We Did It! the travel blog

Boiler Up

2010-01-16T00:38:00.000-08:00

Agent: Dragon
Location: West Lafayette, IN

If you have a new years resolution of getting in shape, stay away from the awesomeness that is Triple XXX diner just off the Purdue campus. Triple XXX was featured on food network and it's easy to see why, PORN. I'm kidding, you have to bring you own porn into the restaurant because the XXX stands for Excellence in quality of food and root beer. Plus who wants to see Paula Deen invite a plumber in for chocolate truffle parfaits? Thought so

Anyway the burgers at Triple XXX were great, and we should know since we destroy our bodies on the road with every type of fast food imaginable.
-Meatball on a stick, check
-Frozen McRib sandwiches not from McDonald's, boom
-Pizza with BBQ on it, Elvis would be proud if he weren't dead

Ill let the other guys write about the show but seriously Triple XXX has a burger with Peanut Butter on it. I wanted to try it but I figured the 3 patty burger already took 2 years with my future and hopeful grand kids from me.

If you are at Purdue, Check out Harry's Chocolate shop, not what you think but awesome and have a drink called Green Dragon, two of the best words ever.

Huge thanks to Purdurians Kelly W and Chris for showing us a great time.

February blur

2009-02-17T22:37:00.000-08:00

February has gone by so fast and we have been out the road quite a bit.

We hit the road again on the 11th and have been going nonstop since then. I was able to get back for Valentine's Day for the night, see Danielle and celebrate Valentine's Day, perform at Second City and get a few hours of sleep before heading out again.

11th-ottumwa, iowa
12th-storm lake, iowa
13th-seward, nebraska
14th-home for the night
15th-cedar falls, iowa
16th-wayne, nebraska
17th-mankato, minnesota
18th-blair, nebraska
19th-highland, kansas
20th-mcpherson, kansas
21th-fort morgan, colorado
22- start heading home
??????? get home when we get home...

We should have a shirt that says "MI SPRING TOUR" going to places that make a GPS system go "where the fuck is that?"

I'll post some pictures but they are basically of the great plains, hamburgers, and various shots from the shows.

It has been a pretty crazy semester so far, we have been gone for long chunks of time. I miss my girlfriend, my friends, going to shows, performing with the Basic 8, hanging out with Matt, my apartment, my bed and my xbox.

My buddy Erich gets to go travel internationally with this job for various sporting events but mainly for tennis. He was just in Australia and now is Dubai, we are having a Geo Wars between us and he thinks he is winning, I think he is just an asshole.

Well time for bed, I think we have stayed in an American Inn and Suites for the third night in a row. WE DID IT!!!!.

Back To South Dakota

2009-02-06T06:58:00.000-08:00

We are headed back to SD for a show at South Dakota University in the city of Vermilion.

Last night we stayed in Des Moines, Iowa home of the great slow jazz band Slipknot.

We also got a chance to stop at the World's Largest Truck Stop, it was a big disappointment but plenty of do you love America and Jesus stickers.

Tomorrow we head back to Chicago for a few days and then back out to the midwest for some shows in Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas.

Oh and Lane Kiffin, the new coach of the Tennessee Volunteers is a moron. He was a hall of fame coach with the Raiders, and his star player he recruited while at USC just transferred. This guy is a genius but then again so was Phil Fulmer.

Spring 2009 Tour

2009-01-29T15:27:00.000-08:00

Well its spring, not really it is freezing outside and it's back on the road again with Mission Improvable.

We are about to finish up a trip of the west: South Dakota, Wyoming, and Colorado. Things are different now, we are down to a 4 man group and we are without our great friend, performer, moustache king Scott Morehead. Agent Bear Bear you will be greatly missed but we will think about you every time we drive by an Arby's.

Here is an entry from a few days ago. I tried not to be as wordy because some of you don't like reading a really long blog.

Entry 2- From Yankton to Cheyenne

It only took us three days to reach our first Super Wal-Mart trip and that is a record for even us.

Everybody knows this but Super Wal-Mart has everything: food, vision care, haircut, taxes, clothes, car care, $ 5 DVD’s (usually the movie Radio and Rudy), funny t-shirts that say “Not” and "I'm not a racist, im just hot" and an assortment of Jonas Brothers posters.

Personally I think it’s impossible to not go into Wal-Mart and not buy something. Today we had to go because our Van (Vanarky 4) needed an oil change. Oil changes are very common since we will put about 15,000 miles per semester! I give us an over under of 2 days before we hit our next Wal-Mart, for now my $3 Punisher cap will have to suffice until then.

Last night we were in Yankton, South Dakota to do a show at Mt. Marty College. Mt. Marty is a school of about 600 students and there were about 80 students who showed up to the show at the cybercafe. Campus Programming was responsible for bringing us to Mt. Marty and our contact Erin Duggan and Ashley were phenomenal marketing for the show and making us comfortable. The cybercafe was packed, the show was excellent and the students stayed afterwards to talk to us, which is such a great compliment to us.

Each school usually has some sort of student programming that brings us to their school. The host or contact as well usually call them will help us set our tech, stage, and give us information about the school and if there is an event going on like family weekend, homecoming, alumni weekend, or beginning of the semester.

Meeting the contact and hanging out with the organization that brought us to the school has become one of our favorite things about this show. For some of us in the group, college was not that long ago and it truly is the best time of your life. When talking to some of these students, you realize that they had the same worries as I did when in school like: I don’t like the major I’m in, I want to travel abroad, I have no idea what I want to do when I graduate, I can’t believe the Real World show is still on, Will I pass this exam that is 80% of my grade even though is a not a true representation of how well I understand the material and who really cares what diminishing marginal utility is and why does my TA talk to like a baby opening my first Christmas present? Sorry kind of blacked out there.

I guess the point is that there is just as much on these students minds today and maybe even some more worry and pressure that they have to deal with. For us, it is a pleasure giving them something to look forward too and giving them some sort of escape through comedy.

After the show, we usually hand out free stickers and free high fives! I can’t remember a time when high fives were free but I guess we are in a recession. This also gives us the most time face to face with the student who saw the show. The best compliments we get are when students ask us “when can you come back?” “ I can’t believe that was all made up” and just a genuine thank you.

After we have picked up the stage, packed up our gear and said the goodbyes to the student and contacts, it is time for us to head out. This is the worst part for us because the show is over, we have to leave and pile into our home away from home (Vanarky 4) and get on the road. The good news is we get to do this all over again tomorrow: with a different school, different students with the same worries, stresses, and our jobs are to make them laugh and have a good time.

Tomorrow we head to Cheyenne Wyoming, a long drive ahead of us… oh man there is a Super Wal-Mart just ahead. I need to buy the Incredible Hulk dvd and oh wow Yankee candles are on sale, can’t pass those up… nope.

Beautiful, Monotonous I-80

I slipped and busted my head earlier, NICE.

Hanging out with Sara and Kayla, our contacts at Laramie CC. They made us this awesome poster. Hooray

Updates

2008-11-11T23:53:00.000-08:00

We had some awesome shows in upstate New York on Halloween and it was some of the highest energy shows we have done yet.

Lately we have been having a bunch of shows in the Illinois area which lets us stay near home. Awesome.

Now we are off to Ohio for a few shows at Tiffin University. Home of the Dragons

We will then head off to Cleveland and then to West Virginia.

This is a bittersweet stretch of shows because its the last group of shows that Kyle will be with us as part of the touring group.

Kyle is one of the funniest people I know, he will be missed but all ends well because he got us a home in Chicago at the Center for Performing arts.

This home show will be so much fun and the run will be in late November and go into December and hopefully into the Spring.

Ill post some more pictures when we take them.

Off to sleep before heading to home of Lebron and Paul Brown.

NYC pics part 3

2008-10-30T23:46:00.001-07:00

That is a big building.

Yay Harry Potter.

Aiken and Drew Lachey... tix plentiful

New York Pics Part 2

2008-10-30T23:35:00.000-07:00

I'll post some new blogs from Upstate NY, OH and what not when the writing mood hits.

He are a few more pictures from New York.

I have read my friends long winded updates, they can deal with mine for a while.

AND MINE WON'T HAVE POLITICS IN IT. yay. CAPS LOCK MAY BE OPTIONAL

I DID IT!!! Senior Year!!!

Aaron with Katie Sue who makes costumes for Broadway

I made it to broadway, nah I suck

Scott got over Laura Bell Bundy quick

New York City... NYC

2008-10-30T23:24:00.000-07:00

We had a show in New Jersey and we were about 10 minutes from New York City so we decided to spend the day there.

I have only been to NYC once in my life which is just criminal. I was beyond excited to go there and I got to walk around and see a ton of the city.

One of the best trips on this tour, such a dynamic city and I hope we go back there in spring.

Here are some pictures from the city.

Scott waking up on the PATH to the city. Frankie showing off his hometown

Aaron and I at the Brooklyn Bridge There are no pictures at One Police Plaza

Carry On Designers

Recently

2008-10-30T23:13:00.000-07:00

I have not updated in a while which is on me. A lot of my friends say I am writing way too much and they actually have work during the day and can't read the entire post. Nuff said.

Here are some pictures from the Zoo at Omaha which we went to about two weeks ago. Nebraska was great but we blew a tire and got delayed by about 6 hours.

Meerkats, they were pumped we were there

One of the prettiest animals in the world Man this bear was so happy, I was jealous

Kyle was so pumped to go to the zoo, kyle loves cats in all sizes.

New Blogs

2008-10-24T21:42:00.000-07:00

Still don't have internet because I am super lazy and it is super expensive. I will post the zoo pictures of Nebraska, the pictures from NYC, and the ultimate Burger Challenge soon.

HOORAY, new blogs.

Nebraska, 2 shows

2008-10-16T23:57:00.001-07:00

I have been back in Chicago for a bit which has been so nice. I got to play with the Basic 8 for two shows and had a really good time. I miss those guys

For the past three days we have been in Nebraska for shows in McCook and North Platte. For the first night we just travled from Chicago and got to stay in our same hotel we stayed at when we performed in Omaha.

We woke up early in Omaha on Wednesday and Kyle suggested we head to the zoo in Omaha. It was cold, wet, early and it was an absolute blast. I will post some pictures of the zoo when I get them.

While on the road we stopped at this place called KING KONG Burgers and they are famous for their 2lb burger. I love big burgers, I love eating them fast, and I ate this one although I was under the weather.

Alma Mater part 2

2008-10-11T11:14:00.000-07:00

Alma Mater week, Part 2

Thursday, October 2nd.

