October 2007 Archives

Congratulations to Blewt's Ken Barnard and Dan Telfer who came in second and third (respectively) in tonight's Time Out Chicago's Funniest Person in Chicago contest. They each won $100, a Time Out gift bag, and tickets to Barrel of Monkey's That's Weird, Grandma. Hannibal Burris (not a Blewtian, but we like him anyway) took the grand prize. Hooray for everyone. But especially Ken and Dan.

Tonight I'm going to get to watch Ken Barnard, Dan Telfer, and four other non-Blewt! schmoes battle it out for Funniest Person in Chicago at the Lakeshore Theater 7pm tonight.  I didn't have a video of my act in time for the contest, but here is my stand-up:

In two days, Don't Spit the Water opens its first franchise (of sorts).  A version of the show will be running at the Dirty South Comedy Theater in North Carolina.  It will be hosted by new characters, and feature new local comics from North Carolina's comedy scene.  This is pretty exciting!  And it's happening 2 days before the 3-year anniversary of Don't Spit the Water.

This story gets old every time I tell it... but who would have thunk it?  I realize that persistence has been one of the keys for keeping this show running so long.  I'm proud, though, that the show has run this long.  This last year has been great for Blewt!  We introduced Apes, performed at colleges, took a show to the suburbs... and now we're splitting off to North Carolina for an experiment in franchising.

This morning I sent an overnight package to the DSI Comedy Theater that included a trademark set of sparkly curtains, and a vinyl Don't Spit the Water sign... just like the one we hang at every show in Chicago.  I hope they have grand adventures in the Dirty South!

First there was Silly Faces. Next came Silly Dances. Then there was Silly Horse Whispering. We want you to be a part of the next Silly Sessions movie... Silly Lickin' Pickles! We'll be taping at The Playground Theater (3209 N Halsted, Chicago) between noon and 3pm on Saturday, November 17th. Taping is easy! You show up ANY time between noon and 3, then you sit in front of a blue screen and lick a pickle the silliest way you can! You can even wear a mask or a costume. In post, we'll add sound effects, silly music, and wacky backgrounds. Toss an email to info@blewt.com if you want to be a part of our craziest Silly Sessions movie yet!

Two of the six finalists in Time Out Chicago's "Funniest Person in Chicago" contest are Blewt! company members!

Congratulations to Dan Telfer and Ken Barnard for being selected as finalists.  You can view their submissions on the Time Out Chicago contest page.  They'll now face off against the 4 other finalists on October 28th at the Lakeshore Theater.

Good luck, Dan and Ken!!!

My schedule since Thursday Oct. 4th:

Thursday: teach 8th graders, do an open mic at Pressure
Friday: teach 8th graders, clean the playground, run lights for the playground, go see a show at Lakeshore
Saturday: Silly Funny Goof Gang taping at 9:30am, Don't Spit the Water meeting 12pm, 7pm head for Arlington Heights, perform Don't Spit the Water, leave, drop off comics, arrive home at 2am
Sunday: day of rest but I did drink some Fat Tire and watch Shortbus
Monday: Columbus day no teaching, clean house, go to physical therapy for a pinched nerve in my upper spine, prepare for stand-up performance with Chicago Underground Comedy, drink a fat tire possibly watch Heroes.
Tuesday (the future!): teach 8th graders, prepare till I can't prepare no mo' for stand-up, perform stand-up at Beat Kitchen 9pm.

but you probably want to hear about meeting Reggie Watts, working with an uncooperative lightboard and a late drunken house manager, as well as what the hell is The KTF Championship - Battle for the Belt....

For the last three weeks, Don't Spit the Water has abandoned the safety of the city for the uncertainty of the north 'burbs.  We're three-eighths of the way through an eight week run at the Metropolis Arts Center.  It's a beautiful space that seats a little over 300 people, and in a city that doesn't have a theater on every block, that's not an entirely impossible audience to attain.  In our three shows there, we've met with such a mixed response... more after the bump.

Hey everybody, it's me, Fuzzy Gerdes! We'll see how much I blog for Blewt, since I blog a lot already.

I've been involved with Blewt as a performer for quite a while -- I was in Silly Faces and Silly Horse Whispering, my character Doctor Baron Ludwig von Evilschlager is occasionally a comedian on Don't Spit the Water, I edited the pilot episode of Silly Funny Goof Gang, and I was most recently a contestant in the second season of Impress These Apes. And now I'm pleased as punch to be on the production side of the team.

Blewt!'s blog is primarily a humorous blog.  That is, we probably won't be dealing with things like world issues or life at the CDC or who should have won the Civil War.  Things around here are a lot more funny than that.  Of course, those topics are not necessarily out of bounds if they can be dealt with using a humorous angle.  So, let's take a for example.  Using something I just mentioned above.  Life at the CDC.  So, where the average person might blog about that topic thusly, "Life at the CDC consists of many scientists with varying degrees of security clearance manipulating potentially lethal microbes on a daily basis.  A flaw in its intircate systems of security and control, even just a minor glich, could spell disaster for the world in the form of giant clouds of clostridium botulinum hovering above the world's major cities inducing men, women and children to puke to death."

Hey there!  This is the very first entry in a brand new blog.  Blewt! has recently become an LLC, a bona fide company.  I thought it'd be neat to start a group blog on our new web site where all of the members of Blewt! could chime in from time to time to discuss the many ups and downs of starting a company.  None of us really know what we're doing, and we're bound to make many mistakes along the way.  Hopefully they'll be fun to read about.  We hope you'll add comments to let us know you're here, and we hope that this turns out to be the best blog in the history of blogs.

So here's where Blewt! is right now...