematch” deal was fan-fucking-tastic, Erik Martin and I had a blast for our forty-five seconds, and the showmanship by our Executive Producer was masterful. The debut of Piehole was, I think, a delightful surprise — a film full of provocative choices that I continue to wrap my head around.
• Wednesday night at Kings was, well, not as fun as Tuesday, but that’s cool. I mean, I sort of set myself up for a let-down by praising the first night so much, didn’t I? But hey, if Wednesday happened on Tuesday, I’d have said the same thing about it, ok? Wednesday was fun. I have no regrets about going. It was a good time. But Tuesday really was a special night, and wouldn’t be overshadowed. Maybe I shouldn’t be making qualitative declarations like this. Maybe I should just let each night do its own thing and not try to shoehorn it into some sort of ranked order. Maybe I should just move on.
• Thursday night at Local 506 happened. I was already excited, since I picked up Charlie and Anthony and Porter from the airport and spent the afternoon hanging out with them, and got to see local phantom Bret Runstead to boot. The group I direct, Tub Cousins, delivered on the challenges I’ve been giving them in rehearsal, and had a balls-out-kinetic and engaging show that the audience loved (despite the one surprisingly academic critique). It felt like the “real” first night of the festival, what with getting to see all the out-of-towners and acting really drunk after one amaretto sour.
• Friday and Saturday nights haven’t happened yet. But I’m very psyched, my old friends Death By Roo Roo should be en route (if they’d call me, I’d know), the shows tonight will be fantastic, the workshops tomorrow have me super pumped, and I’m honestly running out of intersting synonyms for “excited.”