Back from Second City!

Hey everyone, 2/3rds of MPIII are back from Second City!

Yeah, Beavis and Dave took a pilgrimage to the birthplace of improv, and went up to Chicago for a week and stretched their brains with a THREE FREAKING day improv intensive workshop at Second City!!!

After planes, trains, taxis and mirco-elevators (like whoa, how does a big hotel have an elevator the size of a phone booth?) they made it there and back again. Reports say that they made a lot of new friends (hi gang!!!!), did some great work, saw some amazing shows, and were stunned by some of the sights (like the ‘swanky banky’ and a store that has a item in the window with a $40,000 tag on it).

A few Highlights

The Second City training center (yeah, they are that established) was three miles from the hotel where the boys bunked with some other crazies (hey Jill, hey Bron!)…a lot of walks, a few bums (other than the guys) and several blisters later (did about 12 miles overall) North Chicago and old town had been toured by the gang.

The guys hit up an absolutely hysterical sketch show at Second City called America: All Better which was a brilliantly written and performed work strongly satirizing our current cultural and political climate. Anyone who has a chance to see this smartly written laugh-rollercoaster should not pass it up.

Two other great groups which blew mpii away (well…that’s easier than saying two-thirds) were Shotgun and The Reckoning, both at the iO theatre near Wrigley Field. Both were 100% total improv, and 100% total amazing. Shotgun was a strong series of scenes building a outrageously funny story lasting 30 minutes based off a single word (yeah, and what a word it was…ask us at our show!). The Reckoning was a jittery, disjointed, nonsensical romp which would hurt your brain if you looked for traditional story connections or logic. It was bizarre, it was avant-garde art, it was total in your face don’t try this at home improv folks….yeah, beavis still has scars.

Another highlight of the evening….iO has Shiner Bock and Shiner Black …who wudda thunk it?

And back again…

The trip was awesome, and the guys got a chance to work with awesome performers from around the country (well, the UK too!) and top notch instructors at the homeland of improv. In fact, their work there inspired a few new games, and some ideas for their experimental “11:30” show, as well as some other creative projects (including long-form improv) on the drawing board.

~ Dave and Beavis