Time: Thu, 01-Feb-2001 00:43:56 GMT     IP: 24.14.116.105

At Gabe's tonight (Wednesday), The Subordinates are having a 
show at nine. You should be there... if you aren't a pussy.

Time: Sat, 03-Feb-2001 09:52:05 GMT     IP: 205.244.160.146

0.25.  "James Pretends He's Tom Waits" by James Erwin; J Erwin--J 
sings the national anthem Tom Waits-style (song).

0.5.  "The Cure-All" by Chris Stangl; C Stangl, A Lawson--C and A 
drink to the point of homoerotic pleasure--or nearly so (comedy 
sketch).

1.  "Cigar Boxes," by Bradley Harris; B Harris--B does skill-based 
tricks with three boxes (skill performance).

2.  "The Curative Properties of Stupid, Stupid Idiots," by A.J. 
Morgan; J River, A Galbraith, A Lawson, P Rust, M Cassady--J looks 
angry about the injustice in his life while P and M heartily enjoy 
jokes from a book (comedy sketch).

3.  "Oysters on the Half Shell," by Al Angel; A Lawson, S 
Franklin, J River, A Angel (??), M Hansen (??), (??)--young 
friends choose pizza for a snack and turn out to be pop-culture 
icons (comedy sketch).

4.  "Barbarus Inepticus," by Tom Kovacs and Sam Negron; T Kovacs, 
S Negron, A Clarke, (??)--haircuts are exchanged and shaving cream 
is sprayed amid banter (comedy sketch).

5.  "Don't Tread on Me," by Edmund Scott; JC Luxton--JC seeks 
acceptance in the Civil-War-Reenacters' amputee club (comedic 
monologue).
 
6.  "Stammer," by Paul Rust; P Rust, M Cassady, A Galbraith--when 
M and A foil P's sneaky plan to avoid their company, his reaction 
becomes debilitating (comedy sketch).

7. "A Rhyme for Orange," by Dan Fairchild; D Fairchild--
physically-enhanced rhyming poem (comedy poem).

8.  "The Needle, the Fluid, the Way We Were," by Aprille Clarke; A 
Clarke, M Hansen--M the acupuncturist visits A in the hospital and 
slips into her IV (comedy sketch).

9.  "The I-80 Blues," by Tyler "Skylo" Corbett; T"S" Corbett--T"S" 
sings and plays the guitar to a song about the interminable nature 
of Nebraska and things on the other side (song).

10.  "Dickbreath -&- the Devil," by Arlen Lawson; A Lawson--A gets 
injured while trick-or-treating, meets the devil, and learns the 
True Meaning of Halloween (comedic monologue).

11.  "Floats Like a Bungeroth, Stings Like V.D.," by Aaron 
Galbraith; A Galbraith, C Okiishi, P Rust, N"B" Campbell, (??)--
Aaron proves his athletic prowess by holding P on his shoulders; a 
potentially dangerous cockfight ensues (comedy sketch).

12.  "Dying for Life," by Brian Tuttle; B Tuttle (I presume)--B 
ruminates on the nature of the human condition and the sadness 
that comes with it (dramatic monologue).

13.  "Why I Hate No Shame or Think Twice When They Take Your 
Money," by Elena Murphy; (??)--(??) smokes a cigarette and warns 
the audience that the No Shame board and regulars are actually 
hostile toward them yet simultaneously dependent on them. 
(dramantic monolgue/poem).

14.  "The Run Around Town," by Neil "Balls" Campbell; N"B" 
Campbell, A Galbraith--N"B" energetically reminisces about abusive 
relatives and makeshift homes constructed of garbage and children 
(comedy sketch/monologue).

15.  "Heaven's Percolator," by Chris Stangl;  C Stangl, C Okiishi, 
A Lawson--after discussing the sorrows in his life and discussing 
the nature of heaven, CS (with diabolical overtones) convinces CO 
to stab A.

Time: Sat, 03-Feb-2001 16:14:33 GMT     IP: 216.161.206.150

Just adding the times, for the record.  Rounded to the nearest 
half-minute, as that's as close as my clock could give me.  All 
in all, this was a good night timewise.  Most of the over-runs 
were worth it, and the entire night finished in less than 90 
minutes!  Good job, you time-conscious folk, you!

0.25.  "James Pretends He's Tom Waits" by James Erwin (2:00)

0.5.  "The Cure-All" by Chris Stangl (1:30)

1.  "Cigar Boxes," by Bradley Harris (4:00)

2.  "The Curative Properties of Stupid, Stupid Idiots," by A.J. 
Morgan (5:00)

3.  "Oysters on the Half Shell," by Al Angel (1:30)

4.  "Barbarus Inepticus," by Tom Kovacs and Sam Negron (6:30)

5.  "Don't Tread on Me," by Edmund Scott (6:00)

6.  "Stammer," by Paul Rust (3:30)

7. "A Rhyme for Orange," by Dan Fairchild (4:30)

8.  "The Needle, the Fluid, the Way We Were," by Aprille Clarke 
(7:00)

9.  "The I-80 Blues," by Tyler "Skylo" Corbett (3:30)

10.  "Dickbreath --&-- the Devil," by Arlen Lawson (4:00)

11.  "Floats Like a Bungeroth, Stings Like V.D.," by Aaron 
Galbraith (4:00)

12.  "Dying for Life," by Brian Tuttle (6:00)

13.  "Why I Hate No Shame or Think Twice When They Take Your 
Money," by Elena Murphy (1:00)

14.  "The Run Around Town," by Neil "Balls" Campbell (5:00)

15.  "Heaven's Percolator," by Chris Stangl (uncertain)

Time: Sun, 04-Feb-2001 07:04:01 GMT     IP: 24.15.108.234

hooray for toms kovack and sam the negro!!!  they are my 
favorite no shame!!!  I eat the 

Time: Sun, 04-Feb-2001 07:28:04 GMT     IP: 64.197.224.60

 :4.  "Barbarus Inepticus," by Tom Kovacs and Sam Negron; T 
Kovacs, 
:S Negron, A Clarke, (??)--haircuts are exchanged and shaving 
cream 
:is sprayed amid banter (comedy sketch).

I see that my piece is mentioned here in the order. It IS true 
that I performed this piece (with my good friend Sam) at No Shame 
Theatre, and I am flattered that it would be included in the list 
of pieces which were performed. While it's true that haircuts were 
exchanged, I don't know if I would call the conversations 
"banter", so much as maybe "witty dialogue" or "scathing social 
commentary". But, hey! I AM the youngest performer at No Shame, 
and I got my high school diploma! I appreciate your comments! 
It'll just make me that much better next week! I think we 
performers are really getting better with practice! Yo!

-Tom

Time: Sun, 04-Feb-2001 07:43:07 GMT     IP: 64.197.224.70

OK, will the the real Tom Kovacs please stand up?! Hey! I didn't 
write that last message! I don't know who's using my name, but I'm 
flattered. I don't know how cool it is to post as someone else, 
but I guess I pretty much agree with everything my anonymous 
double said, so what the hey! Just, from now on, leave the Tom 
Kovacs-ing to ME, Tom Kovacs! Thanks!
-Tom Kovacs.

Time: Sun, 04-Feb-2001 08:09:35 GMT     IP: 64.197.224.70

First off, I'm assuming that someone thought they were being 
funny here, pretending to be Tom Kovacs.  
     The tongue in cheek style in which the false post was 
written seems to be a criticism of Thomas' own posting 
trademarks. Criticisms are fine and good, but they need to be 
delivered in a straightforward, honest way. By making an 
anonymous and ultimately condescending comment, you're distorting 
any actual value one might get from your post. 
     That said, I do agree with the point this post was probably 
trying to make: Tom's posts can be a trifle self centered and 
overly long.  
     Still, pretending to be someone else is wrong, and having 
your point of satire aimed at someone without taking 
responsibility for what you're saying is just plain cowardly. 

Well, that's my tirade for tonight! By the way, come see my band 
play at Sam's Pizza next Saturday night at 9 pm! No cover! 
FRAGGLE ROCK LIVES (phoney Beatle-mania DIES)! Hope to see you 
there!

Time: Sun, 04-Feb-2001 08:41:50 GMT     IP: 128.255.193.23


13.  "Why I Hate No Shame or Think Twice When They Take Your 
:
Money," by Elena Murphy; (??)--(??) smokes a cigarette and warns 
:
the audience that the No Shame board and regulars are actually 
:
hostile toward them yet simultaneously dependent on them. 
:
(dramantic monolgue/poem).
:

I just wanted to point out...or clarify ...either way, bare with 
me I'm drunk...that said, I didn't intend to single out the board 
members or the regulars.  I think pretty highly of most of the 
same.  It was not intended to seriously offend, but if it had to 
offend it was meant to offend those who seriously feel the way 
portrayed in the piece, and I hope and assume most of you don't. 
(am I spelling offend right...it's looks awfully wrong) Anyway, 
the only other thing I wanted to point out...is that it was a 
clove dammit....and it was performed by Tricia King (I assume 
that's what the question marks are for). 

Time: Sun, 04-Feb-2001 08:59:58 GMT     IP: 128.255.193.23

I have heard it said that No Shame doesn't really welcome new 
people or something along that line....and I wanted to say that 
when I went to turn in my piece everyone was very wonderful and 
friendly to me, so thanks.

Time: Sun, 04-Feb-2001 10:16:18 GMT     IP: 128.255.189.150

Seeing how I've obtained two clones in the last few hours, I 
guess that just goes to prove that the world revolves around 
me.  Too bad my clones are too independant minded to think along 
the same lines as the great self-centered megalomaniac known as 
Tom Kovacs.

One thing, straight from the horse's mouth; I think the best 
description for the dialogue during this week's piece is in 
fact "banter."  The dialogue was all meaningless salon-style 
small-talk that went absolutely nowhere.  If my clone can 
find "social commentary" in my off-key rendition of an old 
drinking song as a prelude to massive amounts of shaving cream 
being dumped on my person, then he is a deeper thinker than I.

Finally, I'm agreeing with Paul Rust here;
Criticize my writing and "acting" however you want, but use your 
own fucking name!

Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom I am Tom Tom Tom Mot Tom Tom Tom Omt Tom 
Tom Tom To mT om Tom Tom Tom Tom Thomas Kovacs Tom Tom 
Tomtomtomtomtomtotmotmotmtotmtomtomtomtomtomtomtomtomtomtotmtom

Time: Sun, 04-Feb-2001 19:46:07 GMT     IP: 128.255.109.21

I'm supposing that that Danny-o-foyo etc. etc. was supposed 
to be me.  It wasn't.  You probably could have guessed that 
by the fact that Tom #2 and Dan #2 posted within a half hour 
of each other.  Not that Tom and Sam AREN'T my favorites 
at NST, just wanted to let you know that I, too, am a victim.

Who are these Ruttles?

But being that whoever it was couldn't finish a complete 
thought, won't even bother.

Time: Sun, 04-Feb-2001 22:33:31 GMT     IP: 4.4.74.105

:I'm supposing that that Danny-o-foyo etc. etc. was supposed 
:
to be me.  It wasn't.  You probably could have guessed that 
:
by the fact that Tom #2 and Dan #2 posted within a half hour 
:
of each other

Oddly, that is just a coincidence. As a fake Tom, I can tell you 
that while I WAS inspired by the fake Dan, I am not the fake Dan. 
I am a fake Tom. Tom Kovacs. Keep it straight, man!

-Tom Kovacs 

Time: Mon, 05-Feb-2001 00:14:26 GMT     IP: 209.212.82.162


Hello everybody! I am the real live Dan Brooks! I am a big piece 
of wad! Everyone knows I lick my butt hole! Ask anybody! I have 
to go now, as it is time to lick my real Dan Brooks butt hole!

Very Truly Yours,
Dan Brooks

Time: Mon, 05-Feb-2001 00:25:39 GMT     IP: 209.212.82.162

Goddammit, Mose.

Just because I'm an easily interested person and this whole 
online impersonation thing raises some interesting questions, I 
would say that the best way to identify who is impersonating you 
on the message board (Mr. Fairchild, this is pretty much directed 
at you, as I don't really know who Tom Kovacs is and I'm suddenly 
feeling very old and disconnected from my old writing haunts, but 
let's continue) is to analyze the writing style of the post. You 
don't write like the fake post of you, but I think I could narrow 
the field of contestants down to about five people who do. And of 
those five people, maybe two of them regularly use multiple 
exclamation points like that. (Of course, those original five 
people have had enough of an impact on the general pool of 
writers at No Shame -- particularly the new ones, I hear -- that 
the post really could be from anyone. But I digress, and worse 
yet I do so in a way that undermines my original point. Also, I 
get parenthetical way too easily.) So do a little literary 
handwriting analysis, and all of a sudden you know who to look at 
with seething resentment, promising to yourself that you'll 
confront them, because doing that sort of thing is your New 
Year's resolution, after all, and this year you're losing ten 
pounds and taking charge of your life, starting tomorrow.

I work to much and it's not on the things I love, usually. Also, 
my heat was off for two weeks. I live in a slum. This being said, 
I'm deliriously happy. In case you were staying up night, 
wondering, maybe reading a book, touching yourself, and wondering 
again. Sigh. Good night, sweet prince.

Dan. For fucking real.

Time: Mon, 05-Feb-2001 00:31:03 GMT     IP: 4.4.74.47

:
Finally, I'm agreeing with Paul Rust here;
:
Criticize my writing and "acting" however you want, but use your 
:
own fucking name!

