The Funeral March

On Monday I had wast was probably the best class yet; I felt like I'd found my groove there.  Some of the students spent some time making fun of last week's substitute teacher's methods, since the contrasted so sharply with our own teacher's, and I felt comfortable and creative on stage.

 

My Level 2 improv teacher loans out books to his students on improv.  Last week, because we had a substitute teacher, so one of the students that borrowed a book lent it to me, Guru: My Days with Del Close, a portrait of the last year-and-a-half his life told through the eyes of Jeff Griggs, an intern who helped him out as he was dying.

 

It showed a complex, passionate man who lived to rebel and helped define an artform.

 

It was also around the time I borrowed the book that Richard Jeni died.  This led me to lurk over the the Comedy Studio's message board "The Kvetch Board" to read my old stand-up friends thoughts on the suicide.  I wanted to see what they thought about the psychology of comics, and I found a thoughtful, intelligent conversation on artists and depression.

 

While there I found out a comic I knew was going to be on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Shane Mauss.  He'd just won the US Comedy Arts Festival and got booked soon after.

 

I started thinking about stand-up again.

 

The plan was to get to some open mics again, just to see some of the friends I made.  Maybe I'd get on stage too.

 

So on Tuesday I left the hospital at UCLA and walked down the street to Iso Fusion Cafe.  I was feeling a little sick so I thought some soup with udon noodles, chicken, and tofu would hit the spot.  It did, it was quite filling.

 

I got to Westwood Brew Co. and saw some old friends, but there were some who didn't remember me.  That's okay, I was surprised to find that the place was now green.  Although, I think I may have been there since it was painted.  I'm not sure.

 

I got on stage and mostly did new material.  I actually surprised myself in that way, since I hadn't written much in the past few months.  The set turned out pretty well too.  Instead of Vance Sanders' usual choice of Beck for intro music, he was playing a Talking Heads greatest hits album, so I lamented the headline from a news ticker I saw that actually said "Psycho Killer Raccoons Terrorize Olympia."

 

Wednesday I planned to go to Synergy Cafe and thursday I planned on going to "Quartet," a popular improv show at IO West.  But I was still sick.  So, I checked out Shane Mauss' set on Conan.  It was great.  I knew most of the jokes, so I felt quite inside.

 

On Friday I continued my internship at the Andy Dick Theatre.  That place is pretty cool.  I got to check out some more experimental improv, outside the form of the Harold.  It's a good change of pace, analogous to a stand-up open mic, some great ideas and some colossal failures.

 

This week I plan to get up again at Brew Co. and finally see "Quartet."  I plan on doing more stand-up again, in addition to what I've been doing.

 

Thank you, I'm Eric Cheung.  I'm on MySpace and Live Journal.

 

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