Well, friends and fans, last night we closed the premiere run of "To Mock a Killing Bird" as we prepared to ring in the new year - and we had a house FULL of folks to join in the hilarious crime solving.  Poor Les Miserables may be dead - but I have a sneaking suspicion we'll be killing him off again in the future with more laughter and clues.  Stifled radio stars, unpleasant playboys, losing fighters, rock stars, caterers, biscuits, and a big giant bag of celery soup for the homeless... it was a lovely run indeed!

I also have to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who came out to sleuth with us!  I am overwhelmed by the sheer number of folks who came out, and I really appreciate everyone's support.

So - new year, blank slate... what's on the horizon?  Well, our friends at BFT are staging a powerful drama in January - Kindertransport.  Check out their website at www.BFTonline.org for all the details.   After that show closes, we'll be bringing some of our classic short-form improv to the BFT stage with another run of "Project Codename: VULCAN'S UNDERPANTS"!!!  So - mark your calendar now for February 20 and 21, 2009.  Tickets will go on sale later this month.

And while we're on the subject - we'll be back at BFT for no less than TEN PERFORMANCES in 2009!!!!  I'll be posting all the details soon.

I'm excited everybody - and I hope you are, too.  2009 is going to be a funny, funny year!

-D

Well, the cast lists are up!  For those of you who've been holding off buying your tickets to see when your favorite player would be suspected of murder, click on over to the box office and see who's playing when.  Remember - Advance Tickets are only sold online or by phone before show day.  If Advance sales have closed, tickets will be available at the door unless we specifically post "SOLD OUT" on the box office page.

Also, congratulations to Anne Crawford, the winner of the pair of free tickets for the show!!!  How can you win free tickets? Come to the show and join our mailing list.  Already on the mailing list?  Then you can enter at a show anyway!

And speaking of mailing list, I've finally finished the programming on our new, custom email distribution system.  Despite one small hiccup in its inaugural run, it seems to be working like a dream!  No, we won't flood your email inbox - but you will be first to know about shows and events if you sign up!

Oh - and for those who've been asking - yes, Virginia, we WILL be having an open audition this spring!  More details on that will be forthcoming after the first of the year.  If you're funny or know someone who's funny, tell 'em to start learning a 1-minute comic monologue now!  (As always, previous theatrical and/or improv experience is preferred, but not required.)

So there ya go, peeps!  Buy those tickets - for yourself or for a loved one!  They make DANDY gifts for the 16 and up crowd on your list!

-D

They're going to kick me out of the bloggers' union.

*sigh*

Anyway, in case you missed the front page of the website, WE HAVE SHOWS!!!!

ETC and BFT proudly present a murder mystery - "To Mock a Killing Bird!!!"  Are you able to wade through the hilarity, find the clues, and bust the right suspect?  I hope so - because it's up to you!  Les Miserables is dead - avenge him by putting his murderer behind bars!

Go to the box office and buy your tickets NOW!

Mailing list peeps - we're upgrading our mail list functionality - so your email is coming soon!  AND we still have yet to reveal the winner of the FREE tickets from the smash hit "Project Codename: Vulcan's Spookypants!"

Don't let the holidays get you down - come to our murder instead! 

It's better than finding Matlock under your tree!

-D

Hi everybody!

Well, it was an almost impossibly cold 5am today, but 5 of us braved it and showed up at the posh CBS 42 studios to appear live with the crew from Wake Up Alabama.  There were sandwiches, villainy, and more zombies than you can shake the Mayor at.

Oy... horrible grammar.

Anyhow, click on over to the Wake Up website today, and I'll wager you'll be able to catch the clips if you were still a'snooze while we were making the funny.  Many huge thanks to Alexa Jones and the fine folks over at 42 for letting us run loose in front of cameras. 

...and, Mayor Langford, it was all in spooky, good fun.

-D

I hope Chris Davis won't mind - but he sent this out today.  I feel like I should share it with the world.

Today is the 37th holiest day of the year. Columbus Day! The day we celebrate the much hallowed voyage of Christopher Columbus who sailed the ocean blue in 1492, to Discover America.

F**k Columbus! You can't wander into someone's backyard and start discovering s**t. I remember as a child, I tried to discover some apples from the tree in Mrs. Johnson's garden. After Mrs. Johnson told my mom, I discovered an ass beating that American historians still talk about to this day. They should put that s**t on a calendar!

He was looking for India and instead found what is known today as America, and just started calling the people there Indians. You don't go out on a blind date with Stephanie, show up at the wrong house, take out Shirley instead and keep calling her Stephanie all night. "Please stop calling me Stephanie, and how did you get into my house?" "Shut up Stephanie! I discovered this blind date and I'll call you whatever I please! Now, do you want to drive to the movies in the Nina, the Pinta or the Ford Taurus?"

