Madrid! Not just my name...

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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:

All About Eve

Michael Clayton

The Ten

Batman Begins

Hancock

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!

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)

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

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

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!

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



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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)

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

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!