It's a Trainwreck

Every week at SNL, the writers and cast put together hours worth of material- way more than can fir in the allotted time. Then, Saturday night, everything gets put into the dress rehearsal, and an hour's worth of sketches- anything that doesn't work in front of the audience- is cut right before showtime.

This video is from the Justin Bieber-hosted dress rehearsal, with a sketch that was way too bizarre for the audience of "prepubescent girls" that had come to see Bieber. It's decent, not great (though the Back to the Future line at the end caught me completely off guard). What really makes this video worth your time, though, is the commentary that Bill Hader and the writers give, explaining just how awfully the sketch went:

And so are TJ and Dave

This week's Radiolab is a conversation with TJ Jagodowski and Dave Pasquesi, two of the nation's best improvisors. They do a weekly show at one of Chicago's best improv theaters in which the two of them build a two-man, hour-long play out of nothing. The discussion centers around how they deal with that level of uncertainty each week, and how they are able to provide such a high quality show despite that uncertainty. If you have fifteen minutes, it's well worth a listen.

BA in Comedy

Damn....

If I were only 18 again.

Take a listen:

http://wgnradio.com/2013/03/17/comedy-studies-degree-with-columbia-college-and-second-city/