Week One and a Half: Chicago and the Boat

(ed. note: I'm really sorry for how long it's taken me to get this blog up - I wrote it 2 weeks ago, and I've been trying ever since then to find a decent enough internet connection to upload pictures. I promise to try and update this blog more frequently, but that's all internet permitting. For now, enjoy!)

Hey everyone, greetings from the sunny port of (looks out nearby window) Cozumel. Just to give you an overview, things are great, Chicago was a blast, and we’re enjoying the boat. I know it’s been a couple of weeks since I updated this blog, so I apologize to... Mom. And Dad. And anyone else who stumbled upon this. I’m gonna use this post to catch up on the last 2 weeks, mostly in picture form, so I’m gonna go pretty fast.

On our first night arriving in Chicago, Alice and I didn’t know what to eat (and didn’t want to venture out of our Second City provided apartment into the freezing 24- temperatures). So we called the offices at Second City, and they recommended Marcello’s Deep Dish Pizza for delivery (that Monica is a life-saver!)

The pizza came surprisingly fast (I only had time to watch my first ever episode of the ‘Dick Van Dyke Show’ – I liked it), and was some of the best deep dish either of us had ever eaten. It remained delicious 4 days later, when we still couldn’t finish it!


Across the street from our apartment (which was only a 4 minute walk to Second City) was a bar called the Twin Anchors, as seen in ‘The Dark Knight’, when Two Face shoots a crooked cop. Sadly, we never got time to go in and have a drink (this was only sad to Alice, who is still often amazed and dismayed by my nerdiness).


Speaking of food (and I usually do on this blog), I was finally able to purchase my beloved McSkillet Burrito from McDonalds. The fools at Canadian McDonald’s won’t sell them. Damn FDA... Anyways, it’s a breakfast burrito with scrambled eggs, sausage, and hash browns baked in. In my opinion, it’s the closest thing to real food McDonald’s makes. I highly recommend it.


But this blog isn’t just about food, so I guess I should write about what we’re actually, you know, doing. Up next is a picture from the Mainstage Theater at the Second City in Chicago. For those of my friends and relatives who aren’t comedy nerds, this is literally the exact same stage (plus or minus a coat of paint) that people like Bill Murray, John Belushi, and Tina Fey worked on in their younger/ poorer days.


Pictured on the Mainstage is Pierro Procaccini, one of our cast mates. He’s from Chicago, and has been performing and directing for the Second City for the past few years. He’s also our resident cruise ship expert, having worked on about 6 of them. Super nice guy, really funny, and will laugh at anything. We had 4 days of rehearsal in the theatre, working mostly with our director, TJ Shanoff (or as I call him, “American Marcel St. Pierre”). I’ll tell you more about TJ later on. We also did a workshop with Mick Napier, or as the folks back home might remember him, the bald judge from “Next Comedy Legend” who looked like JK Simmons (the bald cop from 'Law and Order', 'The Closer', or the dad from 'Juno').


Mick Napier


JK Simmons

Oh shit, I was on a reality show.

Anyways, the rehearsals were great, and we got to check out the new Mainstage Show at the Second City (featuring Lauren Ash from the Toronto Second City, which was awesome to see). The show was pretty great (I especially dug the ‘Polar Bear’,‘Nuva Ring’, and ‘Chicago Olympics’ scenes). Alice and I also got invited to join the improv set after the show, which was hugely appreciated.

That night at the Second City a huge contingent of Toronto comedians were also in the audience, (most of the Sketchersons, and the delightful Julie Dumais) because they were in town for the Chicago Sketch Comedy festival (which I was also appearing in - I was wiped by the end of the week). Me and the Approximately 3 Peters were once again performing in the festival, which was a blast. This is us, after the show, drunk on... uh, success...


Oh, and during the festival, Alice and I went to a place across the street called Joey’s Brickhouse (Jason and Neil, was that the place you were telling us about?) We went between shows to get a late dinner, but they had so many amazing desserts! We had orange floats, waffle sundaes, delicious coffee, and S’MORES!!! They brought us a small fire and a lazy susan full of ingredients, and we roasted our own s’mores! I now truly know what it is to eat like a king.



We managed to see lots of great troupes: I saw Last Call Cleveland, whose videos killed; and the guys saw BriKo, who are supposed to be excellent. We also caught the other three Toronto acts at the fest: The Sketchersons, The Imponderables, and Accidental Company (seen below). This is myself, Brian and Jordan at the “Sketchubator”, a late night event where sketch troupes perform unusual (or, “bad”) sketches for each other. And you get to drink on stage.


So, on Saturday the 17th we did a full day of rehearsal at Second City, then a show at the sketchfest, then I stayed and drank until about 2am, then headed home and got about 45 minutes of sleep... and Alice and I got picked up by the airport shuttle at 4am. Ouch. SO we flew from the freezing, -25 degree temperatures of Chicago to the +18 degree temps of Miami. I barely remember the flight. But we did get picked up at the airport in a limousine, which was a nice way to officially start the day.


You can see pretty much everyone in this picture: along the back is Beth Kligerman (producer for the Second City and person who hired Alice and I); Dave Keeton (our musical director, veteran of several Boat gigs, and co-founder of the Dad’s Garage improv theatre in Atlanta), TJ Shannof (our director, currently hard at work on a musical comedy about Illinois Governor Rod Blagoivitch); Pierro again; and Michael Bertrando (a really funny dude who’s originally from Philadelphia). Not pictured are Alice and Hilary Bauman, a very funny improviser who has worked with the Second City and Boom Chicago.

So we got on the boat alright (in spite of the jackass guard working at the Miami Port). We spent most of the first day catching up on our sleep, and awoke to a beautiful sea day on Monday morning.


Monday was spent mostly rehearsing our big show. Like the last boat gig I did we do two shows per week of old Second City scenes, as well as two completely improvised shows. For those really in the know, we’re doing some pretty good archive scenes, like “Applebees”, “Customs” (from ‘Reloaded’), “Orchestra”, “Vera”, and “Dead Grandama” (don’t worry actual grandmas – it’s just a name).

Tuesday our director, TJ, was quite insistent on switching rehearsal to the afternoon and evening. It may have been our first port day in Roatan...


...but we spent it inside watching President Obama get sworn in via the (I shit you not) 2-storey television in the main atrium. As you can see, both TJ and Bertrando were very excited for the whole event (I think Michael even volunteered for his campaign).


TJ and Pierro.


Michael Bertrando.


We watched from 9am until Obama was sworn in at noon (or not sworn in, depending on whether Justice Roberts actually did make a mistake). The whole morning was genuinely inspirational – except that a crew boat drill had been scheduled for that morning, so the Sound System would occasionally cut out for instructions. Seriously, it sounded like this:

OBAMA: On this day we come to proclaim and end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for too long have-

CRUISE DIRECTOR: And now we will proceed with the forward stations. Please wait for a series of ten loud alarms.

OBAMA: ...journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less-

TEN LOUD ALARMS SOUND. IT SEEMS TO TAKE FOREVER.

OBAMA: ...principles-

CRUISE DIRECTOR: And now the mid-stations. Only 7 more stations to go...

But the crowd was very resolute, and there was much applause throughout the whole ceremony. It was pretty neat to watch the whole event with people who actually, you know, got to vote for him.


Okay, I was going to write up to today, but this blog is already enormous. So I’m going to end here, and catch it up to present day by the end of this week. I hope everyone is doing well back home, and enjoying the... brisk... winter. I’m gonna go get another daiquiri.

Cheers!


We live here.