The Friday Link for 9/26/14

Hi all!

It's been a light week here on the blog, but I hopefully will have a few different articles I've written over the last few days published elsewhere soon.  I'll let you know if it happens.

I was a member of the improv group Comedy Olympix back in the 90's.  This was the comedy improv Legion of Doom to the Justice League that was, and is, Comedy Sportz.  I'm not sure exactly what the heck happened between the two groups but there was a lot, and I do mean A LOT, of animosity between the guy who owned CO and the people from CS.  I wasn't the best performer, but I did have fun.  We eventually parted ways.

Two observations about my time doing comedy improv:

First, the only career field with a larger percentage of emotionally screwed up people than radio is comedy improv.

Second, my tenure there led to the funniest letter I ever received.  CO would offer improv workshops, something I desperately needed.  The guy who ran them (not the owner) was great.  He was very funny, knew the basic set ups for bits and was very helpful when it came to learning the basics.  On the second workshop I did with him, he ended up having to be gone for the last class, so another comedian from CO, who still works in Twin Cities comedy today, took over for the final week.  She didn't really teach anything that class. We went through a few improv drills and then we ran through a show format.  At the end she said nothing and we left.

I got a letter from her; a critique of my performance.  It was seven paragraphs of the most vicious, insulting, out of line, unjustified professional and personal attacks I have ever received.  There was nothing constructive about anything she wrote, only insult after insult.  "You suck at this, you're the worst ever at that, you don't really look good enough to be on stage."  It went on and on and on.  I was wondering, since she hardly spent anytime in the workshop, if it was actually a twisted joke.  I was assured later, even though she tried to play it off as a joke, she was serious, having sent similar letters to many others in the workshop.

The best part was the last paragraph.  After her vile criticism, she wrote, "Your performance aside, I think you're really nice and hope we can stay friends."  I framed the letter and had it on my wall for a few years.  Like I mentioned, emotionally screwed up!

My time with Comedy Olympix taught me a little about what makes good comedy, and I did have the pleasure of working briefly with some extremely funny people.  I do love when a great comedy skit clicks and the clip for tonight is one of the best.  Everything in this is funny, with the subtle Seth MacFarlane stealing the show.  Top 20 comedy skit all time from SNL, easy.  Enjoy, it's your Friday link!

https://screen.yahoo.com/puppet-class-000000155.html?query=snl+puppets