The Office Holiday

Last Sunday, I went to IO West for the first time on a Sunday night for some time.  I've been meaning to make it there on a Sunday ever since Big News moved to that night.

 

But first I checked out the improv show Cog.  It's one of the more favorite shows at the theatre, and with good reason.  The suggestion for the show was "Scathing criticism."  Without missing a beat, Craig Cackowski ridiculed the audience member, "That's the best you got?  And you came here prepared with that."  It sent the other members off on a game to generate their own suggestions which propelled the show forward.  At one point, they even took out an imaginary dry-erase board to check off all the suggestions they referenced.

 

Then was Big News.  It's a sketch show based on the past week's news events.  It started off only okay, but steadily improved.  The big finale was their "Weekend Update"-style volley of news jokes.  The twist on it was the non-anchor characters weren't commentators that were supposed to be in the studio, but presumably people on news video packages.

 

I didn't stick around for the stand-up show, in part because it was pre-booked, but it also started a half-hour late and I'd be in danger of missing my bus home.

 

The next day in the office, my boss told me that Friday was Cesar Chavez Day, a California holiday in which some offices were closed.  I would have the day off too.

 

From there I went to class, which was on environment this week.  Myself, and others, took the instructions a little too literally, so we tended to neglect the relationships on-stage.  In one instance I actually didn't follow the instructions at all.  There was a scene where we were supposed to do an activity and not talk about it.  The suggestion for a location was "aquarium," so I saw my scene partner grabbing some water from a water cooler, "You're drinking water in an aquarium?"

 

A huge laugh erupted and I was pleased with myself, but half-a-second later, I realized it wasn't for my acute observation of irony, but for my complete failure in the exercise to follow instructions.  A bit later in class our teacher commented on the line saying, "I though to myself, 'Hey, what's wrong with that line?  Oh, wait, EVERYTHING!"  He said he was amused and will always use that as an example.

 

When I actually got around to my scenes, and did them properly, I did a pretty good job of reacting to my partner.  I noticed I like playing emotions, and when I do, I feel like I'm doing a pretty good job.

 

I didn't go to Westwood BrewCo. on Tuesday because I still didn't feel all that well.  Okay, I take that back.  I stopped in for a few minutes.  They did it up like an awards show.  Apparently this particular open mic does this every year, they have an awards show called the Scoomies.  It looked pretty slick, and would have been fun, but I wanted to get some rest.

 

That same day, however, I got a call from the Museum of Television & Radio.  It was the first place I visited when I got here in search of a job.  They said they were interested in me for a potential job and would I come in for an interview?  I called them back and scheduled one for Cesar Chavez Day.

 

For the past few weeks I'd been looking forward to seeing one improv show in particular, "Quartet."  It was a little slower pace than I expected, but still very strong, because everything was connected, and amazingly well.

 

I celebrated Cesar Chavez Day with a job interview, what did you do with yours?

 

The job I interviewed for was not unlike my Media Services.  I served as media librarian and as a tech support/delivery person for video projectors for teachers to use in class.  I would be retrieving Hi-8 tapes so visitors could watch classic TV shows and setting up the audio for special events.

 

I admitted that I hadn't had worked at any production companies, but somehow the conversation turned to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.  It turns out my interviewer knew Michael Piller, the co-creator of Deep Space Nine, former showrunner of that, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the TV version of The Dead Zone.  They knew each other since Piller's days at CBS in Chicago.

 

Eventually, he looked at his watch and realized he had to get back to work.  I distracted him from work, so my job was done.  Since it was a relatively early interview, I went to the La Brea Tar Pits on my way home.  Perhaps I'll peruse them further on the next California office holiday.

 

That night, I went to my internship and I had a substitute host.  Apparently the usual host was celebrating Cesar Chavez Day as well.  I'd recognized the substitute from shows I'd seen before and he even played with one of the troupes.  He let me call the lights for all the shows, because I said I was comfortable doing so and because it was one less thing for him to think about.  Among the shows was a bi-weekly show in which Craig Cackowski improvises with someone he's never improvised with.  This time it was MADtv's Josh Meyers.

 

On Saturday, I went to the monthly meeting and hung out for a while with some fellow interns.  It was the first time I really did that after a meeting since I used to have to go to class right after the meeting.  So we grabbed a slice of pizza and chatted for a couple of hours.

 

I was taking a nap when I got a phone call from IO West seeing if they needed a floater.  Floaters are basically the interns who check tickets and make sure nobody gets by.  I've been reluctant to serve as floater for this reason.  I've served a similar function in a lot of other jobs over the years, but it's not fun. 

 

But after the last ten dollar show, there was a free Guitar Hero tournament.  They let me sign up for a spot.  I saw some people signing up for the competition, some of whom I recognized, so I chatted with them.  One lamented his lack of proficiency in the game.  He told me he usually played on Expert, but didn't get through the whole song some of the time.  I told him that I used to play about once a week on the original game at Best Buy, and that I got all the way through.  I set it on Medium.

 

I soon realized I was out of my league and was a little intimidated with my competition.  I said as much to my new friend and then he went up to face off against his opponent.  They played "Sweet Child O Mine" on Expert and he was winning.  Not only was he scoring higher, but he was doing windmills and jumping around like Marty McFly channeling Pete Townshend.

 

I was the seventh, and initially the last, to sign up so the announcer in the booth announced that since I was an intern I'd be getting a bye into the next round.  Fortunately there was a late-comer who had signed up.  I would face someone in the first round.

 

The guy who played against me was kind of a cocky pretty-boy.  I sheepishly offered, "I'll let you pick the song if we play on Medium."

 

"Medium?!  I usually play on Expert, but whatever," he replied.  "Alright, how about 'Strutter' by KISS?"

 

We started to play and I realized I never played Guitar Hero in front of an audience before.  I heard some cheers for me, "Go Eric!  Own it!"  I wasn't sure if the person I had spoken to before the show was being ironic or not, but I'll be an optimist for once and assume I had endeared myself to him and his friends.

 

Of course I lost, and my opponent moved to the final round, but the person he faced was an unstoppable guitarist who quietly proceeded to smoke all his competition.  So, I rooted for him.  But, at the end of the game, the announcer up in the booth wouldn't let him win that easily.  "What happens at the end of most video games?  There's an unlockable character!"  Soon, the "Grim Reaper" came out to try to beat him, but to no avail.  I remarked, "This guy should play the 'Grim Reaper' next time."

 

It was getting late and I was in danger of missing my bus so I had to go.  My holiday was over.

 

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

 

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