suckinlookfunny:

Mint Condition is very physical. (Taken with GifBoom)

One of my goals for 2011 was to perform at least 100 times. I was able to meet and surpass that goal, finishing with 119 total performances.

Here are some stats regarding the performances:

• 57% of shows were long-form improv, 42% were short-form improv and 1% were stand-up.
• 39% of the total shows were at the Magnet, representing 75% of my long-form shows.
• May was my least productive month (5 shows); June and August were tied for the most (14 shows each). The average was 9.9 per month and 2.2 per week.

And finally, a show breakdown by team:

• ComedySportz - 56
• Mint Condition - 14
• Front Page - 9
• Class Shows (Magnet / UCB) - 8
• Grappler - 7
• The Danboys - 7
• Easy, Tiger - 7
• Other - 11

One of my goals for 2011 was to have at least 50 new experiences here in NYC. They could be restaurants, bars, performances or an activity.

I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge, so I didn’t just stop at 50, but made it all the way to 101. The full list of experiences, complete with ratings and one-line reviews, can be found here.

1. Park Here. Indoor Park. Really cool idea, sadly only temporary.
2. Pio Pio. Peruvian Restaurant. Incredible Chicken.
3. Night Court. Judicial System. Very unique, interesting reflection on society.
4. Book of Mormon. Broadway Musical. Incredible show, hilarious, even standing room only seats are great (and cheap).
5. Sleep No More. Interactive Theater. Incredible experience and very unique. I want to go back.
6. Down & Derby Disco. Roller Skating. Awesomely good time. $5 entry, $5 skates. Only happens once every few months in the basement of a hotel.
7. HanGawi. Vegetarian Restaurant. Very cool ambiance, delicious korean vegetarian, more expensive.
8. TV on the Radio. Concert. The venue (Williamsburg Park) was pretty cool and the band solid, but pretty expensive.
9. Meatball Shop. Meatball Restaurant. Quite delicious, a new favorite. Tried all of the sliders.
10. Cafe Lalo. Restaurant / Desserts. Amazing dessert place, a little expensive but quiet delicious.

I finished the year with 1,549 tweets all time, with around 300 tweets coming this year. Of those 300-ish tweets, here are my favorites from 2011.

Best One-Liners

1. Cereal for dinner? Life is good.
2. A guy asked me if I wanted some free fish. I asked, “What’s the catch?”
3. If you’re having router problems I feel bad for you son, I got 99 problems but a switch ain’t one.
4. I want to open a pizza place called “Evil.” On the pizza box it would say “Delivered us from Evil.”
5. Mirror mirror, on the wall. Dresser dresser, on the floor. Light light, on the ceiling. Room room, checklist complete.

Best Observations

1. How do you congratulate the guy who operates the ball on New Year’s Eve? “Way to drop the ball there, Gary.”
2. I think I would drink more smoothies if they were called fruitshakes.
3. The biggest failure of the English language is that the word “palindrome” isn’t one. I propose changing it to “palinilap.”
4. Don’t get me wrong, I love football, but it’d be more exciting if the team names were literal. I’d watch giants play against cowboys.
5. When something is due by COB (“Close of Business”), I think we all agree it really means SONWD (“Start of Next Work Day”).

Best Stories

1. Got a massage at work today. Masseuse said it’s appropriate my name is Drew because I’m more than tense, I’m past tense.
2. The Reds won today! Non-sports fans: do not panic, this has nothing to do with Communism in America.
3. Today is Saturday, so I went for a jog, Da Drew Run Run Run, Da Drew Run Run.
4. Taught improv to a college class today. I think that moves me from amateur fessor to professor.
5. Thanks to being sore from rock climbing, 2 of my co-workers now think I’m weird because they found me stretching in a huddle room.

I found these notes when cleaning up my computer. I never quite finished them, but it’s still an interesting look back at our process shooting “Within” back in 2010.

—————————————————

Day 1 - Car Ride + First Night of Shooting (08-Mar-2010)

The Within shooting trip started early Monday morning with a 3am wake-up call to pack the car and start driving to Michigan.  Waiting to the last minute to pack and watching the tail-end of the Oscars netted me about 2 ½ hours of sleep, perfect for the 14 hour drive ahead of us.

