Staycation: Day 1

As previously announced, Josh and I will be moving from Boston to Taiwan at the end of the month! But bad news: Josh will be going over to Taiwan hans solo for the first six weeks, as his Mandarin summer program at National Taiwan U. is intense. The good news is that I will be spending that time in Tulsa visiting my family and friends, and I am eagerly anticipating my mommy taking care of me again. The bad news is Josh and I will be separated for our two-year wedding anniversary. Stink. But good news! We decided to celebrate early by going on vacation this week! The bad news is that didn’t work out because we haven’t planned for our move at all, as Josh just graduated and his family visited us for a week. And moving all your stuff back to the Midwest so you can bum storage space from your parents, and then moving internationally, is no small feat. Ultimate good news though: we’re treating this week as a staycation, cramming in all the activities our beloved city has to offer that we haven’t taken it up on yet. Which is really great news.

Staycation, day 1: The house teams show at Improv Asylum

Now, I didn’t use to be into improv, or really even into comedians in general. That is, until I fell in love with Tina Fey during her Sarah Palin impressions in 2008. And, until last night, I was actually an improv virgin. I had seen it on TV, but never been to a live show. But who doesn’t love well-done, hilarious, off-the-cuff comedy? These people were good. Laugh-your-a$k off good.

The theater was cozily small, with the stage in the center of the seating, so every seat was a good seat. There were four house teams – I later overhead one of the comedians telling his friends in the audience (Who I had the good fortune to sit next to. And then blatantly eavesdropped on their conversation.) that two were resident teams and two were in-training teams. I honestly couldn’t tell the difference. Well, maybe on one team I could. They only got like 65 laughs as opposed to non-stop.

You knew the sketches were true improv, as the comedians got their material from shout-outs by the audience, which also made the subjects of the sketches completely random. There were Spanish conquistadores in a boxing ring fighting with mathematical equations and jello shots, a high-strung girl on a first date with a surfer dude who made a necklace out of his beloved dead pet gerbil, or my favorite – the mafia trying to pawn off the body of their most recent victim, a muppet. Fun was had by one and all.

As a side note, Tina Fey has a memoir out – Bossypants. #1 book in the country right now. Read it! I read it on a plane and, despite my best efforts, kept laughing so hard I snorted. But really, she and Amy Poehler are like, the only female comedians who don’t make lame jokes about how horrible men are or what hormonal witches women are. So basically, they’re the only female comedians who are intelligently humorous and don’t make us look bad. I support that.