Our show at UNO (University of Nebraska Omaha) was at noon, next to the lunch union, it is always strange doing a show at noon but UNO schedules show this time because it is a mostly commuter school.

The show itself was pretty sloppy, energy was off and things were not clicking at all. Usually we pull through and the second part of the show is great but this was not the case. The students were great, our contacts were awesome but this was honestly not our best show and that kind of stings because we are expected to perform well at all times. Well lesson learned and we just need to step it up the next show and focus on where we dropped the ball at some points. In no way was this a bad show but like all improvisers we are harsh critics of ourselves and we expect a lot better. UNO was a great school and I hope we come back and rock the place next time.

After a quick bite, we are on the road for about 4 hours until we get to Cedar Falls, home of the University of Northern Iowa.

I have posted some pictures of us driving in Vanarky 4 to give you an idea of what it is like on the road. This was my friend Erich’s request to get some pictures of us in the van traveling. Erich travels a lot for work and gets to go to places like: Olympics, Masters, US Open, French Open, Ryder Cup and most major sporting events. Well Erich, do you get to see the great Mars Cheese Castle in Wisconsin? Or The World’s Largest Truck Stop? Yeah Thought so

Alma Mater week

2008-10-11T11:12:00.000-07:00

Alma Mater Week, part 1

Wednesday, October 1st.

We headed out around 10am from Chicago in order to beat traffic and get to Omaha early so we could watch some of the Cubs game.

I was pretty excited about heading to Omaha for a couple of reasons: Rosenblatt Stadium is where they play the College World Series, to see the Woodmen and Mutual of Omaha buildings (famous insurance buildings and the Woodmen was the company where Jack Nicholson’s About Schmidt character worked). Also Omaha is home to Berkshire Hathway, probably the highest valued and best run mutual fund company run by none other than Warren Buffet. I am a nerd

Something interesting did happen while driving to Omaha. I was driving, it was dusk and there was a GMC Yukon about 15 yards ahead of me. In an instant there was debris, pieces of car, tire and various metal coming off the Yukon and flying towards the van. No worries, I put the brake on and pulled over to see if the driver of the Yukon was ok. We all got out and literally the entire front of the Yukon was smashed in, radiator fluid was everywhere and the car was almost totaled. Also there was a huge amount of blood on the front of the Yukon. A deer had jumped out from the brush right into front of the Yukon and destroyed it. The deer did not make it, I am impartial to that stuff because a deer can be so dangerous to a car, they are not smart and also the man was not speeding and was not driving recklessly. Stupid deer, anyway it was getting late, the game had already started and we were ready to be off the road.

Well the game sucked, I did get to talk to my brother about his honeymoon in Costa Rica and just catch up with him and tell him how proud I was of him and that it was a beautiful wedding.

After that I headed to the fitness room and then to bed. Tomorrow we have a noon show at the University of Nebraska Omaha and then Alma Mater week starts when we head to University of Northern Iowa for a show. Aaron went to school at UNI and is pretty excited about seeing some family and friends.

Stupid Deer.

Show at Marietta College, Ohio

2008-09-29T11:39:00.000-07:00

Saturday September 27th. Marietta College

Happy Birthday Frankie, you did it.

This morning we all piled in the van and headed out of Chicago at 8am. Not bad but we have about 8 hours ahead of us and that is not including stops and college football traffic in Ohio where the whole state watches that team from the Big Ten.

It was a really bad start to the entire day when my Gators lost a trap game to Ole Miss. I had this game pegged as a potential trap game because Ole Miss always gives us fits and they had lost two games by only a point so their record was not indicative of how good they were. There was some pretty awful play calling by offensive coordinator Dan Mullen who does not believe in the 5 running backs we have and wants to run Tebow into early disability.

Awful, Awful, Awful game, Georgia lost and so did those darlings of the world USC so there is still a chance the Gators can climb back but the SEC is the toughest conference and this does not bode well for the Gators.
I apologize for being pissed off, I have yet to watch the Gators on TV this year, which to me is sacreligious, and I feel like a bad Gator fan.

The van pulled up to the hotel at around 6:30pm, we hit some traffic and we had to turn around and meet our college contacts for dinner in 10 minutes. All of us got ready quick, and headed over to Applebee’s to meet our contacts and have an impromptu celebration for Frankie’s birthday. If anyone has ever waited tables or served, Frankie is your worst nightmare, he has questions about everything, wants to sub everything, like coke with no ice and talks in a voice like you are on the phone with a Dell customer service agent. It is hilarious to see the man order, he is the sweetest guy and hey it’s his birthday and he can have whatever he wants.

After dinner our contacts Haley and Brittany took us over to the social hall where the performance was to be held. The place was cool and reminded me of the foot soldiers hangout in the ninja turtle movie except without the introduction of Sam Rockwell. It was family weekend so there were a few families at the show so that meant we had to tone down any raunchy or potential blue functions in our brains because there were kids and parents present.

The show was an absolute blast, it was tight, fluid, super high energy and everyone loved it. There were so many hilarious parts it’s hard for me to name but Kyle playing an Alcoholic Bugs Bunny was a huge highlight. Afterwards there were a lot of students and their parents who came up to us to tell us what a great show it was and that it was the perfect event for family week. AWWWWW yall are making me blush, jk I have no emotion. Great show, great job to everyone, one of the best shows we have had on tour.

Frankie wanted to go out and grab a drink to celebrate; we headed to a bar called Townhouse in downtown Marietta to grab a cold one.

Tomorrow we head back to Chicago, hopefully in time to see the Bears take on the Eagles. I get to spend some time with Danielle who has been out of town as well. In a few days we head out west to Nebraska and then to the alma maters of both Aaron (University of Northern Iowa) and Scott (Iowa State University), which should be a blast.

Time to catch some shut eye in Vanarky

Back to Chicago, show at Dominican University

2008-09-29T11:36:00.000-07:00

Friday September 26th.

US Airways charges for drinks, luggage, and apparently does not know how the zone seating system works. Our flight was very uneventful, Frankie’s seat was working fine and there were minimal babies trying to deal with the aspect of popping their ears to keep from crying. This gave me ample time to catch up on the third book on the Eragon trilogy. The story is about a boy who finds a Dragon egg, learns magic and kicks some ass while riding an awesome dragon. Pretty much my ideal life

We had a couple of hours before our show at Dominican University in River Forest, IL. I took the time to hit the gym and run off some of Florida. Everyone met up in Bucktown to catch a ride over to the university, which is about 20 minutes away.
The contacts Jessica and Cari-Anne were so accommodating and awesome. They were running around getting things in order and it was a big night since the debate was on in every TV at Dominican. There were a couple of cool things about this place and the show in general: This school’s main hall was the inspiration for Hogwart’s in the Harry Potter movie. I know this because the director Christopher Columbus lives nearby and came and apparently has ties to the university. Also, there is a room named after the Cusack’s and Piven’s. This place was very old, lot of wood, and everything echoed. My friend Matt came and saw the show, which was awesome because I don’t see him enough and it, was great to see a familiar face.

The show was ok, the energy was off at first, the sound echoed and the students were rightfully more interested in the debate that was going on. For the students who were there, the show was a solid one and there were some great moments, especially three things were Scott played all 5-power rangers.

After the show I rode back to the city with Matt to grab a couple of drinks and catch up. Tomorrow morning we head to Marietta College in Marietta Ohio.

FIU

2008-09-29T11:34:00.000-07:00

Thursday September 25th.

Florida International University.

Ah North Miami Beach, there is nothing like it, except driving here where people are nuts and no one knows how to drive but hey at least they look good doing it.

Our hotel is right on the beach, nice pool, nice tiki bar, and skill crane. The rooms are straight off the set of Miami Vice but you don’t stay on Miami Beach for the room. Everyone was pretty beat so we did the right thing by getting some drinks at the Tiki Bar and explaining to the bartender that we were not a boy band (plus we are not good looking enough to pass for one, well maybe one that performs at county fairs).

Miami is a great place for improv, they have a professional group “Just the Funny” a great bunch of people, extremely funny and they put on the Miami Improv Festival which rules and is the first place I saw: Bassprov, Pimprov and one of my improv heroes Jeremey Sosenko. Also, just up the street in West Palm is the group MOD 27 which is headed by an UF alum Tom O’Donell who runs the Gainesville Improv Festival and who continues to spread the love of improv down south. Thanks Tom

That being said, a lot of people are exposed to improv down here and are exposed to very good improv on a consistent basis. Most of the students at FIU had either seen long form improv or performed improv of some kind.

Our show was scheduled a little bit earlier because we were opening for a hypnotist. The hypnotist was named HYPNO BRO and he has performed around the US and was featured on B.E.T.

It is tough opening because you want to get the crowd fired up, all of the students were initially sitting in the back like most people do at a show like this but the show itself was awesome and the crowd went crazy.

We started off with a game called Accents where we do a scene and then perform that scene with three Accents provided by our audience, one accent is regional, one international and one that is just weird like Chewbacca or ET. The Accents we got from the audience were: New England, Jamaican, and Pikachu LIL Wayne. NICE !!!!!

The crowd went nuts, just pandemonium. When Kyle did Pikachu LIL Wayne the audience lost their shit. WE WON

What a great crowd, these students ruled, they were great sports and HYPNO Bro brought down the house and he did such an awesome job.

We hung out with the students a bit talking with them and then our group headed back to the hotel to have a couple beers and get some rest before the early flight back to Chicago.
What a great trip to Florida, I can’t wait to go back to these schools and it really energizes and old man like me when have killer shows like this.

Heading down to South Florida

2008-09-29T11:28:00.000-07:00

September 24th. Wednesday.

Back on the road again, well maybe not the road because we are flying to Ft. Lauderdale to do some shows in South Florida.

My brothers wedding was simply amazing, simply beautiful and yes I am biased but the weekend one so much fun to be around everyone. There are about a thousand pictures on facebook and there are sure to be more to come. I got choked up and nervous about my best mans speech because my brother is really my role model and my hero. I had written about 3 speeches before hand but they were really crap and I just decided tell a few stories and just to let Allyson know how lucky Pearce was to have someone like her in his life. It was an amazing weekend; it was so awesome seeing my entire family, extended and all. My family rules, we always have fun, we all get out and dance, we owned Karaoke and Danielle is officially more liked by my entire family than I am. The whole family was so happy to have her down at the wedding because she is so much fun, fits so great with our crazy group and she kicked ass at signing “I think we’re alone now.” Nice job D

Show at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton

I woke up at 5am to workout and get packed before heading to O’Hare to meet up with the guys and catch the plane to Ft. Lauderdale. I hate sleeping on planes, mostly because I sleep sitting up with my face bobbing up and down and drooling on my Sky Mall (pretty sight). I do love being back in Florida where it was warm and the pace is so much slower, except when you drive in Miami, which is a whole other beast.

