Over the weekend I sat in on another show at the ATC (not to be confused with the Second City ETC). Nora Dunn was there again. In fact, she enjoyed the show so much last time that she wanted to play along. She opened the show by telling a very funny story about being part of a disastrous comedy benefit for mothers whose children had been tortured (for the Lifetime channel) and we improvised scenes inspired by her story.

The night got me thinking about all the famous and semi-famous people I've met or (more often) been in close proximity to over the years.

When I was in grad school, Comedy Corner opened for Kevin Nealon (I guess I'm slowly collecting encounters with that era's SNL cast). We performed a sketch I wrote where I pretended to be a magician getting volunteers from the audience that were all clearly just members of our comedy group. Each person would accuse the person before them of being a plant. And each time I would tell them to check their pocket and they'd pull out the three of hearts. "Oh my God! It's magic!" And then the next person would leap up from the audience yelling, "They're a plant!" And on and on until someone from the audience shot me but the bullet is stopped by... the three of hearts! And we all bow theatrically. The end.

After the show Kevin Nealon said to me, "I liked that magic sketch. But you should end it like this. You get shot and they find out something's blocked the bullet and it's a card and you ask, 'Was it the three of hearts' and they say, 'No. It's the nine of spades. You're not a very good magician, are you?'"

And he was right. That's a much better ending (any sketch that ends with an over-the-top theatrical bow is really just an admission that no one could come up with a proper punchline).

Through Comedy Corner I also got to meet and talk briefly to David Cross and Demitri Martin.

Over the years I've started talking less and less to the famous people I see. I rarely know what to say, so I've started saying nothing at all. Mike Meyers. George Wendt. The Upright Citizens Brigade. Neil Flynn. Horatio Sanz. Tim Meadows. It's always neat to see them, but I leave it at that.

This time, though, I did make a point to actually talk to Nora Dunn, even if just for a second. I was by the door as she was leaving and I said, "Sorry to interrupt but I just wanted to say it was a real pleasure to play with you." She thanked me and said, "You were funny."

I couldn't bring myself to ask if I could take her picture, so you'll just have to settle for one of the theater's sign.

I suppose you never forget where you were when you first heard an SUV drove straight into the front of the iO West Theater in L.A. I was... uh... on Facebook.

So, yeah, apparently an SUV swerved off the road in L.A. and crashed right through the front door of iO West, demolishing the front entrance and taking out a good portion of the bar. Luckily the theater was nearly empty at the time and no one was hurt.

And since no one was hurt, tragedy doesn't need time to equal comedy. The comments section of all on-line notices about the incident pretty much turned into showcases for bits. The stuff you'd expect: "yes and" jokes, swipes at the Real World cast, "someone didn't make a Harold team." Stuff like that.

Mostly, I enjoyed seeing that the ongoing annoyances in the iO West community are pretty much the same as the ones at iO Chicago. "Who cares? When’s the fucking A/C gonna get fixed?" and "Well, I’ve never heard of Car Smashing Through Wall either, but, they’re from Chicago and Charna loves them, so, they get a slot…"

I'm not exactly sure why, but I think my favorite joke I read was, "That’ll teach you not to crowd the waitress stand!"

[Readers of my last blog, A Year of Working, may remember that when I visited Comedy Worx in Raleigh (iO South) last year for an Otis reunion show, a truck ran through the front of that theater too. Improv theaters beware.]

Young is Road Show Car Cursed. After the corporate gig back in March his car wouldn't start and the two of us spent hours in a parking garage downtown waiting for a tow. Last night, after the Beverly Arts Center show it happened again.

It's nice to make a little extra money doing these kinds of shows, but Young keeps ending up losing money on tows and repairs.

Road Show Car Cursed.

Megan: Make sure not to drive on Wednesday.

Whirled News (with Brady along to stage manage) did a special gig at the Beverly Arts Center on Chicago's South Side. As we pulled up we saw our show being advertised on a big electronic display. After our ad scrolled past, an ad for Cherry Poppin Daddies replaced it.

Here's Glynn in the green room, listening to his iPod, trying to figure out what to use for our entrance music.

The wall behind him is covered with graffiti from groups that have played the Center in the past. I'm guessing big established acts don't go in for that sort of thing (or get tired of it fairly quickly). 10,000 Maniacs was the only particularly famous signature I saw.

There were a number of old Second City Touring Company signatures, though (and Mission Improvable, another workhorse of the improv touring circuit). "Hey, Haskins has been here. And Jordan. And Shad." There was one block of Second City signatures that could have been decades old. Jim Zulevic. Tim Kazurinsky.

Brady: [looking at the wall] You know, I would have thought Dave Pasquesi would be above signing a wall, but... I guess not.

None of us got around to signing it ourselves.

There's an improv exercise where two people will take turns endowing each other with physical traits. For instance, one of them might say, "This man is wearing a very nice tuxedo and tennis shoes." And then that other person plays that character in a scene.

I've always liked the idea that two or three well chosen details can be evocative enough to create a character.

E-mails have started bouncing around the Jellyvision office (with lots of old pictures) suggesting we do another Mustache Day sometime in September.

So, someone got a projection clock as a gift and didn't really want it so it ended up in the office. Now we've got a giant looming ghost clock floating on the wall.

It kind of stresses me out. Giant second hand swooping endlessly around. Tick tock. Tick tock.

The second Time Ghost video is up now. You can watch it on Funny or Die or YouTube.

I'm not in this one, but I did direct it (Logan shot and edited it).

Early on I was trying to explain how I wanted a certain moment to be and said, "It's awkward, like... like someone farted in an elevator, and you're not sure if you should acknowledge it or not."

This led to jokes that from now on I would only direct via fart analogies. And then, because it amused me, I did direct that way for the rest of the day. "Look, it's like someone has been farting and farting and you finally snap at them and yell at them not to fart anymore, but then they do."

It was surprisingly effective. Those fart jokes coaxed some pretty good performances out of Young and Alex.

This may be the greatest thing predictive text has ever done.

Trupe took a few hours off from fatherhood today and we went to see the horror movie 'The Strangers.' We only had a small window of time, so we ended up having to see it at the Logan Square Theater. A tiny rundown old moviehouse. And not the glory-days of moviehouse old, just old and kind of crappy.

There were four handwritten warnings on the movie poster out front explaining that the the film is not for children.

Still, about 50% of the sparse audience was made up of a woman and her four children, ranging from an infant to a sullen early teenager. A little boy of about nine bounced around and stared up at the screen where a young couple was being terrorized by a trio of masked killers.

Across the aisle from the family was a man who was either drunk or on something and I'm pretty sure started vomiting near the end of the movie. But vomiting in a very assured way (as if vomiting were a familiar companion), leaning over to the side, puking in front of the empty seat next to him, peering back up at the screen for a moment to see if Liv Tyler was going to be alright, then back down to vomit, then back up to the screen again. Like that.

Trupe: That was a good place to see a horror movie because the theater itself is fucking scary.