Toronto Improv Jamboree 2005

Johnny Lunchpail got a decent write up in Toronto's Now Magazine for its performance on the Main Stage at the 2005 Toronto Improv Jamboree;

Locals Pat Kelly and Peter Oldring breezed through a solid show on Friday, and New York's Johnny Lunchpail infused their amazing set with lots of theatricality and visual inventiveness. Of all the acts I saw, Johnny Lunchpail knew best how to bring worlds to life with minimal effort. They also had a natural sense of play.

Photo by Kevin Thom

DVD Commentary

Last night I travelled to suburban New Jersey to record the DVD Commentary for Four Dead Batteries. FDB is an independent film I did a couple years ago and it is finally getting a DVD release with a real distributor (Warner - Elektra - Atlantic). Available soon (November-ish) on Netflix and Amazon.

About 10 of us sat in a smallish studio and recorded our comments as the film ran. It got pretty snarky as most of us are improvisors and we made things up.
We spoke of Hiram's (the Director) coke habit, The lack of tight shots of Dave's face because it doesn't fit on screen. I myself have been portrayed as Jewish with LA street-hustler tendencies. None of these things are true.

Fun facts I was reminded of during the commentary:

• Joe Piscopo was supposed to have a small role in the film. In fact, this was used an enticement to get me to do it. Somebody lied!
  
• I had to shoot a "summer" outdoor scene at night during sub-freezing temperatures wearing a dress shirt & khakis. To keep the cameras from seeing my breath I was forced to chew ice cubes in between takes.
• They ran out of money halfway through production and had to do another year of fun-raising.
  
• We were forced to get drunk in prep for the improv scenes. To make them funny. They were shot over 3 nights until 1am while everyone was working their day jobs.

Look for the disc in stores this Christmas.

2005 Tiger Beer Singapore Chili Crab Festival

I attended this event last Sunday with fellow Lunchpailer Will Koehl. We made the trip down to DUMBO (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass to you non-New Yorkers). Here are some photos.


The neighborhood.


There was some boxing there. Kickboxing too. I wasn't able to get any photos of the kickboxers because my camera kept saying it was "out of memory". Little did I know that my camera had been storing photos in a secret area of my memory card since February. I have remedied it now.

This is a dog that was there. I swear his eyes are open. I believe the breed is known as Shar-Pei, or the Chinese Fighting Dog. None of them fought while I was there though.

Here is a squadron of them. Keep your hands and feet away!


Of course, I had to try the chili crab. It's a fairly standard-issue crab served in this sweet and spicy chili sauce. The sauce was delicious and similar to the kind of sauce that comes in a barrel-shaped bottle with a chicken on it when you go to eat in a Vietnamese restaurant. Not a lot of meat, and you've got to work for it. So really it's all about the sauce.


Short work.


I also ate a Vietnamese sandwich called a Banh Mi. Delish.


The band Gaijin a Go-Go provided much of the entertianment during the afternoon. Gaijin a Go-Go is an American band that performs Japanese 60's swing-rock in the style of say Pizzicato Five or Shonen Knife (I'm sure there must be better examples out there). I'm not sure if all the singers actually speak Japanese or if they've just learned the lyrics phonetically. It didn't matter much because they performed a tight set and sounded great live, which always impresses me.


The big event was the traditional Lion Dance. Yellow Lion and Red Lion did their best to frighten children and dogs (non-Shar Pei's that is). It looked like exhausting work with frequent shift changes under the costumes and on the drums playing behind them.


Yellow Lion does the Frug.


Red Lion works his mojo.


This civilian pup was not amused. In fact he was FREAKED OUT.

All in all a fun afternoon and I will be back next year.

Vinny Parco

Yesterday I worked on a new show premiering on Court TV in a couple of weeks. Parco PI follows the cases of real-life detective Vinny Parco and his family of "Angels" ("Vixens" on the show, apparently). It is shot in a reality style verite, with camera crews sometimes visible. Vinny told me that the spirit of the real cases are intact, while most of the details are changed (to protect the innocent or guilty I would presume). There is a lot of product-placement in the show I think (Dasani water was featured yesterday. I think they're going to Subway later in the week to investigate Jared's suspicious weight loss).

I play a City Councilman (or IS HE?) and Restauranteur (SO HE SAYS) that may or may not be MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE. I'm not sure when this episode will air, but I will keep the blog posted.

Rock Talk Vol.1

Over on Will Hines' blog, there is a discussion about the best record albums created. Albums not necessarily noted for their individual songs, but for greatness as a whole. An album where you anticipate the intro of each subsequent song as the previous one closes. If they tell a story then that's even more awesome. If they connect to a specific time of your life that's even more, more awesome.

