Improvised Stand Up (w/ Marcel Blanch-de Wilt)
Plus: Snakes, Movies, and Selena Gomez š š„ š
If youāre new, welcome! Iām Caitlin, a writer and comedian. Each week I share my favorite content from across the world, plus insight from comedyās rising stars. Think of it as a toolkit to help you start the week laughing. š
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š Comedian Spotlight: Marcel Blanch-de Wilt
An award-winning comedian, director, and producer based in Sydney, Marcel has produced work for the Adelaide Fringe every year since 2008, and has performed at Sydney Fringe, Sydney Fringe Comedy, Bondi Festival, Melbourne Fringe, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and Perth Fringe. As a director heās worked with Lizzy Hoo, Steph Broadbridge, Beth McMullen, Eleanor Stankiewicz, and Maryellen George. In 2019 he directed Nanna-stasia which won two awards at the Sydney Fringe.Ā Marcel is also an accomplished actor and improviser who teaches improv and does one-on-one creative coaching. For a full list of credits and some glowing reviews (okay, Ronny Chieng! š) check out Marcelās website.
Marcelās completely improvised stand up show, āOne Night Onlyā will be at the Sydney Comedy Festival on May 19th and 20th. I asked him to reflect on what inspired him to do improvised stand up, how the process differs from traditional stand up, and how he prepares.
āIāve been a comedian for ten years. Like so many of us, I did not do much writing in Sydney's multiple lockdowns. Motivation was at an all-time low. When it came time to leave quarantine and think about the next show, the motivation to write an hour of stuff still wasnāt there.Ā
I watched Rory Scovelās improvised stand-up special: Live Without Fear where he experiments with the idea of doing improvised shows over six nights at a theatre in Atlanta. I thought it looked so fun. I loved how live and immediate it was. Nothing to fall back on. A way to challenge yourself in a massive way.Ā
My friend Fiona Cox invited me to do a split-bill for a tiny comedy festival and I wasn't excited about any of the stubs of material I had. I wanted to do something that would surprise myself and the audience.Ā
I was familiar with the idea of ācrowd-workā shows where everything would be ābanterā and audience generated stuff like Dara OāBriain and Todd Barry. Ask a question of the audience and see how many things you can pull from it while probably making fun of them in a light-hearted way at the same time. Then there were shows like Moshe Kasherās Crowdsurfing where audience members would be asked for stories that Moshe would comment on along the way. These comedians ranged from being playful improvisers to interviewing crowd-members.
I liked the crowd-work shows but I preferred the idea of not having to give my audience too much work to do. My aim would be to borrow from the world of clowning and let the show be whatever I needed it to be. To combine crowd-work, clown, and improv; all of which I love. Maybe that's what attracted me to the idea, an excuse to combine a lot of the performance styles I've been working on over the years. Maybe I just like to entertain people the same way I did as a kid, goofing around in the loungeroom desperate for everyone's validation. "Hey, let's play charades so everyone will look at me!"Ā
My first improvised stand-up shows were a lot of fun and they were different every night. My most successful involved me setting up as many "games" as I could with the crowd. Weaving in as many call-backs while getting to know a variety of audience members along the way. I was conscious not to over-work them so there were long stretches when it was just me. There were little sketches, there was improvised beat-poetry, there was singing. Whatever I needed to do to keep myself afloat and the audience entertained. There was also a heckler which helped out a lot. He was a bit of a douchebag, a bit too eager to get involved, a contrarian who wanted to take me down a peg. I have a "boot-leg" recording of the show if you want to listen to it.
I did three nights, all of my sets were around 25 minutes. It went well enough to motivate me to do a full-hour show at Sydney Comedy Festival. It's hard to prepare for a show where you're going to make it all up on the night. My main priorities are to be well-rested and well-rested. I want to present like I give a shit about putting on the best performance possible rather than "I couldn't be bothered writing a show so this is what you're getting instead."
Catch Marcelās improvised stand up show, āOne Night Onlyā at the Sydney Comedy Festival on May 19th and 20th. You can keep up with Marcel through Instagram, Twitter, his newsletter, or his podcast, We Need Help.