Actually, you're WEREN'T agreeing with Paul Rust. I'm sorry to 
say that my name, too, was being used in vain. I didn't post that 
message. 
But, like Tom, I too agree with some of what it said, in that: 
yes, pretending to be someone else IS wrong, and yes, making 
criticisms without taking credit for them IS cowardly. So keep 
your filthy hands off my "Paul Rust", says me, Paul Rust! 
(Also, fake Paul was lying about my band playing at Sam's on 
Saturday, we're playing TONIGHT, in about an hour. 8 o'clock! 
Sam's Pizza! No cover!) 

Time: Mon, 05-Feb-2001 04:17:03 GMT     IP: 64.197.224.140

:Just because I'm an easily interested person and this whole 
:online impersonation thing raises some interesting questions, I 
:would say that the best way to identify who is impersonating you 
:on the message board (Mr. Fairchild, this is pretty much directed 
:at you, as I don't really know who Tom Kovacs is)

Any two great guys who share such a great name must surely share a 
knack for thinking.  Deduction, if you will.  By the time you 
posted this, I was already well underway in uncovering the ruffian 
responsible for the theft of my identity.  But thank you, Mr. 
Brooks.  You're support has really been uplifting to me in this 
time of trials.

I did study the stylistic tendencies of the post written falsely 
under my name, and I have, with absolute certainty, discovered the 
thief.

The culprit is none other than Tom Kovacks!  Tom, I must insist 
that you stop this trickery at once.  Toying with another person's 
identity might seem like a game to you, but this is not a 
vicitimless crime and real people do get hurt.

Just for that, Tom, you are no longer my favorite no shame 
performer.  I fact, I think I'm really beginning to hate you.  But 
I still like your negro friend!!!  Sam!!!  Do you see him 
involoved in this terrible masquerade?  You could learn a thing or 
two from him.

Time: Mon, 05-Feb-2001 05:10:21 GMT     IP: 128.255.109.18

Nope, i didn't post this one, either.  it is obviously not written 
in my style.  Just read my reviews to find that one out.  plus I 
would never have mispelled Tom's name.  But on to the point 
of this message.  Being that I couldn't care less who is doing 
this since he obviously isn't fooling anyone, I'm not going to 
try to find out who this cat is.  That's what assholes who pull 
this shit want people to do.  Just imagining this complete 
douche checking the message board every ten minutes to 
see what other complete idiocy he can contribute is enough 
to make his identity a moot point. Nope, I'm sorry, I don't care 
who it is but I'm having fun laughing at his/her expense, 
anyway.

Time: Mon, 05-Feb-2001 06:03:01 GMT     IP: 128.255.189.150

The culprit is none other than Tom Kovacks!  Tom, I must insist 
that you stop this trickery at once.  Toying with another 
person's identity might seem like a game to you, but this is not 
a vicitimless crime and real people do get hurt.
:
Just for that, Tom, you are no longer my favorite no shame 
performer.  I fact, I think I'm really beginning to hate you.  
But I still like your negro friend!!!  Sam!!!  Do you see him 
involoved in this terrible masquerade?  You could learn a thing 
or two from him.



All right, all right.  I guess I'm suddenly playing this game 
with you shitheads now, aren't I?  First, I don't think the real 
Dan Fairchild wrote this message, and if he did, he can tell me 
personally this Friday.  My reasons for believing this are three; 
1) There's recently been a lot of impersonater personalities, 
quite possibly written by the same lying asshole, that have shown 
up in the last day. 2) There's a bit of silence in this board 
room.  None of the names that ever make constructive points have 
said anything beyond "wait a second, I didn't write that" for the 
last two days.  3) Dan Fairchild may have fun slaughtering his 
own name continuously in this board room, but he doesn't 
typically do that to the names of other performers.  And, if Dan 
would take the time to misspell my name, he'd do it a different 
way every time, using something a bit more creative 
than "kovacks."

That said, the real Tom Kovacs is here to tell everybody that he 
is not the culpret this fake Dan Fairchild has accused him of 
being.  I may be young and (gasp) naiive like my own impersonator 
kindly pounted out after reading over all of my old postings and 
combinging everything brazingly self-centered or stupid sounding 
into one meaningless posting, but I do not have a fucking 
identity crisis.

I'm sure that' once again I've really pissed somebody off through 
one of the reviews I've written.  I've got a good idea who that 
depressed little crybaby is, but I'm not going to openly accuse 
anybody without proof because I'm too nice to do something like 
that.

To save a little face, I'm publically anouncing that I'm not 
saying anything in this board room for the rest of this week.  
Therefore, anything that's written under my name or anything that 
continues on the pattern of finding any possible excuse to debase 
me through the use of another name is probably written by our 
resident bad comedian with no life.  Have a great time this week, 
everybody.

Tom Kovacs

P. S.  Tom Kovacs' clones are dicks who deserve to die.  If 
anybody finds them, bring them to me so I can sever their heads 
with my bare hands and become the first American to survive 
multiple suicides.  Meanwhile, I suggest that these clones sink 
into a deeper depression by realizing that they will never be as 
cool as the high school graduate who gave up his hair for the 
stage.  Impudent little fuckers- they are the Bud Light to my 
Guiness!

Time: Mon, 05-Feb-2001 06:53:48 GMT     IP: 128.255.193.23

As long as there are all these clones running around maybe some 
of them could comment on the last show?

Time: Mon, 05-Feb-2001 06:58:25 GMT     IP: 128.255.107.16

0.25.  "James Pretends He's Tom Waits" by James Erwin; J Erwin--
J sings the national anthem Tom Waits-style (song).

Starting off this way made No Shame seem like a national 
treasure. That's really funny to me. I can imagine how great it 
would be if No Shame had an annual T.V. Christmas Special where 
college football stars traded jokes about how big they were and 
Crystal Gale sang "Silent Night."  Plus, that was a good 
impression. Although I'm more familiar with Waits through his 
acting than his music.

0.5.  "The Cure-All" by Chris Stangl; C Stangl, A Lawson--C and 
A drink to the point of homoerotic pleasure--or nearly so 
(comedy sketch).

On the surface, these sketches are about drinking booze, but I 
think they say just as much about how adult males relate to each 
other. I'm assuming this is intentional since I've read in other 
Stangl reviews that male relationships intrigue him. If that's 
the case, this is probably the most accurate account of every 
guy's unsaid fear/desire/understanding of each other. Uh, but 
don't think I'm a homo or anything for saying that because I'm 
not and I'll punch you if you think I am!!!

1.  "Cigar Boxes," by Bradley Harris; B Harris--B does skill-
based tricks with three boxes (skill performance).

A lot of the sketches tonight seemed to play with our notions of 
good, ol' fashioned entertainment (i.e. the patriotic beginning, 
various intentionally corny jokes). I liked this sorta for the 
same reason.  As much as I'm entertained by No Shame's 
regular "alternative" (or whatever it's called) form of 
writing/performing, there's still a part of me that sees stuff 
like this and think,"That Entertainment! Part 3."

2.  "The Curative Properties of Stupid, Stupid Idiots," by A.J. 
Morgan; J River, A Galbraith, A Lawson, P Rust, M Cassady--J 
looks angry about the injustice in his life while P and M 
heartily enjoy jokes from a book (comedy sketch).

This is an example of one of those earlier 
mentioned "intentionally corny jokes" sketches. I thought this 
was a wonderful piece about what we consider to be amusing - 
simple, fun-loving entertainment or laughing AT people. That 
said, this made a great companion to the last piece. My only 
dislike about this sketch was my performance. I lost my place in 
the script and really screwed up the timing, which was so good 
as written. Sorry.

3.  "Oysters on the Half Shell," by Al Angel; A Lawson, S 
Franklin, J River, A Angel (??), M Hansen (??), (??)--young 
friends choose pizza for a snack and turn out to be pop-culture 
icons (comedy sketch).

I really enjoy pieces that utilize the "no costumes/no set" 
aspect of No Shame as a benefit instead of a challenge. 
Obviously, this was such a case since you didn't know they were 
the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (or TMNT if you're too busy to 
say things completely) until the last lines. Oh, and lastly, 
children's entertainment icons using profanity is always funny.

4.  "Barbarus Inepticus," by Tom Kovacs and Sam Negron; T 
Kovacs, S Negron, A Clarke, (??)--haircuts are exchanged and 
shaving cream is sprayed amid banter (comedy sketch).

Haircutting on stage was new and bold to me, so watching this 
piece was exciting as an audience member. However, I found out 
later, someone did this last year. For people who didn't know 
this, I'm sure it was exciting to watch, too, but for people who 
did, it was probably like "been there, done that." Although the 
boldness of doing this was honorable, I didn't like the gay 
stereotype of the hair stylist. It would have been one thing to 
make fun of people who believe in this stereotype, but to use it 
solely for laughs is insulting.

5.  "Don't Tread on Me," by Edmund Scott; JC Luxton--JC seeks 
acceptance in the Civil-War-Reenacters' amputee club (comedic 
monologue).

In the beginning, I was a little worried this was going to be a 
dramatic piece (like that cheesy letter Abe Lincoln sent to the 
mother whose sons died in the Civil War). Fortunately, it 
wasn't. What I liked most about this piece was the performance. 
When JC got hysterical, it felt very controlled without the 
feeling that the actor was losing his grip on the character.

6.  "Stammer," by Paul Rust; P Rust, M Cassady, A Galbraith--
when M and A foil P's sneaky plan to avoid their company, his 
reaction becomes debilitating (comedy sketch).

This came from three different sketches I wanted to: 1) a sketch 
where a person stammered for its entirety 2) a sketch that made 
fun of people's oft-repeated thoughts on over-discussed topics 
and critiqued my judgemental nature of them and 3) a sketch that 
showed how people uncoformtably comminucate with disabled 
people. By trying to roll 3 sketches into one, I don't think I 
did justice to any. I thought Aaron and Mike's performances were 
good though.

7. "A Rhyme for Orange," by Dan Fairchild; D Fairchild--
physically-enhanced rhyming poem (comedy poem).

I like Dan's self-awareness. My favorite piece of his has been 
the "Chris Fucking Stangl" piece because I enjoyed its 
willingness to be very honest with insecurities. That's why the 
thing I liked most about this poem was its awareness of a writer 
trying not to get a cheap laugh. By conedmning and then 
succumbing to Kevin Smith's "dick and fart jokes," he showed the 
bain of a No Shame writer's existence. 

8.  "The Needle, the Fluid, the Way We Were," by Aprille Clarke; 
A Clarke, M Hansen--M the acupuncturist visits A in the hospital 
and slips into her IV (comedy sketch).

Aprille's really been on a roll. After a few pieces I found 
uninspired, I really liked last week's. And this week's was even 
better. It was cool how she juggled the many ways men insert 
themselves into women (physically, metaphorically, and 
lyrically), but still be amusing without a heavy-
handed "message." 

9.  "The I-80 Blues," by Tyler "Skylo" Corbett; T"S" Corbett--
T"S" sings and plays the guitar to a song about the interminable 
nature of Nebraska and things on the other side (song).

When it comes to The Beatles, people usually detest Paul 
McCartney's "story songs" for being too concentrated on 
narrative than personal examination.  For some reason, I have 
always enjoyed them though. And most "story songs" for that 
matter. 
This applies to Tyler's piece. I respected his verse 1-2-
3 "story" approach of talking about his arrival home.  Like 
McCartney's "story songs," they're kind of talking an artistic 
leap in the fact that people will think they're cheesy, but I 
like them.

10.  "Dickbreath --&-- the Devil," by Arlen Lawson; A Lawson--A 
gets injured while trick-or-treating, meets the devil, and 
learns the True Meaning of Halloween (comedic monologue).

Out of all the No Shame regulars, Arlen's the best at being 
sad/funny, which is my favorite form of humor. This was also 
really apparent in Neil's terrific orphan piece. By not going 
for an easy laugh, but relying on slow, somber character 
development to please an audience, Arlen's pieces usually have 
the great double-punch of being humorous and touching.  Having 
this piece's character be an alcoholic child who talks to the 
devil is a pretty obvious example of that.

11.  "Floats Like a Bungeroth, Stings Like V.D.," by Aaron 
Galbraith; A Galbraith, C Okiishi, P Rust, N"B" Campbell, (??)--
Aaron proves his athletic prowess by holding P on his shoulders; 
a potentially dangerous cockfight ensues (comedy sketch).

I still think about this piece and laugh. Absurd situations in 
regular circumstances can be risky in terms of tone, but this 
sketch really nailed it. 
On a side note, this sketch really mashed my pee-pee.

12.  "Dying for Life," by Brian Tuttle; B Tuttle (I presume)--B 
ruminates on the nature of the human condition and the sadness 
that comes with it (dramatic monologue).

I keep thinking about this piece as a form of "Seinfeldian 
Drama." Like how Seinfeild's observational humor is "funny 
because it's true," this piece was "touching because it's true." 
At the risk of gene

Time: Mon, 05-Feb-2001 07:01:46 GMT     IP: 4.4.74.68

we're playing TONIGHT, in about an hour. 8 o'clock! 
:
Sam's Pizza! No cover!)

I went, I waited, I saw no band, I cried. Why should one want to 
raise my hopes with promises of the beautiful music that is the 
Subordinates, only to let these same hopes be crushed under the 
weight of their sophomoric and thoughtless prank? I have spoken 
with Mr. Rust, and his band was never scheduled to play tonight, 
nor did he ever make any claim to that effect. This sort of 
deception is not right. It's cruel. It is causing myself and 
others quite a bit of emotional distress. The only reason a 
person would involve themself in this sort of deception is a lack 
of any real talent on their part, an inability to elicit any sort 
of positive feedback from their peers. So fuck you, you 
imposters. You want to get a rise out of people? Well you got 
one. Congratulations. 

