This is Not The End!

I'd like to take another crack at writing about the Theater. When I was writing the other blog I just kind of touched upon how important the place was and I feel like I glossed over everything. (A regular obit.) Then I got an email from Nate Johnson that confirmed it. He captured my feelings so well and did what I had wanted and planned to do... And oh yeah, this may not be my last blog about the end. So, here are a couple of things I remember about Improv Boston.

At one point I came out of the Theater and somebody tried to fill me in on the fact that my brother had just stolen a Biga Bread truck. "Yeah. He just got in and took off..." they said. I WAS present when the driver came back, though. Standing outside of Bukowski's . The guy was medium size. Above average build. Kind of an Italian looking guy with a dark complexion. He walked out of Bukowski's and stopped in the middle of the sidewalk once he noticed his van was turned around One Hundred and Eighty Degrees. "FUCK!" is what he said. "FUCK!" and looked around at everybody giggling. After he got back into his van and started it up he yelled again, "FUUUUUUCCCCCK!" when he realized that all of his music buttons were reprogrammed to the same Classical Radio Station.

Also, here are a few memories from Nate that he reminded me of:
until the drive in to the show last night. It was weird. I didn't have the radio on or anything and in this weird quiet, 5 years of memories kinda came rushing back in a half hour. From the first shows I did there (and at the Wingate) to 5 or 6 people, to the Wednesday night meetings we had when that dude walked in and we took off our shirts to the fuckin chaos of so many of those 03 shows (the late arrival/early departure of fuckin Lou Viola, The Heat is On, West Side Story, Heavy metal detector, You must be TRIPPIN, GameMasters), to Murray breaking his ankle so awkwardly (I walked out last night amazed I never broke anything running up/down ladders in there over 5 years) to that idea that Chris had of the Margarita Time Travel machine that worked from abortions, to the Halloween Show with the Hell House (2nd favorite show, Top 10 life experiences), to the fuckin crazy birdman who broke your camera ("I'll make it right..."), to D-Robot and the Roast of, to the Bank Heist show (1st favorite show there, Top 3 life experiences), to the Mental Hospital show w/invisible Brindle (unless you're Jack Hurney) and Dave peeing in a cup on-stage, to your last show there...
-Nate Johnson

There were a million moments just like these... I like Nate's style so let me bite it. Here's a random bunch: Stuffed Pants Salad (Guys pulling vegetables and dressing out of their pants to make a salad), The Achilles Wheel (Our name for the Wheel Chair we got for Murray when he broke his ankle, along with video), my battle with Aram's 1 across the street, This is Your Life, The Weekly Distraction (Pie Eating Contest, The Sniper, Rabbit Trap, Mocking, Acid Dream, Everyone Gets Distracted...), SHOT IN THE FACE!, Nate as the lackadaisical/ disgruntled Alligator, Jack Hurney playing guitar, the bum from the alleyway, running around Bukowski's naked, Dancing Drac, a visit from Cookiepuss on the hottest day of the year, and on and on. Till the break of dawn.

One of the best moments I experienced, that happened in the Theater, was "The Tom Dustin Incident." Truly, one of the best moments of my life and only around four months before we left. (Give me time. I'll figure out how to download the shittin' photos from muh phone.) To get into the right mind-set you should start thinking along the lines of the Matt Damon Monologue from "Saving Private Ryan" and we'll be on the same wavelength. You know the one. Where he's talking about his brothers and how the barn burned down, at the end of the movie, and he can't keep from laughing. Right before he realizes all of the other Ryans got themselves perished.

Anyway, Tom Dustin, was passed out drunk in a chair down in the basement and Joe List, Renata, and I thought it would be funny to wrap him in tinfoil (it was Joe List's Idea). I've never laughed so hard in my life. We gave him a tinfoil hat. A tinfoil jet pack. Tinfoil knee pads. Tinfoil glasses. Tinfoil sneakers. Tinfoil everything. When he woke up he had no appreciation for the new tinfoil life we had created for him but he did use his tinfoil claws to find the couch, across the room, to rest his weary tinfoil body. He looked like a tinfoil cyborg/mummy and mumbled his way across the room. I think, all told, it took about two hours out of my life and it was one of the funniest moments ever... and I wish I could live it again.

This is one of those "If I Hit The Lottery" moments. In this case: If I hit the Lottery I'll fly back and buy that whole block. Then it'll never have to close and everyone will live upstairs and we'll never complain about the noises that are coming up through our floorboards. We'll write shows that'll make people cry with laughter. People's jaws will ache for weeks and every performance will be for free.

The Treehouse may be closed for now but I got a ticket, that hasn't yet been scratched, and the prize is a dusty old theater made of magic.
-Chris