Los Angeles has a new(ish) improv community that is being fueled by the success of improvisers such as Steve Carrell, Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler ( not to mention the rest of the Upright Citizens Brigade), and just about every single person you see in a Sonic or other dumb commercial. They’re all improvisers, every single on of them!

Your chances of going to an improv show around LA and saying at least one time ‘Hey i recognize that guy from…’ are nearly 100%, and with the exodus of performers from the Midwest and the East Coast to the Golden State, the chances are getting even BETTER (and so is the talent). The shows are dirt cheap (rarely costing more than ten bucks, and often times are FREE…did i say FREE? I did!) and are full of some of the most talented up and coming performers/writers/entertainment folks around.

The ‘magic’ of improv, is that there are no scripts, and everything is made up right in front of the audiences face – generally from their suggestions! It’s like YOU’RE the writer of a half hour television sitcom! (that happens to not be on television). The appeal to an audience, is that: 1. it’s cheap entertainment 2. it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity (no matter how many times a group will get the suggestion ‘pizza’, the moment that is created on stage will be different EVERY SINGLE TIME – think about that next time you’re singing along to that Radiohead song you like so much at their $100 concert and their tired old set list) 3. it’s fun. And that’s the most important part. Watching people succeed (or inevitably fail) on stage is an extremely exciting opportunity. Witnessing performers walk the tightrope of ultimate embarrassment is unmatched by rehearsed entertainment.

Where can you see this stuff? TONS of places. So many places are offering high quality improv for the price of a beer (or less).

The Improv Space In Westwood
The IO West In Hollywood
Upright Citizens Brigade (or UCB for those who are much more savvy) In Hollywood
Room 101 In Los Angeles
Mission Improvable In Santa Monica

There are plenty of places all over town. There are even smaller theaters and venues that offer improv on various days of the week. You really have no excuse to go out there and get out of your comfort zone. 90% of these theaters offer classes and workshops – ranging from free to ridiculously overpriced – if you’re so inclined to give it a shot.

Don’t confuse it with ‘The Improv’, or you will be severely gouged and disappointed. Unless you’re looking for overprices standup, then by all means go check out ‘The Improv’.

Many teams are putting their shows online nowadays too (but believe me, the magic is in the room – not on the video – you will often look at video of shows you saw and wonder why anyone was laughing so hard…it’s unexplainable, and can only be experienced in the moment). My team ‘The Board’ has a show below you can check out

The Board Goes to Washington from Adam Macy on Vimeo.

and there are some other teams that put their performances online as well – including an excellent, well established group USS Rock N Roll

So, come out to The Improv Space every Friday at 8:30 to watch your very own Arnold Benedict make a fool of himself (email me downinthewell@gmail.com for comps and special gifts and prizes) or go to one of the many other venues that are available for your entertainment.

Become Un-Bored.

AB

Nobody likes biased media – but Daisy really hates it when her candidates are left out of the coverage (she LOVES Ron Poodle)

Did i mention she can’t stand Mutt Romney?

I mean, she’s not even a rePUPlican!

she definitely identifies more as an indePOUNDent.

so many more! SOOOOOOO many more.

I made this for my dad to explain how crappy of a gift I had gotten him. This is a great tactic to use when you are as a consistent crap gift giver as I happen to be. It distracts them from the fact that what you have given them – sucks.

Enjoy, and if anyone out there has a product they’d like for me to review – send me an email at downinthewell@gmail.com and we’ll work out the details.

Poor frog, croaked.

See what i did there? Holiday relevant pun.

Please enjoy it responsibly – comment and critique. This is the first step towards a more consistent production strategy i’ve been looking to roll out. Look for more in the new year…this years done and gone anyways.

Turn up you volume, my audio mix is low.

I really just thought about it….but is this too soon? Because i didn’t mean for it to be in as poor taste as it appears it is. Unless that’s what makes it awesome.

