Blog Schmog - Corey and Mo's House of Randomness

Here we go again...

2010-10-16T20:39:00.004-05:00

So like we mentioned in the last post, Monique and I are heading back out to sea. As I type this, we leave in the morning to fly to Miami where we'll board the NCL Pearl and sail off to the Caribbean.

We've spent the past few weeks rehearsing with the new cast here in Chicago and it's been super fun times. We've crammed in as many visits, dinners, coffees, drinks, etc. with as many friends as we possibly could. I know we couldn't see everyone for as long as we'd like, but I think we did pretty well. A huge thank you goes out to all the friends who made special effort to spend time with us, and there were lots of you. We're really grateful for all the terrific friends that we'll miss while we're gone. We saw a few shows, performed in a few also, which helped make this break between ships really fly by.

We're really looking forward to this next adventure, and you can follow along if you'd like as we post more stories, pictures, videos and more over at The Union's website.

- Corey

We're back....for now

2010-09-25T15:55:00.002-05:00

Well that four and a half months just flew by, didn't it?

We're back from our first ever Second City boat adventure, back on land, back in Chicago...but just for a few weeks. Our time on the NCL Star ended on Sept. 18 and we'll be boarding the NCL Pearl on Oct. 17. It's not a ton of time in between runs, but we're looking forward to this next contract for several reasons:

Finally a summer! - The Star went to Alaska from May to September. We missed out on Chicago's best season. We'll be on the Pearl sailing the Caribbean from October to February.
Friends in the cast - Our friends Kevin and Carissa will be in the cast with us! We'll miss our Star cast mates, but it's nice knowing we have good friends there going in.
Visitors - The Caribbean during the winter is obviously an attractive enticement. We already know we'll have visitors coming on the ship with us. Friends Jay and Kim, Mo's sister Briette and boyfriend Joe have all already booked, and several other friends are seriously looking into it.

The only real downside to this next contract is missing out on all the holidays. We'll be on the ship for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Chanukah, Christmas, New Year's Eve, The Super Bowl and Valentine's Day.

But this is all in the future. Let me catch you up on the interim. As I mentioned, the Star contract ended on September 18. We were up early, like 6am, docked in Seattle, went through the various paperwork and processes to debark a ship. Made our way to the airport and flew to....Omaha. Why? Well, that wasn't the plan. We were flying to Kansas City to surprise friends and family and drop in on the KC Improv Festival. Well, a crazy thunderstorm in KC caused our plane to re-route to Omaha and me to nearly have a meltdown. Thankfully, the storm passed, we simply had a quick refueling session and were back on our way to KC with minimal delay.

So obviously we landed in KC later than we had hoped, but still had time to make it to the festival before my group, Der Monkenpickle, was scheduled to perform, thankfully we were going up last. We rushed to Crown Center, dropped our stuff off in the hotel room, quickly cleaned up and raced over to the theater. The show started at 8pm, and we walked in around 8:40. The second of four groups was on stage, and I was able to sneak backstage and surprise Ed, Jason and Jeremy who were under the impression I was missing this year's festival. It was so much fun to see their shocked faces, and we rode the momentum of the energy to a super fun and playful show. I love improvising with those guys, even if it's just once a year. We've known each other so long that it's just easy, you know? Plus, they're three of the most talented performers I've ever met.

The after-party was super fun, but kind of a blur. I was rolling entirely on adrenaline and caffeine. I was still getting my land legs, and would feel myself slowing listing to the left as I was standing around talking to people, it was very strange. It was really great to see so many old KC improv friends, though, plus some Chicago pals were there performing at the festival, not to mention getting to meet Jason's new girlfriend. Overall, just a wonderful night. Huge thanks go to Jen Roser (and her husband - patiently waiting for us at the airport) for organizing and keeping secret our surprise visit.

We spent the next four days hanging with friends and family, eating at all the old favorites (Minsky's, Yello Sub, Jack's Stack BBQ, etc.) and enjoying the first week off of a ship, getting to be outside at night, driving a car and showering in a space bigger than a broom closet. Now we're back in Chicago, spending this next three weeks seeing friends and enjoying home-cooked meals, swapping out wardrobe from the storage unit, starting rehearsals for the new ship show and gearing up to head out again for another four months. We got to perform with our friend Susan in her show "Messing With A Friend" at The Annoyance Theater, which is always a blast, and we'll be doing a night of shows up at Laugh Out Loud Theater. Of course we're open to sitting in with other shows as well, if anyone were to ask (hint, hint!).

OK, you're now caught up. So, who in Chicago wants to hang out?

- Corey

We're On A Boat, Ya'll

2010-05-22T14:49:00.002-05:00

The adventure has begun. We are one week into this four month tour, and as a reminder, we'll be blogging on The Union's website. You can access it by clicking HERE.

- Corey and Monique

Less than a week to go!

2010-05-12T00:36:00.001-05:00

We started rehearsal this week and so far it's been great! We're having a blast and enjoying just being actors, not actors who also work on the side doing a million other things. Our director is great and the cast is super talented and a lot of fun. Most of us our new to Second City and the ship, so we're all go-ho for anything!

Can't wait for the adventure to continue!

Where did the time go?

2010-05-08T12:44:00.006-05:00

Holy crap, it's been a month since we updated this thing! Sorry about that. To be fair, it's been a pretty ridiculous month. As I write this, laundry is in the wash from our trip to Mexico for Josh and Kim's wedding, and once it's out we start packing again for this upcoming Alaskan adventure.

There have been several trips to the storage unit, but most of our stuff is safely stored away. We'll put the last of it in there in a few days, but this week is it. Today and tomorrow are it for the relax and recuperate days, because Monday begins rehearsal week at Second City, concluding on Friday. Then Saturday morning, early morning, we board a flight to Seattle, step on to our new floating home and sail away for four months.

This past week was spent at the amazing El Dorado Royale resort in Mexico. It's located just outside Cancun, and I can't even tell you how incredible it was there. It's an all-inclusive resort, so that means every meal, every drink, every snack, room service, mini bar, bottled water, etc was already paid for. We took a day trip with the group to Chichen Itza and saw some Mayan ruins and had our minds blown. The Mayans were so much smarter than us, it's almost incomprehensible. Also part of that trip included a dip in a cenote, this natural sinkhole with fresh water where people go and swim. It was beautiful and refreshing, and looked like this.

The rest of the trip was relaxing and wonderful. Best of all was the wedding, right on the beach, just before sundown, with a light breeze blowing...it couldn't have been nicer. We took a ton of pictures which we'll post just as soon as possible, but there are more pressing things to attend to first. In fact, the washing machine just buzzed. Time to switch the laundry.

- Corey

New writing gig

2010-04-04T20:23:00.003-05:00

Those of you that follow me on Twitter and Facebook know that I'm one of the new contributors for the Schadenfreude website. The critically acclaimed troupe is one of Chicago's longest running sketch groups and very well respected, so I'm super excited that I get to be associated with them. I'll continue to post links to my work on FB and Twitter, but you can also check out all of my pieces by going to my author's page. Make sure to look around the rest of the site too while you're at it.

So far a lot of my stuff has involved Photoshop, which I'm still learning how to use. Hopefully I'll get faster on it and can post stuff more often. I'm gonna have a lot of down time on that ship!

- Monique

A little cheesy, but fun list

2010-03-24T12:46:00.004-05:00

Items on Lionel Richie's Shopping List

A Ballerina Grill

One tube of ‘Stuck on Glue’

One pair of Endless Gloves

An all night Bong

A bottle of Say you, Sesame oil

Some Penny Loafers

Monique Madrid Talent Knowledge

2010-03-19T23:19:00.005-05:00

Another rejected List

2010-03-10T11:35:00.003-06:00

Another rejected McSweeney's submission. I think they recently had something like this...

Hairstyling Terms That Make You Think of Sex

Shag
Finger Wave
Part
Bun
Blowout

- Mo

The Union gets a new website

2010-02-19T11:52:00.003-06:00

Hey everybody -

Just a quick update. The Union has a new website. Please update your bookmarks and web browsers. Point your stuff over here:

The Union

Go there to find out all things regarding The Union. There's links to photos, videos, a blog, other info, etc.

While we're talking about The Union, you might note that our date with Messing With A Friend has been updated to March 25th at 10:30pm at The Annoyance Theater. We'll also be performing in April as the opener for the improv supergroup The Reckoning at iO. See the Upcoming Shows area in the right column for details!

- Corey and Mo

They can't all make it into McSweeney's

2010-02-04T10:59:00.002-06:00

Earlier this year I achieved one of my goals of being published on McSweeney's Lists with "Other Halls and Oates" I'm continuing to write in hopes of getting more on 'Lists.'

Well, not everything is going to make it, so I thought I'd share my most recent submission which was ironically rejected. Oh well, these are still fun to write!
- Monique

Sitcom Titles Rejected Because They Were A Little Too Real

No FRIENDS

How I met your mother and then lost her to breast cancer

The Big Bong Theory

The Braiding Bunch

Bad Karma & Greg

I Love Loose Tea

Charles Manson in Charge

Charles Barkley in Charge

Boy meets World, World unimpressed

Different Strokes that grandma had

Buried with Children

The Fraud Couple

The Flawed Couple

Who’s Line is it at the DMV?

Not ready for a Family Guy

Sabrina, the Teenage Bitch

Busy January!

2010-01-25T10:40:00.004-06:00

Pete was asking for a SketchFest update, plus it's been a while since the last post, so here you go.

SketchFest update: We had a blast at SketchFest! Our show went real well, and was very well received by the audience. I was pleasantly surprised by the numbers the house, too, what with it being a Sunday afternoon on the final day of the festival. Thank you very much to everyone who came out to see us. Additionally, being a part of this festival was a major goal for us, and its nice to be able to check that off our imaginary list. The best part of being accepted into this Fest is the opportunity to see the other shows (for free!). We were lucky enough to catch some great shows by groups like The Tim and Micah Project, Last Call Cleveland, Team Submarine, Best Church of God, Off Off Broadzway...just to name a few. Very fun, and very inspiring stuff.

In addition to that, Mo and I have been having a real busy January. Since we got back from our Vegas trip, there have been lots of shows, a trip back to KC for cousin Margo's Bat Mitzvah, a few commercial auditions, and coming up a couple of real fun performances from The Union at the end of the month. One will be as guests on our friends Jamie and Becky's show "Montgomery and Cooke", the other will be doing some improv with our friend and improv legend Susan on her show "Messing With A Friend"*.

- Corey

* Date of "Messing With A Friend" show subject to change. Susan broke her ankle. This show is subject to being postponed. We'll let you know. Stupid ice.

The Union Goes To Vegas

2010-01-11T00:35:00.003-06:00

Come see The Union at Chicago SketchFest on Sunday, January 17th at 2:30pm. The show is at the Theater Building,1225 W. Belmont. Call 773.327.5252 for tickets. For more info, click here.

The Union - Top Pick!

2009-12-29T23:17:00.005-06:00

The Union is a top pick for Chicago Sketchfest! Check it out - Cheeky

If you missed us on this last run, come check us out in our 'Best of' showcase. Sunday, January 17th at 2:30pm in the north theater at the Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont.

Pass the word along!

Comedy updates

2009-12-08T20:38:00.008-06:00

We continue to stay busy. Besides our regular Laugh Out Loud improv shows, we're also traveling to do holiday shows and enjoying attending some as well. We're also both starting to go on more commercial auditions. Corey's actually booked a couple! If you live anywhere that has a Firestone store, you might see him pop up in a commercial as "Donut guy." If you live in Chicago, you'll be lucky enough to see him this Spring in a commercial for a local costume store as the store manager. I'm getting closer and closer to booking, but haven't quite yet. It just takes perseverance. In fact the statistics show that you only book one in every 27 auditions, so I figure it's just a matter of time.

