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<KFIndex Like Disco...but not Really>
<h1> Like Disco...but not Really </h1>
 
<p>
One of the first things I saw in <a href="allen.html">Allen Hall</a> was an 
improv comedy show.  I knew what improv was, of course - I had enjoyed every 
episode of <i>Whose Line Is It Anyway?</i> that I'd seen on Comedy Central, 
and had even done some of it during my high school drama class.  But I hadn't 
ever actually seen people do it live - and I was delighted.  There were 
people on stage!  Making stuff up!  And being funny about it!  Wow!
</p>

<p>
I also knew, deep in my heart, that I wouldn't be good at it.
</p>

<p>
A couple of days later was the Allen Hall mini-Quad Day.  It was a silly
event, but I went because I felt obligated; while there, I talked with
everybody at the tables, and got talked into far too much.  One of the
things I let myself get talked into was giving my name and number to the
improv troupe that had done a show, so that they could tell me when shows
and rehearsals were.  I didn't think much of it...
</p>

<p>
The next week, I got a call from Dave Hoffman, inviting me to come play at
rehearsal.  I didn't think I was going to do it, but I figured I'd show up
anyway - maybe they needed some tech crew or something, and I could help
out with that easily enough.  Besides, it's fun to play the games in
practice...  So I went.  
</p>

<p>
40 people showed up to the first rehearsal.  25 showed for the next, where
we led each other around campus blindfolded to show that we trusted each
other.  And through those two rehearsals, 
<a href="http://www.uiuc.edu/~comedy/">Like Disco...but not Really</a> had
me hooked.
</p>

<p>
My first show was the Dad's Day show, 10am on 23 Sep 1995.  I don't
remember that much of the show, really; I had stage fright, I had to wake
up James because he thought the show was at 10pm, and I played Fat Albert
in Party guest and proposed to both Jackie Stamer and Dave Pinzino in
Freeze.  I'm not sure if I did a good job or not, but I was up there, and
I tried, and I got a wonderful rush.  
</p>

<p>
That first year was a wonderful experience for me.  I learned the ropes of
Improv from and with a bunch of good people - James, Jackie, Gianni, Dave, 
Dave Hoffman, Kaz, Koz, Steve, Amy, Mike, Tarik, Ryan, and probably some 
more that I'd only recognize if I saw them.  I was wild and loud, scary to
most people, famous for my "DAAH!" screams and occasional fighting on-stage
for no apparent reason.  Yes, the standard politics of such a group were 
there, but they were enough in the background that teaching could happen
without too many difficulties.  I even enjoyed the sketches we were in,
from the Time Sketch to the entire Hootie series.  All in all, I learned.  
And it was glorious... 
</p>

<p>
And then everybody left for the next year.
</p>

<p>
The opening show of my sophomore year consisted of five people: me, Jackie, 
James, dahoffma, and Gianni.  It was a good show, one of the best I've
ever remembered; that didn't change the fact, though, that Jackie and
Gianni were just there so we'd have enough people for the show.  The rest
of us realized that we needed a recruiting drive badly if we wanted to
survive; we also realized that the easiest solution was to get a lot of
females, so that we could have less inherent cross-gender parts.  
</p>

<p>
40 people came to the first rehearsal after our recruiting drive.  35 were
still there the next one.  For the first month, we didn't drop below 30.
And more than half of them were female.
</p>

<p>
It was an odd situation - there were ten times as many novices as
veterans.  We split into two, sortof, to keep from stepping on each
other's toes - one half did sketches, one did improv.  It actually went
fairly well; the shows were good, we all had fun, and there's really not
much more you could want out of it...  
</p>

<p>
Then <a href="chaos.html">Ch@os</a> split off.
</p>

<p>
Disco was almost shattered by that incident.  Nine of our own, splitting
off to do their own work, even with their assurances...no, there wasn't
much that could be said to bring back the troupe unity after that.  A lot
of people quit; others just stopped showing up.  While the Eight still
came to rehearsals, a lot of us weren't happy that they did; certainly, I
would have been happier if they'd just made their choice and left.  But,
well, that wasn't my decision to make.  Not yet.  Not until the end of the
year, when the reins were handed over to me and James... 
</p>

<p>
Junior year was an odd time.  We didn't lose too many people between the
semesters, but we didn't gain too many more either; only Chuck, Sam, and
Nate joined us from the outside.  Still, James and I had something to work
with - and so the troupe worked.  We did outside shows (at Borders, Barnes 
&amp; Noble, Lincoln Square, and Krannert), we mostly ignored sketches, and 
we generally acted silly.  It wasn't a year of great improvements, but at
least it happened.  And we survived it.
</p>

<p>
Then senior year rolled around.  The leadership of Disco was handed off to
me entirely, because James was moving out; still, he stuck with the troupe, 
making us not entirely an Allen group for the first time.  We got some
freshmen, thanks to another strong recruiting drive (and some interesting
love interests).  We ran into some really strange and bothersome mem...uh,
issues, and had to have some really long talks about it in order to solve the
problem.  And, eventually, I resigned because nobody was really listening
to me...
</p>

<p>
I finally resigned from Disco on the eve of my 50th month in the troupe,
on October 29, 1999 - about seven months after I had resigned as director.
My official reasons were detailed in <a href="../docs/ldbnr-leave">this
post</a> to the Like Disco newsgroup; as always, though, a single post
can't tell the whole story.  The truth of the matter was that our
recruiting was woefully inadequate, the new members weren't learning what
they needed to know, and that I was having a hard time getting beyond
this to have a good time.  Once that stopped, it was time for me to go...
</p>

<p> My last show was the <a
href="http://www.uiuc.edu/~comedy/shows/99-00/halloween.html">168th
Annual LDBNR Halloween Spectacular</a> - not the best end to a long
career, especially considering the games that I was in and the roles I was
forced to play, but it was an end.  That was what I needed. </p>

<p> Some day, when I return to Allen to visit, I hope that Disco has
survived. It was a good thing, both for me and for those that were in the
troupe with me.  Live forever, troupe... </p>
 
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