So on October 13th, I will commemorate Columbus Day the same way I do every year. By making a bunch of wrong turns and giving some Native Americans smallpox.

Happy Holidays Everybody!
Love, Chris Davis

FRESH GROUND COMICS
SAFARI COFFEE CUP
300 RICHARD ARRINGTON BLVD.
(Richard Arrington Blvd. is also 21st Street)
205 326-0019

Fresh Ground Comics. We don’t just like you. We like like you.

Happy Holidays, indeed!

-D

Well, everybody, I am HUGELY excited to announce that the fine folks over at MUSE OF FIRE have graciously offered us the opportunity to collaborate with them on their 2009 Spring Festival production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream"!!!

As you may know, several of our ETC cast and crew have worked with MUSE before, and I am delighted that we're going to be working together on one of my absolute favorite Shakespearean comedies!

So - many thanks to Elizabeth and the other fine folks at MUSE and Sloss Performing Arts!  Want to see the whole cast list for "A Midsummer Night's Dream"?! Check out the latest MUSEblog on the MUSE MySpace Page!

Woo-hoo!

-D

Hi everybody!

Well, we're hoping to announce our next show in the next week or two - but in the meantime, your extemporaneous artisans are keeping the laughter going throughout town!  This Friday, for example, you can catch the Fresh Ground Comics with ETC's Christopher Davis!

Good comedy, delicious wines, tasty beers and the finest bottle water this side of Niagara Falls!

That’s what you’ll find at Safari Coffee Cup this Friday night! Guess my weight, and I’ll buy you a beer. Guess my level of tolerance for pain and I’ll let you punch me in the face. Everybody wins!

FRESH GROUND COMICS
FRIDAY OCTOBER 3RD
SAFARI COFFEE CUP
300 RICHARD ARRINGTON BLVD.
(Richard Arrington Blvd. is also 21st Street)
205 326-0019
SHOW STARTS 8:00
ONLY$5 / $3 WITH STUDENT I.D.

Fresh Ground Comics. We don’t just like you. We like like you.

And, if you want to celebrate the Reason for the Season - Halloween Season, that is - why not check out the newest offering from our friends at Theatre Downtown?  Our own Debbie Smith will be there adding to the funny!

OPENING THURSDAY OCTOBER 9, 2008:

THE 13TH FRIDAY:
READY, SET, DIE!

CALL (205) 306-1470 FOR TICKETS!
OR VISIT: www.theatredowntown.com

What if the characters from "Rent" all worked at a Summer camp when they were younger?  What if that same camp was home to a psychotic serial killer hellbent on keeping his tradition of death alive?  So goes "The 13th Friday", a parody of those cheesy slasher films from the 70's and 80's, films like "Friday the 13th" and "My Bloody Valentine'.  Eight counselors arrive at Camp Crystal Meth(odist) for their annual training weekend, but start getting picked off, one at a time.  Will Mark, Roger, Benny, Tom, Maureen, Joann, Mimi and Angel survive the weekend?  Will Rhonda the Botanist find that missing finger?  Will Cook control his anger management long enough to keep his tater tots from burning away into a fragile ash?  Find these answers, and more, at the most adventurous comedy  to ever come out of Alabama!

Running October 9-25, 2008, with performances on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 8:00 PM, with one midnight performance Saturday the 18th at 11:59 PM.  Tickets are $17.00 for adults and $12.00 for seniors and students with the proper ID.  Thursday nights and the midnight performance are HOBO NIGHTS, meaning you pay what you can with a $5.00 minimum.  To order tickets, call (205) 306-1470 or you can order them online at:  www.theatredowntown.com.

Starring:  Franklin Slaton, Stephen Wade, Sylvester Little Jr, Rush Brunson, Gillian Puffer, Amanda Maddox, Ashley Culpepper, Michele Santiago, Lee J. Green, Debbie Smith, Bert R. Payne, Edward Gurney, Christoph Hooks and Chuck Duck as Camp Director.

And be sure to stay tuned for the latest info on our own upcoming shows! 

-D

Well, friends and fans, as most of you know, I'm currently appearing as Mitch Albom in BFT's production of "Tuesdays with Morrie."  Today, Alec Harvey's review of the show was published in The Birmingham News - and I am honored and humbled.  Not humbled enough not to stick it in the ol' blog, though!

Here it go:

Two-person drama is played perfectly

Wednesday, September 17, 2008
ALEC HARVEY
News staff writer

If you've ever read Mitch Albom's "Tuesdays with Morrie," the sportswriter's account of spending time with a former professor as he battled the final stages of Lou Gehrig's disease, your eyes are probably welling up already.

It's a tearjerker to be sure, but in its stage incarnation, it's also the opportunity for two actors to connect with an audience and give performances that resonate long after the show is over.