We're also very excited that The Union was accepted into the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival! We're looking forward to being a part of the biggest sketch festival in the country and spend two weeks saturated by sketch comedy from Chicago and around the country. Our showcase will be on Jan 17th at 2:30pm. So for those of you who said you couldn't see our last run because it was too late, now you have no excuse because we're performing in a matinee. We'll let everyone know more details as it gets closer.

I started writing headline jokes for the "This Just In" iLarious iPhone app. Of course Corey had to copy me (kidding) and recently started writing for them, too. If you have an iPhone, download the app so you can get current event jokes written by us, a couple of stand-up comedian friends of ours (Dan Telfer & Bryan Bowden), and even famous writers from shows like Craig Ferguson, "The Daily Show" and "The Onion." Plus, the more people that purchase the app, the more money we make.

Otherwise my trapeze lessons are continuing and I'm going to start learning how to play guitar as well as work on doing stand up myself and continueing writing scripts. It's all a part of my "turning 30 next year, bucket list." Hey, whatever it takes to get me moving!

- Mo

Fall Fun!

2009-11-02T23:55:00.015-06:00

We've really lucked out with good weather so far this fall. And since we know it'll get crappy soon enough, we're making sure to take advantage of it. Somehow we keep ending up in Wisconsin. A couple of weeks ago we spent the day in Kenosha at "Elegant Farms," picking apples.

We went on a hay ride, shopped in the Ye Old Shoppe and climbed trees! Not only do you get to eat as many apples as you want, you get a sugar cookie before you go home. Corey and I brought home a peck of apples, with 4 different types. We baked two pies and have since kept the doctor away by eating an apple everyday. We still have a bunch left!

Then this weekend, we got up at 6:30am to drive an hour and a half with friends to Mukwonago, Wisconsin just to get breakfast at Franks Diner (as seen on Diners Drive-ins and Dives) where we stuffed ourselves with the Garbage plate and French toast made with homemade bread. The restaurant is a tiny, packed train car turned diner. If you don't have a seat, you literally standing in the aisle and get yelled out by the waitstaff. Luckily getting there early helped us beat the rush and we got a seat right away.

But that's not the end of our Wisconsin travels. We're heading back up there in a couple weeks to celebrate a friends birthday by spending the weekend in a cabin, hanging out and enjoying the fire pit. Sometimes it's nice to do fun, non performance stuff.

The Pinata

2009-10-06T22:13:00.009-05:00

Last summer we wrote a short film. It started out as a sketch for a show we were helping to write, and when it didn't quite fit into that show, we decided to extend it and film our first short movie. Thankfully we had wonderful friends willing to help us make it. Though it took a while to finally finish, we're proud to present "The Pinata." Please check it out and if you like it, pass it along!

Also, don't forget: our last show of the run "A Very Civil War" is this Thursday 10/8 at 10:30pm at Second City's Donny's Skybox.

See you there!
Monique and Corey (The Union)

Marriage Counseling part 3

2009-10-01T16:11:00.005-05:00

Hey kids, the third and final installment of our Marriage Counseling videos is up (be sure to watch it all the way through). We have just two more performances of The Union - A Very Civil War at Donny's Skybox, tonight is one of them. The show is at 10:30pm and we'd love to see you there!

Corey and Mo

So what are we doing besides 'The Union'?

2009-09-25T13:54:00.004-05:00

Of course our show "The Union: A Very Civil War" has been the main thing we've been talking about lately (if you haven't seen it yet, please check it out. Only two more chances!), but per usual we are busy with lots of other stuff.

Corey is directing a Triple Feature show. These are twenty minute shows that go up as part of a series at The Annoyance Theater. This one is called "Cougars." It's a fun, campy musical written by our friend Gillian. She's even written a part for me, the spicy Latina. I know... quite the stretch. You can see it on Wednesdays at 8pm Oct 28th and Nov 4th.

We're of course doing our regular Laugh Out Loud shows in Schaumburg. Corey has been traveling a lot with them. My crazy busy wedding schedule makes it tough for me to do the away shows, but there are other fun new shows going up. The theater is adding Thursday night shows including a musical improv show (which I'm directing).

Corey and I are both focusing more on trying to book commercial work. I have two new agents! Corey is meeting with a new one next week and we're both being sent out on more auditions.

I'm also the new writer for Best Church of God, a hit satire show. I'm extremely proud to be part of this group. I first saw the show last year and the critics are right, it's HILARIOUS. It's a little creepy how accurate it portrays this parody of a church. I knew I had to be a part of it. Initially I'm going to be focusing on writing web content, but may expand out more from there. Here are a few of the articles I've written that have already gone up.

Global Warming is Cool

Top Ten Reasons to Home school your Kids

Monica shares how Christ made her skinny!
Make sure to sign up for the 'Weekly Word' and follow us on Twitter. And of course, come see a show!

- Monique

Marriage Counseling pt2

2009-09-16T14:03:00.003-05:00

Check out The Union's new video. Then come see the show tomorrow, Thursday 10:30pm at Donny's Skybox.

The Union - A Very Civil War

2009-09-04T14:57:00.007-05:00

Our sketch group, The Union, has a show opening at Donny's Skybox at Second City. It's on Thursday nights at 10:30pm, starting this coming Thursday, September 10th and running for 5 weeks, through October 8th. This show is directed by our friend (and Jeff nominated!) Amanda Blake Davis, who you may recognize from the Second City e.t.c. stage. We think this show's pretty funny and we'd love it if you can make it.

We've also made some short videos to help promote the show, and the first one is posted below. Tell your friends and pass it around. Let's make this thing viral!

- Corey and Mo

The Union is working hard!

2009-08-28T11:24:00.002-05:00

Less than two weeeks until opening night of "The Union: A Very Civil War" at Second City's Donny's Skybox! We haven't posted as much lately because we've been busy working hard on sketches, videos and posters!

Plus, The Union was interviewed by Cheeky Chicago and you can read all about it here!

Keep checking back here, as we will be posting new stuff soon!

- The Union

Dual Duel Semifinals

2009-08-20T00:45:00.002-05:00

The Dual Duel is a 2-person, long-form improv competition going on over at the ComedySportz theater. Each show has 5 duos performing for exactly 10 minutes, not a second more, and the audience votes the winners on to the next round. Mo and I entered as The Union and we won our first round matchup a few weeks ago. So The Union will be improvising at the Dual Duel semi-finals this Sunday, August 23rd at 9pm. The competition is stiff, so we'd love your support. Tickets are just $5. Hope you can make it!

- Corey

It's a circus around here

2009-08-14T11:32:00.006-05:00

The last few weeks have been a lot of fun. We are continuing to write for our upcoming show, have decided on a title and have a few fun poster ideas ready to go. We're currently looking for places to preview our show before our run, so if you have a group looking for an opener, let us know. Though the show has been a huge part of our focus, it's not the only thing.

As many have heard me talk about on Facebook, I started trapeze classes, the aerial dance kind, not flying trapeze. I envisioned myself perched on the bar and gliding through the air with elegance. It could not have been more the opposite. That shit is hard! Though I'm proud to say I'm able to hoist myself up, it was definitely not in an elegant way. They teach you poses which eventually leads to other moves and more difficult poses and even the most simple were challenging. I have stigmata holes in my hands and bruises all over the back of my legs. The first 2 1/2 days I was really sore. Corey had to get the coffee cup for me or open a jar of sauce, anything to give my body a break. Still, I'm really looking forward to Monday when I have my second class. It's a great workout and a ton of fun.

Corey's staying busy with teaching and coaching an improv group, plus he'll be directing a Triple Feature show at The Annoyance that a friend wrote for her, me and a couple others. We're also going to take an on-camera commercial class to get better at auditioning. We wouldn't necessarily take it together except we're able to save money on the private sessions if we both go, so why not! Hopefully we can start booking these gigs we're auditioning for.

Otherwise it's about to be fall which means travelling for shows!

-Mo

Making the best of summer

2009-07-30T22:55:00.012-05:00

Summer is kicking along and though the weather doesn't feel like it here in Chicago, we're making the best of it.

First an update on our shows...

Only two more chances to see Corey in Trignity at Donny's Skybox. Great cast and a ton of fun!

If you're in Milwaukee and looking for something fun to do next weekend, come to the Milwaukee Comedy Festival. The Union will be performing all new material on Friday Aug 7th at the 10pm showcase. We can't wait to see the friendly and hilarious folks up there.

Guess what, The Union won our first round of the two person improv show Dual Duel! And we did it without packing the house with just our friends. Seriously, it was just our improv skills. Shocked? Yeah, us too. Please come support us in the semi finals on Aug 23rd. The competition gets tougher each round, so we'll take all the help we can get!

Other than performing this summer, we've been having fun with friends and vacations.

We just got back from Southwest Michigan where we spent 3 days touring wineries and relaxing at a beach house. Great food, wine and some much needed rest. They recommend trying 4-5 wineries a day. I don't know how people do it, not because you would end up drunk, but because all the flavors of wine gets overwhelming after a while. We could only do 2-3 a day, tasting 5-6 different kinds at each and of course sharing each others. The wines were mostly really good (we ended up bringing home 6 bottles!). Apparently people in that part of the country like their wine sweet, so we definitely tried ones that were too sugary, but we also found some great dryer ones that we both enjoyed. Plus one of the wineries also had a brewery and distillery.
The little town we stayed in, Union Pier, had great restaurants with some surprisingly unusual foods and really fresh fish. One of our favorite things was picking fresh blueberries. We bought 12 pounds (for only $15). Yes, we saw what life will be like in 40 years.

Next time we hope to rent a house with a group of friends!

Gordan Beach Inn
Sunset at our private beach
Picking blueberries. They literally gave us a bucket and told us to just go out and pick. No lessons, no details, just us in a field alone.
Corey frolicking in his natural habitat!

It may not be Sonoma, but it was still beautiful!

- Mo

Summer Plans

2009-06-30T00:33:00.005-05:00

We had a great time performing at Snubfest this weekend. Though we didn't win the contest, we were given great feedback from the audience and the judges. Three of the four judges have seen us perform in the past and all said that we have gotten better and loved our set!

It's finally summer (though it took a while for the weather to catch up) and we've got a lot planned, as usual. I'm continuing to stay busy with weddings, writing and auditions. Corey has been going on a lot of commercial auditions, which is just a matter of being persistent until something hits. Besides The Union projects, he's also been writing and rehearsing for another show. A friend is in the director's program at Second City. As their final project, they have to put up their own sketch show at the Second City's blackbox theater called Donny's Skybox. Corey is going to be a part of a three person original sketch revue that goes up in mid July! We'll post most details soon.

Once that gets up and running, Corey and I will go back to the drawing board. We were accepted into the Milwaukee Comedy Festival again this August. Plus, we'll be putting up a new show, because we got a five week run of our own at Donny's Skybox this September/October! On top of all that, we submitted one of our short videos to The Chicago Short Comedy Video and Film Festival and it will be featured in their festival/contest on July 24th. The competition part is not nearly as important as the excitement of just being accepted among some very talented filmmakers.

If this sounds exhausting, you're right, it is. To help with that, we're planning a mini-vacation to a winery and private beach in Michigan later in July. It'll be a lovely laid back time to rest after what is going to be a very fun and very busy summer.

Stay tuned for more details!

- Mo

The Union shows this week!

2009-06-22T23:51:00.002-05:00

We are stronger than the snub!

The Union will be performing not once, but twice at Chicago's SnubFest this week!

First, check us out on Saturday 6/27 at 10pm for "The Last Snob Standing" contest. Your laughter can help us win the prize of getting into other festivals.

Then we're up again for a longer set on Sunday 6/28 at 8pm for our showcase.

The shows take place at the Chemically Imbalanced Comedy Theater, 1420 W. Irving Park and tickets are only $10 so there's no excuse to miss it!