It is the piano who's been drinking,

Meredith   

Time: Mon, 05-Feb-2001 07:09:04 GMT     IP: 4.4.74.68

One more thing. To the shithead who keeps saying "sam the 
negro": that is offensive! You are not only showing what an 
asshole you are by impersinating Dan, you are using racist 
language which isn't funny under any context! I'm sure that by 
now people understand that Dan didn't post those messages, but I 
just wanted to make it clear that I'm sure Dan would never make 
that sort of a joke in any of his posts, and that the one who is 
doing it is a twisted fuck. There. My week of silence begins NOW.

-Tom Fucking Kovacs. 

Time: Mon, 05-Feb-2001 16:27:26 GMT     IP: 128.255.95.223

While ISCA may be a bit more of a challenge to navigate (and the 
No Shame forum there is really, really quiet at the moment), one 
thing can be said for it:  Since you create a password-protected 
account identities are easier to preserve there.

If this (and a slight learning curve) sound at all appealing, 
feel free to discuss the show by telnetting to 
bbs.isca.uiowa.edu ...

-Adam

Time: Mon, 05-Feb-2001 16:57:32 GMT     IP: 128.255.95.223

:2.  "The Curative Properties of Stupid, Stupid Idiots," by A.J. 
:Morgan; J River, A Galbraith, A Lawson, P Rust, M Cassady--J 
:looks angry about the injustice in his life while P and M 
:heartily enjoy jokes from a book (comedy sketch).
:
:This is an example of one of those earlier 
:mentioned "intentionally corny jokes" sketches. I thought this 
:was a wonderful piece about what we consider to be amusing - 
:simple, fun-loving entertainment or laughing AT people. That 
:said, this made a great companion to the last piece. My only 
:dislike about this sketch was my performance. I lost my place in 
:the script and really screwed up the timing, which was so good 
:as written. Sorry.

Actually, script-problem moments are often at least as funny as 
scripted ones.  Not scure about scripted script-problem moments 
though.

:5.  "Don't Tread on Me," by Edmund Scott; JC Luxton--JC seeks 
:acceptance in the Civil-War-Reenacters' amputee club (comedic 
:monologue).

The forlorn, tongueless quadraplegic flapping and whimpering 
during the excellently slow fade was an amazing image.  And 
knowing his pride had walked him all the way to the chopping 
block made it even better.

:7. "A Rhyme for Orange," by Dan Fairchild; D Fairchild--
:physically-enhanced rhyming poem (comedy poem).

This piece didn't do a lot for me, but you have to give the guy 
credit for successfully rhyming "orange" with "door hinge."

-Adam

Time: Mon, 05-Feb-2001 17:26:45 GMT     IP: 205.217.148.68

I'm glad to see people are ignoring all the idiocy to actually 
review the SHOW. I will do likewise in a bit. 1st, I do want to 
say one more thing about all the impersonations: the mark of any 
no-talent hack posing as a comedian is the endless repetition of 
a questionably funny joke. I mean, I can sort of see how one 
might think pretending to be someone else would be funny (heck, 
I even wrote a review where I was pretending to be an audience 
member once), but enough's enough. Doing it once is a stupid 
prank, doing it repeatedly is proof of some serious 
emotional/psychological fucked-up-ness.  

Time: Tue, 06-Feb-2001 00:42:45 GMT     IP: 64.197.224.156

     0.25.  "James Pretends He's Tom Waits" by James Erwin

I had seen James do a Tom Waits impression at NS before, and 
having known that he was going to do this before the show I wasn't 
too thrilled about seeing a rerun, and yet, the combination of 
that song and that singer brought something surprising and new to 
each.  Yay.

     0.5.  "The Cure-All" by Chris Stangl

I keep waiting for these drinking skits to become repetitive and 
for that reason really obnoxious.  Somehow Chris has managed to 
keep these all fresh and interesting.  I just hope that if by some 
strange circumstance he runs out of ideas he has the presence of 
mind to stop.

     1.  "Cigar Boxes," by Bradley Harris

And I feel almost the same way about this.  Except that besides 
the fact that Adita always has some new trick up his sleeve, the 
nature of his act is one of immediacy (not to say that a 
theatrical performance does not have an immediacy of its own, but 
let's not trifle with semantics here, okay?).  Written words will 
remain unchanged on a sheet of paper, but not even Adita always 
knows if he can pull off his trick.

     2.  "The Curative Properties of Stupid, Stupid Idiots," by 
A.J. 
     Morgan

Hambo Joe's writing and performance are always very clear and 
concise to the point that these are funny in and of themselves.  
And yet he's always got a concept that when put through the Soccer 
Pele sketch machine comes out as hilarity.

     3.  "Oysters on the Half Shell," by Al Angel

I wrote this.

     4.  "Barbarus Inepticus," by Tom Kovacs and Sam Negron

There was once a time when I thought that cutting hair on the NS 
stage was a good idea.  This was when Mike Cassady had really, 
really long hair and was telling me that he was sick of it and 
wanted it cut off.  One of us suggested he do it at NS.  We both 
said, "yeah that would be cool!"  And then we both quickly changed 
our minds and Mike cut his hair in the privacy of something not 
onstage.  This is because it is a dumb idea.  It just might work 
as an integral part of something interesting, but never as the 
crux of a skit.  Everything about this seemed to revolve around 
the idea 'we're cutting each other's hair.'  Everybody knows you 
aren't going to get a good haircut onstage in front of an audience 
in five (six and a half) minutes or less, whether your barber can 
see or not, and that the person receiving the haircut obviously 
plans to get a really short cut, by someone who knows how to do 
it, anyway.  Also, as with Negron's work in the past, his use of 
stereotypical/misogynistic/offensive comedy would be funny if I 
could ever make myself believe for one second that it was 
tongue-in-cheek.  But no, I'd bet he really thinks a junior high 
school style stereotypical impersonation on a homosexual 
hairdresser is funny.  And we're still dealing with Kovacs' 
continuing problems with delivery.  I.e., no reaction but a 
bemused smile directly prior to (and some laughter during) the 
line "oh, you cut me, oh, I'm bleeding."

     5.  "Don't Tread on Me," by Edmund Scott

I also expected this to be a bad, boring historical bit.  And then 
it started getting weird, in a rather funny way, but being that I 
had expected something "serious," I felt bad laughing, and so 
refrained.  Then the piece turned all the way around, into all out 
comedy, and I think that that humor, combined with the release of 
that I-shouldn't-be-laughing-at-this bottled-up energy is what 
made me laugh so god damned much.

     6.  "Stammer," by Paul Rust

Having learned Paul's secret (combining 3 skits into 1), I find 
myself unable to look at the piece as something in and of itself. 
 So all I can really do is agree with him in that retrospectively 
I can see three distinct idea, none of which was done full 
justice.  Characteristic good performances all around, however.

     7. "A Rhyme for Orange," by Dan Fairchild

The rhyme for orange was a wonderful thing.  The rest was 
hackneyed and uninspired.  Not even a self awareness of how lame a 
joke is will make it any better.  The title suggests to me that 
what was truly important to the piece was the rhyme, in which case 
I'd suggest stripping the poem down to just the two lines 
necessary to achieve that.  The poem itself, however, suggests 
that the rhymed was conceived as a part of something else.  And I 
just wasn't into the ideas behind that something else.

     8.  "The Needle, the Fluid, the Way We Were," by Aprille 
Clarke

I've told that this piece was once longer than the seven minutes 
through which it was done on stage.  This would explain something 
that nagged me while I was watching it and afterwards.  It felt 
really underdeveloped.  Like, sometimes I couldn't quite see how 
or why it had moved from one to another.  And this was a shame.  
The image at the end of this was the most 
beautiful/disturbing/wonderful/painful thing to be found in any of 
the scripts that night, and was my most favorite idea from the 
whole show.  But it didn't get the build it needed to be as 
powerful as it should have been.  It makes me sad, and think I 
would rather have seen the whole thing or nothing at all.  But 
perhaps I'm just an idealist_  Another thing that stopped the 
piece from doing itself justice was that it was, as noted in 
Aprille's annotation, a comedy sketch.  This really distracted me 
from what was going on rather than drawing me into it.  Aprille's 
formula of late has been to go for a steady of stream of laughs 
and then without warning stick in the knife and simultaneously 
twist it.  What this joint shows me, as hold to that last passage, 
is that she doesn't need to hide behind jokes to achieve a 
surprising, gut turning ending.  And despite all of my criticism, 
this is my absolute favorite Aprille Clark piece ever.

     9.  "The I-80 Blues," by Tyler Corbett

Standard folky lyrics.  Not particularly bad, but not all that 
interesting or engaging.  Good voice.  The sounds coming out of 
his guitar were great.  I loved that.  He was worth listening to 
for that alone.  Perhaps given time to grow as a songwriter he 
could become something way cool (he's already got that sound, as I 
have said).  Of course, I'm only basing all of this on one song, 
the circumstances of which are unknown.  Sheesh.

     10.  "Dickbreath --&-- the Devil," by Arlen Lawson

Imagery has always been one of Jamal's strong points.  This piece, 
being no exception, had several wonderful haunting images.  These 
were also ridiculous and funny.  It's neat when a writer can take 
you both ways, although it seems that Jamal's strongest writing 
has traditionally focused on one side (serious v. comedy) or the 
other (i.e., flashlight is here = way serious, I wrote this sketch 
all by myself = way comedy).  But this one shows growth in 
bringing the two together.

     11.  "Floats Like a Bungeroth, Stings Like V.D.," by Aaron 
     Galbraith

By far the best NS title I've heard/read in a while.  Very 
standard SNL skit set up: one zany idea that is applied with 
repetition to the ordinary world (i.e., goat boy), but the skit 
was shorter and the idea was better.  This is not at all my 
favorite skit format, and I've seen Stub's creativity better used 
by different forms, but this was done well and the fights were 
funny.

     12.  "Dying for Life," by Brian Tuttle

Like Negron's stuff, I might have liked this if I'd thought it was 
tongue in cheek.  I can respect that Tuttle's writing and 
performance was earnest and, but it was still trite and seemed 
borne from a high-schoolish "not only is everything 
black-and-white, its all black" attitude.  More like grasping for 
emotion than actually bringing it to the stage/inspiring it in the 
audience.

     13.  "Why I Hate No Shame or Think Twice When They Take Your 
     Money," by Elena Murphy

The cigarette was unnecessary, but it looked neat when the lights 
when down.  This came across to me as one of those "gee, I'd like 
to write something for NS. 

Time: Tue, 06-Feb-2001 00:42:27 GMT     IP: 64.197.224.156

     0.25.  "James Pretends He's Tom Waits" by James Erwin

I had seen James do a Tom Waits impression at NS before, and 
having known that he was going to do this before the show I wasn't 
too thrilled about seeing a rerun, and yet, the combination of 
that song and that singer brought something surprising and new to 
each.  Yay.

     0.5.  "The Cure-All" by Chris Stangl

I keep waiting for these drinking skits to become repetitive and 
for that reason really obnoxious.  Somehow Chris has managed to 
keep these all fresh and interesting.  I just hope that if by some 
strange circumstance he runs out of ideas he has the presence of 
mind to stop.

     1.  "Cigar Boxes," by Bradley Harris

And I feel almost the same way about this.  Except that besides 
the fact that Adita always has some new trick up his sleeve, the 
nature of his act is one of immediacy (not to say that a 
theatrical performance does not have an immediacy of its own, but 
let's not trifle with semantics here, okay?).  Written words will 
remain unchanged on a sheet of paper, but not even Adita always 
knows if he can pull off his trick.

     2.  "The Curative Properties of Stupid, Stupid Idiots," by 
A.J. 
     Morgan

Hambo Joe's writing and performance are always very clear and 
concise to the point that these are funny in and of themselves.  
And yet he's always got a concept that when put through the Soccer 
Pele sketch machine comes out as hilarity.

     3.  "Oysters on the Half Shell," by Al Angel

I wrote this.

     4.  "Barbarus Inepticus," by Tom Kovacs and Sam Negron

There was once a time when I thought that cutting hair on the NS 
stage was a good idea.  This was when Mike Cassady had really, 
really long hair and was telling me that he was sick of it and 
wanted it cut off.  One of us suggested he do it at NS.  We both 
said, "yeah that would be cool!"  And then we both quickly changed 
our minds and Mike cut his hair in the privacy of something not 
onstage.  This is because it is a dumb idea.  It just might work 
as an integral part of something interesting, but never as the 
crux of a skit.  Everything about this seemed to revolve around 
the idea 'we're cutting each other's hair.'  Everybody knows you 
aren't going to get a good haircut onstage in front of an audience 
in five (six and a half) minutes or less, whether your barber can 
see or not, and that the person receiving the haircut obviously 
plans to get a really short cut, by someone who knows how to do 
it, anyway.  Also, as with Negron's work in the past, his use of 
stereotypical/misogynistic/offensive comedy would be funny if I 
could ever make myself believe for one second that it was 
tongue-in-cheek.  But no, I'd bet he really thinks a junior high 
school style stereotypical impersonation on a homosexual 
hairdresser is funny.  And we're still dealing with Kovacs' 
continuing problems with delivery.  I.e., no reaction but a 
bemused smile directly prior to (and some laughter during) the 
line "oh, you cut me, oh, I'm bleeding."

     5.  "Don't Tread on Me," by Edmund Scott

I also expected this to be a bad, boring historical bit.  And then 
it started getting weird, in a rather funny way, but being that I 
had expected something "serious," I felt bad laughing, and so 
refrained.  Then the piece turned all the way around, into all out 
comedy, and I think that that humor, combined with the release of 
that I-shouldn't-be-laughing-at-this bottled-up energy is what 
made me laugh so god damned much.

     6.  "Stammer," by Paul Rust

Having learned Paul's secret (combining 3 skits into 1), I find 
myself unable to look at the piece as something in and of itself. 
 So all I can really do is agree with him in that retrospectively 
I can see three distinct idea, none of which was done full 
justice.  Characteristic good performances all around, however.

