Baz is in the hospital for a heart problem. (Check out his very funny blog-he may even get to do a video blog of his heart surgery.) He is always looking for an opportunity to perform. The thing about this heart surgery, which he has had before, is he has to be awake for it. He has to perform tasks while they are probing his heart. He may have to hold his breath, take a suggestion and improvise-who knows? Needless to say-it is extremely painful. Pain I don’t think any of us have experienced. And he looks at these surgeries calmly and pragmatically. I can only say this. I’ve seen muscle men who work out and can press hundreds of pounds. I’ve seen those guys on TV, pulling a line of trucks with their bare hands. Ive seen The Incredible HULK. But our Baz is THE STRONGEST MAN I’VE EVER SEEN.

Im always spouting off to my performers about the old days. I remember when the house teams would be missing a player, they would look in the audience for a dedicated student….someone who came to the shows all the time and clearly wanted to learn. They would pull that person up with them and even though the student was shitting bricks, they came off looking good and feeling support in a way they never felt it before. They saw what it was like to play with a group of people who would never let them fail. Ceasar Jamie was inspired by my talk of the good ole days. Last night at 10 minutes to show time, The Diplomat Motel found out they were going to be at 5 performers. They had thought about what I said before and decided this would be the night. They scoured the packed audience and found a table of students. They were in level 4-The Harold level. Ceasar picked the one most appropriately dressed and asked him to sit in. They had a blast.

Hopefully, this will catch on. I encourage performers to take note of what students are in the audience the most. And to the students- its a good idea to dress nice-just incase.

There are a lot of daily stresses running an Empire. But every once in a while I will get a beautiful card or letter from someone telling me how much they appreciate what iO has done for them. I have had people thank me for creating a home for misfits; I have had people tell me I have changed their lives or helped them find their direction. But I recently received the following letter and it has made me so happy-I asked permission from the author to post it. This place is really doing some good.

Hi Charna,

I wanted to drop you a line and properly say so long (for now) and thank-you for the tremendous gifts you’ve given me over the past eight or nine years. Words truly cannot express the gratitude, respect, and love I have for you and iO. I know that you’re already aware of how you rescued me from Corporate America after I begrudgingly took your workshop with Ameritech way back in 1999. I was so excited and hooked after that first taste of Harold and you assured me I would quit my job and break up with my girlfriend to come do longform. How right you were! I signed up for classes right away and got half way through Peter Gwinn’s Level 3 before my job was relocated and I had to drop out, only to come back two years later and start all over again and finish. However, I never really told you what happened to me during the two years I was away.

It’s a little heavy and only my immediate family knows this up until now, but during that time I had a suicide attempt. I’m still trying to figure out exactly why I did such a stupid thing but, at the time, I was extremely depressed. I had thirty years of baggage from my dad’s physical abuse and parent’s divorce, had never really finished anything serious that I started in my life, wasn’t to fond of myself, lost my job due to layoffs, was sick of taking care of my brother and mom, and was generally an overall, miserable mess. I hated my job and all of the corporate bullshit and lies. I hated my family for always putting me in the middle of everything and expecting me to solve their problems. I hated that I constantly blew all of my money and never had any. I hated my Dad for never being there for us and abusing my Mom. I hated my Mom for letting my Dad abuse her. I hated being the nice, seemingly happy guy that everyone just loved. And, I hated the world for “letting all of this happen to me.”

The only thing that I loved or really even liked at the time was improv. I didn’t care too much for therapy and hated writing my feelings in a journal so I could “figure myself out”. I would write half a page and get too bored, too upset, or too angry. But I could work those feelings out on stage at iO. iO was a safe and magical place where people accepted me no matter where I was from, what I did, how much money I made, or any of that superficial nonsense. On stage we were all the same, all geniuses. For three beautiful hours once a week a class full of people trusted, loved, and supported me unconditionally. All of my ideas, dreams, and actions were supported without hesitation or judgement and I could be anyone I wanted to be. Do anything I wanted to do. Okay, today I’d like to kill my father, or ask out that cheerleader I was terrified of, fly to the moon, share a womb with a twin, have lunch with Jesus and Lenny Bruce at Charlei Trotter’s! Anything! But most of all, I was able to fail and people still loved and trusted me. Better yet, they unselfishly tried to help turn my “mistakes” into artistic nuggets of genius! And the more I performed, the more I started loving, trusting, and truly finding myself. By the time I got to 5B with Noah all I wanted to do on stage and, most importantly, in life is say “yes and”. I know this may sound a bit overdramatic but when I say that you, iO, and improv saved my life I wholeheartedly believe it.