The White Album by The Beatles - when I was in 8th grade I saved for two months to buy this double-lp ($14.98 at Main Street Records in East Aurora, NY). I hold this album in higher regard than Sgt. Pepper (I did however go to a midnight release party for Sgt. P at New World Records and got on the news that night) perhaps because it was the first Beatles album I bought. This album could be the Beatles' best.

The Wall by Pink Floyd - My roommate during freshman year of college (Tom Deberardino) was a strange combination of hippie and metalhead. We were both Music Education majors (he played drums - me, trombone) in a dorm hallway full of other music majors and this exposed me to a lot of new tunes. I couldn't believe how much I liked Pink Floyd, and how obsessed I became with them and their solo material. I like this album better than "Dark Side". But maybe that's because I consider "Dark Side of the Moon" a pot smokers album, and "The Wall" an abusive drinkers' album. I'm not a pot-smoker, but I do like an occasional beer. I own this album on cassette, regular cd, 24k gold remastered cd, the remastered cd from the boxed set and of course Roger Waters' "The Wall: Live in Berlin" featuring Thomas Dolby, Scorpions, Ute Lemper (!) et al.

Disintegration by The Cure - This was a top 10 cd when I first started assistant managing the Waves Music store at the Walden Galleria Mall in Buffalo, NY. I was so excited when I got hired on for a summer job there and was quickly promoted. I made a massive $3.65 per hour with no benefits except for free promo tapes, posters & cd's. Everyone who worked there would go out drinking at peoples houses, their cars, graveyards etc. because nobody could afford anything else. There was a girl named Leslie who was in charge of the displays. We used to make out to this awesome album, which in hindsight may have been a little strange since the album can be slightly depressing. Still, it's my favorite Cure album.

Leslie also introduced me to New Order, whose Substance 1987 is also on my list. I still love New Order and listen to them frequently. I liked to spike my hair, put on my huge wool Swedish Army coat, and go to bars on Elmwood in Buffalo as well as The Continental, Icon and the Tralf and some other place that I forgot the name of with my friends Steve and Ray and their strange vicarious friends that I found to be slightly dangerous. Dangerous in Buffalo is quaint in NYC. I thought New Order was "edgy" at the time. I think nowadays they are regarded as "gay".

Stop Making Sense by The Talking Heads. My friend Ray Bonn brought this lp back as a gift for me from Germany (Dortmund), where he had spent the year as an AFS student. I imagine it's pretty hard to bring a record overseas in your luggage and have it remain intact, but Ray did it. He also brought back an ill-advised permanent wave which he tried washing out hundreds of times. While this album was not my introduction to the Talking Heads (that credit goes to My cousin Bob who gave me a tape of "The Name of this Band is Talking Heads" while we were visiting our grandparents in Boynton Beach), it is one of the few live albums whose renditions are better than those of their studio counterparts (e.g. Cheap Trick Live at Budokan). Plus the "big suit" is on the cover.

Synchronicity by the Police - I got it for Christmas in 1984. I would put Ghost in the Machine here, but I never owned it. It started my misguided Sting obsession that ended in the 1990's. Wasn't Dream of the Blue Turtles Awesome? Bring on the Night . . . well just slightly less so. Nothing Like the Sun . . . okay give the guy a break, even a genius can screw up. Ten Summoner's Tales . . . look quit mocking me out. I don't know what happened to him. Anyway, I tried doing my hair like Sting's, replete with "negative" sideburns. Nowadays I am blessed with his widow's peak.

The Joshua Tree by U2 - I bought this my freshman year of college. It was not my first cd, but it was one of the first 10. I have listened to it at least once a month since 1986. It's like comfort food. Bono, Edge, mashed potatoes, gravy.

Chess (London Cast Recording) - The start of an obsession to musical theater AND to ABBA. Before college, I'd never actually met any gay people. After going to college, I swear like 30% of the people I knew were gay. Plus 20% of my immediate family. Was it due to this album? Who knows. The point is that this album got me more interested in theater, which introduced me to different people of all persuasions, which has made me a better, more tolerant person. Plus "One Night in Bangkok" rocks the house. As an added bonus, I have performed in this musical twice. The score is f*cking amazing.

Busy Busy

The past 10 days have been nuts. The day-job is particularly intense.

The big news is that I was asked to provide a writing sample to a new show that will be premiering on Comedy Central in the Fall. It was a high pressure couple of days writing, but I was able to finish somerhing that didn't seem too bad at all.

If I got the job it would mean both writing and performing, so keep your fingers crossed.

Props to my friend and writing partner Christina for tossing out my name as a referral. You rock so much harder than you-know-who!