š SNL Recap
Selena Gomez hosted SNL and it wasā¦disappointing. Gomez did fine, although many of her roles felt bland. Most of the sketches were underwhelming, with weak games and uneven heightening. As it happens with a 21-person cast, a number of folks were noticeably absent: Aristotle, Alex, and Pete were missing, and JAJ made one appearance.
Worth a watch:Ā Old Enough! Long-term Boyfriends! had a fun premise, a few good jokes, and some nice acting. Weekend Update: Field Correspondent Sarah Sherman Gives an SNL Studio Tour added something a little different to the usual Weekend Update cadence. Aaaaandā¦thatās all. Letās hope theyāre just saving the good stuff for next weekās season finale.
š Recommended Reading
Oscar Nominated Movie Summaries Based Solely on Their Posters (Emily Kling in The Belladonna)
āāLicorice Pizzaā is an animated feature for those who thought pineapple pizza was a controversial order.ā
Prolific, specific, and unexpected, Emily Kling is another writer who just doesnāt miss. Sure, Iām a little late in finding this piece, but that doesnāt change how much I enjoyed it. In the midst of a heavy news cycle, sometimes you just need a quick laugh. šæ
šŗ Recommended Viewing
As someone who almost exclusively watches comedy TV (Iād love to pretend I have eclectic taste, but I donāt) Iām always on the hunt for my next binge. I stumbled across Peacockās Killing It while looking for a show that would pair well with cheap wine and burritos, and this morally fraught buddy comedy from the creators of Brooklyn Nine-Nine was the perfect fit. The ever-likable Craig Robinson (who you may recognize from his roles on The Office and Brooklyn Nine-Nine) continues to charm, albeit through a more complex character, at the helm of this wacky satire that packs in commentary on capitalism and the āAmerican Dream.ā Life is bleak for those at the bottom: our protagonists sleep in their cars and try to make a living against a backdrop of crime, scammers, racism, the gig economy, entrepreneur worship, and the condescension of the wealthy. They each carry unprocessed trauma, but are too busy resorting to increasingly desperate measures in an attempt to make it out of poverty (one particularly silly sequence involves trying to avoid a costly hospital visit). Both āgoodā and ābadā characters are driven by their financial situation, each fighting in their own way to achieve the American Dream, acquire wealth, and feel like theyāre worth something, and all have to contend with the moral question of whether or not to follow the rules when the whole system is rigged. Yet despite these cynical themes, the showās tone is lighthearted: Craig and his snake-hunting partner Jillian are determined and endlessly hopeful in a world that keeps trying to beat them down. Itās a comedy that balances jokes and heart with real snakesāI mean, stakes. š
šļø Whatās Happening
āSuccessionā actor James Cromwell glued his hand to a Starbucks counter as part of a PETA event protesting surcharges for vegan dairy alternatives. While many praised the attention-getting stunt, others accused him of milking it. š„
The U.S. Senate voted against a bill that would protect the right to abortion, which is absolutely shocking given that the senate is only 24% women (for context, 51% of Americans are women). How does that saying go? āNo taxation without representationā? Anyway, I think the government owes me some money. šø
Speaking of owed money, the state of Mississippi is suing ex-NFL quarterback Brett Favre and three former pro wrestlers for stealing millions of tax dollars from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. As the stateās largest public corruption allegation in decades, itās a pretty big case to tackle. š
š ICYMI: So far, the most-opened newsletter of May is the Star Wars Special Edition ā¬ļø
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[Directors] Big Noise Theatre of Des Plaines, IL is currently conducting interviews for directors for the 2022/2023 season (Sept-May). Submissions close Monday, May 23rd. Email info@bignoise.org for more information on shows and schedule.
[Stand up/Improv/Sketch] Submissions close May 17th for the RISE Comedy Festival in Denver, CO July 7-17th. More info here ā
[Stand ups] Submissions extended through May 15th for The Comedy Chateau First Annual Comedy Festival in North Hollywood, CA June 12-18th. Use promo code FEST More info here ā
[Stand ups] Submissions close July 1 for the Blue Whale Comedy Festival in Tulsa, OK August 25-27th. More info here ā
[Filmmakers] The New City Film Festival (New York City) submission deadline is May 17th. More info here ā
šØ What Iāve Been Working On:
Nicholas, weāre not going to Cracker Barrel. š§