     7. "A Rhyme for Orange," by Dan Fairchild

The rhyme for orange was a wonderful thing.  The rest was 
hackneyed and uninspired.  Not even a self awareness of how lame a 
joke is will make it any better.  The title suggests to me that 
what was truly important to the piece was the rhyme, in which case 
I'd suggest stripping the poem down to just the two lines 
necessary to achieve that.  The poem itself, however, suggests 
that the rhymed was conceived as a part of something else.  And I 
just wasn't into the ideas behind that something else.

     8.  "The Needle, the Fluid, the Way We Were," by Aprille 
Clarke

I've told that this piece was once longer than the seven minutes 
through which it was done on stage.  This would explain something 
that nagged me while I was watching it and afterwards.  It felt 
really underdeveloped.  Like, sometimes I couldn't quite see how 
or why it had moved from one to another.  And this was a shame.  
The image at the end of this was the most 
beautiful/disturbing/wonderful/painful thing to be found in any of 
the scripts that night, and was my most favorite idea from the 
whole show.  But it didn't get the build it needed to be as 
powerful as it should have been.  It makes me sad, and think I 
would rather have seen the whole thing or nothing at all.  But 
perhaps I'm just an idealist_  Another thing that stopped the 
piece from doing itself justice was that it was, as noted in 
Aprille's annotation, a comedy sketch.  This really distracted me 
from what was going on rather than drawing me into it.  Aprille's 
formula of late has been to go for a steady of stream of laughs 
and then without warning stick in the knife and simultaneously 
twist it.  What this joint shows me, as hold to that last passage, 
is that she doesn't need to hide behind jokes to achieve a 
surprising, gut turning ending.  And despite all of my criticism, 
this is my absolute favorite Aprille Clark piece ever.

     9.  "The I-80 Blues," by Tyler Corbett

Standard folky lyrics.  Not particularly bad, but not all that 
interesting or engaging.  Good voice.  The sounds coming out of 
his guitar were great.  I loved that.  He was worth listening to 
for that alone.  Perhaps given time to grow as a songwriter he 
could become something way cool (he's already got that sound, as I 
have said).  Of course, I'm only basing all of this on one song, 
the circumstances of which are unknown.  Sheesh.

     10.  "Dickbreath --&-- the Devil," by Arlen Lawson

Imagery has always been one of Jamal's strong points.  This piece, 
being no exception, had several wonderful haunting images.  These 
were also ridiculous and funny.  It's neat when a writer can take 
you both ways, although it seems that Jamal's strongest writing 
has traditionally focused on one side (serious v. comedy) or the 
other (i.e., flashlight is here = way serious, I wrote this sketch 
all by myself = way comedy).  But this one shows growth in 
bringing the two together.

     11.  "Floats Like a Bungeroth, Stings Like V.D.," by Aaron 
     Galbraith

By far the best NS title I've heard/read in a while.  Very 
standard SNL skit set up: one zany idea that is applied with 
repetition to the ordinary world (i.e., goat boy), but the skit 
was shorter and the idea was better.  This is not at all my 
favorite skit format, and I've seen Stub's creativity better used 
by different forms, but this was done well and the fights were 
funny.

     12.  "Dying for Life," by Brian Tuttle

Like Negron's stuff, I might have liked this if I'd thought it was 
tongue in cheek.  I can respect that Tuttle's writing and 
performance was earnest and, but it was still trite and seemed 
borne from a high-schoolish "not only is everything 
black-and-white, its all black" attitude.  More like grasping for 
emotion than actually bringing it to the stage/inspiring it in the 
audience.

     13.  "Why I Hate No Shame or Think Twice When They Take Your 
     Money," by Elena Murphy

The cigarette was unnecessary, but it looked neat when the lights 
when down.  This came across to me as one of those "gee, I'd like 
to write something for NS. 

Time: Tue, 06-Feb-2001 00:47:19 GMT     IP: 64.197.224.156

     11.  "Floats Like a Bungeroth, Stings Like V.D.," by Aaron 
     Galbraith

By far the best NS title I've heard/read in a while.  Very 
standard SNL skit set up: one zany idea that is applied with 
repetition to the ordinary world (i.e., goat boy), but the skit 
was shorter and the idea was better.  This is not at all my 
favorite skit format, and I've seen Stub's creativity better used 
by different forms, but this was done well and the fights were 
funny.

     12.  "Dying for Life," by Brian Tuttle

Like Negron's stuff, I might have liked this if I'd thought it was 
tongue in cheek.  I can respect that Tuttle's writing and 
performance was earnest and, but it was still trite and seemed 
borne from a high-schoolish "not only is everything 
black-and-white, its all black" attitude.  More like grasping for 
emotion than actually bringing it to the stage/inspiring it in the 
audience.

     13.  "Why I Hate No Shame or Think Twice When They Take Your 
     Money," by Elena Murphy

The cigarette was unnecessary, but it looked neat when the lights 
when down.  This came across to me as one of those "gee, I'd like 
to write something for NS.  What will I write?" sorts of pieces.  
I suppose the word I'm looking for is "uninspired," and yes I know 
how pretentious that sounds (reads), especially with regard to a 
venue as ridiculous as NS and coming from somebody whose piece 
that week featured all four of the teenage mutant ninja turtles 
AND aprille o'neil.  But hey, we're dealing with some kind of 
poetry here, and the world of poets is one filled with pretention, 
anyway, so I'm just trying to fit in.  Anyway, far be it from me 
to discourage anyone from writing anything for NS.  Come back.

     14.  "The Run Around Town," by Neil Campbell

A good, solid piece.  Some great lines (i.e., with regard to the 
roof made out of children  nobody wanted and how close the 
narrator came to being a part of it).  Very energetic.  Vaguely 
formulaic.  Fun and neat, but not outstanding within Neil's body 
of work.

15. "Heaven's Percolator," by Chris Stangl

This too, I think, could have used a bit more development, 
especially as far as the doctor's character was concerned.  By the 
time he killed the man I didn't really feel like I knew enough 
about him to understand what brought him to do it, or why I should 
care that he did or for his reasons.  These are considerations 
that might be better served by a medium lacking the constraint of 
a 5 (somewhere from5-10) minute time limit, such as a 10 
minute-full length play.  Regardless of content, however, the 
language set up a great mood that made the second-to-final image 
beautiful and memorable ("_nothing's happened [or changed, or 
whatever, I can't quite recall_].").  Yet I thought this moment 
would have been made all the more memorable had it not been 
disrupted by the final "a man comes in for a cup of coffee."  If 
it was truly needed for something, I honestly can't tell what.


You may now return to your childish foolishness and your 
self-righteous, sanctimonious preaching.  Fuckers.

Time: Tue, 06-Feb-2001 01:48:56 GMT     IP: 64.197.224.42

i am introspective dan ofair ochild.  i love a baby.  i love it!!! 
 so why do i claim to not be bothered about a fakee post of me and 
then i spend all the days obsessing about it?  to the point where 
i bring it up as the only topic in a post that was made when 
people were just starting to move on from these terrible, terrible 
tragedyes?!!  what ho?!  you gross jerk, covax.  i still like your 
colored friend more.  i don't like you!!  but you are smart, like 
a butt filled with peas.  i too will remain silent for a week.  
for a month!!  for a year!!  i will shut up!!!  quiet dan 
4-ever!!!!!!!!!!

Time: Tue, 06-Feb-2001 03:55:18 GMT     IP: 64.12.103.184


I already had the rest of this review done last night. Then I 
found out only half made it up. So here it is. Enjoy, my children!

11.  "Floats Like a Bungeroth, Stings Like V.D.," by Aaron 
Galbraith; A Galbraith, C Okiishi, P Rust, N"B" Campbell, (??)--
Aaron proves his athletic prowess by holding P on his shoulders; 
a potentially dangerous cockfight ensues (comedy sketch).

I still think about this sketch and giggle to myself. Good comedy 
always comes from people who don't realize they're funny. Aaron's 
character is such a good example of this. A guy whose so out of 
touch with the reality of his job and considers himself an 
"athlete." 
P.S. This sketch caused my pee-pee to be mashed.

12.  "Dying for Life," by Brian Tuttle; B Tuttle (I presume)--B 
ruminates on the nature of the human condition and the sadness 
that comes with it (dramatic monologue).

I keep thinking of this as "Seinfeld Drama." You know how 
Seinfeld's "funny because it's true?" I guess this was "touching 
because it's true." At the risk of generalizing, I think 
everyone's felt those feelings and there's a certain comfort in 
having someone repeat them. So that was nice. I guess I would 
have liked a more "point a to point b" format to the sketch, so 
we could follow the character. There were points I felt he was 
rambling without direction.

13.  "Why I Hate No Shame or Think Twice When They Take Your 
:Money," by Elena Murphy; (??)--(??) smokes a cigarette and warns 
the audience that the No Shame board and regulars are actually 
hostile toward them yet simultaneously dependent on them. 
(dramantic monolgue/poem).

I respected the boldness of this piece's writting and the bravery 
of the performer. Whether you agree with the content or not, it's 
still ballsy and at least you're watching something intriguing. 
Like Al, I hope they continue to write and perform.

14.  "The Run Around Town," by Neil "Balls" Campbell; N"B" 
Campbell, A Galbraith--N"B" energetically reminisces about 
abusive relatives and makeshift homes constructed of garbage and 
children (comedy sketch/monologue).

Neil has this great talent of using his likable stage presence to 
lead the audience into dark territory. Instead of just exploiting 
his charm for an entertaining sketch, he utilizes it to challenge 
the audience. This piece had a lot of that. Anybody's a wonderful 
performer if they can get an entire auidence to think killing 
children is amusing. If he could get even darker, I think that 
would be even more exciting as audience member.

15.  "Heaven's Percolator," by Chris Stangl;  C Stangl, C 
Okiishi, A Lawson--after discussing the sorrows in his life and 
discussing the nature of heaven, CS (with diabolical overtones) 
convinces CO to stab A.

I guess Chris is sort of Neil in reverse (or Neil is Chris in 
reverse). Whereas Neil has likable characters doing dark things, 
Chris has completely dislikable characters becoming somewhat 
approachable or identifiable. Like a lot of Todd Solondz's film 
characters, you find yourself caring for on-the-surface-
deplorable people. And I think that's prolly (I ain't got's no 
time to spell "probably") one of the strongest talents a 
writer/performer can have.

All in all, this was one of my favorite No Shame's of the year. 
More sketches instead of monologues was good. Seeing new people 
was great. Somewhat serious, somewhat comic. A lot of potential 
"Best of" pieces.  I felt good after this week's No Shame. 
Thanks, Leon! You did good at baseball. Grandma says hi.

Time: Tue, 06-Feb-2001 04:23:30 GMT     IP: 128.255.109.15

If you're keeping score at home and even if you're not, this is 
my first post since 11:10 last night (sunday)

:0.25.  "James Pretends He's Tom Waits" by James Erwin; J 
Erwin--J 
:
sings the national anthem Tom Waits-style (song).
:
I thought it was a cool way to start the evening.  I tried to be 
patriotic and sing along but it's hard to sing along to the real 
Tom Waits so no way I could conquer such a feat with an 
imitation. so I just stopped and laughed.  
:
0.5.  "The Cure-All" by Chris Stangl; C Stangl, A Lawson--C 
and A 
:
drink to the point of homoerotic pleasure--or nearly so 
(comedy 
:
sketch).
:
Okay, I'll admit it.  I like to see man-on-man action acted out 
before me on stage.  This idea, along with the idea of Chris 
and Arlen drinking will never get old to me.
:
1.  "Cigar Boxes," by Bradley Harris; B Harris--B does 
skill-based 
:
tricks with three boxes (skill performance).
:
I don't know what to say except, "Fucking awesome."
:
2.  "The Curative Properties of Stupid, Stupid Idiots," by A.J. 
:
Morgan; J River, A Galbraith, A Lawson, P Rust, M 
Cassady--J looks 
:
angry about the injustice in his life while P and M heartily 
enjoy 
:
jokes from a book (comedy sketch).

I'm telling you, I think after last week, you will see Paul Rust 
in a SHITLOAD of sketches.  i'm thinking everybody, myself 
included (heaven help us), are going to start writing parts 
with Paul specifically in mind.  He was great.  As for the 
sketch, the rest of the casting was right on, and it struck a 
chord with me because I, as we have recently discovered, 
find much humor in the terminally stupid.  I am getting just a 
wee bit tired of the whole uncontrollable and inappropriate 
laughter thingy.
:

I'm hungry and I miss my mom so i won't post and finish my 
review until late Tuesday night just in case you're keeping 
score at home and even if you're not.

Time: Tue, 06-Feb-2001 05:00:16 GMT     IP: 205.217.148.135

hey, look!  a review.  oh.

:0.25.  "James Pretends He's Tom Waits" by James Erwin; J Erwin--J 
:sings the national anthem Tom Waits-style (song).

yeah, i've seen James do this before too.  However, it may have 
been long enough ago that not a lot of people in the audience 
would have seen it.  James is always charming, but I would have 
liked to have seen him actually write something.  ya know.  maybe 
it was just a ploy to get into the show for free.

:0.5.  "The Cure-All" by Chris Stangl; C Stangl, A Lawson--C and A 
:drink to the point of homoerotic pleasure--or nearly so (comedy 
:sketch).

funny and destructive, like love.  it put on a literal level what 
we've probably all done on a metaphorical one--done whatever it 
takes to convince ourselves that it's ok to let that weird guy 
have anal sex with us.  that's the ticket.  but you know what i 
mean.

:1.  "Cigar Boxes," by Bradley Harris; B Harris--B does skill-
based 
:tricks with three boxes (skill performance).

brad is so dreamy.  he's done this stuff a million times, but 
because a) he only does it every couple of months or so, and b) 
he's dreamy and gregarious, i certainly don't mind.