The show tonight is at Florida Atlantic University, home of the Owls. Their football coach is Howard Schellenberger, who is an old coach famous for brining back the Miami Hurricane program and being an instrumental part of putting Louisville Cardinal football on the map. Anyway the school is in Boca Raton (home of Chicago friend, UF grad and improviser Dan Gordon). Boca is a rich town, rich, and rich and there are shops everywhere, pretty much consumerism at its peak. The campus is a commuter campus but their student body is extremely active, growing, and it is a favorite stop for MI.

DJ Precision, one of the students at FAU opened the show with some music from the Owl Radio network to get the students in frenzy.

I opened the show; opening is fun and nerve-racking because you are the one who really dictates the energy, pace and the first person from the ensemble who the audience hears. I pretty much just went nuts, telling a few jokes, explaining who we are and what the crowd can expect for the evening.

Here is where MI really shows its true colors in terms of going all out and full speed. Since I joined MI what noticed is every show we have been at, the initial reaction is “Oh five guys dressed up doing a Mission Impossible theme.” We already have a strike against us because the crowd thinks we are going to be super corny (we are) and are going to be more like their high school guidance counselors at a D.A.R.E lecture than actual comedians.

This is a challenge, which each member relishes, and if you see the pictures of our group you will notice that none of us fall into the same physical grouping or stereotyping. Each member looks completely different, is different and this is a very eclectic and unique group. I mean you would never guess that I love musicals, dragons, fantasy novels, winter Olympics just by looking at my picture right? You would probably just say, “Hey that guy does the same face in every picture with that stupid wave.” (What a goober)

I didn’t mean to Blog Rant but at least it was not about politics or about the small Dotson that barks at me when I run by his yard.

Anyway the show started off great with maximum corny ness. The crowd was into it from the get go and part of the football team were there yelling some of the greatest suggestions ever. I ended up playing our last game of the night 3 things, which I believe I have explained where you have to guess activities through gibberish and pantomime. I suck at guessing but I got some great support from the guys and we got a standing ovation from the student body.

FAU was fantastic and its great to see a school like this that is growing, trying out new things and have some people that have seen MI year after year.

Tomorrow we head down to North Miami Beach for a show at Florida International University.

Scott and Kyle, Terminal C

FAU student government

North Central University, Naperville

2008-09-29T11:21:00.000-07:00

September 13th

North Central College, Naperville, IL.

12 hours in the car, what a way to spend a Sunday. I have pretty much given up the fact that I won’t be able to be immersed in college and pro football this year but the alternative has been pretty great.

We are on our way back to Chicago from Ursinus College and we are all trying to get updates on the bears game through our phones and check our fantasy football standings.

Tonight we have a show in Naperville, which means afterwards we will have the chance to sleep in our own beds. NICE!!

North Central reminds me of a small Faber college from Animal House, the campus is small and its near downtown Naperville that I guess is one of the best cities in the US to live in. Our show is supposed to kick off their welcome week since tomorrow is the first day of school. The theater is old, big and there was a large crowd considering the weather and the fact that the school does not have that many students.

The show itself was pretty blue and pretty raunchy but the crowd loved it and all of us were pretty much running on fumes at that point. It was a great show to end this leg of the tour and I am constantly finding myself looking at the calendar and getting excited about what part of thte country we will be in next.

I am off next week while the guys travel to Kentucky. It is a special week for my family and me because my twin brother will be getting married. This has been a long time coming and I am so happy for my brother and Allyson, his bride to be.

Ursinus College

2008-09-28T06:57:00.001-07:00

Saturday Night, Show at Ursinus College.

The show tonight is at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa. It is a small school (about 1,700) with some great gothic architecture (reminded me of Duke a little). Our contact Ben set us up in their union room where all the students eat and hang out while playing WI on the big screen.

There was not a lot of advertising done on the schools part to let them know where were coming. Mission Improvable usually sends a bunch of posters, cards and marketing material for the schools to flyer and gets the word out on the performance. Initially there were about 20 students in audience but as the show went on it grew to about 70-80. According to our contact this number of students at an event like this was unheard of. The show was on point, we were having a fun goofing around and it showed and it was hilarious. We were so beat after the show from being up the night before, driving to Philly, and rushing to get to the show. Scott and I went to a store to grab a six-pack; it was more trouble than worth because really no store sells beer in Pennsylvania for some reason. Scott even went into a liquor store and they looked at us like we were mad when we asked where we could buy beer (I felt like I was 18 years old again playing Mister Mister).

Well after some searching, Scott and I got some beer, headed back to the hotel, hit up the gym for a bit while watching USC slaughter the Ohio St. Luckeyes. Ah well, they will probably be in the title game again with their tough Big Ten schedule.

Early day tomorrow, we have to get up 4th grade field trip early in order to make it to Naperville, IL for a show and then we get to go HOME. Yeah Buddy.

Philadelphia

2008-09-28T06:50:00.000-07:00

Saturday, September 11th. Philadelphia

Well we did not make it out as early as we wanted because it was a long night. We did drive to Philadelphia because hey we were right there, it meant a lot to Frankie to drive around and see some of his old hangouts and places where he used to live. Frankie drove from Shippensburg to Philadelphia, maybe not the best idea because Frankie gets excited while driving and especially excited while driving in Philly. (Aaron reminded me of Pete Peaver, my student driver teacher in high school, the way he was reacting in the front seat while Frankie was driving).

Frankie drove us through some really awesome sights: Fairmont Park (huge beautiful park where the crew teams practice), The Art Museum (the Famous Steps where Rocky Trained), City Hall (awesome building with William Penn at top of spire), Rodin Museum (thinker statue), Franklin Center, Italian Market (where Rocky would run every morning), and down Broad, South, and Vine street which were pretty cool.

We all decided we would stop at Geno’s Steaks for one of their famous cheese steaks. The other one Pat’s is across the street but I guess that one is greasier than this one and Frankie is the local who recommended this so I am going with his judgment. Geno’s is a Philadelphia icon of a place that really loves Cops, Law Enforcement, Military and pretty much any organization that gets rid of illegal immigrants or anyone not originally from America. They have signs of Right to Refuse service, if you can’t speak English don’t bother ordering, and thank a Marine for your freedom. It sounds like Geno is a pretty interesting character with some strong opinions and his place serves up one of the best cheese steaks I have ever had. The sandwich was perfect, it was exactly what everyone wanted except Aaron who put a lot of hot sauce on his and this stuff was nuclear hot. After seeing Aaron suffer for a while, we decided it was time to leave and head to our hotel for a quick refresher before the show.

City Hall

Frankie and Scott enjoying and philly steak, Aaron had the hot sauce and was dying.

Hey kids this is where your mom and I got married

What Rocky saw when he ran through the Italian Market each morning.

Shippensburg University

2008-09-28T06:41:00.000-07:00

Friday, September 12th. Shippensburg, Pennyslvania.

We left early in order to drop Kyle off at the train station in Yonkers. No we did not get lost there but it was really great to drive by and see the New York City skyline. I have only been to NYC once and it was one of the best trips I have ever been on and that was about 9 years ago, plus I love musicals.

I took the firstleg of driving duties that would take us through New York, New Jersey and into Pennsylvania. It has rained every time we have entered Pennsylvania and that sucks because there is so much pretty landscape to look at and I am still hoping to see an Amish buggy.
The four of us were scheduled to be in Shippensburg early in order to have dinner with their student activities board at a restaurant called RED ROBIN. The restaurant reminds me of a Disney themed 50’s diner that has just an insane amount of burgers. There were about 9 students from the activities board who brought us to dinner so I was at a table with three students from the university. Apparently Aaron told his table about my speed eating feats, so right off the bat I was expected to house their Monster Burger in less than 2 minutes. I was not in the mood to do this because I would at some point like to enjoy and chew my food but a challenge gets the better half of me. The burger came out with 2 huge patties, three slices of cheese and a pile of toppings. It was almost a pound but not as big as the Fuddruckers Burger.

Aaron started the watch and I was off to the races. From the beginning, the entire student group crowded around our table, along with our waitress, the manager, and some onlookers. I saved face and finished off the burger in a quick 1.14. I have got to quit doing this but it was fun and the student group got a kick out of it and some of them just thought I was disgusting, HOORAY.
Our show was held in their multipurpose room, which was really just a cafeteria/lounge. Something was off because the show got off to a slow start and we could not seem to pick up the pace at all. We did an audible on some of the games we played to mix up the energy and get the crowd more involved. Well it worked and the show went pretty awesome from that point. One of the missions we try to play is called Dating Game. I have explained it before but we get a bunch of celebrities, figures, historical, current and some occupations, mix them with some adjectives and have to woo our lady volunteer to pick us at her suitor. I drew the suitor of an Honest Bigfoot and the question for me was “The day is extended for 4 hours, what do you do with that time?” My reply was fast and very Bigfoot like “Uh Not Be Seen.” Eh it got a chuckle and it is one of my favorite missions we play. The crowd stayed for a long time after the show to talk with us and take some pictures.

The show went about an hour and twenty minutes, which is a long time for a show and a whole lot of improv. We were pretty beat but we managed to all go out and have some drinks in historic Shippensburg. Frankie wanted us to get an early start the next day in order to spend some time in Philadelphia, which was near our next venue. Pretty pumped about having a cheese steak but I don’t like cheese so I am pumped about having meat and onions on bread.

Give us your Frankie MI with students from Shippensburg

I somehow look like a giant here Everyone hates Frankie

Updated

2008-09-25T08:14:00.000-07:00

I apologize for anyone out there who reads this (probably just my mom, HI MOM). I will post some previous entries from when we went to Pennsylvania and our trip to Philly. I really suck at not getting internet set up but Comcast makes its so easy and awesome to do everything and not keep me on the phone for 45 minutes.

Thursday September 11th, Hartford CT

2008-09-13T21:04:00.000-07:00

St. Joe’s College, Thursday, September 11th.

Kyle and Aaron had come up with an idea for a webisode series called “5 guys in ties.” It is just a few bits shot with all of us doing random stuff on the road. We got a portion of the first webisode shot and it was a ton of fun and this is one of the things we are trying to do more of since we have time on our hands. Video production and writing is something this company promotes and encourages and it has been hilarious to hear all the creative ideas the guys have and it will be a lot of fun to shoot them soon.

