GAGblog

2003-09-21T08:02:00.000-07:00

It's over.

A week ago I couldn't wait for Sunday. I couldn't wait for this show to be behind me so I could stop worrying about it. Now, I wish we could do it just one more time.

Last night the crowd was bigger, better and LOUDER! Unfortunately we had to shuffle some casting and sketches at the last minute because Dale had fallen ill and almost completely lost his voice. He did some of his scenes aided by a mic and threw in some stellar ad libs about the situation, then he would go in back and lay down until his next scene. I know he was disappointed that it happened now, of all times.

That didn't hamper the energy of the show in the least. Everybody on stage and in the audience had a great time. Included in the show was a last moment surprise from me and Ben Lundy. The absurdity of the GRANDMA sketch was added to by a lip lock by myself and Ben at the end of the sketch. I announced at the beginning of the show that the audience should watch out for the very first on stage Gag Reflex kiss. And it was. (Technically there was a mouth to mouth recuss thing back in 95 but it didn't count.) The cast had no idea what was going to happen and were surprised by the announcement. When the moment came the audience and the cast were equally loud in their shock and laughter. A beautiful moment.

Greg Ledford also attended the show and was able to party with all of us, sad though we were that he was unable to perform.

We, again, nearly filled the place. This meant that we not only made enough money to pay the grand for the two nights in the room but also the $9 an hour bartender bill for both nights. As soon as the dust settles we will divvy up the rest of the money amongst the performers.

After the show we all talked and drank and Ledford provided a wonderful toast to the group. As Dale has pointed out in his counter-blog, I am very emotional. I kept the tears in check until Millie and I were in the van and on the way home. After all this time thinking and planning, it had happened. New friendships grew, old friendships rekindled and I was able to honor this comedy group which I am proud to be a part of and the biggest fan of.

And so my blog ends. Thanks to everybody who came out to the show and to all the wonderful people who both made it back to perform and those who ever threw themselves into the Gag Reflex mix.

End Transmission

2003-09-20T10:03:00.000-07:00

A nearly sold out house. A show clocking in at 2 hours and 45 minutes. A whole lotta laughs.

The show was fantastic. An absolute blast. I am so impressed by everybody involved because this was a swift, fairly well oiled show with no real tech rehearsal. Andrea, our tech director, did FANTASTIC.

The night was made even better by the sudden appearance of original cast member Brian Lefevre, who I was unable to find in my searches for old cast members. He joined us on stage for the opening number in an impromptu moment.

After the show he told us that the Gagseum and the old sketches had envoked the correct nostalgic response.

The best part, we get to do it all over tonight.

2003-09-19T06:52:00.000-07:00

Tonight's the night. Last night the cast assembled and saw how things would work, for the most part. It looks as if Greg is out. So we have fixed the show around him and hope he gets better soon. We finally got to blend the Austin and Chicago casts with little or no problem. A few things with be rickety but that is to be expected. The biggest disappointed of the night was me. I have spent so much time worrying about everything else that I haven't spent enough time on my performance.

The biggest rush of the night was seeing the epic opening number in real life. If that goes well, the night will go well. The maniac is quiet and nervous. I haven't been this nervous about a show in a while.

2003-09-17T20:46:00.000-07:00

Less than forty-eight hours until the show. But who's counting. A major glitch has arisen. Greg Ledford has started to develope the shingles. For anybody who doesn't know this is very painful. It's a nerve ending infection brought on by the chicken pox virus dormant in your body since childhood. Greg is having a hard time getting about. We have formulated contingency plans if Greg is unable to perform. I told him to stay home tonight and get some rest...and yet he turned up and rehearsed his scenes. I know he was hurting.

So we should know by tomorrow if he's going to be doing it. If not we have to drop a sketch and reorganize the cast on some others. The production won't stop, just change. But I hope he does it. I don't want him to hurt himself, but seeing him on stage again tonight was great. I hope it's not the only appearance he makes.

2003-09-16T23:25:00.000-07:00

All the show sound is done, burned, labelled. Only marking up the tech script remains. That's 10 minutes work. Now we set up, pray for an audience and put on a show.

In response to BlogHenge (Dale in Austin) I am a preshow maniac. I am convinced that no audience will arrive, the cast will die in a car accident and worst of all...that sketch that I fought like a cry-baby bitch for actually DOES suck.