My experiences at iO triggered something deep inside that allowed me more or less grow up (as much as possible) and feel good about facing the world. As you often say, life truly is a Harold. We’ve only got so much time on stage and life is too short to deny, argue, miss edits, avoid risks, and, above all, support our fellow players. I plan on doing this for the rest of my life no matter where I live.

I received some sad news just now that Paul Sills, the founding father on improvisation just passed away. And not too long ago, the great director, Sydney J. Pollack. I have fond memories of both.

Paul was the son of Viola Spolin, who worked with Neva Boyd to create improvisational techniques to help immigrants learn about our culture. The techniques were brought into the theater by Viola and carried on by Paul, who was actually one of Del’s directors.

I was a very lucky student of improvisation as I got here before all of you and had the chance to study with all of the Masters-including Paul. He was a scary teacher and would walk out on the class after a series of mistakes were made. But it was an honor to continue working with him as his classes were run in an interesting fashion. First he accepted 50 students-after 8 weeks he invited 35 back-after 8 weeks he invited 25 back-and so on and so on. I never got thrown out and continued working with him until I left to start I.O. with Shepherd, which is a debt of gratitude I also owe to Paul.

When David Shepherd came to town, he told Paul that he was looking for someone to help him produce some of his projects. I had just finished reading SOMETHING WONDERFUL RIGHT AWAY when I heard David was in Chicago auditioning for a play called THE JONAH COMPLEX. I went to meet him and told him I would like to produce this ImprovOlympic competition I had read about. He asked my name and when I told him he said, “that’s so funny because Paul Sills just recommended you to me when I asked for advice on who I should be working with.” David and I would hang out at Paul’s house constantly and it was an unbelievable experience-getting high with these guys-learning from them-and just getting to know them. (I also got the part of GOD in his play) Type casting, I guess.

It’s funny because I can remember the silly problems they had back then that we still have now. This idea of rank and who gets to play. Paul Sills had a reunion show of his game theater in Door County and all the old performers such as Valerie Harper, Severn Darden, Barbara Harris, Avery Schreiber and others came to reunite. Del and I went too just so Del could see his old friends. He was not in that original company but had played with all of those people at various times and had since become a famous director. The night of the show, Severn and Avery asked Del if he wanted to play in the show. They had some old games they used to do well together -and they wanted to do them with Del. Avery and Del used to perform together at Second City and played a Q&A game where Del would narrate and have an audience member ask a question. Someone would ask a question and Avery would be the computer and would go through all kinds of physical and verbal nonsense to spit out an imaginary piece of paper and then Del would have the responsibility to come up with the brilliant answer. Del said yes, he would play. Paul said “No”. Del wasn’t in this original group and couldn’t play. Everyone was yelling and saying, “so what-he is a great improviser and he’s here now” but Paul said No. Some things just don’t change. I find that hilarious as I always think its fun when people sit in with each other. And that even with this brilliant group, they would turn away a great player. But Paul was wonderful and grouchy and cute. These are all fond memories and I have many of Paul. I wish him an easy passing.
Improv has lost another Master.

