Farm Team Comedy Class.

No Trivia for the next few days. I need a break while getting the contest ready. The answers to yesterday's trivia appears at the end of today's blog entry.

A little background. Comedy Sportz 101 was the class that I took last fall. The eight week class concentrated on learning techniques. The exercises taught you how to listen on stage despite distractions, improved your memory, helped with teamwork, teambuilding, and got you used to the stage. The followup three week class taught you the improv games that they actually play in their performances. Then comes the Farm Team Comedy classes. These classes are to refine your talent and prepare you to perform if you so desire.Comedy Sportz has performances on Friday and Saturday nights for the professionals. Sunday evcening they have Farm Team shows that are unpaid performers. They often get their paid talent from the Sunday afternoon performances. The class last night was to teach you the games for their Sunday afternoon shows and to refine your stage skills. The talent level in the Farm Team classes is way higher than it was in the eight week or three week classes. In the eight week and three week performances everyone in class *has* to get on the stage. In the Farm Team Class you get on the stage whenever you want. Your choice.

Last night it was new improv games. I was mostly an observer but did get on stage a couple of times. There were only two people there from my class. They did tell me that one person from our class had already been in a farm team show. And it was the person that I would choose as the least likely to be the first.

The funniest game last night was one that I observed. It was absolutely hilarious. It was called Replay of A Weeekend At Bernies. For those of you that don't go to movies Bernie is dead at the beginning of the movie but they don't want anyone to know so they take him everywhere. They dress him like he is alive. Put him in a wheelchair, put sunglasses on him and take him everywhere. In the improve game three people get on stage and do a secene. The referee blows a whistle. The audience votes on which one of the three on stage they want dead. The dead person can no longer talk. They replay the scene from the beginning with one of the two remaining live performers doing the lines of the now dead person. He holds the dead person up like a dummy etc. Then the whistle blows. The audience votes which one of the two remaining performers they want dead. Then the secene is replayed with the one remaining performer playing all three roles. It is absolutely a riot.

The two games I played were Password and Roses Are Red. Now remember everything is unscropted, unplanned. In Pasword. Six one stage. Two Teams. One from each team go outside. The audience shouts out seven words. The two members from outside come back in are the "guessers", the other two are the clue givers. One word clues only. I don't remember all of the clues, I just remember the one that I got a laugh on. I didn't think it was funny but some else did. The phrase was War And Peace:

My clue giving partner: Book

Guesser: Clue

Me: Movie

Guesser: Reds

Partner: Long

Guesser: Gone With The Wind

Me: Longer

laughs

Guesser: War And Peace

In Roses Are Red every statement has to start with "Roses Are Red". The audience then throws out a word that has to be used in any phrase that you use. "Wishes"

Me. "Roses Are Red Violets Are Blue I Wished I Still Love you but the doctor said I'm allergic to pencillian."

Laughter.

I really enjoyed the class. I am going to go next week. I may be mostly an observer for a couple of weeks but eventually I will participate in several skits.

Here are the answers to yesterday's questions:

What president became a U.S. Senator after he left office? Andrew Johnson.

What president returned to the House of Representatives after he became president?
John Quincey Adams.

Who was the first president to shake hands instead of bow to people? Thomas Jefferson.

Who was the first president born a US Citizen? Martin Van Buren

Name the president that boxer Jack Dempsey was named after? Wm Henry Harrison.

This president was arrested while in office for running over an old woman with his horse, but his case was dropped due to insufficient evidence? Franklin Pierce.

Who was the only president never to marry? James Buchannon.

Who was the first president to use a telephone in office? Rutherford B. Hayes.

Who was the first president to hold a press conference? Woodrow Wilson

What president married his fifth cousin once removed and was a seventh cousin once removed of Winston Churchill? FDR

Hope your day is filled with laughter.