I make no excuses. I'm a prick before a show. I am short, ill tempered and generally not nice to be around the day of the show. Even when it's my birthday. The sound isn't right. The lights aren't right. No body's going to show. Blah blah blah...

Now to the whiney part. I can't be any other way. The success of the show, the people in it (who also wrote it) and the enjoyment of the audience mean too much to me. And further more the cast knows that I love them. They never disappoint. The shows don't always work, but they're always worth doing.

For all the shit I give Steve, he has never let me down. EVER! And I'm not talking about little shit like paying too much for programs or showing up late to rehearsal. I'm talking about the shows. Steve has never given less than 150% in any performance. From big packed venues to 13 people in Madison. That man consistantly does his best. For that matter. I have rarely worked with anybody in Gag Reflex who didn't give all that they were capable of giving. For some it's just a little something to move through on the way to something else. For others it's a huge chunk of their life. An important chunk.

Either way, I think I have done my part. I have done the best I can do. Now, I just want to celebrate. I want to hang out with old friends, make new ones, make a bunch of people laugh and have a great time.

I will talk to you all again soon. And Dale, FLAME AWAY!

2003-09-16T20:59:00.000-07:00

Biggest rehearsal yet tonight. Tomorrow the entire local cast will assemble at the Lincoln Inn for load in and rehearsal. Tech script is compiled. Programs are done and in Steve's hands for duplication. My last duty is to compile the show sounds. When I finish that we just wait out the show.

Thursday Austin will arrive. It will be good to see some of the sketches they are bringing with them and finally integrate all the scenes together.

I thought I should get this out before midnight so Dale can't accuse me of not posting anything yesterday. What are you...fucking Homeland Security...ooops...oh shit! I've been tagged.

2003-09-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

Another rehearsal with Ben. It's good. We did a lot of work tonight. I'm finally moving out of the whiny director stage and am starting to get excited about seeing all these people and be on stage with them again. Or for the first time.

On the technical side, programs are well in hand. The next task is to have sound done if not by tomorrow then Wednesday for our rehearsal in the space.

Looks like we will have a full house for tech night. It should be a blast. Dale (if he can drag himself away from my rivetting blogs), Joe and Dino will be here on Thursday. I'm really looking forward to seeing them.

Reservations are starting to come in. They're not rolling in but some are coming. Like Viagra Monologues in 01, I think this will be a heavy walk in show.

Talk to you tomorrow.

2003-09-14T12:49:00.000-07:00

Wow! Sunday! The show is less than a week away. It was my absolute honor and pleasure to work out the running order this afternoon and send it off to my loved ones in Gag. It was a breeze, it only took like fifteen minutes. I loved every single second of it. Knowing that I was organizing this once in a life time show.

Working next on the programs. That should be just as special.

2003-09-12T20:14:00.000-07:00

A night off and ... well that's it. I will keep my emotions on an even keel as I have been called out by Dale in Austin who will be making the return trip.

I am depressed and confident that Dale will read this and respond with his usual compassion and gentile manner. Oh and my ballsack could use a suck!!!

Please visit Dale's blog at: http://www.roehenge.com/blogger.html

2003-09-11T21:42:00.000-07:00

The show is a week from tomorrow night. Huff huff. I think things are going surprisingly smooth. We had a reduced rehearsal tonight as only a portion of the cast was there, and we Steve and I spent some time cooking up some of the audio that is exceptionally important to the show.

New printer cartridge. I know you were all sweating that. Now I can get the programs out of the way. But not tonight. Tomorrow is a rehearsal free night and as far as I'm concerned, it's already started. Next week will be unbelievable.

I am concerned. A week to go and only a handful of reservations. The clock is ticking.

2003-09-10T21:32:00.000-07:00

And another night has passed. Business duties kept me tonight until 9:30. Luckily they were 2 blocks from rehearsal, so I was able to swing up there pretty fast. Ben Lundy dropped in for the evening. It's always great to see him. We rehearsed our big scene together which is absolute insanity, but funny.

The cast ran through nearly everything on the list tonight. HAHAHAHA I'm thinking that I shouldn't come to rehearsals anymore because I must be the one causing the disruptions.

I'm growing increasingly positive about the show. Either that or I'm hallucinating from exhaustion. Either way, the next week will be a rollercoaster of emotions; frustration, anger, nostalgia, joy and eventually the ear buzzing high of performance.

Dale has been following my blogs the last few days. Or as he puts it, listening to me whine. I justify the blogs by saying that I am trying to deter any would be comedians from jumping into this game.