After I moved on from working with Paul Sills and David Shepherd, I began partnering with Del Close. After our first year working together, Del was contacted by Bill Murray about a project he wanted Del to work on with him and some friends. He was going to bring a group of people to Chicago to see if it was possible to improvise a movie. He was renting out a conference room in a hotel for the class and Del agreed to teach and help out with the project. Of course, I had no intention of missing this class. We got to the hotel and his “friends” were Sydney J. Pollack, Brian Doyle Murray, Bud Cort, Jamie Gertz, Olin Ray (who was married to Sam Sheppard), and C. Thomas Howell. We were to spend three days in this hotel room together. Sydney and I sat in the back of the room observing together. After a couple of hours, Del took a washroom break and left the room, as did the others-all except me and Sydney. Sydney had been taking notes during Del’s class here and there. When everyone left the room, he started asking me questions about the exercises. He wanted to know the purpose of each one-what did Del mean by such and such.etc. As I answered, he began taking copious notes. I couldn’t believe it. I was sitting with Sydney J. Pollack and he was taking notes on what I was saying. I figured I didn’t even have to bother telling anyone this-no one would believe me. This went on every few hours. He was the sweetest down to earth man I could ever imagine a famous director to be. The others in the workshop were also wonderful-especially Bud Cort who is a genius and should be the most famous man in the world. He played Harold in HAROLD AND MAUDE and if you haven’t seen that movie-please see it immediately. You should know, Bud was in his twenties when he did that movie which shocked the hell out of me when i found out. I do remember one part of the workshop which frightened the hell out of me. Del was doing little exercises in the beginning-to give them the basics of improv. He had them do a machine-something he would have us do in class every once in a while to show that we are just a small integral piece of a whole-a cog in the wheel, so to speak.. In his version, he would have the last person stop the machine and describe it. In class, I always hated that part so I was always sure to jump into the machine right away. So, here we are at this special workshop and he has them build a machine. Everyone was in it-making a funny noisy physical machine. Suddenly, Del says, “Oh what the hell. Charna, why don’t you go on up and show them how we describe a machine”. As I walked up, I was thinking, “oh great-I have to do this for the first time on front of Bill Murray and Sydney Pollack”. I did fine-cant really remember much about it but I do remember Sydney Pollack smiling at me like I did something impressive. Maybe it was because he hadn’t seen something like this before and maybe because he was so sweet and supportive-I believe the latter. Of course, i can’t claim to have really known Sydney J. Pollack well, but I was
impressed at his sincereness, and his desire to create something unique.

Hopefully, Paul and Sydney are hangin with Del.

I have been holding off writing about this for 5 months out of superstition and the worry that as soon as I write this, Chief will die, but I think its time to let all pet owners know about The Long Island Miracle Vet. I have discovered that there really is something to holistic medicine and that we just might be listening to our western medicine VETS and putting our pets down too quickly. Here is Chiefs story.

January 3rd, I woke up and found Chief standing in a wierd stance in a daze. He seemed like he didnt even know me. I rushed him to the emergency and they took an x-ray. They found a tumor in his liver and suggested I take him first thing on Monday to my regular vet. When my vet saw the x-ray, he decided to do emergency surgery. He warned me that this could be very bad and to brace myself for the worst. A few hours later , Dr. Dann and Dr. Rubin called me at home to tell me they found a huge tumor the size of a baseball in Chiefs liver. They also found liver cancer but it was the tumor that would be his demise. It was the type of tumor that would continue growing until it ruptured and he would bleed internally. They made the point that it was already so big that he had very little time left. They both recommended we not wake him from surgery and just let him go on the table. Now, these are great doctors who I trust immenseley. Ive seen Dr. Rubin on Oprah. These guys are great. But something told me to say NO. I promised Chief I would pick him up and take him home and didnt want to break that promise, even if he only had days to live. When I picked him up, it was made clear to me that there was nothing to be done and they were through treating him. I took him to a place in Chicago called Integrated Pet Care. They looked at the x-rays and gave me an herbal pill called 7 Forests. I figured what the hell at this point. That week, Mike Click saw The Today Show which featured a holistic doctor that was dubbed THE LONG ISLAND MIRACLE VET. His name was Dr. Wen. This man was bringing animals back from the brink of death with his ancient remedies. I called him and he said he only works with the vet because he has to talk diagnostics and to have my doctor call him. My doctor was totally skeptical but said he would do it just so I would feel I did everything I could for Chief when he dies. He called doctor Wen and when he called me to tell me about the conversation, Dr. Dann said that this holistic doctor was certain he could help Chief. The medicine was being shipped over night. After one month, we were to have xrays and blood work done again to compare with the first xray. Dr. Dann was surprised at our fist visit. The tumor had shrunk the width of two ribs. The liver enzymes were still off the chart which shows liver destruction so i was told not to get too excited yet. But he had to admit, we were going in the right direction. While he was still skeptical, he said that he had seen tumors like this before. and he would have been impressed if it hadnt grown in a month. But he had NEVER seen one of these tumors shrink. We sent the results to Dr. Wenn and more medicine was shipped. On our second month on the medication, the tumor was still smaller than the first xray but the same size as the previous month which disappointed me. But my vet said that the miracle I was waiting for had appeared. The liver enzymes that were previously 900 were now 143 which meant the liver was now healthy. I was still sad about the tumor but Dr. Dann was excited. He said that Chief cant live without a liver, so this is great news. To make a very long story shorter, it is now May 20th and Chief is still alive and going strong and biting peoples heels at the theater. We did have a little set back earlier this month where he became lethargic again. The xrays showed the tumor grew as big as the first time again. The doctors all surmise that the medicine affected it for awhile and then the tumor got stronger and overcame it. Dr. Wen is not giving up. He has changed the medication and we are starting again.
Im hoping it will keep him alive for a long time. I am thrilled for every day I have with him and I spoil him rotten. And at least I know that so far, I bought him another five months as he would have been dead as of Jan 4th.
You can google Dr. Wen or if anyone needs his number-its 631-325-2047. Keep it on file for the future if your pet gets sick and your told there is noting that can be done. Make sure before you put your animal down that there really is no other option. Even my vet now believes that there really is something to holistic medicine and that its kept Chief alive thus far.

