Oh, did I forget to mention that I love performing? That's odd. We're already about a third of the way through this year. I should have mentioned that by now. Well, I do. I love improvising.

Writing is lonely and its rewards are felt distantly if at all, but making an audience laugh is immediately rewarding. Performing with other improvisers (when its going well) is like having a great funny conversation with your friends, only there's more running around, and there's an audience saying, "Hey, what an interesting conversation you're having. Mind if we watch and occasionally applaud?"

Sure, sometimes there's annoying bullshit or drama involved with getting to the stage, or getting to stay on stage, but while there, things are pretty great.

If I feel sick, performing makes me feel better. And if a week goes by and I don't perform, I start to feel out of sorts.

I haven't mentioned this at all yet? Weird. Maybe I take it for granted.

[By the way, this picture, from a Diplomat Motel show back in January, was taken by Angela Manginelli. She's very kindly allowed me to reprint it here. You can check out some of her other pictures here. Not many improv pictures up there now. But hopefully she'll eventually add more.]