Monthly Archives: March 2015

In case you haven’t heard, the five Pythons are appearing together at the Tribeca Film Festival in April in New York. There will be screenings of their films, and the US premiere of a nifty new documentary that chronicles the 2014 reunion shows at the O2 in London. Tickets for the various screenings go on sale March 23 at tribecafilm.com. If you’re in New York, or even close to New York, you’ll want to be there. Here’s more info.

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Python process show 1 Python process show 2 Python process show 3

Last night was the staged reading for my Python Process class at the iO Chicago, and it’s hard to imagine how it could have gone better. This group of students has been one of the highlights of my year so far, and anyone who saw the show last night will understand why.

It’s always sad when a group like this ends, but it may not be over yet. I’m looking at developing a second level of this class that will be just as exciting as the first level has proven to be. And, I’ll be teaching the first level more regularly than the previous annual rate. Stay tuned, and I’ll let you know.

And by the way–sometimes bacon just has bones…

16 Years…

Del Close left us for Whatever Comes next on March 4, 1999, leaving behind a theatre (the iO), a partner (Charna), and countless friends and improvisers. He is no longer a living legend, but he’ll never be forgottDel Book coveren by those of us who were lucky enough to know him and study with him. His life and career are way too long to do them justice in this post, but it isn’t hard to discover him via Google (or even in my own book “The Funniest One in the Room: the Lives and Legends of Del Close”). There are few people who have improvised in the past few decades who don’t owe him a debt of gratitude. He was one of my best friends, and I was lucky enough to know him for 16 years. It’s now been 16 years since Del has been gone, but his legend hasn’t diminished one iota.

Del and Amy

…Here’s an oddity–I had forgotten this even existed. In 1995, Del Close, Amy Poehler, and Matt Dwyer shot a pilot written by Tom Gianis and Adam McKay (whatever happened to him, anyway?). Like most pilots, it didn’t go anywhere, but it’s nice to see just a little bit more of Del…