Shameless Autumnal Self-Promotion

GUUUYYYYSSSS I'm still living and doing comedy things. I've got some more movie live-blogs in the chute that need illustrating, but I'm going to try to get caught up while I am unemployed (sort-of-mostly-on purpose). But in the meantime, here's a correspondent piece I did for Minnesota Tonight back in August on Minnesota's labor movement. Can you guess which parts were my contributions? (The energy drink and Newsies jokes, duh. Also the shirt and signs because I'm AN ARTIST.) The show is on hiatus until January, but things I helped write or am in and also other stuff that is fine I guess will be continually posted on YouTube in the off-season, so subscribe and shit!



In case you've forgotten, the Beard and I are still doing our podcast, Couple's Book Club (also on iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher). We're reading our hero, Detective Lieutenant Joe Kenda's book I Will Find You for our next episode and have some special guests booked for the hate-read we have planned for episode 10.

KENDAAAAAA

My last Harold show with my group House of Whimsy (as featured in the Star Tribune--a photo of our group made the print version, which I bought two copies of) is tonight, Saturday, October 28 at 8pm at HUGE Theater. COME SEE US, WE ARE HAVING SO MUCH FUN. BTWs, this is an improv show.

I'm also writing for and will be performing in a sketch revue called "Strike This!" at Strike Theater two weekends in November (10-11, 17-18), so keep an eye out for that. I'm very excited about what we've got going on and obvi one of my sketches is energy drink-themed. LYLAS! Have a great fall!

Still Alive

Hey guys, I'm still alive and doing things in the world. I have a few movie live-blogs pending still/always, but in the meantime, here are some updates!

I helped make this 48-Hour Film Project movie last month. I'm in it and it was so, so fun to make!



Here's some more of my character Whitney, who I could play all fucking day forever:



Also, the Beard and I are doing a podcast together! It's called Couple's Book Club. We read a book and then talk about it together and we are smart and funny and charming and whatnot. We've got two episodes so far. You can find us on SoundCloud and iTunes.

Support the Arts, You Guys

Hey gang! I've got a few things going on, comedy-wise. For the third (3rd!?!) year in a row, my improv group Snack Time is raising money for HUGE Theater as part of Give to the Max day. It's Snack Time's birthplace and we love it dearly. Just $10 to this amazing nonprofit theater will go to run its operations, teach classes and change lives, and put up a shit-ton of amazing improv shows. Please donate by 11:59 p.m. Thursday, November 12. And if you're in town (and can stay up that late), Snack Time will be performing right at the tail end of HUGE's 28-hour Improvathon at 11:20 p.m. Click below to donate:



ALSO: this Friday is our last scheduled Pantsuit show! Two standups, two improv groups, possibly trivia if I get my shit together, and all ladies. 10:00 p.m., $7 at the Phoenix Theater. It's what Jesus would want you to do.

Live Hosting Thingies

This Friday! Our third Pantsuit Comedy Showcase at the Phoenix Theater! 10:00 p.m., $7. I'll be hosting the Pantsuit Pop Quiz, which is part trivia, part me awarding points to comedians for charming me.



Also, I have begun my tenure as sassy local trivia host on Sunday nights at Sweeney's Saloon in St. Paul. I write "cruel"* questions and read them into a CB radio mic at you, with jokes. Game play is free! The demoralization you experience lasts forever.

*Review from real-life trivia participant this week.

SHOWS SHOWS SHOWS

Making these promo materials is
my destiny.

While I'm busy tweeting about hating my job (which ends NEXT WEEK) and never blogging, sometimes I also do improv/comedy things in person. This week! I have two! Shows!

First, tomorrow, Thursday, September 10 my 2nd place Troika group Useful Knots will be roping audiences into LOVING US at the monthly Monsters of Improv showcase at Honey MPLS in Northeast along with three other lovely groups. 7:00 p.m., donation-based admission. They have foods and fancy beverages and there is a weirdly charming pole in front of the stage. Come see us!

Friday, September 11 (never forget) is our second Pantsuit Comedy Showcase at 10:00 p.m. at the Phoenix Theater in Uptown. I will be passing hosting duties on to (Other) Lauren & Kristen, but we will be performing as Bitches with Books. Also performing are improv duo Transvaginal Mesh and standup Jenn Schaal. I will then host the Pantsuit Pop Quiz, a trivia/comedy competition we force our performers to participate in for your amusement. Tickets are $7. We also have showcases scheduled for 10/9 and 11/13. Make the second Friday of each month your special lady comedy night!

