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The Joy of Craigslist Missed Connections, Vol. II
(Two stories in one! Just your luck!)

See if you can follow this...

This Monday, my improv class/troupe had our first performance in front of actual humans who paid for their seats...we were part of a comedy showcase that featured a bunch of established comedians, plus us and another improv group trained by Bay Area Theatersports, which--in the world of local improv--is apparently the big time. Taking classes at BATS is normally pretty expensive, but their group was in a free class offered to individuals with AIDS and other terminal diseases. OK, I'm digressing.

We were set to go onstage just before them, at the end of the show. We had 12 minutes total, and set up our four games to maximize the audience's enjoyment: Freeze Tag! New Choice! Hands! Man on the Street! (Don't question, just accept. I can show you what they are if you ask nicely.)

About half an hour before we were set to go on, their coach--and I say coach purposefully, although it did feel more like a battle than a ballgame--asked ours if they could go on before us, because they were nervous. Hey, we're nervous too! Whatever! So we ended up headlining, in a way.

Now, in improv, there are dozens of games to choose from. They can revolve around one of the performers having to guess something the audience suggests, involve switching one's mood/genre/location/status on command, involve incorporating a random phrase into a random situation; some are simply based on the interaction of two or three people.

So you can imagine our horror as, upon taking the stage, the other troupe proceeded to play Freeze Tag! and then New Choice! and then Hands! #$;!)(*&#%!! We scrambled to do something different. Not that it wouldn't have been funny twice (and we would have doubled the funny), but it would still look a little weird. So were switched a few around, put a few others in, and...it worked. Until the end.

Man on the Street, our closing game, had all the makings of a grand finale. It involves everyone, engages the audience, and is really easy to do. Pick a topic, set someone up as a reporter trying to get public opinion on that topic, and have everyone else (adopting various kooky personas) parade by to be interviewed. Easier than it sounds.

We asked for a topic. We expected "summer is here, where's the warm weather?" or "what do you think of the World Cup?" We did not expect "LESBIAN DOG-MAULING TRIAL!" (In short, a woman was killed by a large dog outside her apartment while the dog's owner watched without acting. The victim's lesbian partner is suing for wrongful death. It's messy.) Guess what: NOT FUNNY. Terrible way to end.

(You may be wondering how craigslist works into all this. To quote Mr. Ruehle, my high school physics teacher, I told you that story so I could tell you this one. And here's where everything gets weird. Take a break. Have a snack.)


An acquaintance of mine (who just happened to come without knowing I'd be there, and whom I'll call A for convenience) who had been sitting in the front row with a friend of his (B), came up to me afterward and sprinkled some congratulations around. Everyone was very polite, all was well, blah blah blah.

So...yesterday, I'm cruising through craigslist and in that wacky missed connections board, a subject header catches my eye: it mentions the comedy showcase from Monday. Hm? A missed connection occurred under my nose? Interesting!

It's from one of my troupemates! I'll call him C. Now, C is quite a character and has hit on me in the past (while drunk, at a party hosted by another classmate), and is fine as a classmate and an acquaintance. And nothing more.

The message is addressed to B! (I know, because C describes A very clearly, while asking if they're "together.") He included a link to his picture gallery, which I thought was nice (well, wouldn't you have a look?) until I came across the FULL FRONTAL NUDE SHOT! (And we're not talking "artistic" here.) AAAAAAUUUUGHHHH! Did. Not. Need. To. See. That.

Now I'm going to be in contact with C again next Wednesday (in a group setting), and the questions are already swirling around my head:
-Will I be able to ignore the fact that I've seen him naked?
-Do I really want to spend time around someone who would post nude pictures of himself to a public forum in order to get someone's attention?
-Should I tell him I've seen them? (Will he mistakenly think I'm showing interest?)
-Should I tell A (seeing as he is tangentially involved)?
-Should I tell everyone in the troupe except C and giggle about it?
-Should I tell craigslist?
-Am I making too much out of this?

And thereby hangs a tale.
peachy as always, Mike at 5:27 PM