Apr 27
An Improv(ed) Trip to NYC
I took a trip to New York last weekend to finally see my brother’s new Improv group, The Spinoffs. I was also able to convince my parents to go up, as they had yet to see him perform, and missed the last time I went up. Riding up with my parents saved me some money on travel, although somewhat complicating things by adding an additional stop in DC to the trip, but I’m glad it worked out. 
The show was at Gotham City Improv, an odd theater on the 8th floor of an office building. It was pretty fun, although The Spinoffs insist that it wasn’t their best show. The setting, audience and performers mood, and introduction can all go a long way to influencing a set, so facing a crowd not familiar with the improv method, or the Harold form, or arriving on stage without intro music to discover you need chairs can all hinder the momentum, and make the first few scenes difficult. 9 Famous Irishmen and George da Roofer (of which tumblr Bryce is a member) also performed. We ended the night with the crowd of comedy writers and performers at McManus Cafe, the default after-party for the nearby UCB theater.
A bit of sightseeing was mandatory so we checked out the MTA museum in downtown Brooklyn. They chronicle the history of the subway system, and have trains from every era. Saturday night we saw more improv, this time at The Creek in Long Island City. The Creek is a bar/restaurant with a stage pays the bills with comedy events most nights of the week. Shannon had practice with her new Harold Team, Robber Baron , and met us at the Creek with teammates Edward Brawley, Brandon Scott Jones and Dan Klein (check a few of them out on Late Night w/ Jimmy Fallon) . The show was decent, but Rob aptly put it best when he commented that the daily comedy events are the beginning of a long series of late nights in comedy clubs, bars and theaters. He should be so lucky. 
On Sunday I grabbed a few taco’s from The Corner Deli, caught my bus, put on some podcasts and came up with some #punday submissions to pass time on my trip home.
