Ah, the good ol' lunch time cafeteria show. We don't do our normal show at these events, it's more similar to a street show, and we do enjoy mixing it up a little. So we had two of these in a row, and I figured I would combine them into one blog post. The shows were on 1/27 and 1/28.
I do want to take a minute to praise Madison Wisconsin for being a cool town! We had dinner at an amazing Jamaican restaurant and then went to the really nice comedy club to see Godfrey. The next day we had the most delicious burgers ever at Dotty Dumpling's Dowry. There are lots of other fun things to do there as well, but we had to move on to the next gig.
Our show at Morningside College on 1/22 was a blowout success! It felt like the entire school was there, everyone had an amazing time, and we heard they might make us their new mascots!
Interesting side note about that ice storm... When the ice thaws and falls off the branches of the trees, it will try and hit your car as you drive under it, and it sounds like it might kill you!
After finishing up at Dakota Wesleyan University we retreated to our hotel, and woke up in the morning to discover that the entire world was covered in a thick layer of ice. We happened to have a day off before our next show, so we stayed put in our hotel despite the fact that not returning our rental car to Sioux City was going to cost us another $200 (the car we had reserved at the airport was only $36/day, and it was still waiting for us). So we spent a boring day in the hotel....
Back on the road the next day, and it was STILL cold, foggy, and incredibly miserable. We dropped off our rental at the Sioux City airport, picked up a new rental (which turned out to be the exact same kind of car), and continued on to Wayne Nebraska.
In case you are wondering, you can skip Wayne Nebraska on your travel plans this year, but we did have a good time with the students there. Our show went well, and we got to eat some tasty ice cream at a local joint afterwards.
Our good friend Adam Ace was on tour in the area and came to this show, and he gave us a lot of really great notes on how to continue to improve on the characters. If you don't know Adam Ace, check out www.adamace.com, he's really really funny.
Our first full length show of the year has turned out to be one of the most challenging to get too in the SHOWOFF Show's history. Our flight plan started started in Harrisburg PA, connecting in Cincinnati to Minneapolis St, Paul, and then finishing in Sioux City, Iowa. That last leg of the trip is where our troubles began starting at take off, where the guy sitting directly across the isle of our cramped little plane started flipping out about the safety announcements, yelling something to the tune of "shut the **** up so we can take off"; which the flight attendant didn't seem to hear. Sporting a white bud light hat, and a t-shirt that probably said "she had it coming", this guy was a clear candidate for an anger management prison sentence. Jonathan and I started sizing the guy up assuming that we may have to take this gem of a humanity on in combat, and I didn't like our odds. Our potential opponent was sporting a short crew cut, and had the looks of a recent marine core combat vet. Sure he was starting to get a gut from his nightly case of cheap cold beer in a can, but he clearly knew how to fight. Put that up against a 120lbs contortionist who can hardly do a push up and a juggler who gets sore from 4 rounds of Wii boxing, and you have a winning bad guy. Luckily he fell asleep, phew, catastrophe avoided.
Flash forward two hours into the flight and we get a message over the intercom from the captain. Apparently Sioux City airport was living up to their airport code (SUX) and it was too foggy to land, so we were turning around and flying back to Minneapolis.
Angry guy was still sleeping, and I watched with anxious anticipation for the demon to wake and start killing things. He did eventually wake up, and the woman next to him explained the situation. I could see the anger well up inside him, and watched the woman recoil in uncomfortable apprehension. Landing announcements came over the intercom from the flight attendant, and more outbursts came from under the bud light cap, and this time she heard it. Questioning ensued, and he recoiled. The police were waiting for him at the gate, and Jonathan and I didn't have to get our asses kicked. I still want to know more about that guy, I'
m guessing he really was a marine combat vet and has some kind of PTSD.
Think the travel story is over? Not by a long shot. Our next task was to shore up in a hotel for the night and the airline was offering a distressed traveler discount at a Day's Inn nearby. Unfortunately the last shuttle to the hotel had left about 15 minuets before our arrival, so we had to take a cab. Guess what the 6 mile cab ride cost us..... $30! On checking in we discovered that the morning shuttle to the airport was all booked up already, so we were gonna have to take another $30 cab ride back. It was the most annoying set of circumstances ever, and it made me mad. I'm pretty sure I was one bud light hat away from talking to the police.
Back at the airport, guess what, still foggy. No planes are landing at Sioux City, and to cap it off, there was a disabled plane on the runway. We made the decision to abandon the flight and rent a car one way, otherwise there was a chance we would never make it to our show. Guess what a one way rental from MSP to SUX costs... $400/day! Lucky for us they had a car that needed to be returned to SUX and we got it for only $200/day... What a deal! Jonathan had some confusion at the rental counter as well. Our lovely agent Laura had found us this car and told us to talk to Mohammed at the Avis counter. So Jonathan went to the counter, and found Mohammed, who had no idea what we were talking about.... Apparently there were 5 guys named Mohammed at this place. It all got sorted out eventually.
The 5 hour drive to our show in Mitchell South Dakota was an eerie one. It seemed like the entire country was covered in fog and as the stretching great planes interstate disappeared into the mist, giant power line structures and windmills would emerge from it. The fog also crystalized on the trees in a thick frost, that was actually very beautiful.
Right before arriving at the school, we made a short detour to check out Mitchell South Dakota's main tourist attraction and claim to fame, the "Corn Palace". The Corn Palace is the only one in the world of it's kind (understandably), and it's basically an indoor sports arena. The corn comes into play on the outside, which is decorated entirely with corn parts, and sports a new motif every year. It's fun to make fun of, but honestly, it's pretty cool. Across the street we noticed that the doll museum had gone out of business, which made Jonathan sad.
Our show at Dakota Wesleyan University was a blast. They put us on an eclectic stage reminesiant of 60's or 70's style, with fake plants and fake marble pillars. The audience was packed in, and laughing hard, which was a nice way for us to start the year.
Every so often we are asked to sign autographs, sometimes we don't have anything to sign, so we sign whatever they have (Show Tickets, Posters, Body Parts, etc). We've never really thought about where they end up until we stumbled upon this photo...
We're in a movie! It opens in Michigan in January and then in select cities. Details below. Also, look for us to return to Detroit's Comedy Castle in June 2010.
Check out 1:30 "Nailed It."
The World Premiere is set for Jan. 5, 2010 at the Emagine Theatre in Novi, MI. The movie opens in theatres Jan. 8, 2010 in the Detroit area. The event took place March 16-21, 2009 at Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle. This Jim Dudek Film captures what it was all about not only for the audience but also for the comedians. For more Information or for tickets to attend the World Premiere Event, Visit: ArkDistribution.com