-Corey and Mo

Status Update

2009-05-28T22:32:00.003-05:00

Well we've gotten into a pretty lax habit of blogging around here. Maybe it's a symptom of the fast-paced Facebook/Twitter life we lead. Is there nothing to blog since we update our status' (stati?) and mini-blog on daily, sometimes hourly, basis? Maybe. But besides those updates, you add in the writing we do for The Union, then also a show that Mo directed and I acted in called "Zahara's Wake" that we helped write, not to mention another sketch show that I'm helping create...point is, there's no shortage of writing going on around here.

So here's our semi-monthly recap: We had a real nice visit from Josh and Kim. You can read more about it at his blog. We put up the aforementioned "Zahara's Wake", a show that Mo conceived as part of a show at The Annoyance Theater called Triple Feature. The idea behind our show is that you're at the funeral of Zahara Jolie-Pitt, 25 years in the future, and the cast played some of the other kids (both natural born and adopted) of Brad and Angelina. It was a real funny show and we had a blast developing and performing it. The Union had another fun show at The Playground Theater, and both Mo and I have been auditioning for shows and commercials and such. Also, I'm working with my friend Josh Chamberlain on a sketch show for his Second City Director's Program. I'm part of a three-person cast that is improvising to develop sketches for a show that will run for a couple months later this summer at Donny's Skybox Theater at Second City. You'll hear all about it as the show gets closer. If not here, when I Twitter it and invite you on Facebook.

- Corey

The Union Show This Weekend!

2009-05-13T22:17:00.004-05:00

Hey kids - look over in the right-hand side of the page. Notice the new "Upcoming Gigs" area. Here you'll see a listing of the various shows and projects that keep us so busy. Check back often as we'll update it regularly (feel free to call us out on that if we don't).

The first item listed there right now is a show this Friday, May 15th at 10pm at The Playground Theater. We're appearing in a show called "Grafitti" which is a sketch comedy showcase. The Union will be debuting some brand new sketches, too, so if you haven't seen us in a while, it's a whole new show. Also performing that night is our good friend Sayjal Joshi, who is working on a one-woman show of her own. Tickets are $10 and best of all, The Playground is BYOB. It should be a real fun night!

- Corey and Mo

Happy Birthday Corey!

2009-04-27T00:22:00.004-05:00

Today is Mr. Corey Rittmaster's birthday!

We all know and love him. And we all know the fantastic stuff about him. So if you haven't already done so on the ol' facebook, make sure to drop him a line.

Love you babe.
Monique

The Union rides again

2009-04-22T15:16:00.007-05:00

OK, yeah, so it's been about a month since we last blogged. Sorry about that. Never intended to let it get away from us that badly. We should be better, with two of us and all, but things have been nice and busy, so that's the best excuse you're going to get.

First off, wanted to let you know that Monique and I will be debuting some new sketches from The Union this Friday night! We've been working real hard on writing some new comedy and even tried a couple sketches out in KC a few weeks ago, but this will be 30 minutes of all new bits since the Annoyance run at the end of '08. Show details are as follows:

"Grafitti" at The Playground
Friday 4/24 at 10:00pm
note: this theater is BYOB!
don't be late, The Union will be up first of the three groups going on.

So what's been happening since the last post? There was the aforementioned KC trip. We performed a show that was a fundraiser for our friend Brian Zehnle's upcoming Guatemalan Habitat for Humanity trip. The show was a split bill with The Union and our friends The Trip Fives, one of KC's best improv groups. We had a blast and there were tons of laughs and Brian raised some cash, so it was a win-win-win.

We stuck around in KC for a few extra days to be able to spend the first night of Passover with the family. We hadn't been to a family seder in a few years, so it was nice to get to do that again. The longer trip allowed us to see some old friends and try out some new restaurants in KC. Usually we're lucky to get to partake in one or two of the classics that we miss badly by living in Chicago (i.e. - Sonic, Minsky's, Taco Via, and any of the holy BBQ trinity - Gates, Bryant's or Jack's Stack). This trip we were lucky enough to do brunch with Billy and Allie at Succotash in the River Market. It was awesome! Mo had a blackberry pancake bigger than her head.

We also had dinner with my old friend Jodi and her husband Chuck at Blanc Burgers + Bottles. Again, really great! Gourmet burgers, fries with truffle oil, and an unreal selection of beers. Lastly, we hit up some new spots downtown with Dan, along with an impromptu tour of all the renovations and upgrades the Kansas City downtown area has undergone. Really impressive stuff.

After the trip to KC, we brought our neice Samantha back to Chicago with us for a few days. There was trips to the park, rides on the "L", lunch at Minnie's, a visit to Legoland not to mention taking in a performance of the hit musical "Mrs. Piggle Wiggle". It was a whirwind few days that was both exhausting and awesome. Below are a few pictures from Sami's trip.

So that's been what's up. We'll try and do better moving forward.

- Corey

Sightings

2009-03-25T12:45:00.005-05:00

The latest uproar here in Chicago is over the parking meters. For our friends back in KC, a little background: The city sold them to a private company who has since adjusted the rates. This means now we're paying out the ass to park. In some places one quarter, which used to buy 30 or 60 minutes now only gets you at best 15, and in some places just 7 minutes. Are you kidding me? I haven't had to keep this many quarters around since we went to the laundromat. For the record, I did not vandalize this meter. However, I echo their sentiment:

Next, I'd thought we gotten past discrimination with this whole Obama election, and yet Walgreens separates our toiletries. I don't even know what makes a toiletry Hispanic. Do they work extra well or not hard enough? Is the deodorant spicy? Is the soap refried? Can I get my toothpaste in green or red? I could do this all day...

- Monique

Mousetraps and Water Torture: A Night of Dangerous Improv

2009-03-08T21:40:00.007-05:00

Corey and I are proud (?) to be appearing in a new show starting at the end of this month. "Mousetraps and Water Torture: A Night of Dangerous Improv" at the Laugh Out Loud Theater.

Described as "Jackass" meets "Whose Line is it Anyway?", we'll be playing all the taboo games not usually allowed at most theaters. There's 'Water Deprivation,' the game where one improviser must must have his/her head submerged in a bucket of water during a scene. They can't come up for air until someone tags them out. Also, I haven't decided which game I'm the most nervous about. There's the one where an audience member snaps clothespins on your face, included the dreaded Frankenstein pins on your neck. Then there's also the scene you play blindfolded with mousetraps scattered all around the stage. We had our first rehearsal today and yes, the mousetraps hurt.

If you're in the burbs in March or April, come by and check out a show.

Check in with us to find out our schedule.

- Mo

Gutted.

2009-02-23T15:05:00.003-06:00

So let me tell you about our weekend. Mo and I have been just hanging out, relaxing, watching some TV...you know the usual. Oh, and I had an operation and Mo has bronchitis.

I had been experiencing some discomfort in my abdomen for a little while, and being the stubborn dummy that I am, put off going to the doctor for a while. When I finally went, it didn't take but about 15 seconds for the diagnosis to come: hernia. And I'll tell you what I've told everyone else who asked. I have no idea. I don't know that there was ever an "uh-oh" moment when I tried to lift something I shouldn't have or anything. Apparently, that's often the case. I might have just strained the muscle a while ago, and it gradually grew into a hernia. It might have been a weakness in the muscle since birth, and it finally gave out. Regardless, it was becoming painful and nothing was going to change that without surgery. They go in, and patch the hole in the muscle with this synthetic mesh and it makes the whole area stronger once it heals. There are different kind of hernias, I guess, but mine was what's called an "inguinal hernia". It was located on the right side, just below my belt line, but not too low, thankfully.

The surgery was Friday morning, and everyone at the hospital was very nice. They got me all prepped and ready to go. The best part: my anesthesiologist was named Dr. Martini. Really. Let the jokes begin! The good news - the surgery was a success, it only took about an hour and I got to go home that afternoon. The bad news - I apparently had not one, but TWO hernias, one of which was described by my surgeon as "the mother of all hernias". So my recovery time will take a little longer than expected. No lifting anything over 20-25 pounds for the next 2 months. Generally taking it easy for a week before getting back to my daily routine, save for the lifting, and I have a freaky 5" slice across my gut.

It's painful, but the Vicodin helps. I'm managing the pain pretty well. In fact, just sitting or laying around it's not too bad now. It's getting up or sitting down that hurts. And laughing, of course. And when the medicine is wearing off. But I'm getting by. I got a great care package from my mom, and my cousin Anne has been a great help, I'm so glad she lives so close by. Mo has been an awesome nurse, too, especially considering she's been battling bronchitis this whole time. Unbelievable, if you ask me. She's amazing.

So that's been our weekend. Recuperating. Watching movies. Watching the Oscars. Taking medicine. We're like old people over here. But we're good. And getting better. I just re-read this post, and it kind of rambles. That's the Vicodin talking, I think, but what the hell, let's just post it. Also, here's a photo of my incision!

- Corey

09 Bride's Choice Award!

2009-02-13T23:43:00.003-06:00

I got an email this evening from The Wedding Wire Network informing me that I have been chosen to receive a 2009 Bride's Choice Award!

"Monique Madrid Styling was chosen to receive a 2009 Bride's Choice Award! This award recognizes the top 3% of vendors from the Wedding Wire Network who demonstrate excellent quality of service, responsiveness, professionalism, value of cost and flexibility. Unlike other awards in which winners are selected by the company, the Bride's Choice Awards are determined exclusively by recent newlyweds through surveys and reviews. That means your past clients have spoken on your behalf and chosen you for this honor!"

Thanks so much to everyone for your support!
Monique

Back to writing

2009-01-28T00:09:00.002-06:00

We're back to writing again. Not only do we have some shared projects, we also each have our own. We're going to start writing new material for another sketch show as The Union. We've also starting to write again for "Big News." It's a weekly news sketch show that was created by our iO television writing teacher, Michael McCarthy. It used to be up at iO and is now at The Skybox at Second City. It's nice to have an actual deadline and more than anything good practice to get in the habit of writing everyday. It's been a while though, it's not like anything genius is coming out...yet. Gotta get back into the habit.

I'm still working on varies TV scripts and am now directing a friend's one man show. He saw our show at The Annoyance and I was flattered that he liked it so much he asked. Corey just got word that he's been cast in a sketch show that is likely to go up at Donny's Skybox at Second City. Between all this, both of us teaching a class, both of us taking separate classes and the regular and off site LOL shows we may not get to see each other much. Guess it's nice that neither of us have typical jobs right now.

Sorry this post isn't more entertaining, hopefully the habit of writing everyday will lead to more exciting blogs.

- Mo

Suck it, Sprint

2009-01-15T11:28:00.004-06:00

After a few years of poor service, incredibly terrible customer service, being hung up on, being billed incorrectly, being outright lied to, and generally not even living up to low expectations we have officially dumped Sprint as our mobile carrier. We didn't call and yell, we didn't write a scathing letter, we didn't do anything rash and instead got the ultimate revenge: we left. Sprint will no longer get my money.

And who will, you ask? Well thanks for asking. Mo and I are now AT&T customers. Because you have to be to use one of these:

So, yeah, we're going to be those people. Deal with it.

- Corey and Monique

What The Netflix?

2009-01-09T20:41:00.003-06:00

I logged onto Netflix today to add a few movies to my queue, and I decided to click on the "Movies You'll Love" feature to see what they suggested for me, based upon my ratings of other movies. This is what I'm presented with:

The Fog of War

Because you enjoyed:
This Is Spinal Tap
Fahrenheit 9/11
Arrested Development: Season 2

FYI, The Fog of War is not a comedy, but a documentary with this description:

Former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara worked for both Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, playing a key role in shaping both administrations' approaches to the Vietnam War. This Oscar-winning documentary directed by Errol Morris traces McNamara's career from government to the World Bank; but it's his work during the Vietnam years that's highlighted in this film, which features extensive archival footage and interviews.

