rejectedjokes: “Snowpants show at UCBNY last night. So so so fun. Cast- Adam Scott, Justin Long, Zach Woods, Chad Carter, Neil Casey, me.”
we were on the floor in front. awesome show was awesome!
This is why UCB is awesome. #Snowpants
This show was so so so so great!
Really enjoyed this show last night.
My first t-shirt idea created by BustedTees.com!*
As in all of my thank you speeches, I would like to thank the film Jumanji for being my inspiration, only in this thank you speech it has special significance.
As for my high school’s lifetime achievement award, I would like to thank my parents, all my great teachers, and of course, the film Jumanji for always looking over me.
*Click the link to buy the shirt!
April 1, 2006. MOTHER: The Soundtrack. My first time ever going to the UCB Theatre.
I am not sure why this morning, but I decided to see how far back the calendar on the UCB website goes. Turns out, it goes pretty far back. As I was clicking through the months, it occurred to me that I might be able to pinpoint when I went there for the very first time and I was successful and it brought back all of these memories:
I was on a college visit to Columbia with my entire family. During the day, we took a tour of the campus and the tour guide insulted my Dad and brother by saying that football wasn’t important. I remember getting upset with them because frankly, I enjoyed football but it wasn’t that important to me either. Shortly after the college visit that same day, I found out that I had not been accepted into Columbia and would have to attend the only other school I applied to, Ohio State. I was bummed out. I wanted to move to NYC.
That night, my cousin Becca, who was attending Eugene Lang at The New School at the time, met up with us. She knew I was interested in comedy and told us she was taking us to some comedy theatre that was cheap that her and her friends loved. She said the name like 5 times but it never stuck with me. I remember her trying to explain the show to me, “They take your CDs and play them and it’s funny, and there is this one guy Jon Daly who is the best.”
I am able to pinpoint this date now out all of the MOTHER shows because of the show preceding it: Dr. Earnest Parrot presents DEMETRI MARTIN. As I walked down the stairs into the theatre, Demetri Martin, my favorite comedian at the time, walked up the stairs opposite me. I remember being awestruck. What kind of place was I at that Demetri Martin was just walking around, in person! His Comedy Central Presents special was the most cutting-edge comedy I had seen in Ohio up until this point and I was a huge fan.
I spent the time before the show rubbernecking to see if Demetri Martin was still just walking around this odd basement, but he was gone. Soon the show started, they collected the music from the crowd, and the rest of the show is kind of a wash in my mind. I remember one scene where Jon Daly, who my cousin pointed out to me, was a child cooking dinner for his parents (maybe Jessica St. Clair and Jason Mantzoukas, but I may just be projecting/hoping that at this point) and the parents were humoring him despite being in a big fight. I remember laughing really hard at the show and really enjoying it, but enjoying it as someone does a magic show. I had no idea really what they were doing, but I was completely entertained.
The show ended and we exited onto some street (I was a tourist at the time) and were told to move on down to the corner of whatever avenue and while I had enjoyed my evening at the Something Something Brigade Theatre, mostly, I was just bummed that I wouldn’t be moving to NYC in the fall. I remember commenting to my Dad as we walked down the street that I didn’t like visiting New York because it seemed like there was so much going on for comedy—I wanted to live there and be a part of it. He asked me if I had ever thought of doing something like what we saw on stage on that night. He told me I had an expressive face. I think that was the inception of the idea of doing improv for me, though I didn’t know it at the time. I was too concerned with the idea of living in Columbus and going to football games and becoming someone who didn’t do comedy. I left the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre for the very first time with the overwhelming feeling that I would never go there ever again.
Just bought a season pass on iTunes of @NBCBFF. Do it too and help #SaveNBCBFF!
This is a great read. The bottom line is this: help save “Best Friends Forever” by buying a season pass of it on iTunes. It’ll show NBC that people care about the show and it only costs $13.00. THAT’S IT!
Please do that and please, please spread the word. This is a really great show that could easily become one of the all-time greats if given the time to find an audience.
Love, Chris
GO HERE IF YOU WANNA BUY A SEASON PASS OF “BEST FRIENDS FOREVER” ON iTUNES!
HOW DO YOU SAVE A TV SHOW?
Ugh. There was a time when TV shows really got a long run to prove themselves before the networks decided whether to yank them off the air. When I was a little kid, I was aware of shows that were deemed complete failures, like the Dukes Of Hazzard spin-off Enos and the Three’s Company spin-off The Ropers. (Yes, I am old. But still well within the coveted 18-49 demographic, so there.) At the time, I remember hearing about those shows being total ratings disasters, and yet they were allowed to make it to 22 episodes and 28 episodes, respectively.
