I’m at home, on chaffeur duty.

Aftter ComedyWorx shows, I told Ben I’d go see Superchunk and Crooked Fingers with him. I’d been hedging all week– I just haven’t felt much like going out, but I had fun at the shows and was feeling randy enough for company. Ben said he was bringing Jen. Ah, I thought, the girl who lives one floor down from him that he’s sort of seeing. Been wondering if she existed.

Jen, it turns out, was the girl who was sitting in the front row at the 7:30 show tonight, just generally being kind of “look at me, improv boys.” OK, no biggie. They picked me up from the house so we could ride out to Chapel Hill together. That’s when I got uncomfortable. Jen kept ragging on Ben, and it was a clear case of “Look at me and how cool I am.” That just wasn’t kosher. By the time we got to CH, I was not looking forward to spending a couple hours standing next to her. A creepy vibe.

Don’t have to, as the show was sold out, so I volunteered to bolt, but I had to take the car and tell them I would pick them up after the show. Jen tried to make me take her ticket and said she would pick us up, but I was actually a little relieved to be able to slink back to the house and spend some time alone. Ben felt truly awful, and suggested that we do something afterwards. “Every place will be closed, so maybe we can just chill and drink at your house,” Jen suggested.

They’ll be drinking at the show, and I certainly won’t let Ben get in his car and drive home if he’s not up for it. But I don’t want them here.

There’s a thread on the yesand boards about ComedySportz that was touched off when an acquaintance from another troupe make an offhanded comment about me being “brainwashed” by ComedySportz. Some guy that I don’t know got upset and was tired of people knocking CSz. It’s clear that he really enjoys CSz. He attacked Lisa pretty harshly. A lot of people responded, and I think the general concensus was that this guy was kind of harsh.

I weighed in, since my name was already involved, which made me uneasy. I tried to walk the middle ground and say that a format is only as good as the improvisors doing it, and that I wasn’t peeved with Lisa’s good-natured jab, and that I wished people would use forums like IRC and yesand to be supportive and build community, not be divisive. Not an earth-shaking post.

What bothered me was that maybe six minutes later, a friend of my who is omnipresent on yesand, and who mentions me often in his posts, replied to the thread. He had already replied– and was doing so again only to attack the guy who started the thread. Calling him ignorant, etc.

And now I feel like a jerk, just because of the company I keep.

Mostly, I feel bad for the fella who started the thread. It’s pretty commonplace to see shortform– and ComedySportz in particular– lambasted in forums like these. And when it’s something you do, and something you take pride in, and someone who has probably never seen your troupe is blasting you, well, that can be a little frustrating. No one likes to be judged without a fair shake.

I don’t feel a particular affinity for any one form or format over the others at this moment. I see the criticism of CSz as pretty valid. I share some of the same concerns. I am loving the longform groups I am in. But you know, I just went to Raleigh and played a ComedySportz show for 120 people, and while I didn’t feel like it was terribly artful or challenging, it was a lot of fun. Mostly, I look forward to working with improvisors I enjoy being with and trust– in whatever forum I’m lucky enough to work with them in.

I’m pretty certain that if The Swarm became a ComedySportz team tomorrow, people would think ComedySportz was pretty damn good.