Jen was a superlative guest. Did you miss this show? You should be beaten to within an inch of your life.

Next week, my dad will be delivering monologs on his 61st birthday. He’s not a local celebrity, but he’s my pops, so… cool.

Well, she may not be a pirate, but I am really excited that tonight’s Mister Diplomat guest is Jen Ashlock. She’s a) fucking super-cool, b) fucking super-cool, and c) fucking super-cool. That alone would be qualification enough to be a Diplomat guest, but for some icing, she ran the popular Flicker film gathering at the Cat’s Cradle for a couple of years.

Mister Diplomat is at 9:30 PM at the DSI Comedy Theater behind Carr Mill Mall, and is $8. Only $6 for students. A good deal.

It’s audition day here at DSI!

So why am I so cold? Man, I cannot, for the life of me, get the body temperature up. I’ve got my coat on and I’m still freezing! That’s insane!

Also, just a general note for all you kids out there: don’t take a phone call during rehearsal. Seriously. Turn that cell phone off.

Ryan is goofy when he gets into DSI classes.

I’m working with a tremendously talented (and large) class of students. I basically ended up with two Level 1 classes that come together to form one Level 2 class, and they are a riot.

Of course, it’s not news to anyone that I love teaching at the theater.

I put up some more class pictures for Sarah, who is working on a Proconian article about DSI. I took some of them, she took some of them, but they were all on my camera.

I also put up some Diplomat pictures– I took the ones of the Pirate Captain, Don deLeaumont took the ones of us with Mark Jacobson.

It’s now 2:47 and I have been working my tooshie off. So it’s time for a reflection. I choose to reflect on three items.

1. I had lunch today with Lee Creighton, who is an old improv friend. I like Creighton because Creighton likes to laugh. I don’t know if I have told him that whenever I submit NCAA brackets to a pool, I always try to submit two brackets, and one has Creighton winning the whole thing. I will call that one “Always Bet on Creighton.” That’s not what I want to reflect on, however. We ate at the Weathervane, an upscale place that I had never been to, because I have no business being there. We both ordered “City Fried Steak,” which we now believe to be code for “shitty steak in pancake batter.”

2. I previewed PT Scarborough’s show PT Scarborough is a Movie last night and I really enjoyed it. He was working from a Steven Seagal flick that he’d never seen.
3. I have spent some time in the past few days working on a project that will be unveiled on Sunday night at 7:30 PM. I hope that you can come and see it. It’s finally ready enough to talk about:

   Match Game
   Everyone’s favorite game show from the ’70’s (unless you were a Family Feud snob) is the newest attraction at the DSI Comedy Theater, where a member of the audience will compete against the owner– defeat him, and win a free DSI class! Lose, and all you get is a pack of Starburst. Featuring six real live celebrity impersonator guests each week. Sunday at 7:30 at the DSI Comedy Theater: Don Knotts, Peter Falk, Christopher Walken, Eddie Vedder, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, and President Ronald Reagan! Only $5!

There’s been an announcement on the IRC and the ComedyWorx boards that IO will be teaching classes at ComedyWorx, beginning in February. Several people have asked me today what I think of the news, and the truth of the matter is that I’m very stoked for this to happen. Anything that furthers the art of longform improvisation in North Carolina is a good thing, and I stand by the DSI motto: Support your local comedy. I’ve got a bunch of great friends at ComedyWorx who weren’t thrilled with the drama of “pick CWx or DSI,” and those that picked ComedyWorx will now have a venue to continue their study of longform. This is great. Depending on the faculty involved with the project, which hasn’t been announced yet, I may head over and take some classes. I love working with experienced improvisers who’ve been in another scene than I have, and if I get to study with my peeps from CWx, that’s even better.

I know some of the people around DSI immediately felt threatened by this, but I really don’t see it as competition in any way. We’re 30 miles away, we draw a completely different crowd because of the geography, and anything that raises awareness of improv comedy in the Triangle benefits all improv in the area. I’ve said all along that we’re not competing for crowds, and I don’t think we’re competing as training centers. I hope there’s lots of cross-breed now, as there has been in the past. I will always be supportive of DSI improvisers seeking more training and experience.

So, a big kudos to ComedyWorx, and I eagerly await more information on who will be coming down to teach the classes!

So, can I possibly sum up the opening weekend at DSI into words? I doubt it, I doubt it seriously. But here are some attempts:

1. The improv was good, all weekend long. I don’t think anyone felt pressure; I think people felt the genuine elation that I did. We have a permanent theater space.

2. We sold out two of three shows on opening night and had only about five free seats for the third show. ComedySportz was near full the second night, and we had at least 25 paid for the other two shows.

3. Customers left smiling. I believe they will be back!

4. Of course, the best thing about DSI is being surrounded by friends. Opening weekend was particularly nice, because we had friends in from all over. Got to play shows with Rene and Jon Karpinos, Andrew Hutson and Erik Martin were back with Community Bike, Matt Urbanic was up from Fayetteville before he ships out to save the world.

5. After the first Mister Diplomat show in the new space, Jennings sent an e-mail saying, “Daniel Wallace should be our new best friend.” He IS our new best friend. I cannot imagine a better monologist for an Armando show. I think Daniel liked doing the show, and he absolutely owned it. I can’t wait to have him back.

By the way, bitches, Rene says “What’s up?”

Come see some shows at the new DSI Comedy Theater. Tonight. 9:30 PM, featuring Daniel Wallace, author of Big Fish.

Friends of Improv Everywhere,

Our U2 Mission from this past May is going to be on the TV tomorrow night. Set your tivos to record VH1’s “40 Greatest Pranks” (9 to 11 PM). There will be footage from the mission and interviews with Agent Todd and Agent Slocum (aka “Fake Bono”). For those without a tivo-type device, the program reruns at 12 Midnight and also at 7 PM Saturday evening.

In other news, IE was mentioned in Rolling Stone this month (Hot List issue) and also in the current issue of New York Magazine. Check both articles out:
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And for those of you who live in NYC, remeber that The Mp3 Experiment 2.0 is taking place a week from Saturday (10/15) at 3 PM. More information and the Mp3 itself will be available by Monday afternoon on our site.