So my questions are, but not limited to, the following:

how would those three movies link up in any way?
just Season 2? I rated all the seasons the same way.
what about that description of Fog of War suggests a fake documentary about a rock band?
is Netflix just screwing with me?
should I add Fog of War to my queue?
did I completely reference myself into a corner when I dropped a Spinal Tap reference in my improv workshop this afternoon with a group of high school kids?
have you guys seen this: http://www.thetyser.com/? I can't get over how great it is.

- Corey

Happy New Year!

2009-01-03T10:36:00.003-06:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. The end of 2008 was particularly hectic around here. You got the holidays, our shows at The Annoyance Theater, shows at Laugh Out Loud Theater, shows with Rock Island ComedySportz, plenty of visitors from Kansas City coming to stay with us, etc. etc. It's been a ton of fun, but it's nice to have a couple days of quiet with nothing going on.

Looking back, 2008 was a pretty great year around the Madrid-Rittmaster house. Here are some highlights:

- The first performace by The Union (which wasn't named that yet) in January
- I quit my day job in March and began working full time for myself
- Mo wrote a spec script for The Family Guy, had a public reading of it, and will be submitting it to writing agents
- KU won the NCAA Championships in basketball and the Orange Bowl in football.
- Took a trip to Vegas with friends Scott and Lillie and Sean and Nissa and had a ridiculously good time. This is a great travelling group.
- Had our sketch show accepted into the Milwaukee Sketch Festival and put on a great performance, got great reviews, and had a great time.
- Went on a whirlwind tour of college shows in August, with Mo and I each doing about a week's worth of improv shows on campuses across the country.
- Reunited with the guys in Der Monkenpickle for the KC Improv Festival again. This time we had all 5 of us there.
- Took a dream vacation to Portugal and Spain.
- Were accepted by The Annoyance Theater for a 7 week run of our sketch show.
- Witnessed a historic presidential election from the candidate's home base.

2008 was a lot of fun, and was very successful creatively and professionally. The plan is to build on that momentum for '09. Hope yours is even better!

- Corey

Marriage Bed

2008-12-23T11:19:00.000-06:00

A San Francisco Treat

2008-12-16T21:02:00.002-06:00

Hey everybody, I'm blogging from San Francisco! I'm here with Lillie from Laugh Out Loud for a corporate gig. We taught a workshop on teambuilding and communication and such for a big biotech company out here. It went really well, even though I jacked up a couple exercise intros. I covered well enough that no one was the wiser. Hopefully they liked it enough to bring us back for more workshops and/or comedy shows.

Last night after getting settled in at the hotel, Lillie and I got dinner at a place called House of Nanking in the financial district/Chinatown section of downtown San Fran. It was tremendous. It was small and cramped, with no bells and whistles, just amazing authentic Chinese food. We split some potstickers, then had this incredible sesame chicken that was served with sliced sweet potato (awesome!) and grilled calamari with spinach, onion, and other stuff in this really great sauce. It reminded me of how we don't really have good Chinese food in Chicago. Which is odd since there are so many great ethnic neighborhoods and restaurants, just none that are Chinese in our area.

Tonight we're heading out with some old friends of Lillie's before flying back home tomorrow. It's apparently snowing like crazy in Chicago. Let's all hope we get home with minimal delay, shall we? Thanks.

- Corey

Chicken Head Mo

2008-12-14T00:49:00.002-06:00

Wait, what?

Love,
Corey

A Winter's Night

2008-12-11T01:10:00.001-06:00

New video from The Union!

You Don't Say

2008-12-07T09:21:00.005-06:00

This is what greeted me this morning on the home page of Yahoo. I love the juxtaposition of these two "news" stories:

In case it's too blurry for you to read (weak camera phone...the iPhone countdown is on), the current article I have selected is "Geniuses like Einstein may be gone forever". The "article" just below it is "Watch cat play funny game of whack-a-mouse".

- Corey

20 Seconds

2008-12-06T10:05:00.004-06:00

Played a couple shows at Laugh Out Loud Theater last night. Afterwards, the house manager Tim and stage manager Pat talked Briette, Mo and I into going on a late-night adventure. Tim knew of an all night fish place south of the Loop in the city. Why at midnight we decided we needed to drive 35 minutes for fried fish, I don't know, but we did. We had a great time, tons of jokes made, stories shared, etc. One of my favorite parts: when I went to the men's room I saw this sign inside:

In case you can't see it, it reads: "Employees must wash hands for at least 20 seconds before returning to work. Thank you."

Something about that is hilarious to me. I have images of the way it probably used to be, when workers would only do a quick rinse, and a manager would stand outside with a stopwatch. You know, until they got used to it.

- Corey

The Kiss

2008-11-30T14:40:00.002-06:00

Thanks again to everyone in Kansas City. We performed with Tantrum at The Westport Coffeehouse and had a blast!

We're back home now, ready for the Annoyance Theater tonight at 7pm.
Hope you can make it! "Ward & June Are Dead", we'll help you feel better about your own family by showing you how disfunctional ours is.

Here's an appetizer to get you ready for the show...the newest Union video.

Ada's reviews

2008-11-24T09:20:00.002-06:00

I'd like to introduce you to a friend of ours. Her name is Ada. She's 4 years old, adorable and super smart, which of course makes her hilarious. She recently (with the help of her mom) started a blog. If you're looking for a good read, laugh or review of some of the latest books and theatrical pieces throughout the city this is a good link to check out.

Our show is too adult for her or else I'd welcome her review. She did how ever watch our "bad date" video. According to her mom, she loved it until Corey threw the candy in my face. We're not sure if she was more offended by the meanness of it or the waste of candy.

Enjoy Ada's blog!

Show biz

2008-11-23T11:38:00.003-06:00

Things are staying busy for us as always.

The opening of Ward & June Are Dead went well. We had a nice crowd and great response. Lots of fun!

In the meantime work is going well. We both got calls by a few agents. Corey auditioned for one on Saturday (I couldn't...had to work) and has a couple more after the holiday.

Unrelated to the show, I booked a new gig myself. I am a host for an e-learning project for high school and middle school learners. I got to shoot with a green screen and do a lot of voice over work. It was a great learning experience and resume building and was a ton of fun. Hopefully these jobs keep coming along.

On Monday we head to Iowa for a corporate show to do improv and custom scenes. These are always fun, especially when I haven't learned my lines yet. From there, we'll head to Kansas City. I'm really looking forward to spending time with family and eating a ton. Plus on the Friday after Thanksgiving, we'll do a mini version of our show at The Westport coffee house. I'd love for our KC friends can make it to Chicago to see the full version, but if not, this will be a good chance to see our work.

For those of you in Chicago, if you haven't checked out the show yet come see us tonight at 7pm at The Annoyance! If you have seen it, pass the word along!

- Mo

The Date

2008-11-10T20:42:00.000-06:00

Yes!

2008-11-06T20:02:00.002-06:00

We'll get back to the vacation updates and photos in a moment....but first....

Yes we can. Yes we did.

Toledo, not Ohio

2008-11-02T22:54:00.005-06:00

Though we liked Madrid, we'd felt we'd seen all we wanted and were ready to get away from the hectic big city. Still, we had another day planned there. After a little research, we decided to take a 30 minute train ride to Toledo. The city is beautiful, located at the top of a cliff. This is just the train station folks!After leaving the station there's a long walk to the main part of the city which is surrounded by an ancient way. Once again it was a long climb uphill. The view of the valley and river was absolutely worth it.

Of course since it was a Saturday, I couldn't get away from weddings. These brides follow me everywhere!Toledo is known for several things, quaint shops, an ancient cathedral, some ancient Sephardic synagogues and marzipan (yum!). The town is most proud for being the inspiration for Cervantes, "Don Quixote." He's revered in this little town.

The people were very friendly. It was really nice to be in a slower paced town. We ended the day sitting at a cafe, enjoying a glass of wine with manchego cheese, a local favorite. After which, we walked back to the train station from the other side of town just in time to catch a beautiful sunset.

We give Toledo 5 out of 5 marzipan's!

Madrid! Not just my name...

2008-10-28T00:15:00.006-05:00

Madrid! Madrid! Madrid!!

Next in our trip was Madrid. For obvious reasons, we had to go.

The city is a big, beautiful and crazy. Be forwarded people, the MC Hammer pants are coming back.

Liquid Madrid, ain't that the truth. (Zing!)

The elevator in our hotel was once again teeny tiny. Our room itself was pretty nice though. We did however step back into the 1950's.

At least we had a nice view! Still we saw some gorgeous building, plazas and statues all over the place. It's an understatement to say the neighborhoods are beautiful. We simply enjoyed strolling around and checking out the sites.

One of our first stops was the world famous Prado Museum. There we were both in awe over the world famous paintings. We saw works by Renoir, Matisse, Rembrandt, O'Keefe, Dali, El Greco and more.
Things here are constantly be bustling. One moment you're walking to the subway and the next thing you know, hundreds of bicyclers race through the street. We still have no idea what that's about. All we know is that a the bicyclers took over the road. They were having a blast, many even wearing costumes and noisemakers. No one seemed to understand what it was all about. Being confused was sort of the norm for us in this city.

The city was full of lots of surprises...like this giant baby head in the train station. No clue.
We did lots of shopping, though most of the high fashion prices were out of our range. Still, it was fun to get ideas. One thing we did buy lots of was Lays Pollo y' limon potato chips. Yep, roasted chicken and lemon chips. They were delicious! We planned on bringing a bunch back and figured we'd just get them later in the trip. Unfortunately Madrid seemed to be the only place that has them. We'd missed out on our chance. Sighhh, I still dream of them.

While the city was nice, after a while we weren't really sure what to do. There was only so much window shopping and museum viewing we could do. It was at this point, we realized we didn't need to do anything. This was a vacation! So we found a nice cafe and drank the best we'd sangria ever, while people watching for hours. The attitude in Spain is very relaxed. You can sit at a restaurants sipping on the same glass of wine for hours. They won't hand you a check until you ask. We of course went for more than one glass! Though it was nice, the city was a bit overwhelming. Though the Spaniards were nice, not as many people spoke English in Madrid as did in Lisbon. We found this out the hard way especially when ordering food. We were getting sick of 'Mixtos' sandwiches...or ham and cheese sandwiches so we tried to order something different. What we ended up with was bread with baby worms on it. Turns out it was baby eel. Turns out baby eel don't feel so good in your mouth.

What does feel good in your mouth is a 'calimocho.' It's a Spanish drink. Half rioja wine, half Coca Cola, all delicious! Honestly, try it. Corey was initially skeptical, but changed his tune quickly. It tastes like a cherry coke.

Overall, Madrid is an interesting city. It's definitely the 'big city' and not some 'quaint town' that we found we enjoyed. Still, the art, architecture and nightlife was great. In fact, as we were heading to the train on our last day at 7:30am people were still out partying in the bars from the night before.

Though it wasn't my favorite city we went to, I'm still glad we went to my namesake. We give Madrid 3 out of 5 museums.

Lisbon

2008-10-21T10:36:00.007-05:00

So you want to know about our trip, huh?

First off, it was amazing. Spain and Portugal are beautiful, romantic and a lot of fun. Our trip started with a 10 hour flight to Amsterdam where we had a layover before flying to Lisbon, Portugal. Because we left a couple hours late from Chicago, we missed our flight to Lisbon and got to hang out in Amsterdam for several hours. Unfortunately, we hadn't planned for this, so we didn't really know what to do. Mostly we just walked around and saw tons of sex shops and prostitutes.