Dr. Azeem was the main driver, a friend from Philly (who is a doctor) and had about the same amount of sleep as me and had the added fun of driving 2 hours from the city of brotherly love on Sunday night.  We left the Tower of Arrogance around 3:30am to pick up the third and final member of our car extravaganza, Fergal, one of the three actors in the film.

The car ride was about your average fair, complete with pit stops, good conversations, driver rotations and about an hour of sleep each (not at the same time as that would have been disastrous).

We got into Caseville, MI, where we would be shooting for the entire week, around 6pm Monday evening.  The house we stayed at belonged to a friend of Woodruff’s (writer, director, co-producer and one of the actors) and was perfect for us—plenty of bedrooms, space and close proximity to woods, the primary location for the film.

By the time we arrived, Frye (as in Don Frye, former MMA fighter and verifiable badass, also the third actor in the film) was cooking dinner and intimidating the hell out of the pasta.  We didn’t waste much time with the formalities as we were out shooting our first scene by 9pm that evening. 

The first night’s scenes were relatively simple, but given that it was the first day of shooting, it was the dark of night in some woods, and we had never worked together as one group, we didn’t finish up until around 5am.  If you’re keeping track, that’s a 26-hour day with one hour of sleep; tack that onto my previous day and the week started with 3 ½ hours of sleep over the course of 40 hours—I must enjoy what I’m doing…

Day 2 - The Second Night (09-Mar-2010)

Fortunately (or unfortunately) the majority of this movie takes place at night, meaning we had plenty of time to sleep during the day.  I attempted to catch up on some sleep, finally waking up at 2pm.

Before the shoot could start, there were a few things needed from the store.  Dan the Ninja (the director of photography, co-producer and assistant director, also a ninjistu instructor) and I went in search of an Internet connection and long johns.

Unbeknowst to us, Caseville is a small town with seasonal visitors.  The season? Summer, when a cheeseburger festival brings in tens of thousands of visitors from all over.  However, when it’s not Summer, it leaves only a few thousand people around in the surrounding area, meaning not much was happening in town.

Our search for Internet seemed doomed, as the one Internet café was closed for the season.  Our search for long johns didn’t start out much better as the Dollar General (the only chain store in the area) was fresh out of them.  Luckily, the General was carrying some oversized sweatpants which worked just as well at keeping my feeble body warm as a pair of underwear with pantlegs.

As for the Internet, our journey took us across the street to the hardware store, where a discussion about gaffers tape turned into us explaining to the store owner that we were in town to make a short film—he wasn’t surprised as apparently news of our project had already spread through town.  He was kind enough to let the Ninja use their computer and also offered up some friendly albeit not-entirely-helpful film advice.

After a nothing-special, still-good dinner, and Fergal’s unsuccessful attempts at cracking Frye’s back, we were ready for the second night of shooting.  In an attempt to expedite the filming process, I worked on a shot-list and schedule for us to go off of.  We didn’t even come close to following it.

The goal of the night was to shoot the climatic scene of the film through to completion—this involved a campfire, some dialogue, a costume change and some makeup.  Due to a little bit of a late start and the time it took to find the right shots, we only made through about 1/3^rd of the scene before dawn starting peaking through the trees and we had to call it a night.  Bed time: 6:30am.

Day 3 – The Third Night (10-Mar-2010)

After sleeping till 4pm, it was time to start the next day.  I awoke to some discussion about getting steaks for dinner, and given we were already over budget for the film at this point, it didn’t seem like a good idea.  However Frye insisted (in the way of paying for the steaks) and we sent Dr. Azeem on his way to grab them.  Long story short—the selections the doc made were not up to Frye’s standards and there were lots of jokes made about the aptitude of a doctor being able to select beef.

Since Fergal’s attempts to crack Frye’s back the day before were unsuccessful, it was Woodruff’s turn to try.  Stepping on the goliath’s back yielded mediocre results but some weird pinching maneuver seemed to do the job OK.  Woodruff compared the toughness of Frye’s skin to tree bark.

Our first scene of the third day was meant to be one that required one of the actors getting hoisted up into the air by his foot (yeah we got all stunty in this film).  We initially wanted the scene to take place at dawn, meaning we could shoot it in reverse at sunset, but it turns out that the sun sets pretty quickly making it difficult to actually shoot an entire scene with the same light in the background.  This was the first, but not the last, scene we shot that ended up being used as a “learning experience” (aka was a waste).

