Explosion Bus

Hey Everyone!
 I recently recorded Season 1 of this new animated web series with <namedropping> Jonathan Katz called Explosion Bus!
Here is a letter from our producer, the one and only Tom Snyder. </ namedropping>.

Explosion Bus

(The world's last animated hope)

Premiering on September 13, 2011 at explosionbus.com

"This exciting new full-length web series will no doubt be referred to, in the future, as the first web series to make grown TV executives cry."   -  Me (Tom) 2011

Dear Friends,

Twenty years ago, a dream came true when I got to work with Jonathan Katz on our first TV show together. Before then, I would force my wife to watch endless VHS clips of Jon. Five years later, Jon and I were startled to be collaborating with Tom Leopold, often labeled 'the funniest guy in America'. Ever since, the three of us have been inseparable, unless we're apart.

A little over a year ago, production began on Explosion Bus, a 4-season, animated epic starring these two brilliant guys. I created this show, hopefully like no other, expressly for Internet broadcast.  Here are a few of its important and unique aspects:

• None of the cast, which includes many brilliant local actors, are exposed to the script until moments before their lines are performed. They find out what is in store for their character as the scene develops. Their performances are 'in the instant'.
• Our animators, the spectacular artistic director Robert Keough and the smartest artist in the East, Steve Davies, are not given post-production ‘notes’, the bane of an animator’s existence. This is unheard of in the business. (Ask any animator.) Bob and Steve know better than anyone what this world should look like. They are the visual artists.

Back to those local actors, and by local I mean Boston and New York...  They all have spent many hours alone in sound booths, without proper ventilation, learning a new meaning of the word 'flexible'. They have each invented their characters, and there ain't a one of them that you won't love. Misch Whitaker, Megan Goltermann, Chris Cook, Jonathan Wilson, Ahna Tessler, Jayson James and Dan Weber have over a billion combined hours of stage appearance, and one of them slightly more.

Explosion Bus also includes amateur and professional performers who audition their acts as part of our animated show. We find them across the land through Craigslist. They are fearless, and generous and talented. We are deeply indebted to these wonderful people, young and old.

Want to find out what it is really all about?

Please visit our web site at explosionbus.com where you will find some fun, pre-launch stuff: trailers, interviews, shopping, etc. And on Tuesday, September 13th at 8:30 PM , it is there that you will watch Episode One of Explosion Bus. We firmly believe that we have the best time slot on the internet!

Til we meet again,
Tom Snyder

In Print!

 UMass Amherst Magazine was Boston themed this month.
 As such, they ran a story by Patricia Sullivan about Improv Asylum.
 The piece features me, Norm Laviolette and Jeremy Brothers because we're all hi-larious UMass alumni.
You can check it out here. Personally, I think she captured us perfectly.

Three Hole Punch at WICF

"We met in college," is one way to describe what happened at the birth of Three Hole Punch.
 Tonight the girls are (literally) back in town and we're going to harness the forces of our collective quirk!
Three Hole Punch has dabbled in sketch, organic bullshit, interactive performance art, and  musical improv. But tonight we will bring you our long form, showing off what we do best: making stuff up.

It's all part of the Women in Comedy Festival which continues tonight at Improv Boston's mainstage, Improv Boston's studio space as well as Mottely's Comedy Club.

Check out the full schedule here.

My recommendations:

7pm on the Mainstage and in the Studio: Comedy All-Stars: This is the improv show that Rachel Dratch will be guest appearing in. If it's sold out consider buying half-price tickets to attend the SIMULCAST in the Improv Boston studio.

9pm in the Studio: The United Front of Improv Comedy. Catch Three Hole Punch doing our thang as part of this shared time slot. Also see some of my favorite local comedians in Reunion and Michelle and Micah.

10pm on the Mainstage: Comedy Spectacular includes the rapping improv group North Coast from UCB. (I don't know about you but I haven't heard Rachel Rosenthal rap nearly enough since she left Improv Boston to become a fancy New Yorker.)

Audition Notice!

Improv Asylum is having auditions for their NXT cast!

You can read all the details about it on the website.

I auditioned onto the NXT cast in 2007 with Stephanie Jones while we were still seniors in college performing with Mission:IMPROVable at UMass Amherst. I met some great people, performed with really talented comedians and worked under fabulous directors. After just under two years I was invited to join the mainstage company, where I continue to perform today. If you want, you can contact me to talk to me more about my experience before or after you email Stacey and book an audition slot.