It was a short drive from Fairfield to Hartford and that was a nice change because usually we are driving about 6 hours to get to one venue to another. However, I can’t say too much about Hartford as a city. I thought it would be nice, flush and well what you would think Connecticut is, it’s not. The people here are amazing but the city is kind of run down (probably because they got rid of the Whalers) and there were not a ton of great places to grab a brew and relax. I am probably being a bit mean but I have seen so many great places on this tour so far and in my opinion it just wasn’t the best place.

Our show was at St. Joe’s College and the venue was more like a library, coffee shop, and dorm room common area. The contact Tracy was awesome, hilarious and got most of our late 80’s and mid 90’s references. She was laughing the entire time during the show and those made us feel great and gave us an added boost of energy. St. Joe’s is an all girls school and there was one guy in the audience, it was a different vibe but the students absolutely loved the show and I heard a few people saying “I am so glad so and so got me to come to this because that was amazing.” Our group is getting tighter, more comfortable, taking more risks and the results are showing.

I headed back to the hotel, worked out, threw in some laundry and grabbed a beer with Scott downstairs at the hotel bar. It was very relaxing just to have some local beer, talk sports with Scott, and laugh about what happened so far and just kind of smile thinking this is our job. Also, it has been just awesome getting to know the guys better, we are with each other all the time and our chemistry is growing. Scott and I have become very good friends since we were both brought in at the same time, we are friends with a lot of the same people and we both love spending money at the skill crane.

Tomorrow we drop Kyle off at Yonkers so he can take the train to New York City and an attend the showing of his short film “Improv City.” Aaron, Frankie, Scott and myself will travel to Shippensburg, Pennsylvania for a show at Shippensburg University.

Crush Party!!!

I'm not a monster

Sacred Heart University, Fairfield CT

2008-09-13T20:59:00.000-07:00

After getting some rest in at the hotel, we headed over to do pre show at the theater. Pre show is just making sure the mics work, getting the introduction and lighting down. I still think the most challenging part of Mission Improvable is making sure the little stuff is done in order to make the show run smooth and is always climbing in terms of energy.

The students were great at the school, they had a juggler last week that was pretty raunchy and left a less than favorable impression. We were the last act in the schedule for orientation week and they were expecting a decent crowd.

The show went pretty slow at first, energy was low but we recognized this quick and rebounded well. It is interesting to play in front of different crowds each night, some love certain games more than others and some crowds are a tough bunch. No matter what the crowd has been, I feel we have been successful in terms of putting on a great show and leaving the students very entertained. The last part of the show was great, it was fast and the contact Rob was very impressed and told us after the show, which is always great to hear.

Tonight we are off to a pub called RAY KELLYS in downtown Fairfield to celebrate Kyle’s birthday. The bar was a local bar, for locals but Kyle called them in advance and they celebrated with us and the bartender Marty was a downright character and had the greatest cowboy hat ever.

Tomorrow we head to Hartford, Connecticut, Home of the former Whalers for a show at St. Joe’s College

Kyle (Agent Sandwiches) with students from Sacred Heart. It's his birthday.

Scott with our audience volunteers

1LB Burger Challenge

2008-09-10T23:48:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, September 10th
Kyle’s Birthday & Fuddruckers 1lb Hamburger Challenge.

Happy Birthday Kyle, you did it.

We drove along way and stayed in east Pennsylvania for the night. We are now in New Jersey in the town of Roxbury. Since I started going on the road with Mission Improvable, I have been begging the guys to go to Fuddruckers so I could attempt to eat the 1LB burger. I love to eat but I really love to eat fast, a bi product of eating with my grandfather the marine for many years. There is nothing better than a friendly challenge and the guys were pretty amped to see me try and eat this 1LB monster in under 5 minutes.

We taped the whole thing and it looks great. It should be on the web pretty soon but I will give you some details on what happened. The burger came out medium on a huge white bread bun. I added grilled onions so I could add a bit more of a challenge and to help with the fact that I usually don’t eat cheese on burgers. I also added 5 slices of tomatoes, a good amount of lettuce, relish, bbq sauce, ketchup and relish.

One of the off clock workers came over and threw in the fact that his manager ate a 2lb stack in 6 minutes… hmm thanks for adding more pressure.

Frankie set the timer and I was officially on the clock. The music from the restaurant kicked in right as I begun and the song was fitting: “Dancing in the Dark” by the boss in his home state. The first part of the burger was tough but I managed to finish everything in exactly (2:24) two minutes and twenty-four seconds.

Not bad but I could have done better if I went without the onions and all the toppings but hey that is what a challenge is for. The manger brought me over a dumb punch card that says I have to eat 5 more 1LB burgers to get a free shirt. No thanks plus the jukebox starting playing Spin Doctors so that was a sign it was time to head back on the road. Go time, good challenge and I am bound to pay for this later.

We are off to Scared Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut for a show.

I am stupid and did not get a picture of the burger eaten but hopefully you get the idea of what this monstosity is all about.

Tuesday, September 9th.

2008-09-10T17:04:00.000-07:00

September 9th. Late Afternoon, Early Evening

Skill Crane Myth Debunked and Owned!!!!!

A few blogs ago I wrote about a waitress at a BW3’s in Quincy, IL that said the skill crane was fixed and only really worked 1/10 times. Well that really bummed me out because I used to actually be decent at skill crane strategy and thought that part of my life had passed. UNTIL NOW!!!!!

We are on our way to Connecticut and we stopped at a small gas station in the middle of Ohio on the turnpike. Scott decided to get rid of some quarters in their very small arcade, which had two skill cranes. I decided not to play and went to get a soda. In a very quick turn of events, Scott informed me that he had indeed won at the skill crane and parlayed a very nice Kentucky Wildcats plush basketball. Now I know plush basketballs are very hard to get in a skill crane based on previous experience, so it was time try the myth out.

We dominated the Crane like Andrew Jackson dominated the British at the Battle of New Orleans, even though it did not matter. The guys and I spent a grand total of $7.50 (.50 cents per play) and came away with 10 plush toys. The bounty is listed as follows in terms of who won.
Kyle: Giant Friendly Frog, Open Season Bear
Aaron: Zorro Beagle Dog
Scott: Kentucky Basketball
Me: Shamu, Velvet Couch Bear, One Eyed Brown Bear, Upright Cow, Spiderman
Frankie: Pretty Happy Bulldog named Curtis

I was on Skill Crane Fire, in the zone, could not miss. Now what the hell are we going to do with all these new friends in Vanarky? Aaron suggested there is a ton of fireworks stands along the way so maybe we will get creative or give them away. It was not the bounty we won but theprinciple of the fact we are now Mythbusters.

Our New Van Mates

Way too much time on my hands to place each toy in a favorable pose.

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY!!!!!! ALL CAPS

2008-09-09T11:21:00.000-07:00

Michigan State University, Friday September 5th.

It was great having a few days off after the trip from Elon, NC. I got a chance to unpack some things in the new place and just hang out in Bucktown with Danielle. The area is a big reason we moved into this neighborhood and we both just needed a break from Wrigleyville and Lincoln Park. Ill post some pics when I get the place more situated, I made a mistake of unpacking my xbox and I am currently in an intense game of the Godfather.

Well we got some bad news… Our van (Vanarky 4) was having some trouble and the air filter literally blew up in the tow truck guy’s face. According to Aaron, when the event happened to the man he blurted out “Shit my moustache” I don’t know I found that amusing. No worries, the guy was fine, moustache is pending and we got a rental for the night trip to Michigan State University.

I am so amped for this show for a couple of reasons: it is a huge school, they really love having Mission Improvable come to campus, it was a football weekend and there is nothing like being on a campus the night before a game. I have always wanted to go to the campus, see the stadium, and my old college roommate Munson is from East Lansing/Okemos. I am not amped about Munson being from East Lansing but I guess it’s cool that the guy from Smallville (Tom Welling) went to the same high school as Munson and they have family friends (way to go Munson).

Another awesome thing that happened was that we are staying at the school hotel and so was the Michigan State football team. I really don’t get star struck when I see famous people but I love chatting to football players for some reason, maybe because I played ball and kind of get jealous that I was never at that level and the fact I am a college football superfreak.

Enough of my hetero man love for football, on to the show. WOW!!!!!!!! The first show was insane in every sense of the word insane. The space was packed, people were sitting 5-8 deep on a table and there had to be about 300 people there and it was absolute pandemonium. We played some really fun games, the crowd participation was awesome, we did a set called “dating game” where the audiences picks a bunch of celebrities, historical figures, high school cliques, occupations, etc and then we pair them with some creative adjectives the audience provides. Our job is to their woo our lovely contestant, for some reason the girl is always disappointed at the selection of us onstage. My character and adjective was a Sexual Tickle Me Elmo, it went over very well but Elmo gets sort of creepy at the end like he does in real life. Aaron got an Inappropriate Matador and just knocked it out of the park. Frankie got a depressed Sylvester Stallone that was so damn funny, im still laughing about it. Finally, Kyle drew the character of an Animalistic John Wilkes Booth, which was just crazy, and I think the 9 people who are huge history buffs in the audience literally pissed their pants. Other characters that were played were: Rabid Michael Phelps, Slimy Bus Driver, Purple Kinsey (from Heroes), On fire Emo guy, decrepit Yogi Bear. The game was great, our volunteer was a good sport to deal with all creepyness and the crowd went bananas for the entire show. What a blast, we did a hour and 20 minutes of straight improv, it was draining but again seeing the crowd get into it so much really picks you up and talking to them afterwards just puts a smile on my face knowing we did an awesome job.

On to the second show… 11:15pm, we are drained, sweaty, beat and we have to pick it up and do another show for another group. The crowd was about 150 people, smaller than the last but still a high-energy group of students.

This show was not as fluid, got a little jumbled but it still hit and it was great to see all the guys rally and put on a really fun show. One heckler in the audience was yelling so many suggestions; all of them not that funny and he kept yelling “Impeach Al Gore.” I don’t follow the news that much but I am pretty sure he is not in office and I retorted by saying “Good for you son, you used the cafeteria seating next to a Panda Express as a forum for your political views and right to free speech, WAY TO GO.” Hmm someone needs to go to bed. The guy ended coming up after the show and raving about how fun and entertaining the evening was and I am glad he got his point across to so many.

That was such a crazy 3 hours and we are all just dead tired and ready for bed. We got to the hotel after the show and crashed.

Tomorrow we head home to Chicago, Scott and I will be playing with the Second City House ensemble Twisty and we are pumped as plums to play with this group. Tuesday we head out for Connecticut and Pennsylvania for some shows. Kyle will be jumping off tour for a bit to go to the New York Short Film Festival, his film “Improv City.” The film is hilarious and Pat Reidy is just phenomenal in it. Check it out when you get a chance and Ill try and post a link next time.

