Glynn (right) continues to do the thankless job of recording all of our Whirled News shows and posting them online as a weekly podcast. We're not sure if anyone out there is bothering to listen to them, but it's nice to have them there.

(I've actually stopped listening to them myself because I've decided I hate the sound of my own voice.)

We've recently started recording a brief commentary at the end, where we take a few minutes to talk about what we thought of the first act. Again, it may not be that interesting to anyone, but it's fun to do. We talked at length about a scene from tonight's show that I think is a good example of everyone finding their own game to play in a scene in a way that is complimentary and not a big mess.

[Warning: I am now going to over-explain an improv scene, something that can really only result in being boring.]

It started with an initiation from Steve that he was a lawyer defending Shane and I in a court case and that we were going to be judged by "a jury of impressionist painters." "It's going to be Van Gogh, Gauguin, Picasso, and... another guy."

This led Shane to immediately jump on a game for himself which was... knowing more about art than Steve. "I don't mean to tell you how to do your job as a lawyer, but strictly speaking I've always thought of Picasso as more of a modernist. I was expecting more of a Manet or perhaps a Seurat, as long as you consider pointillism as within the realm of impressionism."

Now, I know a passable amount about art history, but I'm not going to be able to keep up with Shane in this game, so I pick my own game which is... play dumb. More specifically, play a dumb guy trying to hide the fact that he's dumb. So, Shane rattles off a string of art facts and I simply respond with an emphatic, "Ah-greed!" Figuratively winking at the audience a little.

At this point Padraic (left) enters announcing that Frank Caliendo and Dana Carvey have been added to the jury. So now he has his own game, which is periodically entering with different plays on the word "impressionist." "Good news! We just got three new people on the jury that put their hands in plaster!"

I proclaim, "I would like to go on record as being confident that there will be no more kinds of impressionists," and Padraic immediately enters saying, "Guys, you'll be amazed! We just got people added to the jury who are easily astounded by what they see and hear."

Big applause.

Steve: [during the post-show commentary] That is actually one of the never ending joys of playing with this cast. I'm going to put out a half- or even quarter-baked premise, dip my foot into referencing impressionism, and watch someone else knock that out of the park. I felt such a childish thrill when Arnie was like, "And I bet there won't be another one," and my internal monologue was like, "I bet there won't be either... but what if there was?!"
Eddie: Arnie, did you think he had another one?
Me: Uh... it was kind of a win-win for me.
Padraic: Yeah, for you.
Me: Either I'm setting Padraic up really well, like I'm supposed to as an improviser, or I'm being a dick, but winning.