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The Line finished.  Listen closely to when the triplets introduce themselves to hear that Chris Gethard permanently inserted himself into the universe. The New York Times did a feature article about it which contained a picture of the cast, including the mugs you see above.

The DCM also finished. I was lucky to be in shows I loved. I witnessed the Gethard-O’Neill slap battle in Stepfathers, terrible mullets in The Foxworthy Brothers, a surprisingly good improv set from The Twilight Zone show, a fun reunion with Monkeydick, and fun half-reunion with the Fat Guy Stuck in Internet Stars, and my favorite ever 30 second cameo in The 1986 Mets Extravaganza as never-heard-of-him Dave Magadan.

I also attended a Besser workshop which focused on, among other things, the pattern game and organic openings — which I thought was one of the best workshops I’ve ever been to. It changed the way I thought about those things mostly by making me remember why we do openings and what it is we want from them (funny ideas, a head start on developing your scenes and themes and such) — much the way this George Orwell essay on writing makes you a better writer by saying simply “Think about the words you use and use the correct ones.” Take my 501 class as we’ll be trying to work on what I learned there.

DCM was fun. Actually, I’m always dreading the DCM in the days approaching it. “I’m too busy for this crap,” I think. “And it’s too loud and crowded, and a pain.” And then the FIRST SECOND I actually see a show or someone walking into the theater that I haven’t seen in a while, I LOVE IT. And that happened this year. I didn’t hang out as much as I wanted, but I really loved just running into Birch Harms at 4am crossing 8th Avenue as if that were the most normal thing to do in the world. Or seeing Chris Kula bumming around the theater again. DCM really takes over the 4 block area around the UCBT. A temporary village of nerd comics. Like Burning Man but with more jokes and fewer enormous wooden catapults.

A word on reunion shows: I always love going to (and being in) reunion shows like Police Chief Rumble, Mailer Daemon, Five Dudes, Monkeydick, etc. They are a bit frustrating though. You see enough of the magic of each group to see what was great about it, but of course the groups are really out of practice and invariably do an inconsistent show. It’s like watching on old movie. You have to watch with a deliberate awareness that what you’re seeing is out of context. They’re mostly for improv nerds (and friends) I guess. You do get to see where certain dynamics come from.

I remember The Family, one of the most revered teams in our little subculture, reunited for one of the early DCMs and I heard people talking about it in McManus in hushed whispers that it maybe wasn’t quite as amazing as expected. Of course it wasn’t! It takes a while — at LEAST a show — to get back into a rhythm with a group.  Each group has its own temperature, sort of — and you need to sit it in to acclimate a bit. By the end of the Monkeydick show I felt a jittery mess — it was jarring to be back in that and feel the silliness and the confusion and the fun.

But you get a sense of it. Mailer Daemon, even in their absolute worst show, still have that manic craziness that lit up Harold Night for a solid year.  The Swarm at their sleepiest are still this smart, patient group of hilarious people who affect each other with every move.

That said, I heard The Swarm and Respecto kicked ass at FIT (though I think The Swarm benefitted from doing their Wednesday night show first, and then an Omelette Vision show earlier). And every show I cited above had awesome moments that brought me back to what made them beloved.

Achilles notes in his blog that it might be disappointing that no one does Harolds at DCM. I had never considered that before, but he’s right. Someone should do them. I understand the UCBT Harold Teams want a break, but someone should step up. It IS one of Del’s most famous contributions to the form, right?

I met some UCBTLA people, like Paul Rust, Neil Campbell, Michael Busch, Hal Rudnick, Erin McGathy, but only for brief seconds. It was like seeing the Justice Society. An alternate world like mine but different enough that I’m intrigued! I guess I’ll go there sometime. Someone invent a matter transporter and put it in the green room.

| Tags: achilles, dcm, gethard, monkeydick, respecto, shannon, stepfathers, swarm, the line