Locked in a Room with Don Hall and Joe Janes

(Our audience from Sketchfest 2007)

Tonight, Don Hall and I will be performing the new version of our show, Locked in a Room with Don Hall and Joe Janes: 2 Guys, 1 Cup directed by Jen Ellison. If you are a fan of our blogs, you will not be disappointed. We take our digs at improv, the state of our worlds, the state of THE world, and do some major spleen-venting over George W. There are also two "scene" scenes, I guess you would say. One about the strongest man in the world and the richest man in the world fretting that they never gave their dear departed mother what she really wanted... grandchildren. The other about a chance encounter in the woods with a leprechaun (a word I learned to spell by writing the scene, but will still likely pronounce it lepperkarn with an Ohio twang.).

If you saw the show last year, the only things this show has in common are all new "I Believe's...," a silent scene set to a funky Neil Hefti tune (He wrote the theme to Batman in the 1960's), and an ending that will shock you and have you scrambling for the exit. It is not for the squeamish.

We've been frantically pulling it together, which has been a little tricky coming off the holidays. What that means from an audience perspective is that we have not managed to get through the "this makes me giggle like a school girl" part of the rehearsal process. Don keeps cracking me up.

You have two chances to see our show. Tonight (Thursday) and Saturday night.

Locked in a Room with Don Hall and Joe Janes: 2 Guys, 1 Cup
Directed by Jen Ellison
The Seventh Annual Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival

Thursday, January 3rd at 9:30pm (w/ Premature Infatuation)
Saturday, January 5th at 7pm

The Theatre Building
1225 West Belmont (between Racine and Southport - three blocks west of the Belmont El stop)
There is street parking available on Belmont Avenue. There is also a valet service available right in front of the theater for $8.

Tickets vary in price depending on what kind you get for the festival. For individual shows, though, it's no more than $15. You can get them at the door if you arrive early enough. For more ticket info call (773) 327-5252 or go to www.ticketmaster.com (search "Sketchfest 2008")

THE BS NEWS QUIZ OF THE DAY

Yesterday, I asked...

"In spite of the writer's strike, all the latenight talk shows are returning tonight. The only one with its complete writing staff is which?"

11% said "Latenight with Conan O'Brien"

No one thought it might be "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" or "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

89% got it right with "The Late Show with David Letterman"

According to the Associated Press, David Letterman had reached an agreement to allow writers to work on his show; Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel returned without theirs. Letterman, who might be a little prickly to work with, is a class act and has hopefully led the way for a quick end to the strike. The other guys, who all also took care of their staffs while on break, definitely struggled to fill the time. Kimmel skipped his monologue altogether and started his show from his desk. Conan and Leno did monologues. Conan clearly working without cue cards. Leno wrote his, which is a violation of his WGA membership. We'll see what kind of fallout that brings. The only person who really ended up looking bad is Mike Huckabee. A presidential candidate who crosses a picket line because he thought the WGA had struck a deal with the The Tonight Show? Dude. Grab a newspaper. Learn to read. Not that that would keep him out of office, as evidenced by the last seven years.