If you would like to see more of my trivia hosting stylings and also PLAY ALONG I will be hosting my own trivia night starting in October on Sundays at Sweeney's Saloon in St. Paul at 7:00 p.m. I will quiz your team on obscure knowledge and mock you when you get it wrong, but like, in a really clever way so you like it. I'm very excited to have a regular microphone gig, you should totes come!

Comedy, Not Energy Drinks!*

Friends, it has been a rough patch here in Laurendale. I went off my meds a few months ago when we were uninsured/for the same stupid experimental reasons mentally ill people decide to go off their meds every once in awhile. My anxiety has not been too, too terrible, but I am working full time as a receptionist, so that is grinding my soul into tiny pieces every passing moment.

ANYWAY, after a performing hiatus, I have a few comedy things happening again. Would you like to come see my face doing comedy at you in person (in Minneapolis)? HERE'S WHERE YOU CAN DO THAT:

I made this. I feel a lot of pride about that.

Pantsuit Comedy Showcase
Friday, July 10th, 10:00 p.m.
Phoenix Theater in Uptown--$5 advance/$7 door
My friends Lauren and Kristen and I are putting this together with the hopes that it will become a regular monthly thing showcasing Twin Cities lady-type comedy acts. I'll be hosting this on Friday, and in addition to a standup and two great improv duos, I'll be running a trivia game with our performers as a panel (still not quite sure what this will look like but I'M WORKING ON IT, YOU GUYS.). Come support female comedians it will be funny and also cheap.

Big Time Horse
Saturday, July 11th, 10:00 p.m.
Phoenix Theater in Uptown--$5
My group Useful Knots (2nd Place Troika Madness, 2015) is getting back together for some more shows, the first of which is Big Time Horse! There will be improv, standup, an open mic, and various shenanigans! Come one, come all!

Fresh Air Improv
Wednesday, July 15th, 7:00 p.m.
Loring Park Bandstand--FREE
Do you love live performances but don't want to go inside because it's SUMMER, DUH? BOTH. DO BOTH! My crew Snack Time is performing with two other improv groups in the outside, in a park, for FREE. Take your allergy meds and come join us!

Brave New Workshop Sketch Lab Table Read
(tentative) Friday, July 17th, after the main stage show
Brave New Workshop Comedy Theatre
Come see the BNW main stage cast in their awesome (probably, I haven't seen it yet, but they are literally pros) sketch show, Mad Vax: Beyond Measledome. Afterwards, my sketch writing class (which happens to be all ladies, HOLLA!) will be doing readings of some of our best sketches of the session. I might be singing a song about space tigers, but this is still mostly TBD.


*I reserve the right to drink energy drinks before doing comedy, I'm just pointing out that this is actually not an energy drink review, but a shameless self promotion post. 

Important Competitive Improvising News

GUYS. My fabulous improv trio Useful Knots has made it into the finals of the Minneapolis Troika Madness tournament! Look at how cute and useful we can be:



We're competing against another new trio called Flowers for Megatron. Some people in the rope community have some questions about their origins. It's worth looking into:



Anyway, we face off after a wild card match this Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. at HUGE Theater. $7 ONLY! If you come, you get to help decide the winner. Use your suffrage rights wisely. There's an actual TROPHY involved. Troika tickets.

Additionally, my group Trust Pit continues to perform our brand-new form, The Reconstruction, at 8:00 p.m. Fridays at HUGE. We double feature with MURMUR!--last year's Troika champions, who play at 9:30. $12 presale. Trust Pit/MURMUR! tickets.

Energy Drink Review: Red Bull Orange Edition

VITAL

Red Bull, elder statesman of the U.S. energy drink industry, has come out with a couple new flavors as part of its Total Zero line. Apparently not everybody's into the classic flavor ("Spree candy/noxious chemicals"). As I recall I wasn't really into whatever the Red, Silver and Blue "Editions" were supposed to taste like, but it appears I never bothered to review them here. SORRY, AMERICA. I picked up a few of the 12-ouncers because the Super America at Lake and Aldrich in Uptown has all the new flavors of energy drinks and is my go-to place for between-show snacks. Anyway, here's the first one of these guys: the Orange Edition I appreciate that though it is "orange," the can clearly tells us that it is artificially flavored, not trying to claim that, say, 3% juice is, like, even a thing. All I've accomplished this afternoon is napping, so we'll see if this helps.

FLAVOR: It's orange-y! Not bad. Much better than any of the other Red Bull alternate flavors I've tried. It's definitely an energy drink-tinged orange, but I'm into that. Less sweet than an orange soda.

