Our FPWKK “residency” at the Comedy Store’s Belly Room continued with show #2 on September 1st. The game featured Ify Nwadiwe, Mary Lou, Jonah Ray and our own Matthew Lillard, with Jon Ciccolini manning the DM chair. The story began in the middle of a massive battle, with the four performers playing out-of-work performers drafted into the military to protect their town. It was over 90 minutes later with everyone burnt to a crisp - just the way we planned it.
This venue is the perfect space for a story about the cruelty of the entertainment industry. The smaller of their two spaces, the Comedy Store’s Belly Room is generally host to struggling talents just starting out, established talents trying out risky material, or acts that are just too weird to play anywhere else (that’s us!). So it felt particularly on-point to watch these four characters find ways to deploy their questionable performing talents on the way to completing their quest.
The one that struck a chord for me was Matt’s character, a frustrated mime named “Ttam”. In addition to being hilarious in general, it’s a direct callback to his own childhood, and a story he’s told me before. While the sad backstory of a misguided, overweight teen engendered a lot of sympathy, it wasn’t enough to stop the crowd from booing his mime performance when the time came… but only because that bastard Ciccolini had secretly told them all to boo him, via a note waiting on their chairs when they came in. (Matt grabbed me backstage and confided, “I’ve never had an audience turn on me like that!” while Jon chuckled in the background. Yes, we did tell him eventually.)
We also had some inspired guest performers from the audience (this IS an audience participation show, you have been warned) including Ify’s disappointed “father", as well as some guy who knew how to play a Bard better than we did. But no amount of audience participation could stop the nefarious dragon turtle from scalding our heroes to death with a single blast from its breath weapon. Having been in the entertainment industry for many years myself, I can attest that it’s not the worst way for a performer to get rejected. Compared to getting dumped by your agent, it’s practically a mercy killing.
This venue is the perfect space for a story about the cruelty of the entertainment industry. The smaller of their two spaces, the Comedy Store’s Belly Room is generally host to struggling talents just starting out, established talents trying out risky material, or acts that are just too weird to play anywhere else (that’s us!). So it felt particularly on-point to watch these four characters find ways to deploy their questionable performing talents on the way to completing their quest.
The one that struck a chord for me was Matt’s character, a frustrated mime named “Ttam”. In addition to being hilarious in general, it’s a direct callback to his own childhood, and a story he’s told me before. While the sad backstory of a misguided, overweight teen engendered a lot of sympathy, it wasn’t enough to stop the crowd from booing his mime performance when the time came… but only because that bastard Ciccolini had secretly told them all to boo him, via a note waiting on their chairs when they came in. (Matt grabbed me backstage and confided, “I’ve never had an audience turn on me like that!” while Jon chuckled in the background. Yes, we did tell him eventually.)
We also had some inspired guest performers from the audience (this IS an audience participation show, you have been warned) including Ify’s disappointed “father", as well as some guy who knew how to play a Bard better than we did. But no amount of audience participation could stop the nefarious dragon turtle from scalding our heroes to death with a single blast from its breath weapon. Having been in the entertainment industry for many years myself, I can attest that it’s not the worst way for a performer to get rejected. Compared to getting dumped by your agent, it’s practically a mercy killing.
Next show is Sunday, October 6th at 7:30p! If you’re in the area and haven’t seen a show yet, please join us! https://www.showclix.com/event/fpwkk-october6th