:2.  "The Curative Properties of Stupid, Stupid Idiots," by A.J. 
:Morgan; J River, A Galbraith, A Lawson, P Rust, M Cassady--J 
looks 
:angry about the injustice in his life while P and M heartily 
enjoy 
:jokes from a book (comedy sketch).

this was a great old-school jamal/hambo piece, but not so old-
school that there was poop in it.  it was exactly what a jamal/
hambo piece should be, i guess:  quick, broad, and brimming over 
with Jamal's special brand of wide-eyed exaggerations.  and the 
joke-laughing guys were having so much fun (apparently) that even 
the old, bad jokes got funny for me.  what more could i want?  

:3.  "Oysters on the Half Shell," by Al Angel; A Lawson, S 
:Franklin, J River, A Angel (??), M Hansen (??), (??)--young 
:friends choose pizza for a snack and turn out to be pop-culture 
:icons (comedy sketch).

good job letting this go exactly as long as it should have.  a 
one-gag bit needs to be swift, and this was just a tasty enough 
morsel to allow us to share a pop-culture laugh and be done with 
it.  other writers who do one-gag bits could learn a lesson from 
this.
:
:4.  "Barbarus Inepticus," by Tom Kovacs and Sam Negron; T Kovacs, 
:S Negron, A Clarke, (??)--haircuts are exchanged and shaving 
cream 
:is sprayed amid banter (comedy sketch).

see response to #3.  also, i agree with others who were pained at 
the offensive comedy without the self-consciousness required to 
make it into social criticism rather than just offensive comedy.  
i couldn't see most of it because i was offstage, but i guess it 
was a big mess that took a long time to clean up.  didn't seem 
worth it.
:
:5.  "Don't Tread on Me," by Edmund Scott; JC Luxton--JC seeks 
:acceptance in the Civil-War-Reenacters' amputee club (comedic 
:monologue).

this guy was really committed to this piece.  between the rapid-
fire delivery and the brilliant use of naked legs as absent legs, 
i really fell for it.  i too was skeptical when the piece began, 
but it's vaguely reminiscent (though in only one sense) of the 
time Mose's dad did that piece about cockroaches.  I was charmed 
bit-by-bit as the piece went on, which is rare, since i usually 
hate things more and more as they progress.

:6.  "Stammer," by Paul Rust; P Rust, M Cassady, A Galbraith--when 
:M and A foil P's sneaky plan to avoid their company, his reaction 
:becomes debilitating (comedy sketch).
:
i guess i completely missed the third aspect paul mentioned, the 
idea that people don't know how to deal with someone who 
communicates in an unusual or frightening way.  i still liked it, 
though.  i especially enjoyed the way Mike was chewing gum.  he 
was really paying attention on that one.

:7. "A Rhyme for Orange," by Dan Fairchild; D Fairchild--
:physically-enhanced rhyming poem (comedy poem).
:
i liked the physical aspect of this poem, because without it, i 
don't think it could have stood up.  i also liked the part where 
he broke into song mid-way through.  it was definitely superior to 
last week's experiment with the low-energy bomb guy.  i respect 
what dan was trying to do and everything, but i think this week's 
piece demonstrates the fact that a good, high-energy performance 
of mediocre material can work better at No Shame than a low-energy 
performance of technically better material.

Time: Tue, 06-Feb-2001 05:00:56 GMT     IP: 205.217.148.135

:8.  "The Needle, the Fluid, the Way We Were," by Aprille Clarke; 
A 
:Clarke, M Hansen--M the acupuncturist visits A in the hospital 
and 
:slips into her IV (comedy sketch).

it's tacky to defend one's own piece.  it's also tacky of me to 
point that out.  but hey.
:
:9.  "The I-80 Blues," by Tyler "Skylo" Corbett; T"S" Corbett--
T"S" 
:sings and plays the guitar to a song about the interminable 
nature 
:of Nebraska and things on the other side (song).
:
i've driven through nebraska.  it sucks but at least you can do 
85.  i couldn't hear this guy very well because i was up in the 
back waiting to take over the light booth.  so that's all i have 
to say about that.  it's nice to have a newcomer.  we love 
newcomers.

:10.  "Dickbreath --&-- the Devil," by Arlen Lawson; A Lawson--A 
gets 
:injured while trick-or-treating, meets the devil, and learns the 
:True Meaning of Halloween (comedic monologue).

this was good in the way that all Arlen's writing is good.  far be 
it from me to criticise someone for using a formula that 
works...so i won't.  strong images, playful manipulation of the 
audience's assumptions, nasty and sympathy-arousing at the same 
time.

:11.  "Floats Like a Bungeroth, Stings Like V.D.," by Aaron 
:Galbraith; A Galbraith, C Okiishi, P Rust, N"B" Campbell, (??)--
:Aaron proves his athletic prowess by holding P on his shoulders; 
a 
:potentially dangerous cockfight ensues (comedy sketch).

sadly, i was in the light booth during this one, so i missed most 
of it.  the image of the two guys on the other guys' shoulders as 
the lights faded was classic, though.  it was like two sports 
mascots or something but more gay.
:
:12.  "Dying for Life," by Brian Tuttle; B Tuttle (I presume)--B 
:ruminates on the nature of the human condition and the sadness 
:that comes with it (dramatic monologue).

i believe i went to the bathroom during this one.  from what i did 
see, i think i found it hard to focus on because it dealt so much 
in generalities.  it seemed to be saying the same thing over and 
over without giving me anything to hold onto--i didn't feel like i 
knew the character any more than i know anyone who's dealing with 
the realization that life is harsh, so i didn't have any sort of 
investment in it.  if the purpose was to create a character, it 
basically failed.  if the purpose was to trasmit a sincere 
emotion, it was more successful.  i personally would rather see 
characters created and then have them do the emotion-transmitting 
work, but i'm selfish.
:
:13.  "Why I Hate No Shame or Think Twice When They Take Your 
:Money," by Elena Murphy; (??)--(??) smokes a cigarette and warns 
:the audience that the No Shame board and regulars are actually 
:hostile toward them yet simultaneously dependent on them. 
:(dramantic monolgue/poem).

first of all, a "clove" (as author refers to it) is a cigarette.  
it's short for a clove cigarette, and if you're going to 
abbreviate it, it's more accurate to call it a cigarette (tobacco 
and additives smoked in a paper casing) than a clove (a woody 
spice...mmm...Woody Spice).  anyway, i'm feeling a little snippy i 
guess because i couldn't help but feel that the piece was somehow 
a personal attack on me, since i'm often one of the people who 
offers the warm smiles as people enter the theater.  i resent 
someone who doesn't know me telling people what i truly think 
about them.  for what it's worth, i don't fake anything.  except, 
of course, emotions when i'm on stage and orgasms.  i am incapable 
of giving an unbiased review of this piece.

:14.  "The Run Around Town," by Neil "Balls" Campbell; N"B" 
:Campbell, A Galbraith--N"B" energetically reminisces about 
abusive 
:relatives and makeshift homes constructed of garbage and children 
:(comedy sketch/monologue).
:
this was an excellent example of how to use concrete details to 
make an otherwise emotionally unengaging story interesting.  
that's what good writing is, i guess--emotions are universal, so 
what i look for in writing is someone who can evoke those emotions 
(or not--i don't need depth all the time) in an interesting and 
innovative way.  this piece did that for me.  things like the 
shack with the ceiling made of children--priceless.   has anyone 
else noticed that our little neil is looking more and more manly 
these days?  anyway, even despite that, his child-characters 
remain believeable and touching (naughty and nice).

:15.  "Heaven's Percolator," by Chris Stangl;  C Stangl, C 
Okiishi, 
:A Lawson--after discussing the sorrows in his life and discussing 
:the nature of heaven, CS (with diabolical overtones) convinces CO 
:to stab A.
:
this was good in a "Hitchhiker" kinda way.  i was glad stangl 
didn't shove the devil imagery down our throats--the off-hand 
"fixin to be a hot one" (i think--pardon any innacuracy in my 
quote) was just enough for me.  the sleight of hand spoon/fork 
thing had Danger Brooks all over it, and arlen has certainly 
gotten good at playing a drunk, what with all the practice.  i 
also enjoyed seeing the other characters on the stage.  stangl can 
do a mean monologue, but the okiishi touch has never hurt anything 
(except possibly galbraith's warts), including this piece.

Time: Tue, 06-Feb-2001 05:19:59 GMT     IP: 128.255.189.150

     As a matter of fact "I do think childish humor is funny!"  
I have been called an old man for a lot of my life, so the idea 
of kid like impresions of gay hair dressers is highly amusing.  
It is (In my opinion) just as important that I have fun on stage 
as it is for you to have fun watching me.  For the PC crowd, 
homo sexual comentary abounds in the No Shame skits anyway.  
Maybe mystereo tipical gay voice was just a little more 
convincing than you'd like to admit.  Keep your shafts down 
those gay people that read these postings.  I am not really gay. 
Samuel III out

PS
It so happened that Tom Kovacs really was bleeding, and didn't 
want me to hurt him more than I already did.  

Time: Tue, 06-Feb-2001 05:52:41 GMT     IP: 4.4.74.63

Keep your shafts down 
:
those gay people that read these postings.  I am not really gay. 
:

Umm... I think not either Tommies or Samblo Neglo is my favorite 
No Shame anymore. Ssssssss!! You stink it up! 
I only like "I hate No Shame girl now." Because I hate No Shame 
now! You ruined it for ME, Dan Fairchild!
Oh! And I no write that Dan "review"! No no no! Who make that 
pretend reviewa wit my name?! I feel confused! My review goes: "I 
hate all but 'I hate No Shame' girl!" 

Love,
Danshnell Carbickle

Time: Tue, 06-Feb-2001 05:59:31 GMT     IP: 4.4.74.63

P.S.I just found a bubbly-gum chew-ball in my rumper! Boy what a 
surprise! I'm chewing it right now and it's SO good! (Pop) I 
blew a bubbly rump bubble! ...Did I tell you I was chewing it 
with my rump?! 
That's the way cookie crumples! Wah wah wah!

Love,
Dans!

Time: Tue, 06-Feb-2001 06:33:54 GMT     IP: 128.255.193.23



:13.  "Why I Hate No Shame or Think Twice When They Take Your 
:
:Money," by Elena Murphy; (??)--(??) smokes a cigarette and warns 
:
:the audience that the No Shame board and regulars are actually 
:
:hostile toward them yet simultaneously dependent on them. 
:
:(dramantic monolgue/poem).
:

:
first of all, a "clove" (as author refers to it) is a cigarette.  
:
it's short for a clove cigarette, and if you're going to 
:
abbreviate it, it's more accurate to call it a cigarette (tobacco 
:
and additives smoked in a paper casing) than a clove (a woody 
:
spice...mmm...Woody Spice).  anyway, i'm feeling a little snippy 
i 
:
guess because i couldn't help but feel that the piece was somehow 
:
a personal attack on me, since i'm often one of the people who 
:
offers the warm smiles as people enter the theater.  i resent 
:
someone who doesn't know me telling people what i truly think 
:
about them.  for what it's worth, i don't fake anything.  except, 
:
of course, emotions when i'm on stage and orgasms.  i am 
incapable 
:
of giving an unbiased review of this piece.
:

:
Wow...it's tacky to defend ones own piece, so I hear, but I've 
decided to be tacky.  When I said 'it was a clove dammit' that 
was supposed to be funny, I guess it wasn't (it was just on my 
mind because I got to smoke most of the rest of the pack and they 
were particularly yummy).  The clove was supposed to provide her 
with necessary pauses...I guess that didn't work but it's my 
first ever performed anything so what do I know.  Also the piece 
was a poem, and a poem that was written without any intention of 
being performed at No Shame until someone read it and suggested 
it. I had serveral experiences/perspectives in mind when I wrote 
it, being an usher for instance, which I am (...damn it's more 
likely that I was personally attacking myself). The underlying 
theme was pretentious artists of all kinds and (thanks for 
pointing it out Al) most often among poets themselves and the 
thought that it is born out of an insecurity and a knowledge that 
an artist is nothing without an audience.  The title and some 
adjustments where assigned when I knew where it was going.  (Now 
I do feel tacky)  However, my main objective in responding was 
that it was not a personal attack on anyone, unless, Aprille, you 
feel that way, unless you do wipe the smiles with the back of 
your hand, which you have already more or less said you do not.  
I don't know anything but good things about you and I have no 
motive to make a personal attack on you.  Overall I was really 
worried about doing this piece for exactly this reason but in the 
end I thought , well if it can't be done here, whats the point of 
No Shame?

Time: Tue, 06-Feb-2001 14:30:27 GMT     IP: 209.64.154.61

Those interested in further background are hereby referred to the 
No Shame Board minutes at University of Iowa Special Collections, 
vol 13, no. 7, (March 22, 1999), starting at the first paragraph 
of page 19 under "Old Business". The Board at that time consisted 
of Dan Brooks, Chris Okiishi, Sara Greer, Kyle Lange, and yrs 
truly. Of course, at that time the bitterly-fought-for sunshine 
clause had not taken effect, so the transcripts refer to the 
secret names given to each of the four Board members at the 
spring solstice initiation (Akhneton [DB], Critias [KL], 
Maimonides [JE], Invictus [CO], and Abelard [SG]- ed.). 

At the time, the No Shame Board was in a period of recovery. At 
its peak numbering well over 200, the board had been decimated by 
a series of intrigues and betrayals which culminated in what the 
Press-Citizen later dubbed "the Night Exeunt", in which a string 
of unexplained apartment fires and several disappearances marked 
the final end of the strife. Victorious in this bitter struggle, 
the remaining Board members pushed through a hard-won series of 
reforms, including the addition of sunset clauses to all new 
bylaws, the annual audit of monies by Price-Waterhouse, and the 
renunciation of necromancy and divination in all their forms. 