EFFECTIVENESS: Isaac just used the word "phenomenon" and then I starting yelling "pheNOMNOMNOM," so I think you could say it's working now. I shared the fuck out of some events on Facebook. (INCLUDING THIS ONE TUESDAY NIGHT BRYANT LAKE BOWL.) Feeling pretty pumped to go to an improv practice and drill this new form straight into the fucking ground. So yes, effective.

OVERALL: Recommended. It's a decent flavor and works good. Worth a try at least.

Live (or at least recorded) comedy stylings by yours truly!

"You have the funniest energy drink reviews."
"Your take on the Godfather trilogy should be immortalized in stone."
"I bet your dissertation that you are definitely working on actively is super-smart and good."

Have you found yourself wanting to say these things to me? I don't blame you. Want more of me? You can listen and watch me do long-form improvisational comedy things!

Don't you wanna just hang out with us? Photo courtesy Next at Bat.

First up: Do you podcast? I don't unless I'm on one because listening to words without music is almost as unappealing to me as listening to music without words, but I am a dick. You should! You should very much listen to the Twin Cities' own improv podcast, Next at Bat, hosted by the lovely and talented Matt McCloud and Philip Simondet. Recently they had on my group Snack Time, interviewed us about our "artistic vision" and did some 'provs with us. Only two-thirds of us showed up and we are a bunch of clique-y, giggling assholes, but I think it turned out pretty good anyway: Next at Bat episode 51 with Snack Time. (Free!)

Next: I have two shows closing this weekend! Friday, February 27 at HUGE Theater is your last chance to see me in the Deconstruction as part of Throwback Night at 8:00 p.m. Snack Time will have our last opening set for the Bearded Men at 10:30 on Friday, also. ($12 for 8/9:30, $7 for 10:30, $18 all-night pass)

Next next: I got drawn out of a lottery by the Troika Gods to once again participate in the Minneapolis Troika Madness Tournament. It's improv. It's a competition. It's an improv competition! You may recall that my group Pigmeat was robbed of first place last year, but I shall not be twice denied! I will be performing with Jake Scott and Mary Kane as Useful Knots in the first round next Wednesday, March 4 at 8:00 p.m. at HUGE Theater. Come! Watch! Vote for us so we can move on to the semi-finals March 18. (Tournament brackets forthcoming.) ($7)

Nextest of all: My Deconstruction group will be reborn as Trust Pit, performing an as-yet-unnamed new improv form at 8:00 at HUGE on all the Fridays in March and April.

Where to See My Face Being Funny in Reals

My bros, the next few months are going to be busy for Lauren improv stuff. If you will be in Minneapolis in this period, you should come see me do the things on the stage! Here's a sched:

Fridays in January and February at 8:00 p.m. at HUGE Theater, $12 for the 8 and 9:30 shows or $18 for an all-night pass, which includes the late show I'm also in that night
Throwback Night! Three classic forms performed by Twin Cities favorites (like me). I'm in the Deconstruction group, the other two are doing the Harold and Close Quarters, respectively.

I got me and the other Snack Faces into the bearded spirit, okay?

(Also) Fridays in January and February at 10:30 p.m. at HUGE Theater, $7 (or $18 with the earlier shows)
Snack Time will be opening for the illustrious Bearded Men. We always bring snacks!

Sunday 1/11, 1/18, and 1/25 at 8:00 p.m. at HUGE Theater, pay what you like
Bitches with Books will improvise a ladies' book club and other semi-related nonsense at your face alongside three other fantastic groups!

Places to see and hear me being funny

Us recording the p-cast. Photo by Philip Simondet.

Guys! My unpaid but emotionally lucrative career in improv comedy is really taking off. After coming in second in the Troika March Madness tournament last month, Pigmeat is making plans for future Twilight Zone-inspired adventures. However! There are other opportunities to see and hear me do the 'provz.* My group Spectrum, which specializes in an Armando form where we tell our own sad-as-shit real-life stories to inspire our improv, is in the HUGE Wednesday lineup through the end of May at HUGE Theater in Minneapolis. So if you live close you should maybe come see us and several other sweet groups for $5 and maybe hear about some real-life tragedy and then also hopefully do some laughing.

Spectrum was recently invited to participate in Matt McCloud and Philip Simondet's improv-focused podcast Next at Bat. You can listen to our episode here. We talk about our lofty artistic and emotional goals and then do some improv with Matt and Philip that is mostly about boobs and dongs! Get your comedy nerd on and listen to that shit! They have a bunch of episodes recorded with the Twin Cities' best improvisers (if I do say so myself). Fair warning: I laugh throughout the vast majority of our episode.


*TRUE FACT: Making shit up might be my greatest talent.