MI with UAB (University Activities Board) Crazy face at 1am when 2nd show ended.

Elon College, Elon N.C. (Sept 1)

2008-09-09T10:59:00.000-07:00

Gettysburg was unreal, one of the best trips I have been on in a while.You know it is a great trip when you are already reminiscing about everything you saw and trying to soak it all in.

We are driving through Maryland and I noticed something really cool. It was cool to to just me, I confirmed this by telling the story to the guys and the reaction was not even lukewarm, which confirmed that I was the only one interested in the nostalgia along the way.

While driving through Northern Maryland, I noticed a huge gold statue in the distance and I immediately knew what it was. When I was 14, my friend Tim and I attended Mason Dixon basketball camp at Mount St. Mary’s College in Maryland. (Hence the huge statue of Mary overlooking the hill) I was ok at basketball but I was at a camp run by the Winningest coach in basketball period. Morgan Wooten coached Dematha High School to I don’t know how many titles but he had over 1,200 wins and John Wooden called him “the finest coach on any level.” Well when you are that big, all you really have to do is just show up shake some hands, tell the kid good layup and collect your money and go watch your four 6’10 15 year olds scrimmage each other. ( No joke, every kid who played on that team was enormous, looked as old as Greg Oden and thought that Washington DC was home to DC comics, hmm ill give em that one.)
The reason why this place struck a chord with me was because of one interaction I had with a fellow camper.

It was about day 4 at camp, I was homesick, tired, beat up and realized my dreams at NBA were all but gone. No one was in need of a slow 6’1 240lb center whose only weapon was abnormal amounts of sweat, which lead to disgust of the opponent saying I smelled like ammonia.

I had met a guy named Dave who was from Richmond, Va. Dave looked like a bouncer a the Viper Club, had tats all over, could take it to the basket and who was the only 16 year old I heard saying, “My girlfriend is pregnant and I am pumped.” Dave was one of a kind, whatever that kind is I am still trying to figure out. We were walking to the lunch hall after practice and I mentioned to him that I thought the turkey and hamburger were giving me diarrhea. Without hesitation and possibly thought Dave just said “Oh yeah that is no big deal, I have had Gonorrhea.” You just can’t explain some things, I could not explain what compelled Dave to think the food gave me a bad case of Gonorrhea or the fact that he went into wedding planner detail of what is was. Thanks Mt. St. Mary’s for the memories and I think I still got my camp t-shirt upstairs in the attic with my Dikembe Motumbo poster.

Right now we are off to Elon University, which is just about 40 minutes outside of Raleigh Durham. This part of North Carolina is one of my favorite destinations in general. UNC Chapel Hill is one of the prettiest college towns in the United States, Duke has some amazing Gothic architecture, and the area boasts some of the best bbq I have ever had. The state just has such a relaxed feel to it and the area seemed very untouched and tranquil. Elon used to be known as the Fighting Christians back in the early 80’s, their logo resembled the Fightin Irish man but without the hat and way more Amish. Elon has now switched over to the Phoenix, which is an eagle with fire around it, amazing. The campus is beautiful and filled with Live Oaks and sort of has that feel of a University in Virginia with all the great natural landscape around it. Mission Improvable is here for their orientation week and the show was held in their basketball arena, which was pretty enormous and just a giant place to have a show. Our contacts Lauren, Katy, and Jenn were great and we had a crowd of about 250-300 at the show. Scott had some friends come to the show and that was cool because Scott killed with this character of a Cloud doing standup which just slayed the crowd. I love watching the crowd go bonkers and I really like picking out one or two people who have that grizzled face in that there is no place in the world they want to be but they are at your show and are pretty unhappy about it. I was lucky tonight because I found 5 sour patch faces and throughout the show I saw each one of them really get into the show, laugh their stoned face off and be one of the first ones to give a standing ovation. After the show we jumped on a conference call with the guys out in LA who are responsible for creating Mission Improvable. I will always sing their praises because these guys really found people they loved playing with and wanted to pursue this dream. That being said it is always great to talk to the guys, get feedback and it’s awesome how motivated they are and still have huge goals for Mission Improvable. Pretty awesome

It was about 1am, the guys were hungry and we decided to head to a Steak N Shake. I did something stupid and ate about 7 hamburger patty’s in less that 1 minute and we taped some of it, not that you would want to see something that gross. Scott and I met a guy who said he did standup at his kid’s elementary school and he just went on a cruise. Thanks for that story.
Off to bed, tomorrow we head home for some much needed rest and then we are back on the road Friday for what is to be an awesome double show at Michigan State University.

Mission Improvable with students from Elon.

MI with the Students Activities Group that brought us to Elon. NICE!!!!

Crazy Face ( I am always just waving and makeing a basset hound face)

Student Orientation Leaders, they were dressed up like they were going to an easter egg hunt.

Senior Class Crazy Picture

Gettysburg Pictures

2008-09-02T00:01:00.001-07:00

Kyle pointing out on the Gettysburg Address that "Kentucky Honors Her Son" Kyle is from Kentucky

Scott is from Iowa, Kyle from Kentucky. Both states were neutral during the war. Irony?

At the base of the tombs of the unknown soldiers

View from the Potomac's Artillery position.

Friend to Friend. A BrotherHood United. That is what the inscription said

Gettysburg, Part 2

2008-09-01T23:41:00.000-07:00

I woke up about an hour later with the move on my mind so I decided to go running along the battlefields. The concierge was amazing and gave me a route to Culp’s Hill which is where some of the first fighting of Gettysburg took place. It was a hot, wonderful day and time to hit the pavement.

Just to mention, I am a huge American History buff. This all started with my Grandfather who was one of the biggest Civil War Experts I had the pleasure of knowing. It was like having a Triple PHD professor when you are a kid tell you stories about the North and South and then make you sausage and pancakes. My grandfather always studied the Civil War; he started doing this when he was younger and after he finished in the Marine Corps. He would read Civil War Books, take notes and write letters to the authors explaining where their facts were not entirely accurate. Pop knew that much about it and he was also the epitome of a southern gentleman and he revered the great General Robert E Lee. I could go on about the Civil War and what my Grandpa taught me but I think he would have loved being here with me on this trip. Pop always tried to take my brother, my cousin and I to various battlefields and to educate us and just to give us a knock in the head of in terms of how America has progressed. Pop you are still one of my heroes and you would have loved seeing the artillery set up where the Potomac Infantry stood their ground and help end the battle.

It was kind of hard to think that we had a show that night but this one was pretty special. The show was held in this amazing old rehabbed theater called THE MAJESTIC and it was so gorgeous inside. There was an improv group from Gettysburg College who opened the show and they had a great set and were really funny. Props to the group Shots In the Dark, you were great. Our show got off to a fast start and the momentum carried us through the show and the audience was very involved with the show from the start. I feel like I am getting a lot more comfortable hosting shows, that is a such a crucial part to a good show because you have to explain the format of what you are doing and not kill

Thanks again to Gettysburg College for having us, I have had this show circled for a long time and it was just amazing being in a city with so much history and the show was fantastic.

Here are a ton of pics.
Next we are off to Elon University in Elon, NC

With some Civil War Actors they were over at the Quality Inn.

Aaron and I in front of the site of the Gettysburg Address.

Scott, Frankie, Aaron, and Myself in front of the Artillery postion of the First Potomac Infrantry of the Union Army. (Once the North set up artillery on the hill it bombarded the South and repelled them back thus winning the battle).

Mission Improvable with Gettysburg College's own: Shots in the Dark

Thanks Student Activities for brining us to the Majestic Theater, it was unbelievable.

Ill do another post with just pictures from Gettyburg.

Gettysburg, Part 1 Sunday August 31st

2008-09-01T23:39:00.000-07:00

Fog, Fog and more Fog, which is what we encountered in the early morning driving through Pennsylvania. It was a consensus that we would drive straight from Oskaloosa Iowa to Gettysburg Pennsylvania just to make sure we had ample time to spend in this historic time.

In hindsight it was an awesome idea at first but driving late until the morning is never good unless you have a cup of “Hot Lava Java” inside of this small gas station just outside of Pittsburgh. The pot has a comical rating for its caffeine level and this one was set at mercury burst it was so high. Scott was up next to drive and laughed at the fact this coffee was supposed to be loaded with caffeine.

After about an hour into the drive Scott was going nuts, I was going nuts, we were driving through thick fog and Scott was giddy like a kid at a pony ride. Scott later coined the coffee “Devil’s Juice” when checking into the Days Inn at Gettysburg at the crack of dawn.

We all packed into one room because the other one was not ready and we all just crashed hard, except me. Today is the day Danielle and I are moving out of my old place and into our new place in Bucktown. It was pretty shitty that I could not be there to help her with the move and she did an absolute amazing job. The movers came, Matt Owens was a stud and came and helped her and it went off without a hitch. The only hitch was me being a dick for not being there and helping her because moving is one of the most stressful things for some reason. That being said I was still wired and calling her constantly to make sure everything was going ok, it was because Danielle just takes care of things and she put my nerves to rest.

I decided to catch a couple hours of sleep but the move was on my mind, however we are in one of the most historical places in American History and I could not wait to go exploring.

Saturday August 30th. No Show, Travel Day to Gettysburg, PA

2008-09-01T23:35:00.000-07:00

Yay best day of the year, why? It’s college football time and that is the best time of the year. I am a huge college super fan and pride myself on knowing a ton on the sport, my team: THE FLORIDA GATORS and knowing more about your team than you do. Trust me, not a cocky thing, but I am a nerd for college football.

I can’t watch the game, which kills me, but I am just happy that the huge contingent of Gators in Chicago got a chance to watch Tim Tebow get a breather and do very little work in a rout of Hawaii. I pretty much dislike Hawaii because they have a gimmick offense, people said that about Urban Meyer and the Gators when he came to the SEC and it would never work against the defenses here (Wrong). The critics especially thought our gimmick offense would not work against the dreaded OHIO STATE BUCKEYES but we all know how the Bucks do in January when the game really matters. Thanks Bucks for showing the world that the SEC is the best college football in the world and your weak conference will always prohibit a playoff because it would show that the BIG TEN is no longer and has not been elite for a long time.

Ohio State won a national championship because the Hurricanes had the coach from the Mighty Ducks and because the refs are not sure what pass interference really is.