Most of these reforms centered on the performers. For example, 
new performers are no longer required to serve as altar in a 
Black Mass, nor must they sign a blank confession when submitting 
their first piece. In addition, the "Tithe of Blood" ritual no 
longer opens each semester. However, respect and gratitude for 
the audience are now the central themes of the new oath of 
office. So you see, the No Shame board, performers, and audience 
have entered a new era of openness and mutual harmonious 
prosperity. I ask that all of us move beyond petty disputes and 
come together in the name of bipartisanship.

Time: Tue, 06-Feb-2001 15:04:44 GMT     IP: 209.64.154.61

Hey, so some of you may remember my old piece "During the Course 
of this Piece God Will Kill Several Small Puppies", or "The 
Worst Christmas Ever". Like me, you may have watched the 
insidious Worst Ever meme work its way through that semester in 
pieces like "The Worst Fourth of July Ever" and the line "This 
is the worst Easter ever!" Anyhoo, this ended with a piece where 
I was crucified onstage while two men wrestled erotically 
beneath me. The punchline was, "This is the worst Rosh Hashanah 
ever!"

So.

I been reading Dork #8, by the vast and wonderful Evan Dorkin, 
who made up Milk and Cheese. One of the small strips is 
titled "The Worst Rashomon Ever". Rosh Hashanah. Rashomon. 

I can't help but wonder. 

James "Count Fistula" Erwin

Time: Tue, 06-Feb-2001 21:56:34 GMT     IP: 64.12.104.158


I have to say that I'm a little disappointed.  A better impostor 
would have mimicked my gramatically pretentious writing style 
more accurately.  In fact, this bit of mockery so fails to 
comprehend the extent of my true pretension that I'm almost 
insulted.  Some tips for any future endeavors in impersonation: I 
don't neuter my pronouns; I do use colons, semicolons, and em-
dashes to excess; my syntax is more frequently oblique.

The Tom Waits closure, I must admit, was a nice touch. 

Merideth

Time: Wed, 07-Feb-2001 00:21:21 GMT     IP: 205.217.148.52

:
I have to say that I'm a little disappointed.  A better impostor 
:
would have mimicked my gramatically pretentious writing style 
:
more accurately.  In fact, this bit of mockery so fails to 
:
comprehend the extent of my true pretension that I'm almost 
:
insulted.  

Oh, c'mon: it wasn't THAT bad. I cut and pasted straight out of 
your old posts for a large portion of the text. If your own posts 
aren't pretentious enough for you, I can't be blamed for that. 
I'm sure you're right that some of the nuances were lost, but 
give me time, I'm still fairly new at this. 

-Fake Merideth

Time: Wed, 07-Feb-2001 02:38:27 GMT     IP: 205.217.148.111

It's funny to see you stuck up No Shamers fighting among 
yourselves, what with the fake posts and and all that. I'm not 
the one doing it, but I wish I was: it's pretty fucking funny. 

Time: Wed, 07-Feb-2001 03:34:39 GMT     IP: 64.197.224.158

There are now, by statistics, 18 million Mexicans and
Latin Americans in the United States. That is a terrible
guess, since the Iron Heel government, in Washington
D.C., has no real idea of how many there are. Consider
this: the United States border patrol says that they may
stop 10% each day. That, in itself, represents
thousands each day. Now simply multiply that amount
by ten.

Even beyond immigration, legal or illegal, the very
numbers of non-Whites already here, and their high
birth rate, are enough to plunge North America into a
banana republic status within two decades or less.

On the other hand, imagine a Separatist state or region
in the Southwest, that could see the impact each day of
thousands of immigrants, climbing on board each day,
with no hope of a federal solution. Of course they would
do what tribes have done since the dawn of time. They
would rally their forces and stop it with a force of arms. 

For example, if an area like Florida wanted to accept
the dregs of the Caribbean, let them, with the
understanding that the second this mud flood oozed
into the sovereign state of Georgia, it would be "lock
and load" time. Now, isn't that simple? It's freedom of
choice for all concerned. To the Floridians, they are free
to swamp their state and exhaust their natural
resources and infrastructure. The Caribbeans are free
to try the border of the sovereign state of Georgia.
However, the sovereign citizens of Georgia are free to
stop them, using any method necessary, and stop the
invasion of their sovereign state.

Those that await a Big Brother Washington D.C. or Los
Angeles Cesspool Grande solution, wait in vain, since
their solutions are either not forthcoming, or are much
worse than those that we propose.

Separatism is a state of mind, whose time has come.
The super state is the enemy of racial and cultural
self-determination. It is also the extreme enemy of
man's environment. That is enough reason for us.

As one strives to protect ones family, so it must be with
the cultural and racial extended family. The White
European race is a minority in most places on this
Earth; fifteen percent and falling. WAR is not speaking
of a minor problem, but the eventual extinction of
Nature's finest handiwork. Whenever you hear the word
minority it's not really the Black or Brown races, but the
White race which has always been the minority race
globally.

Time: Wed, 07-Feb-2001 05:38:33 GMT     IP: 216.43.60.15

There was a day just a few years ago when I could come back an 
hour later and tell you exactly where that cut-and-paste came 
from. Damn the World Wide Web and its nooks and crannies. 

Hey, my website is the best geography site on the whole goddamn 
Web. About.com says so. 

I repeat- THE ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD-THE-FUCK-WIDE WEB. Me!

Your favorite mud-person tool of ZOG,

James "Half-Breed, Half-God" Erwin

oh- http://go.to/footnotestohistory.

Time: Wed, 07-Feb-2001 06:32:28 GMT     IP: 205.217.148.85

And for those playing the home game, this is my 1st post since 
10:23 Monday night. 
To pick up where I left off:
:
4.  "Barbarus Inepticus," by Tom Kovacs and Sam Negron; T Kovacs, 
:
S Negron, A Clarke, (??)--haircuts are exchanged and shaving 
cream 
:
is sprayed amid banter (comedy sketch).
:
This had its moments, but I agree with those who said it could 
have used some serious trimming. I personally hadn't seen the 
previous haircutting sketch, so the sight of 2 men cutting each 
others' hair on stage was effective to me. Other than that, there 
wasn't a whole lot here I was too taken with.
:
5.  "Don't Tread on Me," by Edmund Scott; JC Luxton--JC seeks 
:
acceptance in the Civil-War-Reenacters' amputee club (comedic 
:
monologue).
:
Disturbing, funny, well performed. I hope this guy comes back, I 
would like to see more work from him. 
:
6.  "Stammer," by Paul Rust; P Rust, M Cassady, A Galbraith--when 
:
M and A foil P's sneaky plan to avoid their company, his reaction 
:
becomes debilitating (comedy sketch).
:

Well, I for one thought the 3 elements were all worked together 
just fine, and probably woudn't have stood on their own as well 
as they did together. Not my favorite Paul piece, but still good 
and entertaining. 
:
7. "A Rhyme for Orange," by Dan Fairchild; D Fairchild--
:
physically-enhanced rhyming poem (comedy poem).
:
OK, so, yes, I started out with the idea of trying to find a 
rhyme for orange, and then worked from there. But mostly I just 
wanted to try to do something new and interesting with the old 
format of a rhyming poem. And I think the movements and such did 
make it more interesting. So, whatever. I'm fine with how it went.
:
8.  "The Needle, the Fluid, the Way We Were," by Aprille Clarke; 
A 
:
Clarke, M Hansen--M the acupuncturist visits A in the hospital 
and 
:
slips into her IV (comedy sketch).
:
This had some great imagery. I couldn't hear some of Mark's 
lines, which was too bad (and I was sitting right up front, too). 
The piece was a bit long, but it kept my attention, so I can't 
really complain. Aprille has a very distinctive writing style, 
nobody else is doing stuff like her's.
:
9.  "The I-80 Blues," by Tyler "Skylo" Corbett; T"S" Corbett--
T"S" 
:
sings and plays the guitar to a song about the interminable 
nature 
:
of Nebraska and things on the other side (song).
:
I liked this song fine. I didn't have a problem with the lyrics, 
they seemed suited for the type of song he was playing. Maybe not 
my very favorite style of music, but he did it well and I enjoyed 
it.
:
10.  "Dickbreath --&-- the Devil," by Arlen Lawson; A Lawson--A 
gets 
:
injured while trick-or-treating, meets the devil, and learns the 
:
True Meaning of Halloween (comedic monologue).
:
This was short, funny, and well written. The devil only being 
able to say "vagina" while analy raping Arlen is a wonderful 
image. This had a similar feel as a lot of Arlen's other 
monologues, and yet was definitely and different from other stuff 
he's done. Strong work.
:
11.  "Floats Like a Bungeroth, Stings Like V.D.," by Aaron 
:
Galbraith; A Galbraith, C Okiishi, P Rust, N"B" Campbell, (??)--
:
Aaron proves his athletic prowess by holding P on his shoulders; 
a 
:
potentially dangerous cockfight ensues (comedy sketch).
:
The guys on each others' shoulders was the funniest part of this 
to me. Some of the dialogue did seem a little predictable, but it 
was a fun piece. I laughed. What more do you want...
:
12.  "Dying for Life," by Brian Tuttle; B Tuttle (I presume)--B 
:
ruminates on the nature of the human condition and the sadness 
:
that comes with it (dramatic monologue).
:
OK, I just couldn't get into this. Yes, we've all had these 
feelings, yes it's reassuring that other people do to, but... so? 
What was the hook? What was there to keep you interested?
:
13.  "Why I Hate No Shame or Think Twice When They Take Your 
:
Money," by Elena Murphy; (??)--(??) smokes a cigarette and warns 
:
the audience that the No Shame board and regulars are actually 
:
hostile toward them yet simultaneously dependent on them. 
:
(dramantic monolgue/poem).
:
Well, I do think it took courage to do this piece, but I don't 
see how one could do it without expecting that people would be 
put off. At least some people. To me, it didn't sound like a poem 
or a general sort of manifesto against pretensions, it sounded 
like an attack against No Shame (look at the title, for Christ's 
sake!). Still, I'm glad she did it. I'm glad she felt she WAS 
allowed to do a piece like this. I think that actually says good 
things about No Shame. 
:
14.  "The Run Around Town," by Neil "Balls" Campbell; N"B" 
:
Campbell, A Galbraith--N"B" energetically reminisces about 
abusive 
:
relatives and makeshift homes constructed of garbage and children 
:
(comedy sketch/monologue).
:
Yeah, there was some great imagery here. And yeah, we got some 
more of that trademark Neil Campbell spazz-out energy. So that's 
good. I think I was getting a little tired by this point, even 
though the show wasn't that long, so I probably didn't absorb 
this as well as I could have. But that's not a criticism of the 
piece. It was solid.
:
15.  "Heaven's Percolator," by Chris Stangl;  C Stangl, C 
Okiishi, 
:
A Lawson--after discussing the sorrows in his life and discussing 
:
the nature of heaven, CS (with diabolical overtones) convinces CO 
:
to stab A.
:
I started out not liking this too well, a little bored, but it 
won me over by the end. The image of Chris O. stabbing Arlen was 
surprisingly haunting. I agree that the last line could have been 
dropped. And maybe some of the dialogue could have been weeded 
(though, again, by this point I was tired), but I felt like this 
piece did a good job telling it's story. And it was neat to see 
Chris do something that was almost entirely serious. 

OK. There you go. And now, I am off to bed. Cheers.  

Time: Wed, 07-Feb-2001 14:09:19 GMT     IP: 128.255.95.37

:For the PC crowd, 
:homo sexual comentary abounds in the No Shame skits anyway.  
:Maybe mystereo tipical gay voice was just a little more 
:convincing than you'd like to admit.  Keep your shafts down 
:those gay people that read these postings.  I am not really gay. 
:Samuel III out

Shyah!  Believe me, you weren't in danger of ever being mistaken 
for gay.  You're probably saying this tongue-in-cheek, but gimme a 
break...

-Adam

Time: Wed, 07-Feb-2001 17:36:23 GMT     IP: 64.197.224.92

Negron says:
  
:Maybe my stereotipical gay voice was just a little more 
:convincing than you'd like to admit.  

Which might be a joke, but which sounds to me like a plea for some 
performance criticism, being that said sterotypical gay character 
rendering was downright pitiful.  It was flimsy and inconsistent 
in a manner suggestive of a lack of practice/lack of experience 
with material/ineptitude of performer rather than in the manner of 
a deconstructionist performance.  Just as convincing as an eleven 
year old child in summer camp playing the same stereotype would 
be, which is to say, not at all (if you;ve ever been to summer 
camp or seen the zany Disney series Bugjuice, you know precisely 
what I mean).

Negron continues:
:those gay people that read these postings.  I am not really gay. 

To which Adam I replies:
:...You're probably saying this tongue-in-cheek...

Oh, I wish I could believe he was, Adam, I really do...

Time: Wed, 07-Feb-2001 23:03:29 GMT     IP: 208.129.184.125
***********
I just wanted to post a message telling you guys that you rocked 
my world last no shame...and I'm not just talking about my 
sexual dream that I had that night.....I laughed so hard that I 
peed on the floor....and I laughed so long that by the time I 
was finished laughing the pee was either all dried up or some 
sort of pee loving dog creature came and drank it....That was 
how funny it was....and if it isen't too much work for you go to 
www.geocities.com/eatababy...and sign the guest book and say 
that Seth sent you...ON A WACKY ADVENTURE THAT 
IS......well...thats it

Time: Sat, 10-Feb-2001 08:43:20 GMT     IP: 205.217.148.105

Order, 2/9/01

0.5.  "The Breathalyzer Test," by Chris Stangl:  C Stangl, A 
Lawson_C and A discuss   the results of C's arrest and 
breathalyzer test; included the phrase "police dick" (comedy 
sketch).