After drastically missing the magic hour shot, we moved back to the scene we were shooting the night before.  The second third of the scene required some makeup work that slowed down the progress of the night, but ended up looking better than expected.  With some good camera work and lots of running around from Kyle (the key grip / best boy on the film, who was in fact that best boy in that he did the job of 3 people without ever complaining and always anticipating what was needed), we were able wrap on the climax of the film just before dawn arrived and Frye had to leave for the airport.

With the late shooting, we got to see another beautiful sunrise over Lake Michigan and cozy up in bed by 7:30am.

Day 4 – The Fourth Night (11-Mar-2010)

I naturally awoke on Day 4 around 3pm as my body started to adjust to the new night hours I was living.  The day was relatively relaxed, though Josh (the sound guy and overall funny dude) gave me a few of the sound files he was recording and I got my first taste of what syncing will be like on this film.  In that short preview, I could tell it was not going to be something I would enjoy.

Day 5 – The Fifth Night + Back to NY (12-Mar-2010) 

Cooked hamburger helper for first time (with no milk and expired butter)

Snare trap scene + Insert shots + Little bit of rain

Detroit Airport

I finally got a chance to do one of the weirder items on my list when I went to Night Court with some friends last night. As I understand it, people who are arrested must be arraigned within 24 hours, and given the shear volume of people in NYC, it means the courts are open from 9am to 1am, seven days a week.

After heading to a friends going-away party Saturday night, we decided to check out Night Court to see our judicial system is process (and find out if it was anything like Night Court, the TV show). We made our way to 100 Centre St around 12:30am (we didn’t know it closed at 1am), unsure of what to expect.

After going through the security process, we made our way around the corner and into room 130, where they arraign the felonies. We quickly learned there is no talking allowed in the courtroom (even though the lawyers and police officers seemed to have their own side conversations) as we were shushed almost as soon as we entered.

There were a wide variety of cases presented, ranging from drug possession to domestic abuse. At first I was surprised by what the defendants chose to wear to court, but realized that’s because that’s what they were arrested in.  I was also surprised to find that you get a significant discount on your bail if you post it using cash (something to keep in mind I suppose?).

At 1:10am (must’ve been a lot of cases), we decided to leave the felonies room and check out misdemeanors in room 129. We saw the tail end of one case and then a quick release of another and they closed up shop for the evening.

Overall it was an interesting thing to see and though I don’t think I’ll plan any personal trips back, I’d go if people wanted to see what it was like. And for those of you wondering, “WHY?”, I was interested in checking out Night Court out of curiosity for what the court process is like and how the fact that it’s midnight impacts the process. Aside from lots more yawning, I’d imagine that’s what the normal process looks like.

Experience Date: 2011-03-19
Location: 100 Centre Street, Manhattan
Hours: 5:30pm to 1:00am, 7 days a week
Website: Things to Do in New York: Watch Night Court 
Rating: **** 

Located at 120 E 15th St, there isn’t anything particularly noteworthy about Side Bar except that it is somewhat of an Ohio State bar. We watched the Buckeyes’ first game of the March Madness tournament there, had some beer, bread + hummus, chicken wings, tater tots and quesadillas. Perhaps the most disappointing thing for me was that they didn’t have any toothpicks to help me clean my teefeses.

Experience Date: 2011-03-18
Location: 120 E 15th St
Website: http://www.sidebarny.com
Rating: ***

linnysmith:

codyjohnston:

My friend Pat wrote this fake article on his blog. Someone took it as fact and posted it on IMDB. I’m pretty sure this means that The Onion should hire him for writing such a believable piece of satire. Go do that, The Onion.

I also think this means that the girl who posted it actively Googles “Aniston-Pitt Divorce” all day, every day. Let it go, sweetie. Let it go.

Yeah, Onion! 

I fully agree with this assessment Onion / girl.

Here it is, the much anticipated “Drew’s Best of 2010.”  If you’re super excited about my best of (or bored with everything else), you can check out 2008 and 2009; also to note I don’t have a “worst of 2010″ like past years because who wants to dwell on the failures / I don’t feel like writing more.