Special note – James Dean as Cutler Face.

Pout Pout Pretty Boy

Proud To Be A Bear

Have you ever been to the Pehr Space? It’s a fun little venue that hosts bands you’ve probably never heard of (If you’re looking for hipster street cred…this is a great place to start). Don’t be nervous about being unfamiliar with the music, nobody in attendance is singing along anyways (or displaying any indication that anyone is even enjoying themselves really – a lot of crossed arms and emotionless faces…pretty, emotionless faces). I’m sure if you poke around enough, you’ll find a similar venue in your home town (go ahead and respond with your local music venue, so if i’m ever in your neck of the woods i can be sure to not check it out…or check it out – one of those things).

What’s cool about these types of places is, not only can you bring your own beer, you can actually talk to the performers once they’re finished (congratulations or shit talking alike) – and if you really appreciate what they’ve offered you, go ahead and give them a high five! (this is the polite way of saying ‘thanks a lot, your music really moved me – i’ll totally download it when i get home)

For your listening pleasure – check out Jeffrey Lewis playing a fun song for you at the Pehr Space – and then an example of tearing down the walls separating performer and admirer by obnoxiously forcing them into repeated high fives.

More footage of this show will be uploaded later if it’s warranted.

Stay tuned – i get bored all the time – and so do you.

Did anyone else know that this happens? I’ve heard of a baby kicking while in the womb, but attempt to burst out through the belly button!? Too many Sigourney Weaver Alien references can be made here, so i’ll leave it at none.

Order the soup.

Check please!

and i said to myself ‘hmm, that is interesting….i think?’. Then i noticed that in the related videos section, there were TONS of these types of videos. So i got curious and began watching them. For easily twenty minutes i was sitting in my office, a grown man watching pregnant women’s bellies grow to disgustingly large proportions, stuffed full of babies. Then i stumbled upon this one:

This chick’s hot! I never imagined a pregnant woman could be attractive before! I just figured they were disgusting and gross the instant a zygote formed [based purely on my high school health class experiences of watching 'the miracle of birth' repeatedly in slow motion]

So i dug a little deeper, and found out that not only can they be moderately attractive, there are entire fetish sites DEDICATED to pregnant chicks! This is a thing!

Right off the bat – for those of you who would prefer dive to straight into the hot and heavy hardcore pregmo action – go to sexypregnant.org and get your fill. [but my favorite bun in the oven related URL has to be 'preggolicious.com']

For those of us with more refined taste – here are a few of the more tastefully attractive pregnant ladies i was able to discover through a little searching – I did the work so you don’t have to:

You should probably get Wild On that.

This doesn't seem right - maybe it's non-alcoholic? I can't tell, i was too busy staring at the hot pregnant chick with a beer in her hand.

Yes it's Britney. No I'm not kidding.

I'm not a huge fan of red lipstick - but i'm not a huge fan of pregnant chicks either. We're willing to make exceptions for everything.

Yeah. This one should have probably been first huh?

Trust me, the rest really aren’t worth looking at. Not to be rude, your babies are most likely wonderful and life really is miraculous – but your enormous bellies freaks me out a little.

And, if you’re looking for something completely tasteless and totally NSFW – go ahead and check out this terrible flash game I found!

Don’t say i’ve never done anything to enhance your lives.

One thing is for sure, I walked from Jack London Square, to the Twelfth street BART station – bursting with Raiders fans – attended the game, and got back to my hotel safe and sound all while wearing a Walter Payton jersey and draped in an enormous shroud of orange and blue fleece emblazoned with the menacing bear logo – snapping pictures every ten feet or so like the tourist I am – and i live to this day to tell you about it.

Although, had i gotten stabbed – you could place the blame squarely on my aunt Debi for making me such a comfortable item to parade around with. So i guess i should thank her for the lack of pneumonia. Thanks!

and now, a short video for you to enjoy.

with any luck, i’ll have another highlight video to follow.