Gators trounced the Buckeyes
LSU trounced the Buckeyes

And if they get back to the game this year (very likely because of their soft schedule. Only hard game is one against USC) we play teams like USC every week in our conference. Can’t wait to hear Brent Musberger talk about how great this Bucks team is this year and how Charlie Weiss will stir the Echoes of Notre Dame after they beat all the service academies.

President Bush may want to send a homeland security rep to Gainesville with all the weapons the Gators have on offense.

College football is here, I am pretty fired up, again it could end early for the Gators, that is the price you pay playing in the SEC. Commissioner Slive said it best when the winner of the SEC championship should always play for the national title. He is pretty right.

Yes I am an obnoxious Gator fan who knows what they are talking about, does not wear Jean shorts, and has awful grammar. Tim Tebow thinks grammar is overrated and Tim Tebow once did a cannon ball and broke up Pangaea.

Friday August 29th. Off to Oskaloosa Iowa, William Penn University

2008-09-01T23:32:00.000-07:00

We got into Chicago late last night, I got to sleep in my own bed, see Danielle and get more stuff packed for the move.

Stupid Cubs games, I am glad they are doing awesome, cubs fans are great to deal with when they are winning but it’s hell trying to get out of Wrigley Ville. Aaron was pretty steamed when picking me up and rightfully so, it took out about 20 minutes to get out of my neighborhood and we were already running late. We picked up the rest of the crew headed towards Iowa and hit traffic and more traffic and more traffic. This put us in a huge time crunch and made things pretty tense.

Scott kicked some driving ass and got us there with some time to spare but not much. William Penn University is amongst a bunch of Iowa farms, it’s a small campus and there were not that many students at the show because most of them were at their sports meetings.

Our show was pretty rocky at first but again we stuck to our guns, got some momentum and finished very strong. A lot of the students came up to us after the show to talk and that was pretty cool, most of the ones we thought hated the show really ended up liking it and congratulating us. Yeah Go Us!!!!!!!!!

We drove to our hotel, stopped at a sports bar at about 11pm and saw a pretty bizarre disturbing site. A young woman was yelling to the bartender “Hey can I get a Sam Adams?” all of this while holding a baby that could not have been more than 8 months old. I guess if you brought your baby to the bar you got a deal on jalapeno poppers, that actually would have been a more acceptable reason than the one this Peach of a woman had. Come on, really? Some people should be sterile. Pretty curious what she will do for herself on Mother’s Day to congratulate herself.

Fun Fact according to Scott: if you ever drive by a farm in Iowa and see a barn that is dilapidated. Don’t worry but it’s the law in Iowa that once a barn is built it has to be destroyed naturally by the time and elements. Barns are considered landmarks and if one is destroyed not naturally, there are heavy legal ramifications

Off to Wisconsin Lutheran, Thursday August 28th

2008-09-01T23:26:00.000-07:00

I got up pretty early to hit the gym and run off Wisconsin. We had a pretty easy drive today so Aaron suggested we stop at the Dells to hang out, eat and just kick back a bit. Sounds good to me because I have never been and always wondered if it would be like a mini Orlando.

Hmm not much to the Dells, just some water parks, themed restaurants, and a magic show that probably saw its better days at a lower tier casino in Vegas. They did have Mini Golf, which we played and filmed a bit called “ Miniature Golf Caddy” thanks to the employees for being a part of it.

Golf was fun, I am kind of competitive but this was just fun to film our bits and we got warned to keep it down on the Blackbeard Treasure Course. Aaron won the contest by one stroke and that was cool I GUESS!!!!!

The show for the evening was at Wisconsin Lutheran in Milwaukee. It was bike week so there were HOGS everywhere. Awesome, not really. I kind of feel like the only bikers that exists are millionaires because you have to spend a ton for a Harley, for travel, for gear, and it just reminds me of the Black Hole Raiders fans who are all probably investments bankers.

The campus at the school was just immaculate and the union where the show was at could be one of the best set ups I have seen in a while This was a close to perfect environment for a show. Also, our show rating was very low because this is a religious school and that was a challenge for me because I do go blue a lot in shows. This was a good test for me to change some old and bad habits and I came through pretty well I thought. Our crowd was awesome, awesome, awesome and the show was amazing. Their student body was so pumped we were there and our contact said this was the biggest crowd they have had. After the show we hung out with some students from the activities board and some members of the basketball team. It was a pleasure doing a show for this crowd and the students were great to talk to afterwards, their basketball teams has the best sense of humor and were giving some hilarious suggestions.

Also, tonight Danielle told me that the Second City House Ensemble was doing a comedy podcast show about improv and I got to call in. The ensemble is called Twisty and I was an involved member until I left for Mission Improvable, Scott is also part of the Twisty cast. Twisty is a super talented group that performs Saturdays at the Skybox. The cast is: Adal Rifai, Danielle Uhlarik, Nick Ehart, Nick Murawski, Andi Woody, Josh Hanson, Tab Parker, myself, and Scott just got added. This group is a blast to play with and is one of the most talented groups I have had a chance to play with. Of course I am biased to Danielle because she is such a great improviser but I also miss playing with Adal who I went through conservatory with and in my opinion is one of the most talented persons I have ever seen perform.

That is the only drawback about being on the road, not being with the people you care about the most. It so happens the people I most care about I perform with and the cast of Twisty is one of them and my playground team, the Basic 8 is my true love. The Basic 8 all got together after 5b at IO and has been a group for over 3 years and we all just enjoyed playing together so we just kept doing it. If you get a chance go check these groups out at the Skybox and the Playground respectively. The Basic 8 just got back from Toronto and had a killer show, I could not be there but this team rocks and I miss them dearly. Hi Basic 8, Kara, Mel, Amy, Trey, Dice, Curt, and our director Derrick. “Where is Randy?”

Sorry for the long post today, I was in a writing mood.

2nd show of day, Viterbo University, La Crosse WI

2008-09-01T23:18:00.000-07:00

We had to book it from Palatine up to La Crosse, WI. Viterbo is one of the first schools ever to book Mission Improvable and the contacts at the school say the event gets bigger every year.

Viterbo is a small school that focuses on the arts and has a strong theater and musical theater school. Their mascot is the V-Hawk, no clue what that is but it sounds badass but not as badass as a Dragon or an Ice Bear.

Our contact Katie was awesome, it was her birthday, she was pumped, that got us pumped, the new Dragonforce album came out, that got me super pumped and then the guys groaned collectively over my choice of music.

The show was packed, about 200 students crammed into a standing room only recital auditorium. We were on fire and the students loved the show. Frankie had a killer show and it seemed like every line he had was a home run. His modern Robin Hood character had everyone choking from laughter (no joke I saw some kid choking he was laughing so hard, I hope he was ok but I did not want him to stop laughing). The group was taking some great risks and we were doing a lot more ensemble bits and pieces, which is really what this entire concept was founded on.

After the show we usually wait outside to talk to the students, hand out stickers, free high fives and just get a sense of what they thought of the show. It’s so cool to hear that this was someone’s first improv experience. I usually tell them to check out a long form show in Chicago when they get a chance and I can’t wait until we get a chance to do some long form together as a group. Katie then brought us to the Hawks nest where we sat, talked with the students and ate pizza.

La Crosse has about 156 bars in their downtown district!!! Jeez that is a lot. We all packed in the van, I was the DD and we hit up this bar called Brothers. The bar was pretty packed because of 10-cent wing night. Wow, 10-cent wings, that is pretty awesome, I got some garlic wings that were hot but I am a huge wuss when it comes to spicy food and sweat regardless.

Thumbs up for Mission Improvable.

Hooray for Trees

Happy birthday to our contact Katie, what a great show Viterbo was.

We all packed into the van, drove to our hotel (which had a water park, most do in Wisconsin) and hit the hay. Tomorrow we drive to Milwaukee to do a show at Wisconsin Lutheran.

2nd Leg of Tour, 2 shows in one day, Aug 27th

2008-09-01T23:15:00.000-07:00

That was such a nice day and a half off. I got to see Danielle, pack some more stuff, get ready for the move and just enjoy being home and relaxing.

Now we are off to for a double duty show today. First up was William Rainey Harper College in Palatine, IL. It is about a 45-minute drive from Chicago, so we took our time getting up there. I messed up by falling asleep at the co pilot seat, which is a big no no in terms of van etiquette.

On to the show

Well, the college was having us do a noon show at their quad outside. The peculiar part about this was there was just a stage and an open space, no chairs, nowhere for people to sit. It was essentially a performance space in an area where student congregate before class. It was about 87 degrees today and our uniforms consist of Long Sleeve White shirt, Black Tie, Black Slacks, we were cooking. I never complain about a performance space and you really have to adapt to any situation you are given but I did feel like a credit card salesmen at an airport terminal.

The show was super high energy, super fun for us and we slowly got a crowd behind us. At the last game a student came up to Aaron and said “Yall need to keep your day job” the rebuttal was quick from Aaron “Bro this is our day job and we are making more money than you.” Nice comeback Aaron, I can’t imagine what I would have said if I was in the crowd when he said that, I would not have been as polite as Aaron but again we are learning that you have to adapt to any audience. We had a bunch of students come up to us after the show and thank us for a great time and that means the world to us.

All right, next up we drive up to La Crosse, WI for a show at Viterbo University.

Springfield, IL Lincolnland CC

2008-08-29T23:33:00.000-07:00

Man we are all beat but the silver lining to this show is afterwards we get to go back to Chicago for a day and a half. This was the best news because I am really missing Danielle and I cannot wait to see her. She knows I miss her a lot but it was really tough being away from her that long.

I can’t say much about the show, the students were all eating lunch and pretty oblivious to what is going on but this was a show where you really learn how to commit and go balls out.

I could not stop laughing at what the guys were coming up with, it was a fun show whether the students liked it or not. They were gracious hosts to let us interrupt their classes and lunch and we got our first IRON MAIDEN reference of the tour, which is a huge bonus.

Now its back to Chicago, spend some quality time with Danielle and then its back out on the road.

To MADISON, part 2 August 23-24th

2008-08-29T23:17:00.000-07:00

Wow that was a great night sleep, I dreamed of my riding on a gryphons ( a common dream for me because I love gryphons). After checking out of the motel we headed to a Wal Mart because I broke my shoes at the Beloit college performance.

A night of drinking, sleeping in your going out clothes and traveling all day tends to make a group of guys cranky… the solution BBQ.

Location: Dave’s Famous BBQ

Not to rip on Frankie but I am going to take a small jab at the guy because I love him and he is one of the funniest and nicest guys I know. Frankie also has a tendency to pitch his voice up a few octaves like a cartoon character when ordering food.

