What a weekend...

Just got back from what could easily be described as one of the best weekends I've had in Chicago in a very long time.

(*This is a rather long update - one that even Pete would be proud of - so run and get a blanky and some cocoa)

The weekend began with Steph accompanying me to Chicago where we crashed with our most gracious hosts, Corey & Mo (as enthusiastically seen above). The weekend began with game night at some friend's of Corey & Mo's, and many inside jokes were the result of a raucous game of Catch Phrase followed by the new game sweeping the nation, Corey Rittmaster's Celebrity! (name pending). Needless to say, the phrase, "I felt myself go poo," will be forever embedded in our minds. We wound the night down by relaxing at their condo watching all of the late scores from the NCAA tournament trickle in over SportsCenter.

Saturday began with the exciting news that Corey & Mo's show, entitled corey & mo: at the end of the day, was being considered for a big improv show coming up and they needed to throw a press kit together pronto. So we all fired up our respective laptops and got to work - they creating the bios sheet and myself whipping up a flier for their show, the results of which you can see to the right. Corey & Mo workshopped some of their material at The Playground Theater and are working the second half at the same venue very soon. They're also going to be performing their show as part of ComedySportz Quad Cities presents Gilda's Weekend of Laughter in a few weeks, so be sure to check it out if you're in the area. So after much proofing and re-editing, the press kit was finished and Steph and I wandered off to Skewers for lunch.

Next up was the reason we had made the journey in the first place and that was to take part in CSz Chicago's March Madness tournament as the representatives of CSzQC. Before the show, we headed to the Goose Island Pub, a place I used to frequent when I lived in Wrigleyville. We watched the Kansas Jayhawk game, as Corey & Mo are from Kansas City and rabid fans, and I enjoyed a long awaited Goose Island Root Beer (which is phenomenal if you have never had one before). We met up there with our manager, Jeff A., and his wife, April, had a quick dinner, and then headed to the brand new CSz Chicago theatre.

It was Corey, Mo, Jeff A., and myself against a Chicago team that had won the most matches during their tournament. Out of the four CSz shows I have done in Chicago in my 14 years of doing this stuff, this was easily the best experience of them all. Not just because we had a solid show, but also because this was the best reception I think we have ever had as a visiting team to this city that is known for being a bit stiff when it comes to improv because it's the town where it started so expectations are at a constant high. However, we just felt embraced from the moment we walked in the door until the moment we left. As for the show itself, we opened with a surprisingly brief round of What Are You Doing?, then followed up with a Director's Cut that was admittedly shaky as I don't think Corey & Mo had ever played it, and it had been quite awhile since I had done it was well. Our next round was Styles Replay and it was my favorite scene of the entire match. The styles we got to replay were fear, Charles Dickens, and film noir and...well...you just had to be there. The scene rocked and it was really fun to share the stage with my team. The Chicago team then rocked a great round of 5 Things - and even guessed the Baldwin Brothers correctly in the process (again, you had to be there). The second half was a fun round of Out of Gas and our final game was a clap-along ID Symphony that had the audience singing along by the end. We ended the night with Foot In Mouth/World's Worst and it was a nice finish to an outstanding show. Of course, we came in second as it wasn't our tournament to win, but winning isn't the point of a show anyway - it's giving the audience a show they'll talk about after they leave - and I think we gave them that and more. So the night is over, right? Not so fast...

Back when we hosted the CSz National Tournament in 2002, the Chicago team performed their infamously foul and amazingly funny no-holds barred show, The Hot Karl (Google it if you don't know what that means and you'll get the idea of what the show entails). They invited a few people to guest with them, including me, and it was the first time I had done long form in years. It's definitely not a show for the easily offended and also something I've never gotten to do before - just take the filter off and say or do whatever hits you in the moment - and I actually loved every vulgar minute of it. The host and co-founder of the show, Tim Chidester, told me after the show that I had an open invite if I was ever in Chicago to guest with them...and it just so happened that they were doing The Hot Karl right after our March Madness show. I caught up briefly with Tim and the cast backstage and they very graciously invited me to do the show with them despite my lack of giving them notice I would be in town. It was SO fun! It honestly was an experience I always wanted to have on a Chicago stage, but never had, so my thanks go out to them again for letting me sit in. And Tim reminded me that the door is always open to me whenever I'm back in town...

Following the show, we went across the street to Clarke's for a quick bite to eat and then, similar to the night before, chilled out at Corey & Mo's place and watched the rest of the NCAA scores get posted.

As Sunday was Easter...which was before Passover (now, I'm not really religious so someone please explain that one to me), our plan was to hit downtown, but also came to the realization that most every place would be closed due to the holiday. However, after a brief venture online, we found that there were still quite a few places that were still open and we could easily make a day out of it. So Steph and I packed up, thanked and said goodbye to Corey & Mo (thanks again, you two!) and headed to the Mag Mile. We popped into some stores that surprisingly had holiday hours (Banana Republic) and frustratingly passed by stores that were closed and that we don't have in the Q.C. (the Apple Store), but found some cool places that I had never been to. We perused the Art Institute, Millennium Park (took the trademark tourist photo in the silver, galactic jellybean thing), and the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum - where we left an abrupt yet funny message on the video board. We hopped back in the car and took our time coming home and luckily avoided the random snowstorm that decided to hit the Midwest in the process.

So it was a great weekend and is really inspiring me to want to move back up to the Windy City and give it a second chance. I've got a lot more friends up there now and I think it would be something that it wasn't the first time I was up there: fun.