When I was first approached by The Director to do the show, he told me I would be teaching aspiring actors. Well, I thought, thats just what I do now and wouldnt it be wonderful to show the world how I teach? And what a great commercial that would be for IO and IOWEST, as well as our school. So I signed on. When I met the cast, I discovered they weren’t aspiring actors at all-only aspiring celebrities. There is a big difference. One wants to do the work and get good and one just wants to party. My group was the latter. I was used to having students who had watched our shows and were excited about the work. These folks looked at the shows with raised eyebrows and said “oh no, I dont want to do that”. But I was confident I could get them excited. I made the shows mandatory to watch so that they could learn faster. And it would be great for the world to see the brilliant performers I have at the theater-which includes many stars who are currently on tv and in film. Right away there was trouble. One of the cast members, Greg, didnt come. Some cast members had o be pulled there by the others. The Director called me to say I was the boss and should be very angry. But I didnt choose to come off like a screaming meemie. So I gave a beautiful lecture about how if you want to make it in this business, you gotta want it “crazy bad”. Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Mike Myers, FARLEY-all the stars who came from here, wanted it crazy bad. They loved the work. They came to the classes-they came to all the shows. They loved it so much that they got good at it and then got work. I cant make you want it crazy bad, I told them. And if you dont, then dont come. I have a friend who has a shoe store and I can get you all jobs there. That seemed to shake them up bit. But the lecture didnt get in the show, of course.

The next problem was the stars didnt want to be filmed. Now I had the camera crews there but they couldnt shoot. David Koechner , Neil Flynn, Andy Richter etc. They were all scared of how things would be edited and how they would be made to look. Things were not going as planned. Then came our first couple of workshops. I had them do monologues to tell me something interesting about themselves. One girl talked about how she ate Popeyes chicken and now her poop was wierd. It suddenly dawned on me that this could be VERY BAD for IO. They werent readers, they had no political views-all they knew was drinking and partying. I had an arguement with Dave in one scene because he wasnt listening to his scene partner, Will, and was trying to invent some direction for the scene. When I told him to stop and respond to what his partner said, he said, “will you just wait? I have a great idea of where the scene should go”. I told him it didnt matter what his idea was and the scene is happening now and he is missing it and he just kept rolling his eyes. I gave a lecture and used an analogy of a baseball team where the batter hits and runs towards first base. But the first base man catches the ball so the batter runs to third instead because he has a great idea of what can happen in the game-even tho thats not how the game is played. But I knew full well there was a chance this lecture wouldnt make it to the show and the audience may just see some player rolling his eyes at me. How good was IO going to come off? But I do think the editors are doing a good job making me look good. It was a risk and I do wish they showed a little of the improv hell I was in. Maybe they still will-there are a lot more shows.