That's exactly what we get with Birmingham Festival Theatre's season opener, which brings us stage veteran Sam Chalker as Morrie and relative newcomer Douglas O'Neil Jr. as Mitch, both at the top of their games.

"Tuesdays with Morrie" is an intimate, two-person drama that covers a great deal in its 90 minutes. Mitch is a Brandeis student when the show starts, a fledgling musician whose favorite professor, Morrie, urges him to follow his dreams and makes him promise to keep in touch.

Sixteen years later, Mitch, a brash, successful sportswriter who has no time for anyone other than himself, sees his long-lost professor on "Nightline," where Ted Koppel is chronicling the elderly man's battle with the fatal Lou Gehrig's disease. He pays Morrie what he thinks will be a solitary visit, but ends up spending most every Tuesday with him, becoming a much better person in the process.

Sound sappy? Yep, it is. But Chalker, O'Neil and director John Batson manage to avoid letting this become a sob-fest from beginning to end, although tears are sure to come when appropriate.

This show - with its minimal set and lack of flashy costumes - is all about the acting, and that we have in spades. Chalker has done everything from "Hamlet" to "Macbeth" to "The Lion in Winter" on area stages, but it's hard to believe he'll be better suited to any role than that of Morrie. Morrie can be funny, wise and curmudgeonly, and Chalker handles them all with ease. He doesn't make us feel sorry for Morrie - he makes us wish we could have spent time with him.
 
O'Neil holds his own as Mitch. For "Tuesdays with Morrie" to work, we've got to see the young man's transformation from idealist to realist, from career-minded writer to family-minded man, and it's not the easiest thing in the world to pull off. O'Neil does.

"Tuesdays with Morrie" is one of those shows you may not think you want to see, but you'll be glad you did. Just be sure to bring some tissues.

AND we got a full FIVE STARS!!!  Needless to say, I am thrilled. 

So, come on out and see it - even Alec Harvey says you'll be glad you did.

-D

Well, gang, it's going to be a few minutes before we get another show up, but things are moving right along with the ETC!  In the meantime, a couple of our folks are working on some other projects, so if you're missing us, why not check out one of these?  You can find out all the details by clicking on the links.

I Do, I Do! at the Virginia Samford Theatre is being stage managed by our own Crew Chief, Laura Kilgore.  The show runs from tonight through Sept. 14.

Fall Showcase Benefit for MUSE OF FIRE: Shakespeare at Sloss will be this Sunday (Sept. 7) at Sloss and will feature our own Nick Crawford in a scene from Twelfth Night.  Plus, if you're lucky enough to go at the right time, you may be ushered by Crew woman Julie Meadows and yours truly.  This show also comes with wine and hors d'oeuvers!

Tuesdays with Morrie at Birmingham Festival Theatre runs from Sept. 10-27, and features... well, me as half of the two-man cast, with Chris Burch's wife, Laurie, stage managing. (Chris helped out on props and stuff for us, too!)  Please note that our performance on Sept. 10 is a benefit - all proceeds will be given to the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Of course, you can also read J'Mel's column in the Birmingham Weekly.  You can even find the old ones archived on the Birmingham Weekly website.

Hopefully, we'll be announcing new show dates in the next couple of weeks.  Until then, keep laughing Birmingham!

-D

Well, the second of our inaugural "Project Codename: VULCAN'S UNDERPANTS" shows was an even bigger hit than the first!  Despite the Labor Day holiday weekend and Alabama and Auburn playing their first games of the season, we had a fantastic crowd of folks join us at the BFT for a hilarious show.  Thanks to all who came out and laughed with us - it was a total treat!  I have beer to drink and barbeque to go eat - so I'm going to keep this short and sweet.

New Photos
The photos page is now updated with photos from the Democratic National Convention Show!  Photos form the Labor Day Show should go up sometime this week, so if you missed out, you'll be able to look at them and curse your luck that you weren't there.  We also had Jamie on hand with his trusty video camera for the Labor Day Show, so hopefully there will be some video clips coming to the site as well.  I loves me some technology!

New Links
We've got some new friends on our "Links, etc." page.  I know you're all busy liking the people whose links have been there all along, but sniff out some of our new friends, too.  Such as Gnar.  Gnar is good - that's why they both start with 'G'.  It's the pomegranatiest!

New Winner
The winner of a pair of free tickets to our next show is George Atkinson!!!  Thanks to all who joined our mailing list and entered for a chance to win the tickets.

New Cottle
That's right - Jamie Cottle and his charming wife Blakely have welcomed their daughter River into this world!  The newest Cottle made a cameo appearance at our rehearsal this week - isn't she adorable?  Many congratulations to the Cottles all!

I think that's all I know for Labor Day, 2008.

Thanks again for everybody who helped make our first two shows such a wild success!  And get ready, Birmingham - there's more hilarity to come!

-D