“Hi, may I have a coke with no ice? Sorry, thanks” (imagine cartoon character voice)
I am a dick so I will stop there. The BBQ was amazing, Aaron and I splitted the feast for two and we almost finished it. I love to eat, I can put down some grub and rarely find a meal that will tame me. Dave’s tamed me, put me to shame and told me I would hate myself in two hours for trying to attempt the feast for two. Thanks Dave

On to the show. Location Edgewood College (One of the prettiest Quads I have ever seen, too bad I'm lame and did not get a picture, seriously this place was gorgeous)

The campus is right next to the UW campus and it’s actually a grade school, high school and college all in one. We were performing outside, it was a breezy night, bugs were at bay and there was a crowd of about 100 + students. Show got off to a slow start but that is where the dynamic of the group kicked in. We all sense the energy was low but I can’t do much about that except pick stuff up (ie People, chairs) luckily Scott, Frankie, Aaron and Kyle went into another gear and the reception of the show was fantastic. After the show, pretty much all the students stuck around and had an impromptu dance party to our mixed CD.

Everyone from Madison was super nice, friendly and really appreciated the show. I can’t wait to come back and yes I got to see Camp Randall stadium and it was a site to see. It must be so awesome when the Badgers play there and the students dance to JUMP AROUND and stay for 5th quarter. That is passion

We all headed back to the hotel. I headed for the treadmill to retaliate against Famous Dave’s BBQ. The treadmill had a huge tv in it and playing was Lord of the Rings; The Two Towers. There is nothing more weird than seeing a pretty good sized guy, running at a marching pace and welling up in the eyes when Helms Deep in under attack.

We headed to bed after getting some time in the hot tub and sauna. Tomorrow we have to wake up at 5am and drive to Lincoln land Community College in Springfield for our first noon show of he tour.

Here are some pics from Edgewood College and the Impromptu Dance Party.

To MADISON, part 1

2008-08-29T23:13:00.000-07:00

Instead of staying in Beloit for the night, Kyle drove us to Madison so we could wind down and grab a few drinks.

The University of Wisconsin Madison campus is huge, full of life and just has a ton happening. It’s the week before school starts so there are students everywhere letting loose and we were caught in the middle. We parked Vanarchy next to the Kohl center (where the Badgers play hockey and bball).

I know why Wisconsin has a weight problem, there is just food everywhere, I mean everywhere. Pizza, Beer, Burgers, Brats, Cookies, Sausage, Polish Sausage were in large supply. This is not a shot at Wisconsin or it’s people but it seemed like each bar had its own street vendor and a line of drunkards waiting to fill their stomachs.

We tried to go to Karaoke, we tend to gravitate towards karaoke bars because they are fun, give us a good chance to meet people our own age and not come off as a creepy out of college guy who is really interested in your intro to management courses. The Karaoke bar was packed so we headed to a bar called Johnny O’s which had $2.50 Vodka Tonics. Enough Said!!! We all about fainted over this but we got our composure because we needed to scout some co eds for Frankie. Frankie is the only single guy in the group so we all try and play wingman, hmm I don’t know if it really helps his odds or not. Luckily for Frankie, Scott saved two twins from one of the douche bag guy cliques stalking them. Scott is a corn fed Iowan who resembles the brawny man after a barber shop shave. Scott was sporting a wicked beard for a while but got tired of the “Hey are you someone’s Dad” jokes, so he shaved it off.

Well the twins were nice, I am a twin (fraternal) so its always cool to meet twins as well and act like I am a regular at the yearly twin conference. The guys and I were beat so we headed to a hotel but not before visiting the Cookie Truck (Genius!), they serve hot cookies all night.

All the hotels in Madison were booked so we found a seedy motel that was a stakeout for police stings. We found this out because the two clerks were fully armed cops and were laughing at us while checking in. What was so fucking funny? Who knows and who cares. Edgewood College tomorrow night

I only found two cigarette burns in my pillow, YAY!

Pics, Pics, Pics.

2008-08-29T22:59:00.000-07:00

I thought I would post some pics from past shows that I have yet to post

(Aaron with the Quincy football team, can't imagine how big they would be with pads on)
(These guys just got done with camp and still made it over to the show, props to Qunicy football team)

(These guys were great sports and indulged Kyle in a fantasy of being a bully)

(Mission Improvable with SPB of Quincy that brought us to campus, great group, great show)

(Aaron pushing a house)

(Agent Bear Bear with... well a bear... wearing Dickies)

From Qunicy to Beloit College

2008-08-29T22:45:00.000-07:00

(picture of Aaron getting a Sandal Shine at O'hare airport)

Target: Beloit College
Location: Beloit Wisconsin.

Nice and easy drive up to Beloit from Quincy. I have been trying to run on every campus we perform at because each one is so different and gives me time to think about just nothing in general. Running also keeps me from not gaining a shit ton of weight.

I ran by the stadium where Quincy plays their football games, coincidentally Explosions In the Sky came on my Ipod at that moment. My friend Adal introduced them to me when I asked who scored the Friday Night Lights soundtrack (great book and movie). They played at Lollapalooza this year and Adal said they were great, I respect his decision because he has good taste in music and I still have O-town’s “All for Love” on my Awesome Run Imix, so what do I know?

Our next performance was at Beloit College, which was originally started by the trustees who started Yale. The college is its own entity in a sense that it’s a very liberal college where the kids get to actually drink on campus at a place called The Wall. According to the students they are pretty lax on the rules because they want the students to make decisions like an adult if they are treated like one in college. Pretty good system if you ask me and the kids had a very Key West attitude about everything which was refreshing.

(Post show at Beloit, give us a break it was 95 degrees in that chapel)

We knocked the show out of the park, it was held in an old chapel (kind of strange) and the crowd was pretty amped from the get go. Our group is gelling fast and we are getting the “group mind” which I honestly used to think was overrated in improv but I was way wrong. It seems that the more comfortable each one of us is the more willing we are to take chances. Kyle and Aaron are the veterans and it’s great to see how risky they get with their choices on stage but yet still completely in control. Maybe I will start breaking out of the only playing a stern dad shell and branch out. Case in point, I played a super arrogant Captain Planet…. Hmmm baby steps.

Tomorrow we head to Madison, WI. I have always wanted to go here to see Camp Randall.

Quincy University, Friday August 22nd

2008-08-24T22:50:00.000-07:00

The Van has become one of the most comfortable places during this trip. I mean it has to be, it is where we spend a majority of our time and where we learn the most about each other. Our Van (aka Vanarchy 4) is a beast of a O2 Savannah, dark blue, big back seat, two pilot seats, dvd player, WI hookup, PlayStation hookup (the essentials), old plush toys won from various skill cranes (we will get to this later), and an ipod hook up so the guys can listen to my Dragonforce music. For the record all of them hate Dragonforce or maybe they hate the fact I get super pumped every time a song comes on.

I have not touched base on this but these guys are great, they really are. I am not just saying that but these shows have been a blast and these guys are very talented.

Aaron, Kyle, Scott, and Frankie. We are all very different, I mean very different but that is why it works and it has been great so far. Who brings a 5lb weight attached to a string in order to do forearm curls in the van? Me, yeah hmmm yeah

Blah blah the guys are so talented, we are getting closer, having a blast, doing some amazing shows and I am having one of the best times that I can remember.

Our next stop was Quincy University, Location: Quincy, IL.

Show was kick ass, not much more to say about that. Everyone has been pretty much on since we started the tour and the shows have been better than the last and I honestly believe they are are even going to get better. The students were quiet at first but then they got into it and there were some truly classic moments. It was a great turnout for a friday before school started and one of the great things was seeing members of the football team come out and support the students and help break down the stage. Props to the Quincy Eagles, good luck against Western next week.

After the show our contacts: Katrina, Megan, and Paige took us to BW3 for some wings. I love wings, love em, I am a huge wuss when it comes to hot sauce so I got the mild. Yeah I can't take the heat but I can eat more than you at a setting and faster, trust me. Our waitress told us the secret about the skill crane that there is a button that is pushed that lets the person win about 1/10 times so there is so skill in them what so ever, NONE. I was crushed but I had wings so I got over it.

Thank you Quincy for a great time, great show, tomorrow we head back up to Wisconsin to Beloit College. Sucks about the Skill Crane.

Off to St. Norbert University in De Pere Wisc.

2008-08-24T22:41:00.000-07:00

Being in Florida for a night was great, I was however kind of bummed my parents could not come to the show. They live in Jacksonville, about 4 hours away and were busy dealing with the Tropical Storm/Hurricane about to hit.

Everything is fine with them, my Dad said they got a lot of rain and it's just a pain to have to clean the yard after all of that.

When we got off our flight from Orlando, Kyle picked us up and we headed off to St. Norbert's University in De Pere Wisconsin. One of the cool things about this trip was my former co worker Nelson has a sister who goes there and we got a chance to hang out with him after the show which was pretty damn fun. Thanks Nelson from all of us.

Our show was held in their Union, it was a pretty great set up and the students were fired up the entire time. I feel like I am getting the hang of the show program we do, I definitely feel like I am getting so much better and correcting a lot of weaknesses I have as a performer.

The guys and I went out after the show to wind down and just to catch our breath. I met a girl who saw the show and it turns out she is cousins with a two sisters I grew up next too. It is a small world, super small.

Thanks again St. Norbert for an awesome time. Tomorrow we head off to Quincy University, it's about a 6 hour trip so we needed to get some rest. which we didn't, hooray.

Off the the Sunshine State. Wed Aug 20th

2008-08-23T16:12:00.000-07:00

God that was an early flight and to top it off, Frankie probably had the worst experience with American Airlines about a seat that was broken.

Getting into the the airport at about 6am after only a couple hours sleep and a few hours driving is never good for the nerves or the attitude.

Frankie, Aaron, and myself were on the AA flight from O'hare to Orlando, Scott was on a different flight. MI has a show at Florida Southern College, which is in Lakeland, FL. (Home of the Detroit Tigers Spring Training and National Champion high school football team: Lakeland Dread naughts.)

Well the story with Frankie is one we have probably all had. Sold out flight, pissed off at life stewards, and a seat that is broken and won't recline. Frankie asked to be moved, the response was anything close to customer service "Well, it's a full flight so you are going to have to make due." Wow thank you AA for selling a seat that is broken, has to be some sort of safety code. The icing on the cake had to be when the lady told Frankie to wake up because the cart was going to hit him. All of this happened because his seat was wedged at such an angle where he was always in the aisle.

