Sunday, April 23, 2006

Murder Mystery Dinner Over

The whole thing was a mystery. The storyline, my character, the crowd, my accent, the singing performances (it was built around an Asian American Super Idol show), and whether or not I could pull it off with only one meeting (I missed two scheduled meetings).

I should say that the only thing that wasn't a mystery for me was that I knew I'd be asking some perverted questions. It was the most inappropriate thread I could pull off, and I'm pretty well practiced in it, both in my writing and in my improv. Yes, it's a crutch, but it sure plays well with audiences that traditionally aren't too open about those things.

So, from the get-go, I had people EXPECTING me to say inappropriate stuff. Anything from "Are you wearing underwear?" to "What's your bra size?" to "How big is your penis?" Asian folks see that kind of comedy as cutting edge, not a crutch. And, boy, did the older ones in the audience love it. There was one woman (who actually might be reading this right now since I advertised this site in my bio) who was great and actually interacted with my dialogue. She was one of those gifts for improv actors that you can't plan ahead of time for. But she showed people it was okay to respond to sexual, uh, intercourse. (Sorry.)

Judging from the spontaneous laughter and the nice comments at the end, I think we all pulled it off nicely. I even went to a karaoke room with a small group of them afterward and I think the whole night opened them up. One of the girls said all sorts of guys were asking her what her bra and penis size was, which I think is kind of cute.

As for my Bruce Lee characterization, I think I'm over it. Done deal. It's all out of my system now. Plus, I don't think many people got it. They just thought I had some weird accent.

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