Likewise, the big hits of the 80s and 90s, Cheers and Seinfeld, were both low-rated in their early seasons, but were given time to find an audience.
We live in a different reality now, obviously.
Everybody’s heard the news about Best Friends Forever being yanked from the NBC schedule until perhaps this summer. And It’s easy to assume the worst— anyone who is a fan of quality television shows has had their heart broken more than a few times over the years, and we’ve all seen a lot of “save our show” campaigns end in disappointment.
Petitions and twitter campaigns are one modern tool at our disposal. You can also send “scoops” to NBC, certainly. I’d imagine that fans are developing all sorts of ways of getting NBC’s attention to let them know that there is a passionate audience out there that wants to see more of this show.
I have one suggestion, for anyone who’s interested. First, two examples of shows that met very different fates:
CASE #1: ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
I was one of the frantic ones while this show was in peril, and I was practically apoplectic at what I perceived to be FOX’s non-existent efforts to grow the show’s audience. (Before anyone tries the knee-jerk “FOX gave it three seasons” argument, it has been documented by NYTimes TV writer Bill Carter that Rupert Murdoch personally hated the show, and it was therefore not in the best interest of anyone at FOX to help the show do better. It was too critically beloved to cancel it quickly, so they let it die on the vine instead. Case closed.)
One of the specific things that most frustrated me was that Arrested Development was not available to purchase on iTunes. The fans were begging for ways to show their support, and for ways to demonstrate that the Nielsen ratings didn’t tell the full story. Meanwhile, the #1 show on iTunes was…
CASE #2: THE OFFICE (U.S.A. version)
The Office was not a hit at first, not by a long shot. The ratings weren’t that good for the brief first season, and a big part of the reason that they finally got a full order for a second season was that NBC put the show on iTunes, where it did great. It was easily the most popular show, almost instantly, occupying 17 slots of the iTunes Top 100 downloads. Now, years later, it’s one of NBC’s top rated shows.
This is a long rambling way of saying: one thing you can do to help save Best Friends Forever, if you are so inclined, is to buy a season pass on iTunes. It’s like 13 bucks for the whole first season, which is basically the same price as if you were to individually buy the 4 episodes they have for sale individually.
It might sound like a dumb idea— after all, if you like the show, you’ve presumably seen the 4 episodes that are already up, and they’re available for free on the NBC website or hulu. The idea of paying money for TV shows that are available for free already is ridiculous. I feel dumb typing this.
BUT: it is one way of showing support for the show, and it’s basically like paying for a movie ticket (if you live in a big city where movies are crazy expensive) or a pizza or some other thing that costs as much as a pizza. And if the goal is to convince NBC that there is a devoted audience that wants this show on the air, then maybe BFF selling a lot of iTunes downloads is one way to get their attention. It’s like voting with your dollars to say “keep making more of these, please. Here is some of my money!”
I know if FOX had put Arrested Development episodes for sale on iTunes back when it was on the bubble, I would have happily bought them all if I though it had even a small chance of saving the show. It worked for The Office. Maybe it can in some small way contribute to keeping BFF on the air long enough for more people to discover it…
AGAIN: GO HERE IF YOU WANNA BUY A SEASON PASS OF “BEST FRIENDS FOREVER” ON iTUNES!
Facebook really calling out @AlanStarzinski.
Alan, I am sure you have a good reason, but whatever you did to piss off Facebook, it is straight up snitchin’.
Trailer for We Made This Movie. Arthur Meyer is hilarious in this trailer and it’s written, directed, and produced by the very funny people at Worldwide Pants! Looking forward to this film!
Chambaland - “Semi Charmed Call” (Carly Ray Jepsen vs. Third Eye Blind)
Chambaland has succeeded where the greatest minds in history have failed. Sorry Steven Hawking, the whole universe now makes sense.
Or as one nail by strength drives out another,
So the remembrance of my former love
Is by a newer object quite forgotten.
Is it mine, or Valentine’s praise,
Her true perfection, or my false transgression,
That makes me reasonless to reason thus?
She is fair; and so is Julia that I love—
That I did love, for now my love is thaw’d;
Which, like a waxen image, ‘gainst a fire,
Bears no impression of the thing it was.
Methinks my zeal to Valentine is cold,
And that I love him not as I was wont.
O, but I love his lady too too much,
And that’s the reason I love him so little.
