Brad, Chip and I were doing a couple of college gigs in Washington State. The first
one went beautifully and as we drove into the campus of our second college we were
filled with an optimism that was oh so wrong.Brad, Chip and I were doing a couple of college gigs in Washington State. The first
one went beautifully and as we drove into the campus of our second college we were
filled with an optimism that was oh so wrong.
Trouble started as we got out of the car. The organizer of the event was surprised that there were three of us and informed us that we only had two clip-on microphones. It was a Sunday and therefore difficult to get another. Well, to us it was a glitch, but we were improvisers and dammit we would find a way to make it work. We were led to our dressing room which was a squash court...not the change room...the actual court.
As we entered the performing area for the sound check, we were taken aback that the seats not only were about 25 yards from the stage but they were set at large round tables. Ummm...are the audience eating dinner while we perform. No, we were told, it was thought that they could use the tables to put their drinks on. We explained that it really helps if the audience is close to us, to help with the intimacy of the performance and getting suggestions. For the next 20 minutes Chip, Brad, me and a couple of volunteers got rid of the tables and set up the seating for a couple of thousand people.
Back in the safety of the squash court, we came up with a plan for our mike shortage. Our running order was mainly made up of two person scenes. If there was a third, it was likely a game like New Choice where the caller could use a hand mike. We figured out that as one of us introduced the game, the others would switch the handheld for the clip-on. It would be distracting but there was no other way to do it. Usually when we do a show, the stage manager gives us time warnings i.e Thirty minutes till show....15 minutes till show, etc. As we were sitting in the squash court we heard ourselves being introduced. Brad and I quickly ran to the organizer and asked what was going on. “You knew the show started at 8” was the reply. Itʼs very rare that a show actually starts on time. We felt that we should have been informed, especially since at this point Chip had gone to the little boys room. I ran to get Chip. As I did, the organizer asked Brad if it was okay if the interpreters for deaf were on stage with us.
Usually you hear of these things a little before your introduction. While Brad was explaining why that idea was a bad one, I was running to the bathroom.
"Chip, the show's starting"
"Yeah...good one."
"I'm not kidding"
"Man..Iʼm taking a dump."
I ran back to Brad. At this point, the poor woman introducing us had run out of things to say and was just standing there. We decided to get on and stall till Chip could join us. To get to the stage we had to run from the back of the gym and go through the audience. As we were right in the middle of the audience I heard our emcee say “ I guess theyʼre not ready yet...no wait here they are.” Nothing like a little bit of chaos to start a show. Brad and I did an intro and in the middle Chip joined us. Now itʼs time to start the show and our first game is...who has the running order. None of us apparantly. Chip shouted “Iʼll be right back” and ran off back to the squash court.
I guess the first couple of games went all right, considering we were a little thrown by the convoluted intro and the switching of the mikes. But we were getting laughs and by the time we got to Sound Effects we had hit our stride. Brad and I were doing the scene and two audience members were supplying the sound effects. Right in the middle of the scene, a fuse blew and we were plunged into darkness. Luckily a quick thinking techie turned on the spotlights, which for some reason were unaffected. Now we had light with which to finish the scene. Unfortunately, for some reason that to this day I canʼt fathom, they shone the light on the people doing the sound effects. To me, the people doing the actual scene would be the people I would like to see in the light. Maybe thatʼs just me. Brad made a comment , the lights came on, we somehow made it to the end of the show.
Sitting in the squash court, coming down from the events of the show, we were asked to sign posters of the event. Gladly we said. There on the posters were our smiling faces, the three of us....the three of us? I thought they didnʼt know that...but we spent the show switching mikes....AAAAAAAAAAARGH.
We drank a lot that night.