Do it. You know you want to. Do it.

Photos: GoreFest VIII: Cirque du Slaughté - Theater - Boston Phoenix

For those of you who missed the show, or who just wish they could get one more look at our menagerie of creepy clowns, conjoined bearded ladies, lion lovers and other freaks...

Photos: GoreFest VIII: Cirque du Slaughté - Theater - Boston Phoenix

Thinly Veiled Blog Plugging

My brother, who has not shown much interest in my life since he was 5 years old and thought my Easy Bake Oven was a garage for his Micro Machines, has reminded me that I have not been updating my blog.
And here I thought only my mother and the HR department at work* were reading this site.

I've been writing, but not publishing, actually. The reason?  I haven't been happy with the jumble of nursing, comedy, show promos, personal anecdotes and travel stories that make up the content of my blog.

I'm jealous of blogs with a theme like Rachel Braidman's true-life photos and stories, or Tex's aptly named Weird Nursing Tales. Then there's Carrie Drzik, who has a number of individual blogs including one of my favorites: Carrie Draws Daily. There you'll find her artwork, but you need to travel elsewhere for her music.

I dream of having several specialized blogs one day. But until then, this is where it all comes out.
 I guess that's what makes it a MischMash.

Gorefest is over, I'm starting production for a new mainstage revue at Improv Asylum, and I have a ton of things to say about the current political situation. I've been taking photos of leaves, and I want you to know what I think of my new Netflix account. I'm back. Hold onto your butts.**

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* Dear HR, I am handing in my completed credentialing packet tomorrow by the way. Thanks for the deadline extension!
** Dear HR, that is a quote from Jurassic Park and not a threat against any real or imagined buttocks.

Gorefest Opens Tonight!

Gorefest 8: Cirque de Slaughté, (the goriest little show on earth!) opens tonight at Improv Boston in Central Square, Cambridge, Ma.

Last night we had our first (and last) dress rehearsal with "full blood," and the feedback we got from our invited audience was "needs to be bloodier."

Anyone who has ever seen an installment of Gorefest knows that the show gets bloodier and bloodier as the run goes on, due in part to the actors' comfort level with running the effects as well as perfecting the pressure in the shooters and the amount of blood/pus/slime used. Still, Don and I have some tricks up our sleeves for increasing the amount of ooze starting TONIGHT. The Gorefest crew, headed once again this year by Lynn Wilcott will be going all out tonight to make sure you get your fill of splatter.

The show runs tonight through Sunday night at 8pm with 10pm shows on Friday and Saturday as well. Next week we have shows Wed-Sunday at 8pm with 10pm shows on Friday and Saturday again. Get your tickets online at www.improvboston.com and bring your creepy clown repellant.

Gorefest Music Video, the making of

For the first time in the history of Gorefest, we're creating a music video.
The video features the opening number¹ from this year's Gorefest, Cirque De Slaughté. It was filmed this past weekend under the direction of Matt McLaughlin.
Here's a sneak peek:

>Featuring:  (front row) Jenna O'Brien, Jenny Foster (rear row) Natalie Cowell and Deana Tolliver

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1: The Show Must Go On, music and lyrics by Steve Gilbane

writing writing writing

Updating, you may have noticed, has been inconsistent.
The reason for this is that I have recently taken on two major writing projects.

The first is Gorefest.
 For those of you who may not know,  Gorefest is a gore-filled  musical comedy produced annually at Improv Boston at Halloween. Each year has a different theme, this will be Gorefest's eighth year running. As an example, here's last year's description.  This year, Don Schuerman, the father of Gorefest, opened up submissions for pitches to the general GF and IB community, and my concept has been chosen!
 I am co writing the book with Adam Brooks, and overseeing a small team of amazing lyricists.
The music will be done by the fabulous Steve Gilbane, as it has been in years past.*
We have an amazing production team in place, and emails have been flying back and forth as we start to create the next round of scary, gooey, fun.
Oh, and since everyone's been asking. This year's setting? The creepiest circus you've ever watched.

The other major project is Improv Asylum's new mainstage revue.
We are currently still running "The Best of Improv Asylum," but have started the production process for the next show, to be named at a later date. Our mainstage cast is saying goodbye to three people between now and July, and has taken on several new actors in the meantime. The new cast has been spending our nights down in the theater  drilling basics, running laps, bonding over pizza, and coming up with new sketches and new ways to use our improv skills.

I've never had so much writing to do. And I've never been so excited about it.

