My long running iO Harold team, Rattlesnake High School, will reunite for one day only at the Playground Theater in Chicago on Saturday, April 24th @ 7:30 pm. The upcoming show was called “especially intriguing” by the Chicago Sun-Times.

I was on this team for four glorious years before I moved to Los Angeles. Our style was uniquely physical and many Rattlesnake shows ended in sex, fights or a mash-up of the two. I’m excited to see what this wonderful night of play will bring. Half the original players on RHS now live in Los Angeles and play on USS Rock N Roll but several of them are flying back to play. Whether you’ve never seen this group before or if you’ve just been jonesing for some physical snake pits… you won’t want to miss this show!

Tickets for the festival will go on sale April 1 at www.chicagoimprovfestival.org.
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The Peapod Squad, the improv troupe I started in college, is still going strong. So strong in fact that there’s now a second troupe on campus. This year the Peapod Squad won it’s third Beanpod title, a coveted college improv title. I’m so proud of these guys. I’ve been back to teach improv there many times over the years and I am always impressed with how smart, funny and ready to learn they are. It does not surprise me that they won again. See the official Clark bulletin below or read here.
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Peapod Squad wins 3rd Beanpot improv title

he Clark University Peapod Squad took first place at the 2010 College Beanpot Improv Tournament, held Feb. 24-27 at ImprovBoston.

Peapod competed against eight other area college improv teams to win first place, the third Beanpot title for the squad.

Members of the Peapod Squad are Andrew Ninnemann ‘10, Kaylie Curran ‘10, Sarah Jette ‘10, Milo MacPhail ‘11, John Nolan ‘11, Danny Zeliger ‘11, Ian Michaels ‘11, Julian Kronick ‘12 (of Leominster), Laura Flynn ‘12, and Vicki Grogan ‘10. Individually, MacPhail won the Breakout Player award.

The tournament is conducted in a Theater Sports-style competition, with teams going head-to-head, being scored individually according to Story, Skill, and Entertainment. This year’s tournament featured a “Goon” judge, who was allotted 15 points per round to give out as they saw fit, according to things they liked about the scenes.

Peapod won the competition in the final round against Fairfield by playing a long-form version of a game (with the working title of “The Morality Game”) created by the Squad, in which the team went through the scenario of the way a character’s life would pan out if they made one moral decision over another. The team received a perfect score for this final game, bringing in the win.

Peapod was coached at this year’s tournament by Impro Boston cast member Jenna O’Brien of Flaming Awesome, an IB house team.

This year’s other contestants included Fairfield University; Northeastern University; MIT; WPI; Brandeis University; Boston University; Boston College; and Gordon College.

I was honored to be on of Sarah Longueuiel’s first guests (along with Bryan Irzyk and Riki Kalil) on her new show “What’s So Funny” on ISGOOD Radio. We talked about the team, improvised a rap and talked about the future of improv.

Check out the podcast here!

In August, USS Rock N Roll walked away with the award for “Best Harold Team of 2009″ at the Del Awards Ceremony at iO West. Not bad!

I would personally like to thank everyone who voted for us, came to a USS show in the past year, or bought me a beer. You’re great!

USS Rock N Roll wins iO West’s annual Harold competition. It took half a dozen brackets and some very tough competition, but USS walks away with the trophy and bragging rights to… something. I’m sure. Thanks to everyone who came out to support us!