Intro - machine Best audience response we've ever had to this one. This is the first time I've seen the audience join in .. usually the response we get is either nervous laughter, or deer-in-the-headlights stares ... went over well. Scripts I like this one as a starter. It's easy, and gets to the funny stuff relatively quick. I thought the setup Dan and I had was pretty good ... Martin does a good job of picking specific scenarios for this one. The scene went well (IMHO), seemed to get a good response from the audience. Mike and the woman from the audience was a classic. I wasn't sure who was improvising more ... Mike always handles the unexpected stuff from the audience well. Scene Replay I thought this one went better than Dan and Julia want to give themselves credit. The first scene and the Shakespearean scene were well received. The Sci-fi style has always been problematic. This time, it seemed to get in the way of remembering the scene points ... there were a few details that got lost along the way. Overall, an okay bit ... Security Guard What can I say ... Dan S may have another career ahead of him, if this museum thingy doesn't work out. The interplay between Martin, Julia and Mike was quite good, and things seemed to move along well. As an aside ... remember when we agonized over the location of the desk, whether this was a customs agent, security guard, etc? Perhaps there's a lesson in here ... honesty and truth are definitely an important part of comedy, but I can't recall a single time when we've performed this game where any of these details were noticed by the audience ... the characterizations stand out, and the questions Dan throws at them are definitely the stars of the game. Mundane Olympics For a game we haven't done in a *long* time, I was surprised how smoothly it went. We've definitely developed some gimmicks for this one ... the instant replay ... the wily veteran vs. the young upstart ... It seemed to work well, and didn't feel like it went any longer than it had to. Word Association. If there's anything we really need to do, it's push ourselves. I recall the first couple of times we did this, it was *scary* to come up with stuff quickly. We've perhaps relaxed a bit, and maybe don't feel we have to push ourselves quite as hard as we once did. One suggestion I would have, is instead of words, perhaps we could use phrases instead of words ... e.g. 'The loudest sound in the universe', 'What Stockwell Day is thinking today', 'Why you should never trust a boy scout' .... Puppets. Always a hit. No exception this time. Both Martin and Julia did a fine job Say Again. I thought this one went much better than the last time around. Martin, Dan and myself were really trying to find a bit more creative phrases, and allowed the scene to progress much better. Even Martin's dump was ... ummm ... well, no scene's perfect. Party Quirks. Oopsie. My bad. As moderator for this one, I have to take some of the responsibility for how long it went on. I honestly thought 'primping' and Michael Jackson would be easier to guess. Martin recovered nicely, and made a new friend in the quiet lady in the front row, so there was a silver lining. ... ;) Movie Review The Unusual River. Well ... what can I say? I thought Dan and Mike did a much better job of setting up the scenes .. Julia had a good analogy ... the reivewers advance, the players expand. I think there's a lesson in there, too ... if all else fails, play it stupid, and at least you'll get some laughs. Day in the life I'm glad we did this ... the show felt a bit unfinished after Movie review ... Day in the Life is a nice ensemble bit, and usually leads up to our vict^H^H^H^H guest showing up at the show, which is a nice little way of re-introducing the gang. This one went well ... even better than the SAW gallery routine, which I thought was a gift from heaven (knocking people over on the bus, busted pass-card, pooped on by a pigeon, slapped by a woman he knocked over ... come on, you can't even *write* stuff like that). Mike got a chance to do his walker-guy, and Martin didn't take a dump. Overall, a successful scene I felt pretty good about this show ... the last two I thought were far and away the tightest performances we've done. My sister agreed ... she hadn't seen us for a long time, and was amazed at how far we'd progressed. Something to keep in mind when some of the practice evenings seem a bit mundane, and a bit stale. Trust me, I took music lessons for years, and hated practicing scales and arpeggios (a fine Italian breakfast cereal), but the benefit came when it was time to try playing more difficult pieces. I really think we've come a long way ... done a lot of good work, and can really be proud of the efforts we've expended. It was a challenging season, and I recall back in December us agreeing to try to do at least three performances ... we've done four, since then, and each one progressively better than the last. Amazingly, the last two were, for me anyway, the least nerve-wracking performances we've done. I believe for a long time, we weren't sure about our ability, and whether we were good enough to charge money for shows, whether we had the talent to actually perform ... if anything, I believe we've concusively proven that we are easily as good as any number of other groups, and we are good enough to charge for our shows. We've found a new performance venue in the SAW gallery, and are starting to get contacts from other entertainment-type folks. All in all, a very, very encouraging season, and one I think we can all be proud of.