So, remember that vaudeville sketch I did full of awesome puns? Well, I get to perform it again! Anne (the program head, and my History and Analysis of Modern Comedy teacher) is doing some showcase thing for some people and Columbia, and she said she was picking two vaudeville sketches to be performed for all the bigwigs at the thing. She picked mine and Steven’s sketch, as well as Steph and Bre’s sketch. Score!

Thursday was a pretty solid day. We had sketches due in writing, and we spent the day reading and analyzing all of them. Outside of the vaudeville piece, the sketch I wrote was the fist one I’ve written since the semester ended. It wasn’t amazing by any means, but it got a ton of laughs at the read, so that was nice. Hearing it read/performed reminded me of how much I like writing. Sometimes I approach it as a chore, but I’m always super-proud of the finished product. I know that Majors has their first sketch deadline at Sunday at midnight. Despite my abroadness, I’m on the EList, so I’ll see all the sketches as they flood in at 11:59, and then silently judge them.

In acting class we spent a good amount of time talking about vaudeville and it’s links to modern comedy. We don’t usually have those kinds of discussions in there, but it was really, really interesting. Gellman explained that much of the sitcom set up we used to is actually borrowed from early 20th century Yiddish theater. Apparently, there were 4 types of stock characters: The Rabbi, The Princess, The Schmuck, and The Putz. He then applied that to Seinfeld and Fraiser. The Rabbi (Jerry, Fraiser’s Dad) The Princess (Elaine, Daphne) The Schmuck (George, Fraiser) and The Putz (Kramer, Niles) are all there. Crazy, right?

A bunch of us went to the free improv set that night, and then we went back to Jake and Bobby’s for what else…roof drinking. I think the two best moments of the night were: Steph and Glenn being momentarily convinced that Jake had jumped off the roof because he found out that Jet had a boyfriend, and Brad’s drunkenly improvised song that featured characters such as: Me, Sweedes, The Sears Tower, and Robert Mugabe. I woke up with a pretty solid headache this morning.

Today we had our extra-curricular thingy, so we watched a video of this 1961 Pay-per-view Second City performance. Alan Arkin was in it, so that was pretty cool. The show itself was very different from what I’m used to. The sketches were 3 times what I would consider the normal length, and the production itself was very theatrical. I felt that modern stuff is way funnier, but then again, I’m a product of my generation. Also, I really like poop jokes.

Tonight I’m going to see Baby Wants Candy. The last time I saw it was actually years ago when I was in Singapore. I remember 2 things: 1. They used my dad’s suggestion (Scone of Silence) for the musical 2. I talked to one of the improvisers afterwards (who I think was Seth Meyers) and asked him what improv related books I should read. He told me Impro by Keith Johnstone, and the seminal favorite Truth in Comedy by Del Close, Charna Halpern, and Kim Johnson. Both books are sitting on my desk right now.