Eventually though, we made it to Portugal. We had heard that Portugal was known for their pastries. They weren't kidding. The bakery's known as pastelerias are EVERYWHERE! You can imagine how amazing the town smells. At one point we were taking a bus from downtown to our hotel. It was a 15 minute drive tops and yet we counted 20 pastelerias along the way. The city has beautiful cliffs along the outskirts and small winding cobblestone streets throughout it. Not realizing there was a bus that would take us there, we took the long way up, and I do mean up, to a castle at the top of the town. We are weaklings compared to the Portuguese. We even saw old women walking up these huge hills. Granted, she was pretty slow, but she was doing itThe climb was exhausting, but worth it! The journey itself was beautiful, plus Castelo San Jorge is really cool. Being in a city with that much history was very surreal. (Surreal ended up being a word we used often on this trip). On our way back down to the center of the city, we stopped at a quaint restaurant on the cliff, overlooking the ocean. I had spent the previous 6 months learning to like seafood, so I would enjoy the food on our trip. Good call! We had some amazing sea bass that first day, of course with a glass of wine. This was just the beginning of our two week wine binge.

After some shopping (lots of great shoes in Lisbon), we went out to dinner. Well, first we got lost in the Barrio Alto. It's an area in the hills that is supposed to be known for it's partying and great bar hopping. We couldn't find it, so we asked a police officer for help. He gave us directions and then put us in a cab so we wouldn't have to walk anymore. We thought he'd explained to the driver where we wanted to go, but the next thing you know we were racing through the streets. The driver didn't speak a lick of English and kept repeating, 'Dinner?" We tried to tell him where to go, but it didn't work. This would be the beginning of the language barrier we'd have to learn to deal with.

In the end, he dropped us off in an area full of restaurants. Here, the waiters stand outside and woo you to eat at their place. Most of the menus were similar, so we just looked for a low cost menu and a waiter who wasn't too pushy. That's when we found Adrien. He was the first guy to show us the menu and then back off. We ended up having a wonderful dinner outside on the patio. He was surprised that we'd be willing to elect a black man to President (interesting).

Along with a bottle of wine, we ate a traditional Portuguese dish called, "cataplana." It can be made with chicken, pork or fish along with prawns, clams and potatoes. It's cooked and served in a copper globe and is served simmering in an amazing sauce. The only weird part about dinner was the street vendors. Several times, guys would come up trying to sell us stuff, right as we were eating. I can understand the roses, but it got ridiculous when they tried to put the tiara, glow sticks, rings and spinning light toy. These guys were also all over Spain.

Adrien was much more helpful than the cab driver. He showed us exactly how to get to the Barrio Alto. And then the real party started. The beer everyone drinks is called, "Super Bock." It's not exported and has a super high alcohol content. We bar hopped for a while and then ended up at a great bar with a cover band. The first song they played was a Lionel Richie song. Right there you knew I was sticking around.

We ended up befriending a Turkish woman and Brazilian man. Those two could put away the drinks. They kept buying us Super Bocks. Now, we can drink, but we couldn't keep up with those two. We'd only be half way through our beer before a new one was set at our table. It was crazy town!

Though our calves were sore, we loved Lisbon. The people we extremely nice, the food was great and it was beautiful.

Overall, we give Lisbon 5 out of 5 pastries!

Hectic

2008-10-19T22:14:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. Let me fill you in on why we haven't posted anything lately: home from vacation, regular shows at Laugh Out Loud, off-night shows at Laugh Out Loud, helping Briette move into her new place, writing a little more for our run of shows at The Annoyance Theater, rehearsing for that run, getting promo materials made and produced for that run, having an original song composed for the show, writing and filming videos to promote the run, teaching improv classes, working weddings, not to mention still having a bit of a life and hanging with friends.

In the meantime, I know we promised photos from the trip. We're working on it, but until then we are slowly but surely posting some of them on our Facebook pages which you can access here: Corey's and Mo's.

Enjoy!

- Corey and Monique

And we're back

2008-10-08T09:38:00.002-05:00

Well, we're home. Our luggage...not so much. The flight on Monday from Barcelona included a brief layover in Rome. We made that connecting plane, but our bags did not. To add to the fun, the airline we flew, Alitalia, did not have another Rome to Chicago flight the next day. So, fingers crossed, our luggage will arrive today. At least they'll be delivering it to us.

The trip to Portugal and Spain was amazing, we'll blog all about it later. We're currently decompressing and getting back into the regular routine. Also, our digital camera base, which serves as it's charger as well as the dock to upload the files to the computer, is in the checked bags. So we can't post any of the awesome pictures from the trip yet, either. Just know that we're home safe and sound, and we had an incredible time. Details are forthcoming...

- Corey and Mo

Hasta La Vista!

2008-09-22T03:05:00.002-05:00

See ya in two weeks, suckers! We're heading to Spain tomorrow. Technically we're going to Portugal for a couple days first. That means no sleep tonight from all the excitement.

If you are a burglar planning rob our house, know that we have an alarm and a giant, scary dog named 'Anger.' Plus of course a sister keeping an eye on things and a finger on the trigger in case anyone unwanted walks through the door.

We'll be back with lots of stories and pictures!

Corey and Mo

The Union - Save the date

2008-09-20T18:45:00.004-05:00

Our sketch show officially opens on November 16th at The Annoyance Theater!

Don't worry if you can't make the first date, we have a seven week run!

Keep an eye out for emails and Facebook/Myspace reminders as we get closer with all the details.

We Partied Like It Was 1996

2008-09-10T19:27:00.006-05:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. Last weekend was the Kansas City Improv Festival. My old sketch group Der Monkenpickel performed. We had all 5 of us there, as opposed to last year when only 4/5 made it. The shows were incredibly fun, the festival organizers were amazingly gracious, the crowds were terrificly responsive and the after parties were drunkenly great. I was able to hit up three of my favorite KC food spots: Gates BBQ, Minsky's Pizza and Taco Via. And best of all, I spent the weekend with four great old friends and we were lucky enough to relive some old times as we even dusted off one of our old sketches, and performed it as a sort of coda to our final show Saturday night.

In the meantime, there are just about two weeks for me to yell at my television when the John McCain campaign makes ludicrous claims and tries to divert the public's attention from the actual issues. Probably because they don't have any real solutions. It's how a 9-year old argues.

Only two weeks because that's when we leave for Spain. I'm curious to see how these political shenanigans are received in Europe.

- Corey

An Instrumental Extravaganza

2008-08-30T18:32:00.005-05:00

We made Indian food for dinner last night. Not only did we get a taste of curry from the heat and serve box, we also got a special treat... Dr. Chitti Babu's latest cd.
Hurray! Thank goodness. Now we have volume four to add to our collection.

You can't see it in the picture, but trust me they weren't lying when they said on the cover that it's an, "Instrumental Extravaganza."

An extravaganza people!

Where's Corey and Mo?

2008-08-20T23:50:00.004-05:00

So travel week begins tomorrow. We'll be doing improv shows and workshops at various colleges and universities across the country as part of their Back-To-School festivities. We have been fortunate enough to get booked on several of these gigs. Yes, dad, they are paying gigs. Check out these itineraries:

Monique
Thurs 8/21: Drive to Indianapolis, do show for University of Indianapolis. Drive to Paducah, KY

Fri 8/22: Do show in Paducah for Western Kentucky University. Drive home to Chicago.

Sat 8/23: Drive to Ames, IA, do workshop at Iowa State.

Sun 8/24: Drive home from Ames, IA

Mon 8/25: Fly to Pittsburgh, PA. Do show for Chatham University.

Tues 8/26: Day Off

Wed 8/27: Do show near Pittsburgh for Clarion University.

Thurs 8/28: Fly home to Chicago.

Corey
Thurs 8/21: Fly to DC. Drive to Harrisonburg, VA. Do show for James Madison University.

Fri 8/22: Drive to Fayette, PA. Do show for Penn State - Eberly campus. Drive to

Shepherdstown, WV. Do show for Shepherd College.

Sat 8/23: Fly to Phoenix. Do show for Arizona State University.

Sun 8/24: Fly home to Chicago.

Mon 8/25: Fly to Nashville, TN. Do show for Belmont University.

Tues 8/26: Fly home to Chicago.

Whew! See you next week, Mo.

- Corey

Staying busy

2008-08-16T00:22:00.003-05:00

Things are staying busy around here. Both Corey and I are getting ready to do a lot of traveling. We leave next week for a week of college tours. We'll be in different cities, so basically we won't see each other much.

On Sunday we're shooting the last scene of a short film I wrote with help from Corey. Our friend Nick is filming it for us and has given us a lot of input and ideas on the script. He does tons of videos, so I'm confident mine will turn out great. I'm basically co-directing with him as I just want to learn as much as I can about everything from the best shots, editing etc, etc.

Briette and I joined a gym! We'll both good at motivating each other. I needed something new to keep it interesting and work out different muscles. We took a kick boxing class yesterday. I kicked a lot of imaginary ass. This morning we woke up bright and early and swam laps. I have a new respect for those Olympic athletes. That shit is hard. I am very sore.

Other than that it's been the same ol' same ol' with shows, wedding styling and writing.
And now for your viewing pleasure... more pictures from our Milwaukee trip

3rd Annual Milwaukee Sketch and Improv Festival

2008-08-11T14:58:00.002-05:00

This past weekend was the 3rd Annual Milwaukee Sketch and Improv Festival, and as you probably know, our sketch group "The Union" was selected to perform. We were placed in the featured slot at the Thursday night show, performing last as the headliners for the night. We had a blast, the Milwaukee folks were wonderful hosts, and we feel really great about our performance. Basically every sketch hit, the crowd loved it, and apparently so did the critics. Check this out!

http://www.expressmilwaukee.com/blog-1384-day-one-milwaukee-sketch-and-improv-comedy-festival.html

We stuck around for Friday's shows as well. We saw some old friend's shows, saw some new friend's shows, and performed in the late night Improv Jam. All in all, a really successful and fun weekend!

Thanks Milwaukee!

- Corey

Sun day

2008-08-04T23:18:00.004-05:00

We were feeling bad about Molly (Briette's dog) being stuck in the house a lot this week while the three of us were super busy. So on Sunday, we took her to the dog beach.

Unfortunately the pictures are tiny because I took them on my cell phone. If you could see a full version you'd see the HUNDREDS of dogs. It was like the Dr. Seuss book, 'Go Dog Go!' It was hilarious to see dogs of all sizes having the time of their lives. And for the most part, they all got along great.

Though she was timid at first, she finally relaxed and became a true beach babe. She even got hit on a few times... OK humped by other dogs, but whatever.

The one thing she refused to do was go in the water. There were tons of dogs of all sizes leaping and bounding through the waves, but she wouldn't go anywhere near lake. Oh well, guess she's more of a laying around looking hot kind of chick.

July is Movie Month

2008-07-30T23:05:00.004-05:00

It seems like we've been seeing more movies than usual this summer, both in the theaters and rentals. Let's see, so far we have seen the following just in July:

and now Tropic Thunder. We were the recipients of some preview passes to see this one tonight. It's got an incredible cast including Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Tom Cruise, Nick Nolte, Matthew McConaughey, Bill Hader and Robert Downey, Jr. I'm not going to go all Siskel and Ebert on you, but trust me...it's fantastic. The movie opens in wide release in a couple weeks and it needs to be on your "must see" list. You won't regret it, I promise.

- Corey

The Union - Friday Night!

2008-07-25T01:04:00.002-05:00

Your next chance to see The Union has arrived! We'll be performing Friday night, July 25 at midnight at The Playground. It's part of the "Late Night, Good Times" show and tickets are just $5. Don't forget, as always The Playground is BYOB. So grab a six pack, stay up late, and catch some great comedy. If you show up and tell me you read about the show on this blog, I'll buy you a beer at the Town Hall Pub after the show.

