Improv nerds only.
Simultaneously exhilarating and terrifying to hear that there’s video of this. Could it possibly be as good as it sounds? Could it be better? Will you and Erik arrange a viewing of it?

I direct web videos, perform improv comedy, take photos, make audio recordings, and build websites.
I'm wearing a wig in this photo.
Improv nerds only.
Simultaneously exhilarating and terrifying to hear that there’s video of this. Could it possibly be as good as it sounds? Could it be better? Will you and Erik arrange a viewing of it?
Is a travesty and a sin.
Vero and I went to Chicago this weekend to see their improv. We’d seen Chicago teams and improvisers before (TJ & Dave, Adsit and Gausas, Improvised Shakespeare, a few more at DCM, etc.) but we wanted to find out what standard fare was in the city where (as far as we’re concerned) it all started. Being at the ImprovOlympic Theater itself was cool. It’s the theater Del and Charna founded in 1981, and it hasn’t moved since, so when you’re there you’re there, man.
We spent most of our time at iO. For three nights we saw Harold teams and “show” teams, which were thematic or just consisted of veteran performers. As usual, the bad shows were bad, the good shows were good and the great shows were amazing.
Nerd alert for the rest of this post. Also, when I call stuff out as being “weird” I mean “not what I’m used to,” not “deformed and sub-par.”
Unsettling to our UCB-trained minds! It didn’t happen all the time, but more than we’re used to. Is this pattern a mistaken perception based on a small sample size, or something actually different about their Harolds? Not sure! The stronger teams tended to have more direct, game-heavy second beats, though - usually time dashes, not a lot of analogous moves.
That’s all I’ve got. Fun trip. Good shows.
NewYork.ImprovTeams.com passed the 1,000-user mark some time in the last few days. There are way more improvisers signed up from New York than from any other city (1,013 out of 1,345). Over 70% of users are “active,” i.e. they confirmed their accounts. Still no confirmation from Amy Poehler.
Still trying to figure out what I can do with ImprovTeams.com that will make it more useful for show promotion in addition to being a means of internal communication/organization for the community. I’m adding a reviews/suggestions section where improvisers will be able to add a book or movie and summarize why they think it’s essential comedy consumption.
Also thinking about adding show comments so there’s an archive of highlights. I think Jesse Lee suggested this a while ago, I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
For aaaages I’ve said or heard said, “Let’s go to Chicago and soak up some DEEP DISH improv.” I love DCM (submitting with four or five teams this year) but it’d be nice to see everyone in their natural environments and check out teams that don’t make the trek.
Vero had a Jet Blue voucher and decided to use it for JUST THIS PURPOSE and we’re now sitting in JFK waiting for our flight. We’ll be there til Sunday.
Can’t wait to see some iO Harold teams and TJ & Rush tonight. Tomorrow we’re doing the iO jam show (they charge for it? what?) and will initiate every scene with obnoxiously obscure NYC specifics, then drop the mike and holler “Easter East Cooooooooast!”
I’m on page 17 at the moment. I don’t remember the last time a book made me chuckle this much.
vaov:
Watch this new sketch I made about the Olympics
I’m a voiceover actor! The performances in this kill me. When Jamison says “I mean, we all know the island is like, filmed in Hawaii” it seems to me that it’s painful for him to admit that Lost is fictional. Like it’s a intense effort and an act of significant maturity.
I promise at some point in my life I’ll direct a movie that not only has this song on its soundtrack, but puts “Dosage” back on the charts.
For the last 7 years or so I’ve wanted this t-shirt.
Looks like I’ll finally have some consolation.
vaov:
Guys, Not While I am Eating
This is the FIRST sketch I ever write, shoot and edit all by myself. The whole process was really, really fun and these guys are hilarious, they improvise a bunch which made it so much harder to edit but a zillion times funnier.
Starring: Frank Hejl, Rob Stern, Benjamin Apple and Dan Chamberlain. AD: Benjamin Apple. Written, edited and directed by Veronica Osorio Videtta
This was really fun to shoot. Dan’s sick noises made me feel sick.
vaov:
This is my FIRST stop motion animation ever!!!!!
It is the Space Time’s bumper (being Space Time my production company)
It has been my DREAM to do stop motion, since I was a 4years old kid watching Gumby (In spanish Gomosito). I couldn’t be happier about this, I taught myself (Ben helped me with some final details) and did it from scratch. It takes a LOT of work but I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
I love this to an EXTREME DEGREE. When Vero told me she was doing a stop-motion bumper I kind of lost my mind, and when I saw her jerry-rigged photo studio (tripod, tape, stove, construction paper) I kind of lost it again. The finished product makes me really happy.
The video she made this bumper for (I think it’s going up today) is hilarious and I got to be in it.