Bye 202

Tonight was my last 202 class at UCB and I'm not happy about that. This has been a great class and I really feel like I learned a couple tons of info. Most all of this is because of the teacher, Joe Wengert. He knows exactly what exercises to do and what notes to give to get the best out of each student. This meant more to me than Rob Riggle's class (which was an improv-changing experience, don't get me wrong) just because Joe is one of my favorite performers on one of the most consistently brilliant teams at the UCB. So, you know, making someone laugh that makes you laugh...it's pretty cool. I keep waiting to have a bad experience with a teacher, but they've all been so stupendous. Between Ari, Shannon and Joe, I have gained a solid foundation of improv skills that I will build upon. They're my improv parents. A weird threesome.

Speaking of weird threesomes, I got to give notes on one tonight in class. The abbreviated Harold we did for the last half hour featured me playing a dad who was way too comfortable giving advice to his daughter. So, you know, sex toys and tampons did fly. Besides that, I think I did some pretty decent scenework that got laughs and also attempted to put together everything I've been learning. There were only 8 of us in class ("this'll be like Harold team practice" Joe commented) so we all got scenes galore and individual notes. Joe's note to me was to make my scenes more active and to always look for the next object or move in the game. For some reason I thought that I had no problem with that, then I remembered that it was similar to a note Shannon gave me on Sunday. The scenes I did after that, gross sexual misconduct aside, were very active and full of game moves. Wow. Here's hoping I can hold on to that note. I also did the first diss Joe's ever heard in a pattern game (Mike: "Men wearing thong underwear" Brett: "What Mike calls Saturday night."). Unfortunately that scenario never appeared in any of the following scenes.

Tomorrow night I begin my sketch 101 class.

Nerves.