I have to give the kids credit. It isnt easy to learn improv with cameras all over the stage. A teacher has to make a comfortable environment where a student feels safe. Its not easy to do that with a camera in your face. I did have to shoo the cameras off the stage a few times. The kids came around. They started to get hooked. Most of them developed a work ethic. And I think youll see by the end-I succeeded. I even ended up doing the monologues in their big finale as they felt that I should be in the show with them- since I was part of this whole experience. Del used to always say that sometimes a director has to get into the gorilla suit with the cast-so I agreed.

Week 8 is a biggie so Ill have another party. It was so fun to have folks scream and cheer when I got mad. And more teams should come this time. Everyone is always saying they want the theater to have the same type of comradery that there used to be. Well the new kids came folks-but the old guard didnt. Whose fault is that?

The last week should be fun too. The kids invited me to the house to make dinner on their barbeque. I shopped for 9 people and brought chicken, corn and veggies to grill. When I brought the huge platter of food out back to put on the grill-I was shocked to discover they has a George Foreman grill. I think thats the only time in the show I lost it. I thnk I single handedly ruined George Foremans career. We will see what gets on but Im told the dinner scene is on the show.

Ill send out a reminder but come watch week * with me June 4th. 9:00 P.m.

Folks, I just realized the director of The Real World gave me the California time of the show and not the Chicago time. The show starts at 9:00 P.M. and not 10:00. And the previous weeks rerun the hour before, so lets make the party 8:30-Ill buy pizza and snacks and we will have fun watching it at 9:00. This is going to be the first time I see it, too-so I need my support group there.

Folks
I rarely push the iO shows on a blog, but I saw the above show, Fri night at 10:30 in the DCT and laughed so hard -all the way through the show. This is the sketch show I’ve been waiting for. Unique-smart- funny and beautifully acted. I highly recommend you see it.

Bill Arnett and fans touched on this a bit so I thought Id write about it. I just returned from Toronto where I did a workshop for The Impatient Theater Company. I was amazed to see that its like a time warp-I felt like I was looking at Chicago in the 80″s when I was getting started. They have Second City and two little competing theater companies-The Aforementioned one and Bad Dog Theater. Everyone is quite a bit behind in improv because they don’t have the types of performances that we have in Chicago to look up to. That is why Kevin of IT is bringing in top Chicago folks to teach and perform. But what interested me the most was the knowledge they have about Chicago. Kevin, in particular, was a walking encyclopedia about our performers, our teachers, our forms and our history. Others were like this too. Chicago is well respected in other Cities and Countries and I think we should be proud. I feel like we are the sitcom that others stand around the cooler to talk about in other cities. And the best thing is, these Toronto folks want to learn. They love the art form and you can see the excitement in their eyes when they talk about it.

I left feeling proud. I knew I started a movement but I keep forgetting just how far it goes. Im currently in talks with a theater company from RIO for shows and classes who know all about me and I.O. And Im even going to Switzerland to work with Nuclear Scientists at CERN.

On my way home from Toronto, I pondered all this and remembered the days we would stand outside of our theater on Wells street and try to beg people to come in to see what we do.

And I want to tip my hat to Kevin of The Impatient Theater. He has the right way of thinking and from the way he speaks about improv-Im guessing he is a good teacher. If folks listen to him, there is a good chance the improv seen in Toronto will grow fast. He wants to make alliances with Bad Dog Theater. He knows that everyone has to support each other if the improv theater scene is going to boom. He has the essence of a purist and I hope he will be supported. HEY YOU GUYS IN CANADA-ARE YOU LISTENING?

Its official-the cable is in and Im inviting you all to come to the theater Weds April 30th at 10:00 to watch the show where I am brought in. (The show begins airing April 16, but the kids aren’t aware of what they are in for until the third week.) This will be a great chance to celebrate together the beginning of weeks and weeks of national exposure for both theaters. And there will be a lot of laughs when you see what i had to go through. I know Im in the show a great deal as Im their job and mentor, but the show is a soap opera about them so its hard to say which weeks Ill be major and which Ill be just a small part. but keep watching on your own because there are times when I was teaching and I felt like I was in improv hell. Ill also answer any questions on future blogs that you may have on the show and how things are done. Just email me and Ill answer on the blog. (If anyone really cares).

So join me. Im excited-especially now that its over.