1. "Go Out Unto the World and Make Fishers out of Men," by Thomas 
Kovacs:  T Kovacs, P Rust, Willie's son (sorry, don't know his 
name), D Fairchild_T and P chat in the setting of a bathroom 
stall; the dirty thing T wants P to do ends up being Jehovah's 
Witness-related (comedy sketch).

2. "Out Cold," by Areli River:  A"J" River, P Rust, M Cassady, A 
Angel, A Galbraith, A Clarke, N"B" Campbell_A"J" has a trippy 
reaction to a visit to the dentist; there is much hitting (comedy 
sketch).

3. "Even the Internet Manifesto," by Elysia Hrbek (PRONOUNCE:  
Leesha Her-beck):  JC Luxton_JC discusses the way the Internet 
will affect every facet of our lives in the coming years (comedic/
prophetic monologue).

4. "The Dan Fairchild," by Alyssa Bowman:  D Fairchild_D does a 
variety of dance moves while reciting many words, some of which 
rhyme and have specific dance moves associated with them (comedic 
dance performance/monologue).

5. "My Lovelife at Age Four," by Nella Christo Arbock:  S 
Franklin_S discusses a long lost love from childhood and how that 
experience affected her eating and other aspects of her life 
(serio-comic monologue).

6. "I Wanna Rape Your Hand," by Paul Rust:  P Rust, A Galbraith, C 
Okiishi, P's friend Shelly (sorry, don't know last name or even if 
first name is spelled right)_P brags about his emotional and 
communicative exploits with his girlfriend to his friend; in the 
end, everyone agrees it's better to talk about violent sex acts 
(comedy sketch).

7. "Monkey Feces, Monkey Doo-Doo," by Arlen Lawson:  C Stangl, J 
River, A Lawson, A Galbraith_J and AG (and later, AL)  feel 
conflicting emotions about their desire to beat up and old lady 
and having acted on that desire; AL recounts a tale of a kite and 
the boy who died flying said kite (comedy sketch/monologue).

8. "I Love to Fuck My Wife," by Dan "The Plow" Fairchild:  D"TP" 
Fairchild, P Rust_D"TP" helps P get over his passive nature by 
encouraging him to take a more aggressive attitude in his sex life 
(comedy sketch).

9. "That Sad Story of That Lady I Know," by Aprille Clarke:  M 
Hansen, C Okiishi, A Clarke_A and M assume positions that reflect 
C's lines, which describe a woman who has a lot of issues (serio-
comedy sketch).

9.5. "Coastline," by Brian Tuttle:  B Tuttle_B sees the same 
person on the bus every day and has a conversation about what that 
might mean and what they might mean to each other (dramatic 
monologue).

10. "A Song," by Chris Okiishi:  C Okiishi_using a portable 
keyboard, C sings a song of loneliness (musical performance).

11. "The Horror," by Al Angel:  A Angel, C Stangl, A Galbraith_C 
and AG depict different stages of a man's relationship with his 
dysfunctional father (played by AA) (dramatic sketch).

12. "Britney Spears -&- No Shame Theater," by Erin King:  E King_E 
describes her occasionally uncomfortable position of mediocrity 
and how it has affected her life (serio-comic monologue).

13. "Song to All the Girls We Can't Write Songs to," by Luke `n' 
Mike:  L ??, Mike Brooks_M plays guitar and L sings (musical 
performance).

14.   "The Goblin in Me," by Neil "Balls" Campbell:  A Galbraith, 
E King_A Valley-type girl is driven to perform uncharacteristic 
acts by the goblin in her belly, who enjoys being rubbed (comedy 
sketch).

15. "Frankie -&- Johnny," Traditional, arranged by Chris Stangl:  C 
Stangl_while swigging several bottles of quaint sodapop, C 
delivers rhymed and metered variations on the classic "Frankie -&- 
Johnny" (poetry performance)

Time: Sat, 10-Feb-2001 22:54:25 GMT     IP: 64.197.224.31

nick clark says to you:

0.5.  "The Breathalyzer Test," by Chris Stangl:.
Kind of funny, mostly a lot the same as the rest of the drinking 
shorts.  I
didn't think I'd tire of them, but maybe I'm beginning to.  The 
drawback of
this particular one was that it drew more attention to sucking 
off a cop than
it did to the pathos of alcoholism.  Thus it became more of a 
cheap joke than a
cautionary tale.
1. "Go Out Unto the World and Make Fishers out of Men," by Thomas 
Kovacs:.
THere were some funny moments here, especially the repeated use 
of the word
'dude' but Kovacs' writing began to get long winded and 
non-conversational
toward the end.
2. "Out Cold," by Areli River:
This was pretty fun as a AJM River piece always is - the real 
funny part is
that there isn't a joke there at any point, or if there is, 
(physical punchy
humor) it is played in such a way that the real laugh is not at 
the joke but
instead at the fact that the joke is completely out of context.
3. "Even the Internet Manifesto," by Elysia Hrbek
Reminiscent of the awful "Why not 2K" from a couple years ago.  
This was better
than that one in that it was better composed and delivered, but 
it still lacked
the substance it would have needed to hold my attention.
4. "The Dan Fairchild," by Alyssa Bowman:
I wished that Dan himself would write pieces like this one.  He 
addressed the
physical element so deftly and humorously that I had to wonder 
why he doesn't
make use of such an obvious gift in his own work.  Also, the 
innocence of
Alyssa's rhyme was a nice thing to see embodied by a man whom I 
associate with
a lot of dirty sex jokes.
5. "My Lovelife at Age Four," by Nella Christo Arbock:
This piece seemed interesting.  I wanted to hear more of the 
story; it kinda
seemed like it could have gotten more textured (a-la Barbour) but 
the writing
seemed a little overwrought, and maybe not conversational enough 
for the stage.
Sheila was good, but too quiet.
6. "I Wanna Rape Your Hand," by Paul Rust:
I like Paul a lot as an actor.  I liked this piece a lot because 
it let you
think.  Id didn't make you think, but it gave you material which, 
if you felt
like it, you could spend some time pondering.  Or if you wanted 
you could just
laugh at how funny it was and go home.
7. "Monkey Feces, Monkey Doo-Doo," by Arlen Lawson:
There was good stuff here.  There were a lot of nice jokes in the 
beginning,
I'm not sure I understood the value of all the kite stuff in 
context, however.
8. "I Love to Fuck My Wife," by Dan "The Plow" Fairchild:
Dan sure does think about sex a lot.  I think back on Paul Rust's 
assessment of
Pookman's drinking bit.  Though it's difficult to tell where 
Fairchild's own
opinions on sexual politics lie, I get the feeling that I would 
get more out of
his pieces if my own opinions were more similar to his.  I do 
feel a little bit
excluded by Fairchild's pieces, and I think that maybe their 
aggressiveness is
kind of the point, but it's not I point that I feel like I'm 'in 
on'.
9. "That Sad Story of That Lady I Know," by Aprille Clarke:
Like most of Aprille's pieces this was depressing and disturbing 
and sexual and
good.  The tableau thing didn't quite go as well as it could 
have.  I was glad
that someone non-threatening like Mark Hansen was in Mark 
Hansen's role.  I am
interested in seeing theatre which approaches itself in this 
narrator separated
from silent action sort of way.
9.5. "Coastline," by Brian Tuttle:
Interesting.  The kind of thing that really does run through the 
juvenile mind
on occasion.  I felt like the most important thing about this 
piece was that it
was a monologue in the second person told by a person who didn't 
know anything
about the person he was talking about.  There's a really grim 
sort of pathos in
this peice, but you didn't hear it in the words themselves.
10. "A Song," by Chris Okiishi:
This song was fantastic.  I think it makes Balls and Stubble the 
only NS
regulars I've seen go more than 2 1/2 years without doing a song 
as a piece.
The lyrics were beautiful and so is Chris' singing voice.  That's 
all I have to
say.
11. "The Horror," by Al Angel:
Al's serious pieces at times seem to take themselves a little too 
seriously.
This was one of those that just wound down until by the end there 
was nothing
but the absolute worst collection of horrible circumstances that 
could maintain
the piece's level of believability.  It made for a really 
engagingly repulsive
whole.
12. "Britney Spears -&- No Shame Theater," by Erin King:
  Usually a "It's my first time here at No Shame, and this is who 
I am." type
of piece bores an audience quickly, but Erin's delivery was great 
and her
writing was approachable and well paced.  I hope she comes back 
again.
13. "Song to All the Girls We CanUt Write Songs to," by Luke TnU 
Mike:
A reAlly pretty song, probably.  I couldn't really hear the 
singing at all.  If
you want to sing quietly, at least face more up toward the 
audience and less
down toward the floor.
14.   "The Goblin in Me," by Neil "Balls" Campbell:
There was a lot of really great acting in this.  Aaron's 
contortions were
supernaturally delicious, and Erin's frustrated val-speak was 
priceless.  The
writing, while filled with jokes wound down with increasingly 
more bitter
humor, which made the piece shine like a jewel of anguish by its 
conclusion.
15. "Frankie -&- Johnny," Traditional, arranged by Chris Stangl:
I love this song, so hearing Chris' multiple takes on it was 
really
interesting.  It's a compelling story, and seeing it transposed 
to everything
from a restaurant to a parking garage was intriguing.  I didn't 
get anything
out of the lamp and sodas besides the impression that Chris needs 
objects on
stage with him during his monologues.
"shine like a jewel of anguish"
                           -nick

Time: Sun, 11-Feb-2001 00:33:51 GMT     IP: 64.197.224.1

Dear Diary,
   Paul's piece ended and then mine began.  This does not shock 
you?  Well, perhaps I neglected to mention the circumstance of 
Paul's piece ending with a rape joke and mine beginning with one.
   Then another joke in my piece about a child assuming that he 
was going to be forced to perform oral sex.
   And then, immediately following mine, Dan Fairchild did a 
piece endorsing marital rape, or at least an ideology that would 
tend to increase the likelihood of marital rape.
   And immediately following that came Aprille's piece, at the 
center of which was a multiple rape victim and the amusing 
results of her psychological trauma.
   Also, this block of sketches capitalizing on the inherent 
hilarity of rape and being raped came dead center in our night of 
fun, our night of fun (Or as dead center as you can get with an 
even block and an odd number of pieces.)
   I have no point to make with any of this.  I bet that man from 
the Press Citizen (Or as it read on the posters around town a 
year or two ago, the Press Shitizen.  Am I right, people?) 
doesn't come to every No Shame, though.  
   Completely unrelated subject:  The impersonations went on for 
three days, and some of them were brilliant.  (I was and am proud 
of you, fake Tom, Paul, Meredith(sic), Dan Fairchild.)  After 
two years of faithfully holding my attention, at least, is that 
really enough to get this board room relegated to the bottom of 
the page, where it is missed and assumed destroyed by most, 
including Dan Fairchild?
    I think not.  And therefore am not.

            -Arlen

Time: Sun, 11-Feb-2001 02:06:11 GMT     IP: 128.255.109.20

:Order, 2/9/01
:

:
0.5.  "The Breathalyzer Test," by Chris Stangl:  C Stangl, A 
:
Lawson_C and A discuss   the results of C's arrest and 
:
breathalyzer test; included the phrase "police dick" (comedy 
:
sketch).
:
Takes the lead as my favorite drunkard skunkard sketch to 
date.  Yes, Drunkard skunkard sketch is the technical term I 
am giving to the Stangl/Lawson drinking sketches because I 
don't like typing "Stangl/Lawson drinking sketch" all the damn 
time.  These two characters, I have noticed, get more and 
more morally deficient with each passing week.  For that 
reason, next weeks drunkard skunkard sketch will probably 
take the lead as my favorite.  It will be interesting to see if 
there is a bottom to this hole.
:
1. "Go Out Unto the World and Make Fishers out of Men," by 
Thomas 
:
Kovacs:  T Kovacs, P Rust, Willie's son (sorry, don't know his 
:
name), D Fairchild_T and P chat in the setting of a bathroom 
:
stall; the dirty thing T wants P to do ends up being Jehovah's 
:
Witness-related (comedy sketch).
:
I don't think I deserve a performance credit for this one, but 
anywho.  Even though I was present on stage for this one, I 
was absent mentally.   It was well written from the parts I did 
pay attention to.  What I'm trying to figure out is if Tom 
intended Paul's character to be delivered the way he did, or if 
it was supposed to be read completely straight with all the 
humor going into how fucked up Tom's character was.  