How shall I dote on her with more advice,
That thus without advice begin to love her!
‘Tis but her picture I have yet beheld,
And that hath dazzled my reason’s light;
But when I look on her perfections,
There is no reason but I shall be blind.
If I can cheque my erring love, I will;
If not, to compass her I’ll use my skill. —
—Proteus, Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare
I had to prepare the above monologue for my first ever Shakespeare acting class last night. I spent Saturday in Astoria Park reading through the text and Sunday in Astoria Park memorizing the lines. Astoria Park is really nice. All day Monday, I whispered it under my breath and visualized myself doing the monologue all while restocking the supply room or responding to emails at work. I made a choice about how I wanted to play the character and framework idea for the blocking, mostly just posture changes.
Finally, the class began and we, without introduction or ado, began performing our monologues for our classmates. After 3 or 4 people went, I volunteered and got on stage, and my mind went completely blank. The first line, “Even as one heat into another heat expels” which I had said literally a hundred times that day, was no where to be found. I took a deep breath and found the line, and screwed up the second line. I apologized, and started over, and managed to eke my way through my first ever prepared Shakespearean monologue. I did it. I completed it. The sort of discomfort of performing a monologue without confidence is usually reserved for errant beach sand and ass cracks on bicycle seats.
But, I knew when I signed up for this class that it was going to be uncomfortable. Yes, I had visions in my head all day of stepping on stage and delivering the monologue without error and capturing perfectly the intricacies and emotions of Proteus as conceived by the immortal William Shakespeare, but that’s not how learning something new works.
So, I sit here sobered by reality. The moral victory of completing the monologue is nice but ultimately unfulfilling. I remember the first time I did stand-up feeling the same way. And the first time I did improv. I don’t just want to do this, I want to do this well and I want it to improve me as an all-around performer.
Was it fun? Well, no. Not really. I was bad at it. I don’t know anything that is fun that wouldn’t be more fun if you were good at it. Does it have the potential to be fun after putting in a whole lot of work? Absolutely. And that’s why I am going back to class and getting on stage again next Monday.
Groupon knows what whoadacious, radicool kidz want.
Jeffrey Lewis- “Time Trades”
This song just hits you in the face. Just, right in the face.
—Matt
Last night, I went to the Dolfish concert at CakeShop on Ludlow. I have written about my friend Max who performs under the moniker Dolfish, and how great I think his music is. There will be plenty more similar posts once he releases the new songs he played last night because they were fantastic. This post is about the musician that followed Max, and that Max convinced me to stay and see, which I am very happy I did.
From various lookings around the internet, it seems Jeffrey Lewis is no secret, but last night was the first I had heard of him and I was really blown away by his lyrics and songs. I am posting the full lyrics to this track “Time Trades” because I think they are really wonderful:
Time is gonna take so much away
But there’s a way that time can offer you a trade
Time is gonna take so much away
But there’s a way that time can offer you a trade
You’ve gotta do something that you can get nicer at,
You’ve gotta do something that you can get wiser at,
You’d better do something that you can get better at
‘Cause that’s the only thing that time will leave you with
‘Cause time is gonna take so much away
But there’s a way that time can offer you a trade
It might be cabaret, it could be poetry,
It might be trying to make a new happy family,
It could be violin repair or chemistry,
But if it’s something that takes lots of time that’s good
‘Cause time is gonna take so much away,
But there’s a way that time can offer you a trade.
Because your looks are gonna leave you
And your city’s gonna change too
And your shoes are gonna wear through
Yeah time is gonna take so much away,
But there’s a way that time can offer you a trade.
You gotta do something that you can get smarter at,
You gotta do something you might just be a starter at,
You better do something that you can get better at
‘Cause that’s the thing that time will leave you with.
And maybe that’s why they call a trade a trade,
Like when they say you should go and learn a trade;
The thing you do don’t have to be to learn a trade,
Just get something back from time for all it takes away.
It could be many things, it could be anything,
It could be expertise in Middle Eastern traveling,
Something to slowly sorta balance life’s unraveling
You have no choice you have to pay time’s price
But you can use the price to buy you something nice
Something you can only buy with lots of time
So when you’re old you blow some whippersnapper’s mind.
It might be a book that takes researching seven years
A book that helps to make the path we take to freedom clear
And when you’re done you see it started with a good idea
One good idea could cost you thousands of your days
But it’s just time that you’d be spending anyway
You have no choice you have to pay time’s price
But you can use the price to buy you something nice
So I’ve decided recently
To try to trade more decently…