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*Shameless plug: go to his website and click on "Gorefest" on the left to hear some songs from the past few years. Among them, a song I sang last year about killing everyone. It is definitely not safe for work.

Improv Asylum Presents Second City!

I was going to combine this post with another Improv Asylum plug but I have decided it gets its own entry:

After months of hard work and anticipation, Improv Asylum is excited to be producing the first ever run of Second City Boston!

The all original show, "One if by Land, Late if by T,"  is performed by a cast of stellar SC Chicago actors and also features Improv Asylum's own  Kiley Fitzgerald and IA alumnus Micah Sherman! The musical director Brian Dunn also just happens to be IA's former musical director.

That means I can personally endorse this as being chock full of hilarious and talented people.

The show started on April 20th and runs through May 9th at the Wimbley Theater, Boston Center for the Arts.
It's a limited run only so buy tickets today!

Comedy Tracks

My brother is a Moose.

The clubhouse kind. Not the antler kind.

And for the first time since our living room smashing version of The Wizard of Oz in 1991 (you read that correctly), Brian and I have teamed up to entertain you.

Two Biddies Productions (Shannon Connolly and me, Misch Whitaker) is proud to be working with the Moose Lodge of Dedham to bring you Comedy Tracks: A night of stand up and improv. 

So come on down on April 3rd at 7pm to the Moose Lodge for the stand up stylings of Dana Jay Bein, Ken Breese, Christine Cuddy and the wacky improv of Two Biddies. Or just come for the deli meats. Whatever.

Tickets are $10 at the door and include light food and admission to the show.
Cash bar. Mooses. Comedy.
What more do you want?

Women In Comedy Festival Spot

Last night kicked off the Women in Comedy Festival at Improv Boston in Cambridge, MA.

Check out their website for a collection of really amazing performers (women and men) from both near and far.

Tonight I am psyched to be performing at WICF with Live Pod Shuffle, which is a group featuring alumni from Improv Asylum's Mainstage.* The set consists of scenes based on songs played by a live band which the audience helps to "shuffle."  We're sharing the 10pm "musical improv" slot with Trail Mix, the wonderful and melodic improv duo Rachel Rosenthal and Robert Woo of Improv Boston's Mainstage. 

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*... and me. Since I'm currently on the mainstage I'm technically a "pre-alumna."

Improv Asylum Update

Improv Asylum's renovations are almost complete, and our run of shows at the Hard Rock Cafe has passed.
 In the meantime, we'll be continuing our shows at the Old South Meetinghouse in Boston.
Check out www.improvasylum.com for the most up to date details on show times and locations.

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Meanwhile... you may remember that I mentioned an exciting collaboration with a certain legendary production company a few months back. Second City is finally here and plans for Improv Asylum presents Second City are in full swing. IA Mainstage's own Kiley Fitzgerald will be joining the Second City Boston cast for their run April 20 - May 9th. Click on the link above for details about tickets and special Second City related events.

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Improv Asylum is also proud to announce the premiere of "You're a Good Man, Scott Brown",  an original musical written by Jeremy Brothers (book and lyrics) and Jim Zaroulis (music).
Come check it out on opening night March 21st at 7pm, or on Sundays and Wednesdays thereafter.
Tickets can be found on our website, or by following the link above.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

If you are in the Boston area tonight and trying to decide which bar to cram yourself into look no further.
Tonight from 6pm to 8pm at GOODBAR the one and only Conor Shanahan will be playing  traditional Irish drinking and dancing songs for your drinking and dancing pleasure.
Check out the facebook event page for directions and even some sample videos of Conor strumming and singing to fan the flames of your Irish music passion.*

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And now... a video of my dear friend Pim (Cage Pearson) playing one of my favorite songs:



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* Yeah, I re- read that sentence and decided to stick with it.

Endorsements and Plugs Before I Go

I've been promoting BHCHP a lot for all the work they have done to make this trip possible. Now I'd like to take a minute to thank Improv Asylum. As soon as I mentioned going to Haiti I was given time off to leave, and the cast has been super supportive in covering the shows I will be missing (especially Kiley and Jane who have to step up for all the female roles). So ...  thank you everybody!