Best Achievement – Perform Improv 53 Times

In 2007, 2008 and 2009, I gave myself 10 goals at the beginning of the year to accomplish.  2010 was no different.  This year, I successfully completed 6 of my 10 goals, which isn’t even a passing score, but is a lot better than if I didn’t set any goals.

My best achievement of the year was performing 77 times.  Not only did it greatly exceed my goal,  it also helped me grow a ton as a performer.  Thanks to a lot of great teachers and far too much analysis, I was able to blow past some of the barriers in my head and start performing more emotional, interesting and engaging characters.  Thanks to everyone who attended one or many of the 77 shows, hopefully you enjoyed it or them.

Personal Development – Daily 3 Challenge

Anyone who’s followed my goals in the past, or has had to share a hotel room with me, knows I love the snooze button.  I’ve tried a number of different things to break this cursed habit, but the only thing that has consistently kept me from hitting snooze was instituting a challenge with Pat.

Since Pat and I started the daily 3 challenge (not hit snooze, write for 1 hour and exercise) 73 days ago, I’ve only hit snooze 16 times.  Not perfect but far better than how I was doing for most of the year.

Best Business Decision – Go to LA for Speaking Conference

Humor That Works has seen quite a transformation this year and I’ve had a number of great opportunities to share the power of humor with some great groups.

However the decision that has had the biggest impact (if only mentally so far) was attending a speaking conference in LA. Not only did the trip give me 5 consecutive days to think about my business, it also helped me make some decisions on the direction I want to go.  And, perhaps most importantly, it gave me a sense of validation as to what I am doing and how it is something people are looking for.

Best Personal Decision – Move to Midtown East

Though I technically made the decision to move in 2009, I wasn’t 100% sure where I was moving to until 2010.  I first looked in Chelsea to be close to the improv theaters, but ultimately ended up in a great apartment in Midtown East (almost entirely thanks to Luke).

Though I’ve definitely had challenges in the apartment (no stove for the first month, bad windows for 3 months, a brief issue with heat), it’s proved to be a great place to stay.  It has a second bedroom for the vagrants that stay with me, has enough space for all of my crap plus some, affords me the opportunity to walk to work and is located such that I can almost always stop at home in between career #1 (work) and career #2 (comedy).

Best Travel – Geneva/Paris/Ediburgh/London

I was fortunate enough to travel quite a bit in 2010. I managed to spend some time back home in Cincinnati, in my second home of Columbus, had two trips to LA, a weekend in San Francisco that included some time in San Jose, five days in Las Vegas, three days in Mexico City, an overnight stay in Boston, a weekend wedding in Cape Cod, two trips to Chicago, and started the year in New Orleans / Baton Rouge. But of all the places I went, the most unique were the places I hit in Western Europe.

My first time in Europe (and incidentally the first of any of my immediate family members) started as a business trip in Geneva. I decided to make the most of the flight across the Atlantic and extended my stay long enough to see Paris (8 hours), Edinburgh (2 days) and London (1.5 days). I had the chance to see some historic landmarks, got to see a great friend and experience a traditional Scottish ceilidh, and learned a ton about myself (most notably my lack of appreciation for other languages and the wonder that is being in a foreign city completely by yourself).

I hope to make it back to Europe soon (specifically Tarvin, England and Italy), but I’ll never forget the first time there.

Best NYC Visit – Family for Christmas

I don’t think I had a single bad visit in 2010, but the most memorable was the recent visit from my mom, dad, brothers and one of my brother’s girlfriend. It was a jam-packed (including a trip to PB & Co) 4-days with great food, tons of walking, lots of pictures and non-stop time spent together.

Thanks to the fam for making the long trip and for keeping me fed during and after the visit (mmm leftovers).

Best New Restaurant – Peanut Butter & Co

I was able to try a number of great new (to me) restaurants in 2010 but my favorite was Peanut Butter & Co. Not only does it focus on one of the things I love, it has combinations I had never even thought of. My favorite: a peanut butter BLT (but sans tomato for me).

Sadly I discovered while thinking about this one that I ate at McDonald’s more than any other restaurant this year (actually it was probably 99 Cent pizza but I don’t have CC tracking for that).  To be fair, I did get a lot of the smoothies from there, but I definitely have to change that in 2011.