Love,

Corey

Giganto food! (now updated with pictures)

2008-07-22T01:50:00.011-05:00

We spent this past weekend in the Wisconsin Dells doing shows for a bunch of youth group kids. The shows were fun, but one of the best parts of the weekend was the all-you-can-eat Paul Bunyan breakfast.

The place was pretty much what you would expect. We sat under exposed wood rafters, at checkered cloth covered picnic tables and sat on long benches. Another difference between this and a typical buffet meal is that a Paul Bunyan meal is done family style. For the authentic frontier experience, we chowed down eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy, pancakes, etc. and ate off of tin plates and mugs. And dear Lord, Mrs. Bunyan knows how to cook. Also, in the complete opposite of Vegas, the meal was only $10! Holy crap!

Unfortunately the weather wasn't great, so we didn't get to enjoy the water parks, but we did go for a ridiculously hard run on an off road that was really hilly. We rewarded ourselves by going shopping at the Outlet Mall. I'm proud to say I got a pair of shoes for 80% off. $65 value for only $13! Corey got a $4 polo shirt and some awesomely ugly shoes. That's right, cheap and proud of it.

- Mo

Movie in the Park

2008-07-16T01:45:00.002-05:00

Sorry we haven't blogged in a while. It's been super busy lately. Briette's staying with us for a while, so we've been out enjoying the city.

So far, we've enjoyed many picnics, the Folk and Roots Festival, long bike rides and lots of work. Tonight we enjoyed the Chicago Outdoor Film Festival with our buddy Freddie, his girlfriend Laurel and their neighbors.

We brought our own picnic. Yum, turkey!
Welcome to Chicago, Brie Tonight's movie was the classic 1950's film, "All About Eve".

The Bette Davis movie was a ton of fun, lots of great lines, including the famous quote, "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night." Though there was some brilliant dialogue, it was also a little rough. Way too long and too many endings, but that's not really important. It was just a beautiful night with a cool view of the city and a nice classic movie. Yay Culture!

Next Up: Milwaukee

2008-07-06T01:36:00.003-05:00

So this is pretty cool: Monique and I submitted our sketch show to the 3rd Annual Milwaukee Sketch and Improv Comedy Festival and were accepted. Our sketch group, The Union, will be performing there on Thursday, August 7th at 7:30pm. We're the last group to go up that night, so that's nice, too. We'll be doing about a 25-30 minute set of some sketches we wrote, some of which we did in Rock Island, along with some new stuff, and some revamped pieces. If you are going to be in or near Milwaukee the first week of August, you should come check it out.

Next we'll be working on getting a longer run somewhere here in Chicago. We'll be submitting to The Annoyance, and also maybe Donny's Skybox at Second City. Down the road, it will be nice to play more festivals, do more runs, etc. There's even been talk about a KC appearance this fall. We'll keep you posted.

- Corey

Vegas Baby!

2008-06-30T01:31:00.008-05:00

We're back from our Vegas trip. We went with Lillie (of LOL theater), her husband Scott, Sean (fellow improviser) and his wife Nissa. It was pretty much a perfect vacation.

Please enjoy the next few posts of our ridiculous times...

- Mo

-----------

We started the trip by meeting up with Liz and her husband Doug (who live in Vegas) for dinner at an Italian restaurant. I don't remember the name of the restaurant (it was called Ventano. - corey), but I do remember that it sat up in the hills and looked out over the Vegas strip...

And that the French chef was extremely inappropriate.

We enjoyed lunch on the Bellagio patio at Todd English's "Olives" restaurant.
Lillie pretty much at 'tartare' all weekend. Screw cooked food!
And we gambled our asses away at night. I treated everyone to ninety-nine cent margaritas. Aren't I generous?
.

Guns! (sorry... look away Marcia)

2008-06-30T01:06:00.008-05:00

Because we can. That's why. You can do anything in Vegas, including shoot semi-automatic rifles at the shooting range. This one specifically was called, "The Gun Store." They were very nice and extremely professional, so we always felt safe. Corey is such a bad ass with his AK-47.

The girls especially were a little nervous at first. But in the end, Nissa put it best when calling the experience, "Satisfying."
Sean and Corey both shot up Osama bin Laden. Thank goodness. I don't remember what Scott shot, but it was powerful. We were standing four feet behind him and could all feel the kick in it.
I shot a pink AR 15, semi-automatic rifle with a laser scope.
Shot that ninja right up!

Fremont Street

2008-06-30T00:59:00.005-05:00

Getting away from the main strip, we all enjoyed the Fremont Street experience. It's especially great with such awesome people!

Ooooh, look at Lillie's sparkly eyelashes!Scott and Lillie dressed up for the occasion...
The ladies are enjoying the crazy light display on the ceiling.
Corey and Sean always bring the party!

Corey's personal cooler

2008-06-30T00:52:00.006-05:00

I basically spent the last night on Fremont street on my own. Corey banned me from hanging out with him at the blackjack table. He kept calling me his personal cooler because he'd lose every time I came near him.

Instead I enjoyed a late dinner by myself. It's a pretty weird experience to stand in line for a hamburger with a beer. It was fun though. No really. I had a blast by myself.
All alone. Good times.
I'm having fun. Really, I promise
What? What just happened?

Nerd... I mean "Star Trek Experience"

2008-06-30T00:43:00.006-05:00

Last day:

After a ridiculously huge meal at the Paris hotel, we headed to the "Star Trek Experience."

Corey and I left our cool at the door. We went on the deck of the Enterprise, were 'taken hostage' by some Klingons or something...really I don't know. We did however hang out with a Borg.

No one was excited as Nissa. Actually maybe Lillie was, too, as the two of them couldn't stop grinning and tearing up on the simulated ride.

Yes, this beautiful young lady used to be a Trekkie. She's been to conventions and even owns a couple of the suits. Here, she and her husband are enjoying a "James Tea Kirk" long island ice tea, complete with dry ice for effect. We came home tan and relaxed
Yay! Vegas! Good times! Exclamation marks!

- Mo

Denver trip

2008-06-20T19:04:00.004-05:00

My turn to recap.... Besides the many wedding stylings as usual, I also spent last week in Denver. I went for my Aunt's wedding. My sister and I styled the bridal party's hair and then we just enjoyed our vacation.

It's been a long time since I've been able to just relax and for once I didn't plan a thing. I just went with the flow on whatever others wanted to do. As usual, Brie and I had a blast together. We always have at least one or more moments in our visits together that we end up in tears from laughter.
Here we are discovering that when we laugh to the point of tears, we both cry out of the right eye and the right eye only.
Besides visiting the yokles in the mountain, we also spent time with our family. My dad is the oldest of 10, so there are a lot of people to visit. We mostly spent time with my cousin Vanessa and her son Jalen because they were nice enough to let us stay with them. We also had time to watch movies and drink with the rest of her family, my cousin JoRae and my aunt and uncle. I never get to watch movies! By the way, 'The Bucket List' is not as bad as I expected.
And though I had a blast with my family, the best part of the trip was the food. My family owns a Mexican restaurant called Serranos. We ate there almost everyday. My grandmother's green chili is AMAZING. If you're ever in Denver, stop by. - Mo

Impressive, eh?

2008-06-16T22:55:00.004-05:00

Just saw a commercial for some new film titled "Mongol". Something caught my eye, and I just had to pause and rewind. Thank you, DVR. Well, this is what just aired:

Either the PR folks at the studio don't have spellcheck, or they're calling out the critic at the Wall Street Journal. National commercials aren't cheap, as I understand it. Well done, dummies.

Confidential To A Certain Lurker Who Shall Remain Nameless

2008-06-16T21:07:00.004-05:00

I have updated my resume. Just so you know.

- Corey

The Non-Chronological Recap (Part 1)

2008-06-16T19:20:00.019-05:00

So much has been happening the past couple weeks since Mo blew all our money at the turtle races that we haven't been able to post new entries, but we'll try and catch things up to date. They won't be in chronological order, but you probably weren't there, so what do you care? The basic topics that we'll be covering in the next few posts include:

- Mo's trip to Denver

- the big Grand (Re-)Opening at the Laugh Out Loud Theater

- Corey's quick trip back to KC

- the impending Vegas trip

and maybe some other random odds and ends. We'll see. I'll try and make up for the time since the last post with long-windedness in these ones.

So I travelled to Kansas City this past weekend initially just to do a show. It became a weekend with 2 shows, and spending Father's Day with the family. The first show was Saturday afternoon. My friends Jay, Jim, Karen and I started a Jewish-themed improv group called Schticky Situation several years ago. We do a handful of shows each year, primarily in KC, but occasionally in Ohio for JCC's, Bar/Bat Mitzvah parties, Jewish singles groups, youth groups, Jewish arts festivals, etc. We do the typical short-form improv games, but we theme the suggestions to accentuate the Jewish content and cater to our particular audiences. While it's not groundbreaking work, the level of talent in the group is very high, and I feel that's what seperates us from other run-of-the-mill short form groups.

This show was for a Bar Mitzvah party and it was held at Screenland, a renovated movie theater in KC that was a very cool venue for a party. We performed in the theater in front of the screen, after the kids had played Rock Band on it. Pretty sweet. The crowd was a nice mix of adults and kids, and we rocked the joint. It was one of the best shows we've ever done, and we've done some good shows. The four of us have known each other for so long, it's nice having that familiarity to be able to jump into a show without having seen each other in months, and have it go so smoothly.

After that show, I went home, took a too-short nap, then grabbed some dinner at an old favorite that I've been craving for a while now. Ever since the Des Moines show a few weeks ago, in fact. Belly full, I jumped on I-435 and headed out to Bonner Springs to play a show at Roving Imp. The group there was so super nice and generous to let me, a perfect stranger, come in and play with them. I played the 9pm show which was a mix of short-form games in the first act, and a long-form piece after intermission. The cast was super cool, and I had a blast playing there with Nifer, Jessica, Julie, John (the owner), and Ryan. It was especially fun to play a long-form set because I haven't had a chance to stretch those muscles in a few months. My friends Trish, Pete and Tim came up to see the show, too. Here's a picture Trish snapped during the first half:

Me and Nifer are even more hilarious than this picture conveys. I don't know how Ryan kept it in. Overall, I thought we had a great show.

Ironically, I think the fact that I had never met these guys helped make the show go so well. We had no shared experience or practice together. We had to rely on hyper-awareness and intense listening, and really go back to improv basics, the only shared knowledge we had. Whatever, it worked because the audience left sore from laughing. Then we all went next door post-show to some diver bar and laughed at the rednecks getting drunk to the terrible cover band outside. All in all, a really fun day.

The next day was Father's Day, so I spent it at my father's house, hanging with my two brothers who are also fathers. We had a huge brunch with food my sisters-in-law made, I got to play with my nieces and nephew, visit my bubbe (grandmother, for the non-yiddish) and move a TV from my brother's house to my parents house. I think setting up the channels on the TV in the bedroom to automatically skip the channels he doesn't want was the best Father's Day present my dad could ask for.

- Corey

The Turtle and the Hair

2008-06-03T22:06:00.006-05:00

The last couple weeks have been almost nonstop busy. Briette was in town to work on the Garnier hair tour. And though it was pretty hectic, we made sure to fit in time for turtle races at Big Joe's bar.

Everyone gets between one and seven tickets (we never quite figured out the system) every time you buy a beer. Then every fifteen minutes they pick six tickets and if your ticket is picked, you're assigned a turtle.

These little guys are a lot faster than you'd expect. Pretty hilarous too. And even though our ticket numbers never got called, we had fun with the side bets.

Go Lula Bell!

A happy day for me

2008-05-29T11:11:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the gap between posts. It's been busy here, to say the least. The revolving door on the Hotel Madrittmaster has been spinning extra lately. Lots of friends and family staying with us, plus doing a ton of work at the LOL Theater getting it ready for the Grand Re-Opening party in June. Not to mention the various shows and rehearsals we're doing, it's been pretty hectic.

