Just got back from the wedding of an old Uni pal.. we're all getting so old! *sigh*
Was great to catch up with people I've not seen for a long time! 4 years for most of them... it was so surreal, 4 years has flown by so fast, but yet seems ages ago! 'A whole different life' as my friend Jamie said.
Everyone seemed so happy and full of life, doing cool stuff. Some of them doing what they wanted, some not, but still seeming pretty contented.
It really was heartwarming to see these people I spent so much time with and shared so much with, it also made me regret not doing more stuff with them while at Uni. I got everyone's number and WILL keep in touch! I took my last remaining disposable camera from LA with me to use... so I got loads of pictures. I didnt' however get one of Alex, the groom, how stupid is that... fail.



Me, Denise and Liam at the wedding reception



me with the lovely Rob


Chris had his weekend at The Stand in Edinburgh this weekend, it went pretty well, and someone recognised him in the town centre so he was chuffed.
Well, I have to get up early and mark tomorrow... *sigh again*
Oh, check out my review (that I wrote) on www.manchestercomedy.com

BRON
x

Well, the last few weeks have been mad ones, but it's all slowly getting a bit more regular now.
It came to a head on Wednesday when I went into work (Salford) and realised that I actually didn't have to work! I'd got well messed up with my dates (trust me to leave my diary at home), then suddenly thought - if I'm not supposed to be here, where AM I supposed to be?
Turns out I was supposed to be doing a drama workshop in Aughton! Managed to get home and get my stuff together before shooting off to there.
Sheesh.
Today is my first day off in weeks and I really need to get the house in order.
Oh and keya's away this weekend AND SO IS CHRIS... how lonely am I going to be... ahh well... I can get some stuff that I've neglected doing done instead...
BRON
x

Yes our match was on Sunday, and it went... GREAT!

At 2pm when dors opened for the 3pm show we were worried that no one would come, at 2pm 5 people walked straight in!!
At 2.45pm they were still sat there.
Suddenly at about 5 to 3 we had an influx. But there were still people missing that said they would come so we kicked off at about 3.15pm to an audience of around 40 people.
(Which aparantly 'beat' The Comedy Store's attempt at a family friendly show... they cancelled one of theirs and drew 10 people to the other one). Of the 40 only about 10 were known to any of us...
It started great and went on from there. The numbers of spontanious bursts of applause were so high I lost count.

This match also contained the most Brown Bags in a long time!

Ste Martin = 2
Steph Threlfall = 1
Audience = 1

Comments from the audience (many of who left email addresses willingly! And bought badges... mostly Bron, Emily and Darryl!) were taht Ste was a comedy genius (he already knows that), everyone worked so well together, the show was so much better than they would have thought it would be (ignorant fools!) and everyone fancied Emily! (I then pointed out that she was 16... didnt' change much)

Classic lines:
Worlds Worst thing to say at a Wedding: "How am I supposed to sleep with the bridesmaids when they're all 5!" - Ste Martin (bb'd)... "I don't do the gays!" - Steph Threlfall (bb'd)
Forward Reverse: Ste having to forwards and reverse up and down a pipe... oh dear.
Group Therapy: Darryl dillusioned at being Elvis (the first time we have EVER got that suggestion believe it or not!) when Emily was trying to describe jelly babies shouting 'My baby left me!'

There will be more but the tape is a bit messed up from the show :( so I will have to wait til I get another camera out from work to tape it off...

We are still waiting to hear if they want us back, but I know the promoter, the booker and the owner all enjoyed it! Yay.

Enjoy these pix:

argh
I've managed to work myself up to almost panic attack proportions about tomorrows show! It HAS to go well...
OK, none of our shows have ever really gone badly... but for some reason I have this huge feeling about tomorrow.
God I hope I'm wrong

ComedySportz in Manchester tomorrow... seems to have come round quick. Am really nervous. I seem to have laid so much on this show that I am now just freaking out about it.
Plus things are going well with the business (bookings and the like) but not with my business partner who has, frankly, just been taking the piss with my business phone. THe last 3 bills have been just under £200... so he now owes me that. Plus, was woken by a phone call the other day... there is a warrant out for his arrest aparantly! So ... yay.
Needed to vent about that, wound me up big time.
Good note - BROADBAND SOON! Keya is sorting it out... which is good cos I've hardly been home reecntly to do anything about anything.
Just finished a 3 week project that went great! Our finished product was brilliant! I am hoping it will get me even more work at the Uni, although I am doing a LOT right now.
Some pix:









Also my hair is now blonde... I let Chris loose with the bleach, and it's... mostly blonde ;)




How knakkered do I look??

