Oh boy is there a lot to talk about. I don’t think I’ve done a full update in a few days, so the stories have been bubbling up inside me. If I had a therapist he would tell me to release them, as it’s better to get them out. Also, he would tell me to count to ten before getting angry, but come on, who hast the time to do that?

I saw T.J. and Dave on Wednesday night. It was, quite simply, amazing. It was the most fluid and natural improv I’ve ever seen. They didn’t even take a suggestion in the beginning. Dave just walked to the front of the stage and said, “Trust us, this is all made up.” I did, and it was. It felt like this combination dialogue stand-up/one-act play. The scene, as we would come to find out, was about 2 friends in the hospital, and one was waiting for results from a test to see if he had cancer. How can that be funny? I don’t know, but somehow they did it. I was just floored. They played a total of five characters, and each was incredibly developed. The conversation ebbed and flowed just like a real conversation would. Most impressive though, they listened to each other. They picked up on every small thing, which, in turn, produced some insanely funny lines. If anyone comes and visits me here, and happens to be here on a Wednesday, we’re seeing this show.

Class has been, pretty interesting too (I know, shocker!) Among other things, we are: Learning slapstick techniques, writing monologues and scenes, and creating a vaudeville scene. That last one is going to be pretty weird. Seeing as none of us can tap dance, juggle, or have access to live animals, we’re all not entirely sure what we’re going to be doing. I have a feeling it’s gonna involve a lot of Burns and Allen style puns. I love puns…especially shitty ones.

On Thursday we had a game night after class. I played Monopoly (which I haven’t done in a while. I love Monopoly, like, way too much for a staunch liberal. I love making deals, and I love how inherently ruthless the game is. Also, the Monopoly Man is awesome. You know he could get any girl he wants.

That said, game night quickly turned into drinking night (I know, shocker!) We played some Beatles Rock Band and some Kings. After that, a few of us went to go see Jet’s (our Physical/Vocal Training teacher) two person show at I.O. Those of us who went were just floored as to how developed her characters were. We shouldn’t have been, her class is basically teaching us how to do exactly that. We went up to her after the show and in our a bit drunken/tired state, gave her hugs and told her how great the show was. She was quite excited to see us (for real…I hope).

We don’t have class on Fridays, but what they’re trying to do is set up “extra-curricular” workshops for us to go to. Last Friday’s was a musical improv class. Outside of Do-ran-ran and Beastie Rap in ComedySportz, I’ve never really done this, so it was a bit of trial-by-fire. It turned out to be super fun though. I was involved in a musical about loosing your hair at a mall, which turned out quite well, if I do say so myself. Some people also sang a song about Gun City, leading to the phrase, “Gun City, God damn it!” And so, and inside joke was born.

After the workshop was over, we realized that we still had the space until 5, so we did some longform. I’ve never done longform before, but I’ve always wanted to. While at times it got a bit clusterfucky, once we all got the hang of it, we came up with some really great scenes. Characters and scenes were called back, and I think a few of them may get scripted so we can try them out as sketches. Such is the Second City way.

That night was Erev Rosh Hashana (L’shana Tovah everyone) so I went to services at DePaul. Maybe it’s because it was a Catholic university, but everyone at the services seemed really not into it. Come on people. It’s a celebration. Also, the cantor did Adon Olam to the tune of “Blowin’ in the Wind”…that one kind of threw me for a loop. After services I did the usual…roof drinking.

Yesterday was Applefest! What is becoming a clear pattern with festivals in Lincoln Square is that they sound really cool, but aren’t nearly as big or fun as you think they’re going to be. A bunch of us went, found this out, and then went to hang out at Brad and Steph’s apartment. We played, appropriately enough, Apples to Apples and made, appropriately enough, caramel apples. While that was quite fun, the highlight of the day was meeting Business, Steph’s new kitten. He’s adorable, and so much fun. He fell asleep on my lap, and at what point, just kind of chilled on my back/shoulders when I was sitting in a chair. Business (or Bizzers, for short) is kind of my new favorite person.

That night we went to go see Twisty, the Second City house improv team. Not gonna lie, I wasn’t crazy impressed. The group was too big, and too many of the people were attention-hoggy. Also, no one was listening to each other, which caused a lot of jokes to get lost. Maybe I’m just super jaded having seen T.J. and Dave, as well as Jet this week, but the show just didn’t do it for me. After that…more roof drinking. Are we seeing a pattern here?