Best Improv Show – 2 Square

I couldn’t tell you how many shows I saw this year even if I wanted to (and I do want to). If I had to guess, I’d say somewhere in the 50 to 60 range. Many of them were awe-inspiring and hilarious, such as the many Gravid Water shows I saw, tons of shows at DCM (especially Improvised Shakespeare, Baby Wants Candy and Bash), and TJ & Dave.

But the winner for me was the final 2 Square show. Peter Grosz and John Lutz have continued to amaze me since the first time I saw them. But for their last show (at least in awhile), they managed to blow my mind with their commitment to and diversity of characters, connections between scenes, and an ending that couldn’t have been scripted better if the entire thing actually had been scripted.

Best Improv Performance – Level 5 Run

It’s hard to pick my own best performance for the year because there were so many good ones… and a lot of bad ones… and plenty that were just “eh.”  Also that whole subjectivity thing makes it tough since I didn’t get a chance to see me perform any of the shows.

So I won’t pick a single performance out of the 77, but rather a run of them; specifically the run of shows I had with my Level 5 class at the Magnet.  The class was full of incredibly talented people and every show was a blast to play in.  For me, characters from that memorable run included a drunk hotel patron, a Medieval Times employee looking for a date, and a man politically changed by a dream he had about bunnies.

Best Movie I Saw – Inception

I didn’t see a ton of movies in 2010 (only 6 of the Top 50 for 2010), but I did see some quality ones (Toy Story 3, Jackass 3-D).  The movie I enjoyed the most was Inception.  It had intrigued, action, solid acting, cool locations and an awesome plot that was engaging throughout.  I rarely like to watch movies multiple times, but I’d happily see this one again.

Best Book I Read – And Here’s the Kicker

I’ve read a decent number of books this year (including Predictably Irrational, Last Words, and Naked Pictures of Famous People), but the winner for me was And Here’s the Kicker.  The book is a collection of interviews with some of the top humor writers in the country and contains amazing insights, practical tips and lots of encouragement.

Best Tweet – Tux

I created a list of my 15 best tweets of 2010, but my favorite for the entire year was:

My tailor asked if I needed help trying on a tux. I said “No.” He said “fine, suit yourself.”

I tweeted a lot in 2010 (roughly 570 times).  There were a lot of bad ones.  Luckily there were also some I really enjoyed.  Repeated here for your groaning pleasure are my “best” tweets of 2010:

Best Jokes

1. My tailor asked if I needed help trying on a tux. I said “No.” He said “fine, suit yourself.”
2. Who’s #1? According to roman numerals it is I.
3. Hey remember that time we ate those cute pistachios? That was pretty nuts.
4. Just landed in Cincinnati and my ears won’t soda… wait, I’m Cincy again, I can say pop.
5. If I dated a cosmetologist, I’d fight with her just to say “I’m sorry, lets make up.” Then she’d laugh and laugh and all would be well. 

Best Observations

1. Best part about revolving doors? If u go into the wrong building u dont have to make an awkward U turn. Just keep walking til you’re out.
2. “Uniform” should never be singular. Unless there’s at least 2, it’s just “crazy outfit.”
3. I like how the word “subtle” has a ‘b’ in it. It’s there, but it’s subtle.
   AND
   I like that when the word camouflage is said verbally, the ‘u’ is camouflaged with the ‘o’. Well done English.
4. I propose a new rule: meetings can’t last longer than my laptop battery. Or my bladder.
5. I sometimes intentionally hold the door for someone who is a tad too far away just to see them hustle to appreciate my courteous act…

Best Stories

1. I was running late today so I made a sandwich on the subway. Not just ate… made.
2. in a presentation this morning an IM notification popped up on the presenters computer. the friends screenname? bearcuddlers. awesome.
3. JFK to LHR to GTW to GVA to CDG to EDI to LHR to JFK. happy to be back in the NYC.
   AND
   LGA to CVG to CMH to LAS to LAX to JFK. 
4. Sang a song tonight as a pregnant woman. my fetus and I did a duet.
5. Fun last class show, and thoroughly enjoyed the entire 12 weeks. I’ll remember the wall and those bunnies for a long time.