However, to continue the theme Mo started with the previous post, I had to post about my plans this evening. While Monique had her memory of Darryl Hall crushed, I will be reliving my youth by attending a show by the Kids In The Hall tonight! See the weird synchronicity? Hall...Hall? Whoa. I know.

The Kids In The Hall were my all-time favorite sketch comedy group. They were who inspired me to want to do sketch comedy in the first place. The idea that we were doing something kind of like KITH is what simmered in the back of my mind when four friends of mine and I started writing and performing our own material as the group Der Monkenpickle back in the 90's.

My friend Jeff called and said he was coming to town to see the show, and that he had an extra ticket. Before he could even finish the sentence, I told him I was in. I know that just like Darryl Hall, the Kids are older, probably a little slower, and probably also can't hit the same high notes, but I'm not worried. Jokes that work are jokes that work. I can't wait.

- Corey

A sad day for me

2008-05-19T00:19:00.003-05:00

Today is a sad day for me. I'm watching a Daryl Hall concert (from 'Hall and Oates') on DirectTV. For those of you that don't know, I've long held the dream that the greatest concert I could see would be Lionel Richie and Hall and Oates. I think I was born in the wrong decade.

Anyways, my dreams have been sadly shattered. Hall sounds like shit. His voice is old, crackly and overall...just boo. Plus he's pretentions and plastic face-y. Worse off he's subjecting me to a new song he wrote. It's called "Cab Driver." You know, because he rode in a lot of cabs. It's about the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I am truly sad that the realization of my dream will never come true, because even if they come to concert, I cannot go.
I now have a higher appreciation for Oates, because I think he may have helped the duo sound better than we ever realized. Though, probably not, who are we kidding?

- Mo

Maquoketa

2008-05-18T13:47:00.002-05:00

Saturday night's show was in this little town in Iowa for some printing company. I did the show with ComedySportz owner Jeff, along with Don and Fred. I've done a few shows with Don and he always delivers. Really smart, funny guy. Fred I had never met before, but he was great, too. Both Don and Fred are computer savvy, techie kinds of guys, so the conversation in the car ride to and from the show was a little nerd-centric. Lots of comic book references and tech lingo. I had little to add. No big deal, the show was a lot of fun. We performed at the Maquoketa Country Club, which was a little confusing. In the lounge area, there were golf items on the wall, the Golf Channel on TV and references to various course records and such. However, looking out the windows of the lounge and from the main dining room, where the show happened, you couldn't see any golf course. Jeff assured me there was one, but I'm pretty sure it's just a mini golf course in the basement.

Post show back in Rock Island was pretty low key. Just kicked back at the hotel and chilled, really. I was pretty tired from the late night in Des Moines combined with an afternoon jog around the District area in Rock Island. The drive back to Chicago was nice and uneventful. This week brings a lot of work out at the Laugh Out Loud space in Schaumburg and a visit from Briette, as she will be joining Mo on a cool promo gig doing hair for some Garnier gig. I'm sure she'll let you know all about that later.

- Corey

Des Moines

2008-05-17T09:03:00.004-05:00

Hello from Iowa! I'm on the road this weekend, doing some shows for my friend Jeff A. at ComedySportz - Quad Cities. The first one was last night here in Des Moines. A really fun and kind of unusual gig. Along with my friends Patrick and Big G, we met up with this girl Michele who plays with ComedySportz - San Jose. Michelle is here in Des Moines for her cousin's wedding. We peformed at the rehearsal dinner. It was Michele's gift to the couple, who apparently are big fans, and go see her perform in California all the time. It was a really fun show for a very nice family. We themed everything around the couple and their family. Had a little fun with Father Murphy, the officient for the ceremony who was hilarious and awesome, and even though there were only about 50 people at the show, the laughter sounded like a group 10 times that size, because we killed.

After the show, we hung around and Michele and her husband bought us a couple beers and we swapped a few old ComedySportz stories from back in the day. Then the family and friends headed off to some dueling piano bar, and we headed back to our hotel because come on...a dueling piano bar? No thanks. Thankfully, we found a little Irish pub right by our hotel, so the boys and I hung out there for a little bit before coming back to the hotel to crash. We'll head back to Rock Island here in a few, and then another show tonight. I'll try and keep you posted, as I know you're waiting impatiently to hear about that one, too.

Oh, one sidenote: the worst part about this Des Moines (super quick) trip? Literally not more than 150 steps from our hotel is one of these. My favorite! But when we got into town we went straight to the gig so it was closed when we were done, and we're leaving this morning before it opens. Not cool, Des Moines. Not cool.

- Corey

Stopping to smell the roses

2008-05-14T13:29:00.004-05:00

Aunt Judy is in town for a quick visit, so we went to the Chicago Botanical Gardens.

If you haven't gone, get there. Appreciate some damn beauty for once, geez!

Not all the plants were in bloom, but it was still really nice. We especially enjoyed the tour we took on a tram. This is not because it was necessarily a good tour, but because the tour guide was hilarious. Edel or Erdwin or whatever his strange name was did his best, but man it was funny. He was an older fella who clearly enjoyed his job, but man did he talk slow. The tram ride was a bit of an adventure too as he'd get distracted and we all worried that he'd drive right into the pond. Aunt Judy and Anne about lost it when he talked about the cooking demonstrations they have in their fruit and vegetable garden. Apparently the local guest chefs create small plates, or "Topos" as he pronounced Toe-Poes (tapas) for the audience to enjoy.

It was a perfect day to be outside and enjoy the outdoors in a way not typical of the city.

We've decided to take more advantage of having flexible schedules so this summer, our goal is to see more of all the cool stuff Chicago has to offer. Hopefully we'll enjoy more museums, the beach, festivals and definitely go back to the Botanical Garden, soak in some culture. Lord knows we could use it.

10 Pinatas!?!?

2008-05-07T17:31:00.004-05:00

Why in the world? What the? How come?

Just you wait. Patience, my friends. Patience.

Cinco de Chili!

2008-05-06T00:05:00.002-05:00

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone. We had a great one here, thanks. Our good friend Ali had the great idea to get some friends together to celebrate at a new local bar/restaurant. A bunch of us met up at Cinners, a new joint in the neighborhood that is part sexy lounge and part chili parlour. But not your typical chili, though. Tony, the owner is a Cincinnati area native who has brought his hometown's unique chili recipe to Chicago. This stuff is fantastic, y'all! The chili has no beans, initially. You can choose to add them on if you want. It's not terribly spicy hot, either. It has a really amazing blend of subtle spices like cinnamon and cocoa, etc. They serve it over spaghetti noodles, and top it with your choice of beans, cheese, onions or any combination of them.

So we ate, and ate and drank and drank with old friends as well as meeting some new ones. The beers and margaritas were on special for $3 and the speakers were cranking out some classic 80's favorites. After dinner, Tony hung a pinata in the middle of the bar and a few people took turns taking their whacks at it. Candy for dessert!

After a while, the 80's music led to much nostalgia, and stories of concerts and first dates were recounted. We tried to guess what 80's classic would come next, and it became a wager. Everyone, including tables around us that weren't originally part of our group, took a dollar bill and wrote the name of an 80's song on it. We piled the money in the middle of the table and waited with crazy anticipation as a song would end as the first person to have their song entered into the pool would win the entire pile of cash. Some entered multiple times, and more and more would enter. Eventually the pot reached $27, but it felt like hundreds the way the crowd would groan when the next song would play and we all realized we had thought of that tune, but hadn't entered it. As I kept my fingers crossed for Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" and Mo for "Africa" by Toto the game came to an end. Our host herself, Ali correctly picked "Voices Carry" by Til Tuesday, but to be fair, she probably had the most entries.

We had a ton of fun, and the chili was tremendous. We will be back, Cinners. We will be back.

- Corey

Fun weekend

2008-04-27T19:02:00.003-05:00

First off and most importantly - Happy birthday Corey!!! Can you believe it? 26 years old!

I'm still sick, but luckily Corey got me to a Doctor within 24 hours of when it first hit. The Doctor put me on Tamiflu and that stuff really works. I've heard from others that had the flu that it could be a lot worse and last a lot longer than it seems to be for me. The Tamiflu speeds it along. I'm not feverish anymore, but still achy and I have a horrible cough.

I should have rested more than I did, but I wanted to spend time with Marcia and Larry (Corey's parents, for those of you that don't know), who were in town.

While they were here, we mostly ate and shopped. I had to miss out on the river boat tour and the first half of the morning on Saturday because I wasn't feeling well enough.

We also saw a movie called, Young at Heart. It's a documentary about a group of senior citizens that go on tour as a choir singing punk rock and roll songs. It's hilarious to hear old people sing, "I want to be Sedated" by The Ramones or Sonic Youth's, "Schizophrenia." It's an Indy film so I don't imagine it'll be out for long. I highly recommend it!

Again, Corey Happy Birthday. I hope this year is the best year ever!

- Mo

Funny, She Doesn't Look Flu-ish

2008-04-23T23:39:00.005-05:00

Mo is sick. She's got the flu.

The good news, it came on after the Gilda's Club weekend in Rock Island. That all happened without a hitch, and we had a friggin' blast. The "All Star" ComedySportz match was tremendous. It was me, Sarah, Josh from KC and Patrick from RI vs. Mo, Big G from RI, and Pete and Nikki from KC. Jeff D. reffed and Jeff A. was in the booth. Are you kidding me? Crazy funny. Huge laughter all night long. That was one of my favorite comedy shows in a long time. Every game hit big and it was a true ensemble performance, as every one of us had moments where we shined. Afterwards, Mo and I performed our sketch show, the first time we had ever done a full show. It went really well. Sure there were some areas that we found we wanted to tweak, but overall it went great. It was great to get laughs where we weren't sure it was still funny, and also when we didn't expect it. I'm really proud of our work, and excited to see where it will go as we continue to write more and improve upon what we currently have.

The bad news, Mo is getting sick right before my folks get into town for a visit. Also, it means we have to cancel out of our show this Friday at The Playground, part of Grafitti. She's feeling a little better today than yesterday, but still achy and with a sore throat. Her fever comes and goes, but is mostly gone. We're both cranking ourselves full of Tamiflu and Vitamin C, but I still feel like I'm a ticking time bomb, with my flu symptoms ready to explode any moment. Let's hope they don't.

- Corey

Upcoming Shows

2008-04-17T00:35:00.003-05:00

"The Union," our sketch comedy show has a couple of upcoming shows.

* Friday, April 18th, 8pm - Cornservatory.

We are opening for Atilla's Imagination Station a great independent improv team that is making a name for themselves in Chicago.

* Saturday, April 19th, 10pm - ComedySportz Quad Cities presents Gilda's Weekend of Laughter.

Much like Broadway, we are opening our full show on the road. Check us out if you're in Rock Island this weekend.

* Friday, April 25th, 10pm - Playground, part of 'GRAFITTI Presents.'

This is another chance for us to work on new material.

If you can't make it to any of these, no worries. It's all leading to a big showcase and hopefully a run at iO. We'll let you know about that as soon as we know, we'll need all the support we can get.

The Madrittmasters are going to Spain!

2008-04-14T22:18:00.006-05:00

Normally tax time is burdensome for us. Typically, because of my self employment, we end up owing money. Knowing this, we've been setting aside money all year long. We expected to owe quite a bit. We were delighted when we found out that not only do we not owe as much as we thought, we actually get a little back. Our tax guy is a genius!

So, to celebrate our hard work, the Madrittmasters are going to Spain! I'd been researching it for a while, but didn't know if it could actually happen.

