So...

...just some thoughts about last night. First of all, I was disappointed that about 75% of the audience bolted after the first show. We had better "retention" at past shows. On the other hand, the crowd did not seem to get a lot of the improv at the first show. Maybe it was just as well that they left...

I felt extremely good about the Alphabet Song scene that Rick and I pulled off. Singing the whole thing sure got me out of my head of trying to think of the next line with the appropriate letter. Interesting that we had rhyming couplets for the first number of lines. I guess we have been trained, not necessarily from an improv school of thought, to make sure you sing two lines that rhyme. Oh well. Good thing we decided to drop the rhyming aspect. A few people said that was the longest Alphabet scene they ever saw. I had no concept of time while I was in the middle of the scene. It was fun! Kudos, Rick!

Arnold was solid again. I thought it was funny that we were given toothpick as a suggestion again...especially with Linda sitting there, operating the lights. When it was yelled out, I think there was a second where we all thought, "Well, who is going to go out there and do that one tonight?" Thank you, Lori, for stepping to the plate. :)

I also felt very good about my hosting of Party Quirks. Sometimes I have been nervous about that; I had a few past instances with tough bouts of guessing. I think my record was about 25 minutes from a few years ago (please try not to break that - it is sacred). Anyway, none of those past instances ever occurred to me last night. I was just up there on stage, ready for whatever would be thrown at me. I felt in control of the whole thing. Some characters I guessed quickly (McCain), and others took a bit more fishing (Marilyn Monroe the marine biologist - pardon the pun - and even Abe Lincoln with his sloganeering quirk). Still, I never had that black hole feeling of "My God, this is taking forever!"

Jeff