I wish you could YELP a person, if that was the case these two would have gotten an ICM properties review (please go to yelp and read some of their reviews, hilarious)

After the debacle with Frankies seat, we made to Orlando where our contacts Amanda and Cassie picked us up and took us to the greatest supermarket ever... PUBLIX.

Publix is a privately held, wonderful palace of fresh food, wide aisles, lots of meat and the best subs ever. It was also started by a family from Lakeland but you probably don't care to know that.

The show at FSC (Florida Southern College) was awesome, we were a man down but the crowd loved it and we got a standing ovation. The students stuck around to talk to us and it was great just mingling and explaining improvisation, how we got into it and really how the City of Chicago is known for the best improv.

After the show, a friend of Frankie's came and joined us out for some drinks. Mike Carr is a long time friend of Frankie and he is hilarious. Mike is working at Disney in Orlando doing the Monsters Inc. interactive experience and he also does improv at SAK comedy club downtown. I used to watch Mike, Frankie and Ryan Murphy perform as the Angry Northeast when I first moved to Chicago and they were great. Mike was also part of Revolver, who in my opinion is one of the best groups going right now. It was great seeing Mike, we went to a bar that used to be a bank and that was weird.

Tomorrow we fly back to Chicago early morning to get picked up and head to St. Norbet University in De pere Wisconsin

. A picture of us with the students from Florida Southern.

Coe College, Cedar Rapids. Tues 8/19

2008-08-23T16:05:00.000-07:00

Finally... we got to Cedar Rapids Iowa, home of Quaker Oats and the site of our next show.

The campus was gorgeous, I think we have yet to see a bad campus. The space we were performing in was amazing, sort of a raised proscenium. Also, this was the site of where Barack Obama picked to do one of those MTV get out of vote series.

Overall the show was great, the crowd was huge, and the students could not have been nicer. After the show was done, we booked it back to the hotel to catch a bit of shut eye. We are heading to O'hare early in the AM to catch a flight down to Florida. YAY my home state.

(I'll add some pictures later if I got em)

Kyle won't be joining us on this trip to Florida, he is off to shoot a commercial set in the 1800's.

Tuesday, August 19th. Bates Motel

2008-08-21T06:45:00.000-07:00

I never sleep with a shirt on (don't gag) but I just never do. I am a pretty big guy, I got hot all the time and usually have a huge AC bill.

I don't think there were enough clothes in my bag that I could wear to give me peace of mind sleeping in this place. Maybe a has mat suit

The alarm rang about 9am and I was going to check into their Continental breakfast. Pretty good spread...

While taking this picture, there was a huge, intimidating man staring at us from the stairs above. He yelled to us "Yall know that thing is closed."

Walking back to the room, Scott said "Wow we just got told off by the guy from OZ"

On the road again.

St. Louis..Monday,. Late Night Casino

2008-08-21T06:31:00.000-07:00

The van pulled into St. Louis pretty late on Monday night. We were all pretty tired but Aaron told us about a pretty great casino right near the Rams stadium.

One of the things I am a sucker for besides Casinos is seeing any sort of sports complex in any city. I am a football nut, high school, college, pro and it has been really fun seeing stadiums of teams that I have heard of or read about. Ill probably go off on tangents about all the high schools I know about but I have yet to see one of them.

Luniere Casino is right next to Edward Jones dome where the Rams play and not too far from the new Busch Stadium and the Arch. We parked the car and headed into the casino to test our luck.

I love Craps and they have $5 tables which was pretty amazing. After a few good shooters it was my turn and I did not do too badly. The funny thing about Craps is everyone at the table is pulling for you and when you are hot, you are the greatest person in the world. However, when you crap out or don't hit some numbers, you are the worst person in the world.

There were ample blackjack tables and I decided to go against my better judgement and sit at first base. I hit a hot shoe and made a small run but things got pretty interesting when this one gentleman sat at the table. He and the dealer had quite the exchange.

Dealer: Hi Sir
Man: Hey, how are you playing tonight darling?
Dealer: Not bad, could be better. What is your accent?
Man: I am Palestinian.
Dealer: Oh my god, that is great, we have a dealer from Israel near the west bank.

SFX: record scratch, window smash, scream.

I am not going to get into too much detail but things were not pretty. I am sure the dealer was not meaning harm when saying this but it did not make this guy happy. That was my cue to leave when the Pit Boss came over to smooth things... Good luck on that.

Most of the guys had some bad luck and I came out pretty well that night. Next time I will be the one who comes out in the red because that is just how it works.

Our route took us about 20 miles north of St. Louis and we decided to crash at this Motel... that is putting it lightly.

Monday August 18th, off to Cedar Rapids

2008-08-21T06:21:00.001-07:00

We all got up fairly early because we knew we had a long drive ahead of us to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 17 + hours (according to Google)

Our route was going to take us through Georgia and actually through Macon, which is where a lot of my family is from. It was pretty cool driving through a small city that you have spent a lot of your childhood and remembering all the places you went as a kid.

I originally wanted to take the guys to FuddRuckers and show them I could do the 1lb burger challenge in less that 8 minutes but they were out of business. My uncle who lives in Macon, owns a few restaurants called McCallister's Deli, they are like the Potbelly of the South. We decided to go to my uncles restaurant for lunch and it was pretty damn delicious. He was not there but I'll see that part of the family at my brothers wedding.

On the road again.

We traveled through 6 states that day. South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri

The tour has been really great so far, the guys are awesome, funny and there has not been a dull moment. Now if I can just get a usb cord, I can figure out how to upload some pictures. Brace yourself.

University of South Carolina Beaufort.

2008-08-17T23:49:00.000-07:00

We made it to Bluffton, SC. We did it.

The campus at University of South Carolina at Beaufort was gorgeous, its new, the students and organizers (Pagie and Kate) were amazing. Their mascot is the Sand Sharks, I pride myself in knowing college mascots and this is another one going into the memory.

I thought our show was awesome, it was mine and Scott's first show with Mission Improvable. The show was outside at night and it was hot and humid. Our uniforms are consisted of black pants, and long sleeved white shirt, it was broiling. I was drenched after our introduction and I am still sweating. It was really fun performing for these students, their parents, the faculty and everyone seemed to have a good time.

Ill post some pics once I learn how to use my digital camera, I am pretty useless when it comes to technology. I am pretty useless in general

Tomorrow we head to Cedar Rapids Iowa to play Coe College but not after a day of travel. Kyle got a pretty sweet story of tape from the Wendy's kids meal "Dolphins at Dusk" it's incredible.

Knoxville Afterhours

2008-08-17T11:45:00.000-07:00

Leaving Karaoke, we were heading to the van and it seemed like the entire population of Knoxville was looking to get arrested. Cops were everywhere

On the way to the van we see a typical pre frat guy fight. Two males in Guy Harvey gear (and or Polo Shirts) getting into a verbal altercation about RUSH, about Rush, about fucking Rush. Guy 1 slapped Guy 2 three times and nothing was done... 3 Times!!!! Unreal.

I have a theory about southern men being named only a few select names: Trey, Walker, Stewart, Chip, Wes so I was curious as to what these lads names were.

Kyle, Aaron, Frankie, Scott and myself were laughing our asses off at this guy getting slapped by this frat colleague and not doing anything. Guy 2 did not like this and decided to confront Frankie because well it's Frankie.

Our confrontation was so fun, the guys named was... not anyone of the names from my theory but it was the ever suitable name of Wells. Yep Wells and he loved talking to Frankie.
Frankie: Do you own a boat?
Wells: My dad does.. it's big.
Frankie: Is it a schooner?
Wells: I don't know my dad owns it.

Wells was pretty pissed at us making fun of him but he really needed a ride and when we would not give it to him he put us straight. "You guys will never make it out of Knoxville without me." We shut the van door, took a right at the light and turned on the interstate. Guess we made it.

While merging onto the interstate, we were trailing a Jeep Cherokee where the passenger climbed out of the car while it was going over 65mph, got on top of the jeep and flicked us off. It was time to find a hotel, hit the hay, you can't top a Teen Wolf stunt and we didn't try.

Tomorrow, we are off to University of South Carolina Beaufort for the first show on the tour.

Other 1/2 of day one.

2008-08-17T09:17:00.000-07:00

We are on the road... Well we got on the road yesterday about 1pm, leaving Chicago and heading toward University of South Carolina at Beaufort. This is the first stop on the Mission Improvable Fall Schedule. The Drive was going to be about 15 hours or so from Chicago to Bluffton, SC. Here we go

Things were pretty smooth for the most part, the van is a GMC tank that will pretty much be our home away from home for these roadtrips. One of the cool things about traveling down south was taking the similar route I took when I came up to Chicago about 4 years ago (ah nostalgia).

We were driving into Tennessee in the evening and the guys decided to stop off somewhere and get a drink just to enjoy the first night on the road. It happened we were near Knoxville, Tenn. This is the home of the University of Tennessee. About 6 years ago, I went there on a road trip to watch our Gators and then QB Rex Grossman upset the Vols at Neyland Stadium. The trip was amazing and we celebrated at a local watering hole called Hannah's Cafe.

The guys and I had a drink at this bar, we were the oldest people in the bar, we did not have southern accents, popped collars, and croakies for our sunglasses so they don't sink when we fall off our boat.

The night ended up at the Karaoke bar and that is where things got interesting. We all sang a group rendition of BORN TO BE WILD, pretty solid. However, waiting for the restroom I was approached by a drunken student who just took a drink out of water fountain filled with puke.

Drunk Sorority Girl: "Arree you gonna sing?"
Me: "We all just sang, you must have been thirsty?" (pointing to the puke)
DSG: " Yeah I was thirsty"
Me: " You must have been... have a good one"

That was disgusting... it was time to head out and drive about an hour more before we hit the hay. Pretty fun first day but things got even better when we left.

day 1/2

2008-08-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

I got a blog, I did it, I'm still way behind the intellectuals though in terms of everything.

Forgive me in advance for being the worst in grammar.

So today is the first day, I am about to head out with Mission Improvable www.missionimprovable.com for the fall schedule. I am pretty excited, we are scheduled to leave Chicago this afternoon and head down to South Carolina.

The Group consists of 5 guys: Aaron Elsworth, Kyle Moore, Scott Morehead, Frankie Cusamano, and myself. These guys are pretty hilarious and this should be a good time.

I will be trying to log our trip, locations, and just any in general that might be worthy of blog content and not just filler.

Shout out to Danielle U for being amazing and awesome and amazing. Big hey to the Basic 8 who are tearing it up at the Toronto Improv Festival.

Well, the van is here and we are off to University of South Carolina Buford in Bluffton, SC. Should be fun