2. "Out Cold," by Areli River:  A"J" River, P Rust, M Cassady, A 
:
Angel, A Galbraith, A Clarke, N"B" Campbell_A"J" has a 
trippy 
:
reaction to a visit to the dentist; there is much hitting (comedy 
:
sketch).
:
This reminded me of the Vic Morrow (RIP) segment of 
Twilight Zone: The Movie.  Very clean changes in setting, fun 
to watch, knew when enough was enough.  Kosher.
:
3. "Even the Internet Manifesto," by Elysia Hrbek 
(PRONOUNCE:  
:
Leesha Her-beck):  JC Luxton_JC discusses the way the 
Internet 
:
will affect every facet of our lives in the coming years 
(comedic/
:
prophetic monologue).
:
Very monotonous and therefore didn't keep my attention and 
bored me.  Given the subject of the piece it was probably 
supposed to be so.  Maybe would have been better delivered 
as a fanatic iconoclast character so it comes off as his/her 
dream of the future, not fact.
:
4. "The Dan Fairchild," by Alyssa Bowman:  D Fairchild_D 
does a 
:
variety of dance moves while reciting many words, some of 
which 
:
rhyme and have specific dance moves associated with them 
(comedic 
:
dance performance/monologue).
:
I first thought I was being made fun of.  I would have done it 
even if it was a peck at me.  Wildly fun.  Made me want to get 
back to doing characters that aren't so constrained within the 
bounds of reality.
:
5. "My Lovelife at Age Four," by Nella Christo Arbock:  S 
:
Franklin_S discusses a long lost love from childhood and 
how that 
:
experience affected her eating and other aspects of her life 
:
(serio-comic monologue).
:
From now on i am not even going to TRY to review pieces 
after i perform for I don't get everything out of them and they're 
usually serious or serio-comic which doesn't quite grab me 
in that situation.  Sorry.
:
6. "I Wanna Rape Your Hand," by Paul Rust:  P Rust, A 
Galbraith, C 
:
Okiishi, P's friend Shelly (sorry, don't know last name or even 
if 
:
first name is spelled right)_P brags about his emotional 
and 
:
communicative exploits with his girlfriend to his friend; in the 
:
end, everyone agrees it's better to talk about violent sex acts 
:
(comedy sketch).

Michele Thompson is her name.  You better learn it, too, 
because she is the future.  Paul succeeded, as usual, where 
I failed.  He is able to convey that the views expressed in his 
sketches are not necessarily those of Paul Rust, it's 
management or staff, but a...oh shit, what's that word.  Shit, 
you know what I mean.

I'll finish later.  It's Friday night for fuck's sake.

Time: Mon, 12-Feb-2001 22:35:49 GMT     IP: 152.163.201.48

Ah yes, the Press Shitizen stickers. Brings back memories. Not 
good ones, but there they are. The PC was pretty Shitty, as I 
recall. Not as Shitty as the Icon, or the Iowa City Gazette (A 
city with 50,000 people has 3 Daily Newspapers?). But it was 
Shitty.

Happy Valentines Day
(Sound of bottle opening)

michael

Time: Wed, 14-Feb-2001 03:00:14 GMT     IP: 128.255.108.178


0.5.  "The Breathalyzer Test," by Chris Stangl:  C Stangl, A 
Lawson_C and A discuss   the results of C's arrest and 
breathalyzer test; included the phrase "police dick" (comedy 
sketch).
It was cool that this "drinky drink" (patent pending) sketch 
finally addressed the idea of formal (rather than mental/social) 
punishment for drinking. And finally has given long overdue 
recognition to the phrase "police dick."

1. "Go Out Unto the World and Make Fishers out of Men," by 
Thomas Kovacs:  T Kovacs, P Rust, Willie's son (sorry, don't 
know his name), D Fairchild_T and P chat in the setting of a 
bathroom stall; the dirty thing T wants P to do ends up being 
Jehovah's Witness-related (comedy sketch).
I liked the fact that this sketch didn't feature any of the 
speaking performers' faces. That's always a nice way to 
interest/intrigue an audience. My only wish is that the last 
line (which revealed the person was a Jehovah's Witness) was 
accompanied with "wah nah nah dah dah" music.

2. "Out Cold," by Areli River:  A"J" River, P Rust, M Cassady, A 
Angel, A Galbraith, A Clarke, N"B" Campbell_A"J" has a trippy 
reaction to a visit to the dentist; there is much hitting 
(comedy sketch).
This would be really cool as a short film. The visual of 
somebody being repeatedly hit in the face by various people is 
such an excellent spin on "the world's down on me" theme. I 
agree with Dan's review that this recalled the Vic Morrow 
segment in "Twilight Zone." Thankfully, however, Jamal and two 
vietnamese children didn't get decapitated during this sketch.

3. "Even the Internet Manifesto," by Elysia Hrbek (PRONOUNCE:  
Leesha Her-beck):  JC Luxton_JC discusses the way the Internet 
will affect every facet of our lives in the coming years 
(comedic/prophetic monologue).
It was nice hearing this monologue since I had been listening 
and/or thinking about Radiohead all week. Sort of an "OK 
Computer: The Monologue," I suppose. Elysia did a nice job of 
utilizing "reading off a script" as a character quirk instead of 
a problem or distraction. 

4. "The Dan Fairchild," by Alyssa Bowman:  D Fairchild_D does a 
variety of dance moves while reciting many words, some of which 
rhyme and have specific dance moves associated with them 
(comedic dance performance/monologue).
I think this achieved what Dan was going for in his piece last 
week - this sort of playful, silly poetry reading. Perhaps Dan's 
naturally perverse side (not an insult) tainted last week's and 
Alyssa's kookiness aided this week's. Whatever it was, it worked 
really well.

5. "My Lovelife at Age Four," by Nella Christo Arbock:  S 
Franklin_S discusses a long lost love from childhood and how 
that experience affected her eating and other aspects of her 
life (serio-comic monologue).
Beautiful connection between children's concept of love and 
what's considered a "mature" concept of love. I also liked 
Franklin's "detached, so I don't get too emotional" delivery. It 
would have been nice though if she was a little louder. I can't 
hear with my ears because my ears are bad and they don't let me 
hear things that aren't very loud because my ears are bad.

toodles, children. finish later.

Time: Wed, 14-Feb-2001 04:16:07 GMT     IP: 24.6.203.121

:1. "Go Out Unto the World and Make Fishers out of Men," by 
:Thomas Kovacs:  T Kovacs, P Rust, Willie's son (sorry, don't 
:know his name), D Fairchild_T and P chat in the setting of a 
:bathroom stall; the dirty thing T wants P to do ends up being 
:Jehovah's Witness-related (comedy sketch).
:I liked the fact that this sketch didn't feature any of the 
:speaking performers' faces.

I like the fact that even though we didn't see the speaking 
performers' faces, Tom was emoting under the sheet with his hands. 
 That was funny.

:2. "Out Cold," by Areli River:  A"J" River, P Rust, M Cassady, A 
:Angel, A Galbraith, A Clarke, N"B" Campbell_A"J" has a trippy 
:reaction to a visit to the dentist; there is much hitting 
:(comedy sketch).

I very much enjoyed the theatricality of this piece in that it was 
weird in just the right way to make me feel like I was 
participating in the punch-drunk addled state of Jamal's 
character.  At least, I remember thinking that at the time, though 
specifics are hard to come by at this point in the week.

Time: Wed, 14-Feb-2001 06:54:54 GMT     IP: 128.255.107.234

6. "I Wanna Rape Your Hand," by Paul Rust:  P Rust, A Galbraith, 
C Okiishi, P's friend Shelly (sorry, don't know last name or 
even if first name is spelled right)_P brags about his emotional 
and communicative exploits with his girlfriend to his friend; in 
the end, everyone agrees it's better to talk about violent sex 
acts (comedy sketch).
I wrote this. It came from a time in high school when I thought 
I maybe mispercieved the jockish upperclassmen. Perhaps they 
truly were sensitive, young men. I remembered this earlier in 
the week and thought I'd make it a No Shame piece. Yep. 

7. "Monkey Feces, Monkey Doo-Doo," by Arlen Lawson:  C Stangl, J 
River, A Lawson, A Galbraith_J and AG (and later, AL)  feel 
conflicting emotions about their desire to beat up and old lady 
and having acted on that desire; AL recounts a tale of a kite 
and the boy who died flying said kite (comedy sketch/monologue).

Like Nick said, I, too, was wondering what the connection was 
between the first part and the second part. Maybe Arlen sensed  
the difference and that's why he split it into separate acts. 
Maybe if "the dead kite boy" (patent pending) had lived, he 
would have been one of the guys beating up the old lady. Maybe 
I'm a silly-dilly. 

8. "I Love to Fuck My Wife," by Dan "The Plow" Fairchild:  D"TP" 
Fairchild, P Rust_D"TP" helps P get over his passive nature by 
encouraging him to take a more aggressive attitude in his sex 
life (comedy sketch).
Since I was a part of this, I'll just talk about the writing, so 
I can be unbiased or whatever. In terms of writing, it was Dan's 
best piece yet (although it was a little too long). He took two 
poles of male sexual values, had them meet at the most male of 
places (the strip club), and had them face-off about how 
relationships (not necessarily sexual) should be. In my mind, my 
character was an example of good relationship values held by men 
(i.e. respect, understanding) and his character was an example 
of the wrong values held by men (i.e. oppression, chauvinism - 
sp?). By having the bad beat out the good, Dan was satirizing 
how many men change their values in hopes of winning over each 
other. I could be wrong though. Dan could just be a pig.

9. "That Sad Story of That Lady I Know," by Aprille Clarke:  M 
Hansen, C Okiishi, A Clarke_A and M assume positions that 
reflect C's lines, which describe a woman who has a lot of 
issues (serio-comedy sketch).
Do you remember that "State" sketch where they had their 
reoccuring characters (Doug, Barry -&- Levon) placed in Kabuki 
theatre? This sort of reminded me of that. Aprille took a 
character she often portrays (sexually-mistreated woman) and 
presented it differently. I guess somebody could argue this was 
just "same drink, new glass," but I thought it worked. 

9.5. "Coastline," by Brian Tuttle:  B Tuttle_B sees the same 
person on the bus every day and has a conversation about what 
that might mean and what they might mean to each other (dramatic 
monologue).
This was really intriguing to watch since the audience knew he 
was saying this all to a girl who hardly knew him. That's why I 
was a little disappointed when Brian started to drift. Since the 
beginning had such an urgency, I wanted it to stay the whole way 
through. I know I shouldn't judge a piece for not going where I 
want it to go. It's just that a little focus would have been 
nice.

10. "A Song," by Chris Okiishi:  C Okiishi_using a portable 
keyboard, C sings a song of loneliness (musical performance).
Wonderful, wonderful song. I liked the fact that Chris talked 
about things such as "masturbation" (patent pending) so openly 
without hokey, over-done symbolism. This is a cliche about 
singer-songwriter songs, but it made the lyrics feel like 
conversation instead of strict songwriting.

11. "The Horror," by Al Angel:  A Angel, C Stangl, A Galbraith_C 
and AG depict different stages of a man's relationship with his 
dysfunctional father (played by AA) (dramatic sketch).
Great concept. Great way of delivering the story. Great acting. 
This piece really touched me. The only thing I didn't like is 
the father's death at the end. That felt contrived. I think it 
would have been better to have the characters live on without 
such an easy way out for the father.

12. "Britney Spears --&-- No Shame Theater," by Erin King:  E King_
E describes her occasionally uncomfortable position of 
mediocrity and how it has affected her life (serio-comic 
monologue).
It's refreshing to hear somebody who has such an understanding 
of who they are and where there at even if it isn't exactly the 
way they want it. I look forward to Erin maybe applying this 
knowledge of ppl. to fictional characters in future pieces.

13. "Song to All the Girls We Can't Write Songs to," by Luke `n' 
Mike:  L ??, Mike Brooks_M plays guitar and L sings (musical 
performance).
I liked the guitar part. It would have been nicer if Luke sang 
louder. That way, I could critique the words. Hopefully, they 
play more. Even though it's not my cup of tea as far as style 
goes, it's always nice to have music at the No Shame.

14.   "The Goblin in Me," by Neil "Balls" Campbell:  A 
Galbraith, E King_A Valley-type girl is driven to perform 
uncharacteristic acts by the goblin in her belly, who enjoys 
being rubbed (comedy sketch).
It's unfortunate Erin had to play this character.  After four 
years of seeing Group Improv at Iowa Speech competitions, I've 
grown tired of seeing girls playing "the ditzy girl." I know 
it's not her fault since it's a character she's playing, not 
creating. That's why it would have been interesting to see a 
male's (Neil's) take on it. Great job though considering she was 
a new no shame person with this sketch handed to her just before 
the show.

15. "Frankie --&-- Johnny," Traditional, arranged by Chris 
Stangl:  C Stangl_while swigging several bottles of quaint 
sodapop, C delivers rhymed and metered variations on the 
classic "Frankie --&-- Johnny" (poetry performance)
I'm an idiot. When I heard this title, I thought of the 1991 Al 
Pacino-Michelle Phieffer movie. Yeah, I'm stupid. In this 
Valentine's season, it was nice having a poem about the evil 
cycle of love. I thought Chris was drinking cough syrup. He 
wasn't though.

And neither am I.

Time: Wed, 14-Feb-2001 20:37:40 GMT     IP: 128.255.109.19

No, I don't feel the need to defend my pieces but I do feel the 
need to address the question of whether or not I am a pig or 
a big ol' perve.  I'm not mad at anybody who has referred to 
me as such.  So if you have, do not apologize.  I can see 
where you would think that.

I think the reason why I use sex in my pieces so much is 
because I think it's funny.  When you strip off all the varnish, 
sex is hilarious.  If you take away all the passion and the 
hormones and the ill consequences often resulting from it, 
all you're left with is a penis going in and out of a vagina.  
Two not-so-pretty organs.  Disgusting bodily fluids.  People 
get pleasure out of it.  It's hilarious.  Unfortunately it's hard to 
convey this humor on stage when so many people, myself 
often included, can't always strip away all these things.  
They shouldn't anyway.  So that's what's up with all the dirty 
jokes.

Whether or not I am a pig.  Twice I have portrayed (poorly) 
characters that could be construed as sexist.  This was not 
my intent.  My strip club heckler character wasn't saying, "go 
home and rape your wife."  He was saying, "If your wife 
masturbated right in front of you and payed you no mind  
and talks dirty during sex then she probably wants you to be 
more assertive, go home and give her what she wants."  
And if you think about it, he's probably right.  And even if he's 
not, he doesn't just have the male libido in mind, he's trying 
to give Larry's wife what she wants, too, so his motives can 
hardly be construed as sexist.  This probably would have 
been better conveyed if I performed it well at all, whi