BRON
x

how amazingly vague:

the Cutting Edge

(61% dark, 46% spontaneous, 31% vulgar)
your humor style:
CLEAN | SPONTANEOUS | DARK


Your humor's mostly innocent and off-the-cuff, but somehow there's something slightly menacing about you. Part of your humor is making people a little uncomfortable, even if the things you say aren't themselves confrontational. You probably have a very dry delivery, or are seriously over-the-top.

Your type is the most likely to appreciate a good insult and/or broken bone and/or very very fat person dancing.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU: David Letterman - John Belushi

John Belushi... isn't he dead... AM I DEAD????????????

One of my students was off today attending his grandfather's funeral. He had died during the rehearsal period. It's all a bit sad.

It made me think back to when my grandad died, my mum's dad.
We had moved to the states at that point, when my grandad had a heart attack. My dad was already over there (the uk) and my mum went over shortly after. Me and my sister were alone for the first time in America, with the whole house to look after.
We kept going to school, life as normal, with phone calls every night from mum telling us how he was doing. I was convinced he would be fine and mum would come home soon.
Then I got a phone call saying that he wasn't going to make it. And then the call telling us how he had passed away.
It was all really strange. To know what was going on, but to be so far away. I remember just being in a real haze. I didnt' tell any of my friends. I dont know why. Maybe it'd make it all seem a bit real.
But life went on didnt' it?
It was all weird... and I felt horrid that real life had to keep going on.. but that's how it works isn't it?
I harden myself to this stuff, so that it doesnt' really affect me... I dunno.

OMG he's gorgeous!!

just off to get my hair cut... my stomach's in knots! It still makes me nervous.
I know what I want and I WILL get it!!
Photo on my return...

Move over Rob Shneider! Come here Steve Carrell!

Watched The 40 Year Old Virgin the other night and it was brilliant. Enjoyed it so much I came out totally in love with Steve Carrell. Now, I've seen him before and liked him (Dana Carvey Show, Anchorman, etc), but something about that character just made me swoon... what is it about me and the geeks eh?

BRON
x

Just to catch you up, am working a heck of a lot at the moment.

If you live in or around Manchester PLEASE make the effort to come to the 23rd October ComedySportz show... we really need it to be a sucess... it means a great deal to me... please

BRON
x

*dead*

RARGH!

I am the GOD! I AM THE GOD!

I have managed to get all my shit together for Monday AND Tuesday! Look at me!!!!!!!!!
I am now quite excited at the thought of a full day (9-9) of teaching tomorrow! In two different places... with three sets of students...

I am tired and still in a lot of back and neck pain :( but I am al printed off and ready!

Now I just have to organise Csz! It's been 3 months since I played over here, and I feel a bit rusty. I just hope we get an audience, seeing as we're in a new venue and all that. The people who own it though are extremely easy going so we can pretty much just get in when we want, so that's a bonus. Am still patiently waiting for the day a venue in Manchester snaps us up though.

Talking of manchester the workshop went really well, lots of fun. At least 5 of them I'd snap up right now, I hope they get to the end and want to get involved with CSz. I may beg.

Right am off to REST before the shizzle hits the fazzle (?)

BRON
x

and the link to it is here

I am so busy my head is buzzing!
NExt week I am working every day except Sunday.
Workshops galore, all that I have made up myself... which sounds and IS fun, as usual though I've not planned my time very well so I am now rushing everything. For Monday I have to have planned a 45 hour 3 week course in Naturalistic Acting for Camera, a 8 hour 4 week course for TV Acting (different), a 3 hour Second Year Radio lesson and a ten week CSz beginners workshop...
Not to mention the packs I was supposed to put together for a few schools!
Taking too much on you say? I dont think so, I just need to manage my time better... as it stands I've done a rough outline for all of them I just need to spend tonight finishing it off... oh yes I forgot to mention, I am comedysporting all day tomorrow and this afternoon! argh!
It's MAD I tell ya - MAAAAAD
And in the midst of all that I finished Chris's website

And we wrote an interview for the Manchester Comedy Festival:

ComedySportz UK @ The Manchester Comedy Festival
By Gazpacho

On Sunday October 23rd The Frog & Bucket comedy club will play host to the first ever ComedySportz event to take place in Manchester. What, you may ask, is ComedySportz? Well, it’s less about sport then it is about comedy but it’s definitely still a sport. Confused? Allow me to elaborate.

ComedySportz began life in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1984 as an offshoot of the established Theatre Sports group. Started by Dick Chudnow, a man who had built a fine reputation for himself in Hollywood working on films such as Kentucky Fried Movie, Airplane and later (To his eternal shame…) Spy Hard. Having moved back from Los Angeles to Milwaukee, he decided to try his hand at something new and started an improvisation group. He envisioned two teams of “actletes” using the audience’s suggestions to battle it out for their applause and affection in a spot of friendly competition. Thus ComedySportz was born and soon began to spread. Nowadays, CSz (As it’s affectionately known.) has spread all across the United States, has hundreds of members, thousands of fans and even has a championship every year. The championship is a massive event that draws teams from places like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas and Chorley.