Also, be sure to check the grand opening of our newly renovated theater in the beginning of March!
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Tuesday, at my favorite laundromat in the world, Don Zar donated a free load of laundry to the Haiti cause, allowing me to get all my scrubs ready for the trip. The Laundry Room Etc., located on Mass Ave near Porter Square is fabulous. It's more expensive than the laundromat near my apartment, but I haul my stuff to Porter just because Don is so great, his place is so clean, and the environment is so cozy. If you have to use a public laundry room, you should go to his. Check out my Yelp review here.
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I won't be able to do it while I'm gone, so please, please remember to vote each day for Boston Healthcare for the Homeless' Dental Clinic to win the Tom's of Maine grant money!! You can vote once a day for up to five different clinics. BHCHP plans to use the money to create a more focused preventative dental program for HIV+ and diabetic patients. Preventing health problems in these patients saves money in the long run. But more importantly, because of the severity of certain complications for diabetics and AIDS patients, it can also save lives.
This means a lot to me, so please go ahead and cast that daily vote!

BOOT in Northampton tonight!

If anyone is in the Western Mass area (413, what up!?) come check out BOOT and Friends. 


 BOOT is Amy "Butts" Koske, Mark Teffer, Scott Braidman and Rachel Braidman.

And the "friends," tonight are non other than yours truly plus Improv Boston's talented and lovely
 Rachel Rosenthal and Shannon Connolly.

I can't wait to get on stage with all these amazing people. You should probably come watch.

The show is at 7pm and costs $5.
Come to the old Dynamite Records space on the lowest level of Thornes Market.
(Use the door that faces the parking lot.) For those of you who didn't hang out in Northampton every weekend for four years or more: directions.

Improv Asylum at the Hard Rock Cafe

Finally you can get your comedy fill while sitting underneath a vest worn by Jimi Hendrix!

For the next six weeks Improv Asylum's Hanover St. space will be undergoing construction to bring you a better bar, bigger bathrooms and an all around more awesome theater-going experience.

In the meantime ( Jan 21st through Feb 27th) we'll be doing our regular shows at the Hard Rock Cafe in Boston.

Thursdays 8pm

Fridays 8pm and 10pm

Saturdays 7pm 9pm and 11pm

Directions are here.

You can check out all the details for tickets, bar info and parking validations here.

An important change is that all our shows at the Hard Rock Cafe are going to be 21+.

EDIT:  shows are now 18+

What are you waiting for? I know you've always wanted to see me and Madonna's underwear in the same room. Call or email me if after the show you want me to introduce you to
Bon Jovi,
Dan Faneuf.

Shannon and Misch Do Comedy

Dear Friends,

Our two women show at Comedy On Tap at the Burren tonight has been canceled.
You'll have to see us in matching footsie pajamas some other time then.

love,
Shannon and Misch

Nightmare on Hanover Street

Last Sunday night I attended the opening of the new Improv Asylum NXT show, Nightmare on Hanover Street.

I LOVED it.
Disclaimer: I work at Improv Asylum.
Other disclaimer: But not on the NXT cast.

As far as shows go it continues to follow the Improv Asylum structure of improv and sketch blend, although it takes the blending further than usual. This can be seen in a couple of places in the show where improv transitions smoothly into written material, or where written material incorporates audience input seamlessly.
For example, the improvised musical that ends the first Act. It has just enough structure to be spot -on successful, while leaving plenty of room for improvised play. Like a sonnet. A big musical improvised sonnet with awesome lights and tight choreography.

I won't spoil the closer for you, but the title of their show hints at the theme at the very least, as do some of the cast portraits popping up on facebook. Think about everything you loved about Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas and you still won't know exactly what you're in for.

Under Jeremy Brothers' direction and guidance the cast found new interesting ways to get and use audience input for improvised scenes. It's part of the fearless creativity that permeates the entire show, in the improv as well as the content and execution of the sketches.

You should definitely get out to see it sometime soon.
Nightmare on Hanover Street
8pm Sunday Nights
Improv Asylum

Gorefest V. My Day Job

Typically heard at work:

"Make sure you glove up and wear a mask."
"Oh I will, last time I irrigated his ulcer stuff went everywhere."
"Do you know if he's...."
"No. Better safe than sorry."

Typically heard backstage at Gorefest:

"Did I get you? I couldn't see because there was vomit in my eyes..."
"Oh yeah, you got me. Feel free to aim the blood right in my face next time though."


You still have plenty of time left to catch the show at Improv Boston in Cambridge, MA.
We have two shows tonight (they've been sold out, but sometimes there are cancellations so call the box office).

Sunday Oct. 25 at 8pm (Tomorrow night)
Wednesday October 28th at 8pm
Thursday October 29th at 8pm
Friday the 30th at 8p and 10p
Saturday the 31st at 8p and 10p