I left work a little early today and headed over to Second City to catch a little of their annual 24 hour improv show. It's a charity event where a core set of improvisers put on a show for 24 straight hours, with a rotating cast of sit-ins, and the occasional visiting musical act. I got there as the show was entering its final hours.

The first person I saw as I entered the theater was my friend Shelly, who'd I'd performed with in the improv group Otis. It was the first time I'd seen her since she'd moved back from Las Vegas, where she'd been for a year doing the Second City Las Vegas revue.

Me: Have you been up the whole 24 hours?
Shelly: Yep. The whole time.
Me: How do you feel?
Shelly: Good. A little loopy, which is maybe dangerous because everything seems funny to me right now.
Me: How long have you been back?
Shelly: I just got back. Great timing, huh? I drive across country from Las Vegas through terrible weather, and then I turn right around and do a 24 hour improv show.

A half hour later I took this picture from the audience. Shelly is the one on-stage nodding off.

Later, the improvisers took a break while the Blisters played. The Blisters is a Chicago band made up of four grade school age kids. For part of the set, Jeff Tweedy, the father of the drummer, sat about four seats away from me, nodding along to the music.

The Blisters play the 24 hour improv show every year, and I'd actually seen them once before, a couple years ago. Jeff Tweedy played with them that time, but he's apparently been kicked out of the band since then.

They did a good job, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. There was only one minor moment of awkwardness when a guitar had to be switched out, and the whole room sat there in silence waiting for the next song.

Then one of the improvisers in the audience (Grosz, I think) yelled out, "Banter! You gotta do some banter."

The lead singer, smiled, stepped back up to the microphone and said, "Oh. Uh... so... I was at the library the other day..."