Chorley?

The Chorley? The one near Preston? Chorley F.M. and all that?

Yes, the very same. ComedySportz’s first (and so far still, only) foothold in Britain was in the modest Lancashire town known for its cakes and market. ComedySportz UK follows the fine tradition of taking an American idea and adding a few British nuances to make it better, effectively succeeding where Wimpy failed. In this case the name of the game is improvisation, using the audience’s ideas to create the proverbial comedy gold on the spot. Two teams battle it out for honour, respect, and, most importantly, bragging rights for the following couple of weeks. What’s more, this is comedy without the shortcuts; no swearing and no explicit subject matter or you may well end the night with a bag over your head to hide your shame. It’s spontaneous, hilarious and it’s for absolutely everyone to enjoy.

I decided the best way to find out more was to catch up with the woman responsible for importing ComedySportz in the first place, Brainne Edge.

If you forgive me saying, you don’t sound American… How on Earth did a Lancashire lass like yourself get involved in all this?

Well, I lived in America for a few years. While there I was introduced to ComedySportz by a friend. I thoroughly enjoyed it but thought nothing of it. Years later, 2001 to be exact, while working with Chorley Youth Theatre, I was looking for a fundraiser to do. It entered my head that this would be an easy, quick show to put on. Oh how wrong I was. I met up with Dick Chudnow in Wisconsin, he threw a contract and a 300 page manual at me and said “Have fun.” Four years later we’re putting on a show every fortnight and I’ve almost finished reading the manual.

Isn’t that always the way? What can I expect if I throw my hard earned readies your way in October?

A laugh.

Just the one?

We guarantee at least one. The hard thing about ComedySportz is explaining what it is to people. The closest thing that people will have heard of is Whose Line Is It Anyway and even that doesn’t quite do it justice. There’s no substitute for live improvisation. To see something happen in front of you, that you’ve maybe even had a part in making, is the best type of comedy in the world to me.

Comedy that I’ve had a part in making… How exactly does that work?

The format of the show is that there are two teams making up scenes and gags on the spot and the audience decides which team was funniest. However, none of that can happen without the audience’s ideas to begin with. Whatever the audience suggests we take and turn into live comedy. By the end of the night one team are the winners and one team are the losers. Usually my team, not that I’m bitter you understand. The real winners are always the audience…

Shame on you for employing that dreadful cliché, even if it is true. I noticed that the sports theme is all over the show, you even dress sportily and have a referee. A referee? Do things have a tendency to get violent?

That depends on who’s playing... No, not at all. The referee is effectively the compere for the evening, getting the suggestions from the audience and making sure that the players stick to the rules of the game.

Rules? Explain yourself.

Like every sport there are rules, ComedySportz is termed as a show for everyone. Unlike other improvisation groups we have a strict policy on swearing, lewd conduct, basically cheap gags. We even have fouls if such things occur. This doesn’t mean we’re a show for kids by any means, in fact we really enjoy pushing the line to see how far we can actually go before we get called up on it. Innuendo is one of my favourite forms of comedy. I love the Carry On films. Yes, I am ashamed.

Yes, hang your head in shame. Speaking of British exports, I understand you took a team over to Los Angeles this year to take on America’s finest at their own invention. How did that go?

It was fab. The championships are held every year and this is the third time I’ve attended. Myself, Rachel Wareing, Steven Martin and Steven Catterall took on the New Orleans team and won at this year’s championships in L.A. Last year we beat Milwaukee, soon after that we went to Dublin and beat their team as well. We’re on a roll! It’s been loads of fun. This summer I got to play in six different states in five weeks and was one of the best times in my life. ComedySportz is not just an improvisation show but an extended family. Everyone looks after each other, especially the New Orleans team in light of what’s happened lately. They’ve been adopted by many of the other teams in the States.

First the world and now Manchester… What are you looking forward to most about your show at The Frog & Bucket?

The chance to play in front of a completely new audience. We love our fans in Chorley but it’s going to be great to break out a bit more. Hopefully it’ll be the start of more shows in Manchester and maybe even a Manchester team at some point. It’d be nice to be able to play another team without leaving the country!

ComedySportz UK makes it’s debut at The Frog & Bucket, Oldham Street, Manchester on Sunday 23rd October. Doors open at 2:00pm and the show starts at 3:00pm. Tickets: £4 (£3 Concs or with flyer.) £10 for a family ticket

For more information or to book online go to www.frogandbucket.com. Find out more about ComedySportz UK at www.Comedysportz.co.uk