The Other Funny Girl
The estate sale of Carol Burnett’s assistant. Follow me on Instagram for more photos from my life in L.A.
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Filtering by Tag: COMEDY
PEN15
If you haven’t seen “PEN15” on Hulu, you really should. In theory, it sounds like a series that would never work. Two adult actors play grade school versions of themselves alongside young actors. But it’s genius. It’s seriously cringe-worthy, endearingly revealing, and LOL hilarious. Watch it. Season 2 is coming soon.
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A Funny Thing Happened
Image via The Car Lounge
Last weekend, our second weekend of performances, I started to get better at improv. The tide turned for me when it was my turn to sing a song during Country Jam, and the endowment from the audience was FBI agent. As the other players went, I scrambled in my head to think of an idea. A song about a federal agent who goes to Colombia to acquire cocaine and screw hookers, perhaps? It started to get confusing. To make it worse, someone else stepped forward to sing a song about Female Body Inspectors. Now, I was next. I should point out, BTW, that this was during the "for adults" later show on Saturday night. This doesn't mean everything is a dick joke. It does mean every other thing is a dick joke. Well, not really. But there were some amusing jokes about Bruce Jenner, and boobs, and whores. In any case, as it was time for me to step out and sing my song -- I should add here that I cannot sing, sound terrible singing, and am a bad singer -- I was reminded of that wise old adage: go with what you know. So I sang a song about a federal agent who watches porn on the job all day, and his favorites included "Barely Legal" and something I made up on the spot called "Wet and Lovely." The lesson here, I believe, is to be yourself and be someone else at the same time. That way you can do what you love and do something very badly, and through some odd magic, it might turn out right.
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The Improv Update
Image via MasterPlanner
Improv is getting better because: I speed read Amy Poehler's book, I want to get back into TV, showing up is enough, standing in the corner staring at your phone doesn't help, singing bad with a good attitude is better than singing well with a shit attitude, if you believe you are happy, other people will find you entertaining, fake it 'til you make it is sometimes the best course of action, impromptu digging graves for Mickey Mouse is never a bad idea, yoga helps, Pilates helps, physical therapy exercises help, walking helps, being outside yourself to put on a performance isn't really that hard unless you make a big deal about it, which no one wants to hear about, so just do your job and figure this is taking you somewhere else in the future.
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Showtime
Tonight was the first night of doing the improv show in front of a group of living, breathing, drinking people. It went well. I think. I am an introvert, so performing is a challenge for me, and it's different to do stage work versus the TV work that I've done in the past. It's a bit of another situation altogether when the audience member is sitting five feet from you. Of course, anxiety is the enemy of comedy, so there were times when I was stilted or awkward, but I really didn't want to choke, and I don't think I did. So far, improv has taught me how to fail better, that you must do anything rather than do nothing, and how to sing a made up song about people who are bipolar. Thanks, improv.
Buy my new short story, THE TUMOR: "One of the weirdest, smartest, most disturbing things you will read this year."
Mugshot
"My mugshot in lobby. #stiltz #crack #whore #mugshot #theater #beauty"