Warming up before a Diplomat Motel show.

While we were all talking, someone in the group (I think maybe it was Tristan) lifted up their pant leg for some reason. Without discussing it or drawing much attention to it, by the end of warming up we had all pulled one leg up.

There are endless different warming-up exercises. Some are vocal. Some are very physical. Some are just excuses to stand around and take turns making each other laugh.

Sometimes an exercise will become popular and suddenly every team is doing it. For a few weeks everyone seemed to be warming up with a game called Fred Schneider. You all stand in a circle and sing, "Hey, Fred Schneider, what are you doing?" Then each person takes a turn responding in their best Fred Schneider from 'Love Shack' voice, yelling something comically mundane like, "DELETING SHOWS FROM MY TIVO.... I'M NEVER GONNA WATCH."

Fun warm-ups spread pretty fast. One week someone says, "Let's try this new one I heard about, Fred Schneider." The next week you notice all the teams in the alley behind iO are doing it. (I guess they spread far and wide. A few weeks back when I read that list of jokes on an LA message board about the SUV crashing into iO West, one of them was, "Hey Fred Schneider, what are you doing?") Then, just as quickly, everyone stops, because, you know, everyone's doing it.

I think the best warm-ups, though, are the ones that just sort of happen and have no rules. Like the pants leg thing.

In that spirit, I've invented a new warm-up game. Actually it's more of a game to lay on top of other games.

Months ago, before a show, one of the members of Diplomat Motel said, "Before we warm up, I have to leave right after the show... I've got a date.... And if it goes as well as the last date... I think I'm going to do a little making out tonight!" We all responded with catcalls and general way-to-gos! Then during our warm-up, everything ended up being about that cast members up-coming make-out session. As if their good news was the suggestion for our warm-up.

So here's my new exercise. It's called Good News. Before you warm up, someone announce some good news. "Hey, good news everybody..." It can be real. It can be made up. Incorporate the news into whatever regular warm-up you do, celebrating that good news. There are no rules beyond that. Make it up together as you go.

Let me know how it works out.

[Warning: I'm not responsible for this leading to you having a shitty show. But I will take some credit for good shows. ]