Del Close Marathon 2010

Meeting my always-lofty expectations, the Del Close Marathon was once again a thrilling success. As soon as I got off my plane to Newark I headed for the theater -- or I should say, theatre -- armed with my smartphone and a backpack full of socks and undershirts for the weekend.
[caption id="attachment_149" align="aligncenter" width="222" caption="Line for Del Close Marathon"][/caption]


The line for the Friday night shows was outrageously long, but luckily I made some friends with Paddy and Jackie, some fun people in UCB classes in New York. They kept me company for a couple hours until Madeline and then Josh caught up with us to watch the fantastic Friday night line-up.

When we got in, we were excited to see one of my favorite Harold teams of all time The Reckoning. Unfortunately, only one guy showed up and tried to recreate their mesmerizing group mind… problem is, you need a group for that. The Law Firm had a great set and then we saw some solid sketch show excerpts from This Show Will Get You High, a prank show pilot for MTV starring Matt Besser, John Gemberling, and other UCB improvisers.

After the Theatre Cleaning, Doug Benson recorded his podcast “Doug Loves Movies” with some comedian friends during the 12:30 slot and it was possibly the funniest event of the entire marathon. Shitty Jobs had one of the best improv sets of the night after they got their inspiration from a guy who had previously taught kids how to play Pokémon cards. Some other shows were a little less than they have been in years past, but still a very good night.

The next night highlights include the Improves Shakespeare Company performing the opening and closing night of “Horseflies in the River” and Death By Roo Roo and their monoscene about a scary theme park that wanted to use dead people.

[caption id="attachment_146" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="We Live Together at Del Close Marathon (minus Ben)"][/caption]

The half hour slot by We Live Together -- David Greenslade, Josh Sharp, Mary Sasson, John Reitz, Ben Greene, and myself -– was the first time ever that we weren’t TERRIBLE!! It was actually a decent show rooted in our suggestion of “dragon.” I think the key was the fact that we didn’t practice beforehand and we also had the goofiest warm-up of all time.

For the first time ever we went to the after-party, which was actually a blast. It’s a nice way to wrap the whole weekend up. And it’s the only time I’ve ever seen “dance captains” leading an entire dance floor to fun… until the crowd gets bored with them and boo’s the captain off. It’s a great system.

Weekend = success.