The Diplomat Motel did a special show at iO where we performed The Living Room. It's a simple improv form, you get a suggestion from the audience, then sit around talking for a couple minutes as yourselves, then do some scenes inspired by that conversation, going back and forth alternating between conversation and scenes. Like hanging out in a living room with people who start acting out scenes every couple minutes.

Our audience suggestion was "melon baller" and it somehow led to Eckart telling his "ball torsion" story.

Eckart: I was on a date a few years back and we... well... started fooling around. And one of my testicles started hurting. I got home and it kept hurting more and more.

Basically, he'd twisted a nut. A torsion. He explained that if the testicle doesn't get untwisted in a timely fashion it can die. He didn't say whether he knew this before going to the hospital or not, but it added a nice layer of drama to the story.

Eckart: I'm in a lot of pain and I'm doing the admittance interview. The guy behind the computer says, "So, you were with your girlfriend and..." I said, "Well... girlfriend? We haven't been dating that long. I don't know if I'd call her my GIRLFRIEND."

This led to a long string of tiny debates over the semantics of what to put in the official paperwork. All while Eckart was in extreme pain.

Eckart: The guy says, "So you were having sex.." I say, "No,it didn't get that far" The guy scratches his head. "This is a tough one. It would be easy if I could just put down intercourse." I say, "We were really just, you know, making out." Finally we agreed on 'horseplay.'

After a painful night in the ER, his testicle pretty much untwisted itself. He didn't share this next part during the show, but I've heard the story before and its one of my favorite parts... the girl somehow found out he was at the hospital and came to make sure he was okay.

She's his girlfriend now.