Wednesday, August 12, 2009

I'm ready for my closeup Mr. Boyd

I've auditioned for one play in my life.  I was about nine when my dad called me and told me I should come down to the theater and audition for Pippin.  Believe it or not, I don't get many of those calls.  I went down and saw two kids audition before me.

The first kid handed his music to the pianist and then sang his little heart out.  The second one showed him up by bringing his own pianist.  I had no choice but to one up him.  I just had two problems - I don't act or sing.  So I walked up on stage, sans the music but holding an RC can and sang 100 bottles of beer on the wall.  I'm fairly certain I got more laughs than anyone else...but not the part.

So I'm 0 for 1 lifetime on auditions.  I've been in a couple of radio commercials, tv commercials, plays and have written and performed some stuff in front of groups big and small.  I remember being backstage with the Jars of Clay watching them laugh at a sketch I'd written right before I walked on stage in front of 4,500 people for the next one.  The thing about all of these "performances" is that I never auditioned or even asked for them...they just sort of happened.

Being in an improv troupe just sort of happened, and now being in a motion picture seems to just have happened.  None of these things are or were ever a dream, but they are kind of fun.  I tell people that improv, and now the movie, is like my golf.  It's something I do just for fun.  It's better than golf in that I make a little money, rather than spend it, and I rarely find myself throwing clubs in anger. 

And that's ultimately what it is for me.  It's a fun hobby with no great spiritual significance.  It's not going to end poverty or get Fuller new shoes.  It's just good fun.  Today I begin my part of this local motion picture, and what could be more fun on a Wednesday whilst on vacation... It's my golf...

3 comments:

  1. I'd rather watch you golf. It's funnier.

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  2. I'm kidding, or course. There's nothing funny about people paying money to play golf at an industrial park par 3 golf course with dirt fairways and a hornet infestation. My best hole was always the 9th which I tended to play entirely with my putter.

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  3. I've actually witnessed a Wolfenberger Putter Par...and it was a thing of beauty. I also saw you walk into the bathroom at the reunion...and then you were gone. Did you miss the four hour extravaganza?

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