Consider yourself detered :) SCAB!

2003-09-09T21:17:00.000-07:00

The show edges ever closer. The most frightening thing is that we won't really see the final product until performance night. We found out tonight that the venue, The Lincoln Inn (a banquet hall) will be closing at 9pm the night before so we will not have a proper tech rehearsal. It's happened before, but it's always unnerving.

The fear has started. We are underrehearsed. I blame myself. I haven't been running a tight enough schedule on rehearsal nights. I think everybody is picking things up fine, but I think we should be further along. However, I always think this. I'm sure that on the 19th evrything will be fine.

Marie-Anne Hogarth put in a little rehearsal time. Again the nostalgia is flowing. Eeewww, I clean that up.

My printer has run out of ink, which is bad since the programs are not done yet. This weekend! I swear. I now have to take our 30 sketches and put them into a running order that we can all live with. I have to take into account costume changes. However, with a show this long, we are looking at, potentially, half an hour of in-between music. I need to trim that where I can so the night doesn't drag on for the audience.

Just something I always have to do.

2003-09-08T20:52:00.000-07:00

Tonight was our first rehearsal with a former cast member. Mo Gannon slipped in and rehearsed her scenes with us. Mo has been gone since 2000 (her last performance was on the internet radio show). Since she is pregnant her roles in the show are limited, which is too bad. But it was great having her here and it will be great to have her back on stage. The pregnancy will be played for every laugh we can get. I guess MILKED would have been a better joke.

I am absolutely amazed at how quick Keith learns things. To accomodate the increased cast he has had to step into more new roles than most, and he's doing great. He has taken over a role in a really old sketch and I think he will have one of the biggest laughs of the night.

Everybody is doing well. Millie is sweating it because her night-time work schedule is reducing the amount of rehearsals she can make. Not to worry. SHe'll have all her lines and everybody else's too.

Tomorrow night Marie-Anne comes to play. She hasn't been with us since 01 . She too has a limited amount that she can do. But she is in one of the best bits of the night.

Well, for now, we are in a holding pattern or rather, I am. My work schedule this week makes for some funky hours. I have to leave at 5:30 tomorrow, so I am off to bed. I'm starting to get butterflies in my stomach because of how good this is going to be.

e

2003-09-07T21:43:00.000-07:00

So I have decided to open up my head and let you all peer inside. I have decided to do a daily blog on the production of the big Gag Reflex celebration. (I'm sure, knowing me, this will probably continue after this affair.) Just to bring you all up to speed, Gag Reflex has been around now for 10 years. On Sept 19 & 20, we will be presenting our 10th Anniversary show. For this some old members are coming back to perform and some members of our sister Austin cast are making the trek up. Sounds like fun.

This has been floating around in my head (and everybody else's since I haven't shut up about it) for the last year. I began reconnecting old members sometime early last year. Unfortunately, 4 former cast mates have had to back out. There's several more that I could never track down. A year ago when plans were starting, this was going to reunite everybody who ever graced the stage. But reality turned around to bite me in the ass. This is, however, fine with me, because working this many people and trying to give ample stage time has been tough. I would loved to gotten back on stage with people like Dan and Josh or to trade quips with cast members who left before I ever joined in 1995. But I think, once the stomach acid and worry is over, this will have been a blast.

Now that we are less than two weeks out, I feel like I haven't done a fucking thing. On Friday I finally delivered the last sketch to all the cast. It is a reworking of an old bit that will open the show and include everybody. I will not devulge what the sketch is, but it will be great. I started it 3 weeks ago and could not for the life of me end it. After several failed attempts, I sent it down to Austin via email where Dale (co-founder) finished it for me. Fantastic, but I delivered a script to the cast 2 weeks to the day of the open. We rarely work that way.

On top of this, the final sketch list wasn't complete until last week. We have over 300 sketches to pick from and I had to weigh factors like; what sketch was this old cast member in? What do they want to do? Could we pull that off? Needless to say, it gave me several headaches. Several weeks ago the cast pulled together a short list of 50 sketches. That has been cut to 30. (A normal show has 20) This is going to be a LONG show, but worth it. On the night, I think the audience will catch the nostalgic vibe.

Christ, I hope.

I will be updating this blog daily up to the show. Yes it's a behind the scenes look, but I will not 1) reveal too much about the show or 2) bad mouth anybody. That would serve no purpose.

If you want more information on the show go HERE

Talk to you soon, Eric