I'm so excited that I can hardly sit still. We're even going to spend a couple days in Lisbon, Portugal. This September we'll fly to Lisbon for 2 days, then Madrid for 3 days where I'll spend my birthday. Next we'll take a 2 1/2 hour train ride to Seville, where Corey will of course get a haircut. Additionally, it's a sister city to Kansas City, and in fact the Plaza is modeled after it. Since we were married on the Plaza, it makes it particularly special to be able to have a late anniversary celebration in Seville. After two days there, we'll take a short train ride to Granada for two days. Finally we'll spend 12 hours overnight on a train up to Barcelona where we'll spend the last 3 days of our vacation before heading back home.

This is an absolute dream come true for me! Looks like we'll be there during some cool festivals and every time we research online we find more amazing things happening there. It makes all our extra hard work worth it.

Next up... learn Spanish.

Adios!

- Monique

Family Portrait

2008-04-09T09:38:00.006-05:00

Sears had a sale, so we took the family to capture a moment in time. A moment before the kids are all grown up and moved away. A moment while our foreign exchange student Bing Bong was still with us. A moment captured forever, hanging over the mantleplace in our den. We'll always be able to admire this moment as we sit here as a family, playing our brand new Atari game system and watching this new television programming on a Music Television channel.

- The Wilkerson Family

The Shot

2008-04-08T08:45:00.003-05:00

Wow. Simply wow. And in the post game press conference the guy couldn't be more humble. He makes possibly the biggest shot in Kansas basketball history, and he's all "aw shucks" about the attention. Amazing.

Down 9 points with 2:12 seconds to go. How many of you thought it was over? I'll admit there were thoughts in my head that we had it, but gave the game away in the final minute. When Derrick Rose chucked up that shot-clock beating prayer that banked in I thought "if those kinds of shots are going to fall for them, maybe it just isn't meant to be."

But we had plenty of those "Team of Destiny" moments ourselves. Especially Mario's shot, seen above. Some interesting parallels to the 1988 KU National Championship team:

1988 KU plays 1st and 2nd round in Nebraska (Lincoln). 2008 KU plays 1st and 2nd round in Nebraska (Omaha).
1988 KU plays Sweet 16 and Regional Finals in Detroit. 2008 KU plays Sweet 16 and Regional Finals in Detroit.
1988 KU is led by a relunctant star, Danny Manning who wears jersey #25. 2008 KU is led by a reluctant star, Brandon Rush who wears jersey #25.
1988 Championship Game hero is Danny Manning, who's father is on the bench as a KU assistant. 2008 Championship Game hero is Mario Chalmer, who's father is on the bench as a KU assistant (Dir. of Basketball Operations).
1988 Finals referees included Ed Hightower. 2008 Finals ref crew includes Ed Hightower.

Cool, huh? All I know is, I left the bathroom light on last night when I left the house to go watch the game. Additionally, my cousin Anne is the smartest person I know. When asked if she wanted a KU Final Four t-shirt, she answered "No thanks. I'm waiting for the National Championship t-shirt." Awesome.

- Corey

CHAMPS!

2008-04-08T00:25:00.000-05:00

84-66

2008-04-05T22:08:00.002-05:00

Yeah, remember that worry? Uh, nevermind.

See you on Monday for the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME!

Current Mood: Like you have to ask.

- Corey

Halftime Update

2008-04-05T20:57:00.002-05:00

OK, so I'm not sure what to say exactly. Halftime score, 44-27, KU leads. Watching the first 15 minutes of the first half, I was all geared up to say this was the greatest performance this team has displayed all season. After the last 5 however, they went from phenomenal to fair. Still, the team gets a first half grade of an A. It would have been an A+ if not for that last five minutes.

But we're up 17! On North Carolina! In the Final Four! We're doing pretty much anything we want to out there. After the sloppiness of the last few minutes, the Jayhawks need to get back to what got them the big lead in the first place: going back inside, getting Arthur and Jackson the ball on the blocks.

Strangely, even though we have a 17 point lead, I'm not completely comfortable. Maybe it's because we were up 28 until Carolina went on a big run late. In other words, if we're not careful, this big lead will evaporate in a hurry. We have to keep the pressure on and keep up the incredible defense.

Halftime mood: Hyperly optimistic, with just a touch of worry in the way back of my mind.

See you after the game.

- Corey

The Final Four

2008-04-05T18:54:00.008-05:00

It's about an hour before tip-off and it's a mix of excitement, nervousness and anticipation at my house. My cousin Anne (fellow KU alum) is coming over to watch the game with me and Mo. We're feeling a little too uneasy to go out and watch this game in public. Also, we watched the Davidson game together here, so why mess with karma? I'm thinking that if KU can hit their outside shots, they'll be fine. When the Jayhawks are on, they're the best team in the country. When they make dumb turnovers and can't hit threes, they're very beatable (see Oklahoma State). We shall see. Regardless, it's been a terrific season, and it's great for head coach Bill Self to finally get that monkey off his back and make a Final Four. I don't think it'll be his last, I just hope that future ones are as the Kansas coach, also.

That said, after the football team's amazing year, culminating with that incredible Orange Bowl win, this would be impressive finish for KU athletics in general. I'm just sayin'.

All in all, though, pre-game feeling: a wreck. I may be back with a halftime update, or at least a post-game wrap up. I need another beer right now.

- Corey

You know you've MADE IT when...

2008-04-02T00:09:00.005-05:00

You know you've made it as an actor when you get paid to dress up as good and bad cholesterol.

Ahh, getting paid to distribute flyers while doing bits all for a drug company at 5:30am in the cold rain on opening day at Wrigley Field.

It would've been miserable if it weren't for the fact that it paid well. Look how happy Corey is!

Success!

2008-03-30T01:07:00.004-05:00

To answer your question.... the show was GREAT!!!

Again, we couldn't be happier. We did 3 scenes from our last show. Two of them were scenes that went well the first time, but didn't hit quite as hard as we knew they could. So, we edited them a bit, tightened things up and they killed. Our 5 new sketches got huge laughs too. Again, we plan to edit and pare down a couple of our scenes to make them even better for the next show.

This has been such a fun process. Having a show like Grafitti where you can try out material is so helpful. We've got some more work to do to tie all our scenes together, but I'm confident that we're going to blow it out of the water. It helps that we have such a great director. Kate Duffy is awesome. Besides being hilarious and having a great eye for knowing how to make the scenes better, she has a way that really helps us feel confident, and of course that can only help the show. Next up is the Gilda's Club show on April 19th. Get ready Rock Island.

We'll also likely do another Grafitti show at the end of April and have been told that we can do a one off at iO in a month or so. That's the one that'll help get us our run. We don't have an exact date yet, but we'll definitely post it here as soon as we know. Be prepared to show up to that one in numbers. We'll be calling in any and all favors to pack the house.

Thanks again for all the support!

At the end of the day

2008-03-26T22:02:00.004-05:00

Come see us perform some more of our sketches. This show will be about a 20 minutes set. We're gearing up towards a run of the full show we've been writing.

This Friday at 10pm at The Playground.

DrinkStrong

2008-03-21T14:34:00.004-05:00

The staged reading of my Family Guy spec script, "DrinkStrong" was held last night at the iO Theater.

I worked hard on the script and hope to eventually send it to an agent to get representation. The point of the reading was to get honest feedback from a real audience. I even had questionnaires for them to fill out so I could get blunt critique. From there I'll take the surveys home and continue to edit it, before sending it out.

I couldn't have been happier. The turn out was great, as was the response. The actors did a great job of bringing the characters to life. After just briefly looking over the questionnaires it looks like I only have minor tweaks to make. Everyone was super positive and thought I captured the feel and the characters of the show accurately. Plus I got a ton of laughs, which is really exciting. Now I just need to improve or edit a few of the jokes, maybe make some changes to one of the story lines. The biggest struggle with this is that it's now all a matter of opinion. One person may love a joke while another isn't so thrilled with it. I'll have to figure out if there are any common denominators and otherwise just trust my gut instincts. Thank goodness Corey's such a wonderful supporter/writer/editor to help me out.

I'm really enjoying writing in general. It's so fulfilling to work hard on written material and make people laugh. After I finish this script I'm going to write another one along with continuing to build my portfolio with sampels of my work so that an agent has plenty to read if he's interested.

Next up...
Corey and Monique: at the end of the day (A sketch comedy show)
March 28th, The Playground Theater - Graffiti 10pm
Stay tuned for more details.

- Mo

Colorado: The Customer Service State

2008-03-14T17:59:00.002-05:00

Sorry for the sporadic posting. Real busy past couple of days. Mo and I were booked on a show in Pueblo, Colorado on Thursday so we flew out a day early to see our good friends the Schwartz's in Denver on Wednesday first. We got to hang out with them and their kids all day and then Mo had a gift certificate for a free night at a Marriott that we used that night. We then met up with our friends Chris and Lillie back at the Denver airport the next day and drove 2 hours to Pueblo to perform, stayed the night in Pueblo, drove back to Denver on Friday, flew home to Chicago, drove straight to the theater where Mo performed two more shows and I bartended them. Whew.

Now, I know Missouri is the "Show-Me State" and Texas is the "Lone Star State", but I never knew that Colorado was apparently the "Customer Service State". Everywhere we went, it was like a seminar in how to give excellent service. Maybe because we've had so many issues with our condo developer and association, as well as little issues here and there like when we had to get new tires, etc. but I guess we had a little "good service karma"built up and it all got cashed in this week.

It started out at O'Hare Airport and United Airlines. In a ridiculous twist of fate, things went smooth sailing there, and the most shocking part, United landed us in Denver AHEAD of schedule.

Then in Denver, it continued. We went to dinner at Chili's with Brian and Michelle, their kids Macey and Avery (ages 3 and 5), Michelle's cousin Tovah and her boyfriend Dan (KU grads!). Dinner with larger groups can be iffy. Add in two little kids, it gets real dicey. The waiter at Chili's was awesome! He was always there when we needed him, but didn't hover. Wrote down and remembered everything, and just nailed it from start to finish. Everytime he would do something else above and beyond, Brian and I would look at each other and say "aw man, we really gotta tip this guy well now." And that just kept happening again and again. So we did, but it was also definitely worth it.

The great service continued that night when Mo and I checked into our hotel. The front desk girl named, I kid you not - Sugar - was so nice and sweet (I know) and even gave us a complimentary mini-bottle of wine upon arrival. Mo asked if the hotel had a bar, and Sugar told us they didn't, but said she could probably hook us up with a bottle of wine. Mo, jaded by all our customer service issues in the recent past, asked how much that was going to run us. Sugar repeated that she could give us a bottle of wine. Mo said again, "and that will cost how much?". Sugar just stood there and looked at Mo. Then it clicked. Ahh, she would be able to GIVE us a bottle of wine. Sorry, Sugar. We've just been through a bunch of crap lately. The wine was a nice touch.

We headed back to the airport the next day, and our shuttle arrived within 10 minutes of the scheduled time - pretty remarkable for them. The car rental went smoothly. The folks at the college in Pueblo where we performed were so gracious and hospitable. When we went out for a drink after the show, we found a little dive called The Downtown Bar, and the bartender was this awesome dude name Mark who happened to have previously lived in Chicago. Not to mention New York as well as growing up in Switzerland. The drinks were perfect, Mark was great, and the four of us had a blast sitting there, talking and playing cards, as we were the only people in the joint. Hell, even the Colorado weather was nearly perfect as it was sunny and in the mid to high 50's during the day. Such a welcome relief from the unending cold of Chicago.

We're back in Chicago now, things are still crazy busy as friends are coming into town (Dan W. today, Billy and Ali B. later this week), Mo is putting finishing touches on a spec script that will have a public reading on Thursday, we're still working on our sketch show which will be performed at the end of March, we're both working a ton at the CCC theater, and we really need to get our taxes ready to go as there's only a month left to do that. Actually, what the hell am I doing sitting here typing this?

- Corey