By Rance Rizzutto
I feel like I’m trying to get things rollin’ for when I get back…which is just under two months away.
One thing we’ve set up while we’re out here is a series of workshops with Laughtrack theater in Honolulu. They’re pretty stoked (does anyone say stoked anymore?) about having people from the mainland available as a resource to their improvisors, and we’re super pumped to be that resource.
I started off the series last Saturday with my Improv Rehab class. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. I love this workshop because it always melts brains no matter what the level of the improvisor.
Hopefully everyone had as much fun as they seemed to be having.
If you’re in Hawaii and want to take classes, contact info@laughtracktheater.com. I think there is still room in the morning classes.
By Rance Rizzutto
Every Wednesday we’re in Kona. We usually get there around noon and get coffee and use their internet.
Today we found out you can go to www.konaweb.com and look at their web cam. Our ship is in the background and we’re usually sitting just to the side of the camera, so text us and we’ll pop in.
PS. Noon=2pm Oregon time, 4pm Chicago time
By Rance Rizzutto
If you’re in Honolulu today make sure you stop by the Laughtrack theater to see Marooned 5 (Deanna, Mike, Piero, Jen, and I) perform. It’s at 3:30pm!
Did I mention it is now 7:20? So, you may have missed it. It was a fun time.
Today I bought a new laptop and I am trying to get it set up…so…bye!
By Rance Rizzutto
It is almost dodgeball time…
By Rance Rizzutto
One thing I’ve been introduced to on ships is the Neti Pot.
If you’re not using this little gem, do.
When ever I would get colds the process would take days. The stuffiness would slowly go from one side of my head to the other and then end up in a cough.
Last year in New York I bought a Neti Pot. All it takes is warm water, and a little saline packet. Mix it up then pour it in your nose. It fills up your sinuses and resets the pH level making things hard for any bacteria to live. It works best if you cut off the cold before it gets set. So, if you’re totally stuffed up it isn’t going to work as well because there is a huge amount of snot blocking your sinus wall. But, if you feel that little tickle in your throat or nose that usually leads to a cold, neti time.
I was skeptical about even getting one until I went to the beach one day. I was feeling like I was going to get a cold, but well enough to go to the beach. There were some big waves and we attempted to body surf in on them. I got rolled pretty hard on one wave and my sinuses got douched with salt water. All signs of the cold were destroyed. Same principal.
So, this week Mike was getting over a cold, but Jen caught it, and then I caught it. I didn’t cut it off soon enough to get rid of it altogether, but the symptoms are a lot less horrible.
Way to go Neti. You are win!
By Rance Rizzutto
So, I feel I have to comment on my trolley ride today. I’ll keep it as vague as I can, but people who know who I’m talking about will know enough details to piece it together.
Most of our destinations have shuttle buses, but a couple have trolleys that come by to take passengers to destinations. This is probably the third time I’ve taken this trolley, and I only decided to take it because I had noticed that there has been a different driver the past few weeks.
When we first rode the trolley we were warned about the driver not allowing cell phones (that should be a dead give away for the prior cast). The driver I had seen lately seemed a lot more relaxed and fun.
Today I planned on taking the trolley to the mall to get a coffee, and then just take a nice walk back. You know, takin’ it easy on show day. Well I wait around for the trolley and play some Settlers on my iTouch. The trolley pulls up. I go to get on while still playing my game. “No cell phones on the trolley.” Oh no. Once everyone boarded he told me again. I decided it wasn’t worth the effort to explain to him that it wasn’t a phone, or to ask why phones weren’t allowed. I could understand if he didn’t want people talking while he did his spiel, but not even texting? But I knew the answer. This guy likes to hear his own voice.
There were only two passengers and about 4 crew, so his entire talk was pretty much about how the other driver is probably going to get fired because he wasn’t checking IDs on the return trip, and he was taking people with beach towels…and that the other driver had a brain the size of a peanut. It seems the company put him back on because he “can make people do what he says.”
To break it down…this guy is a dick. You just get that vibe. But it went further today because he was trying to impress the crew. This is the conversation best as I can remember:
“The other guy is probably going to get fired. They put me back on because I can make people do what I say. It doesn’t matter if they like it or not. I was in the military and I don’t cay-ah (care). I was on a better job than this but they put me back here because of them. I don’t like driving THIS trolley because you can’t adjust the seat or wheel. I have to lean forward to reach the wheel. I told them if they keep me on this trolley I’m going to take the cushions off the passenger benches so they don’t get comfort if I don’t. I’m just sharin’ the love I get. Yeah. I’m gonna hit the bumps extra hard.”
crew: “you’ll get fired.”
“There’s no way I can get fired. There’s nothing they can do to me. First off, my uncle is the Maui Sheriff. Second, I am from royalty. My lineage has been proven by the federal state. When I was in the military I had so many article 15s and all I ever got was a slap on the wrist because they knew I was royalty. One time they tried to punish me and the whole town got up set and said ‘we’ll burn this whole place down if you do anything to him.’ So, they said ‘it isn’t worth it…let him go.’ There’s no way I could get fired.”
100% bullshit. I remember when I went on vacation in London and Prince Charles was doing double-decker bus tours. There must be something about giving someone a microphone and letting him talk that eventually makes them believe “not only can I say anything, but whatever I saw is true.”
It was only made worse by some of the crew buying into his story.
So, if you ride on a trolley, and it gets to the point where stuff like that is being said you probably have the right to say “why are you driving a trolley if you’re royalty?”
By Rance Rizzutto
In the show I’m currently doing for one company on another company’s form of mass-transportation I’m in a scene with Deanna. I’m a guy preparing for a date with her…she is a blow-up doll. All she has to do is lay on some chairs, pretend to get inflated, hold the standard blow-up doll pose, then deflate. Easy, right?
This scene is usually a heavy hitter because of the ridiculousness of it all. For one gentleman sitting far back stage right it was the funniest thing he had seen in a long, long time. His laugh was…well…IS impossible to describe accurately in text. Let’s just say it was a funny laugh.
When his laugh was mixed in with everyone else’s at the “reveal” that Deanna is a blow-up doll, not so bad. When the laughter has died down as people wait to see what the next beat will be and all you can hear from the stage is that one guy’s laugh. Well…that is enough to make a blow-up doll start to giggle.
Deanna broke. And a few seconds later, so did I. Holding that pose seems easy enough until you realize that it means they can’t move the whole time. Watching the fight between trying to hold that pose while actually laughing was what pushed me over the edge.
In other news, whales are jumping like crazy today in Hilo. The moms are teaching their young how to breach. I clocked it at about six breaches a minute…for real.
