Weird moment of the week: At an improv audition, I was handed a script.
It's a fantastically worded thing, this script, set in the 1930s and providing me with my new favorite catch-phrase: "Hey, it's been a slice."
We did get to improvising, once the scripted part was over. I wasn't familiar with the game "Just a Minute" but apparently the English have been playing since the Dark Ages, when loads of knights used to sit around and invent games while they waited for the lights to come on. This particular game was a court favorite until a certain Charles got into a heated argument and lost his head. After that only paupers played "Just a Minute."
The premise works thusly: Three people are competing to be the last one talking. One starts on a random subject and can be interrupted by the words "just a minute!" at any point for repeating themselves, hesitating or getting off track. The interrupter then has the floor.
I discovered that if you speak quickly enough, with authority, nobody interrupts. You'd better be ready to go the distance, however, because each round lasts an entire minute. A minute when you're, say, eating breakfast or sleeping in, may not be much. But when you're making up a monologue on upholstery, one minute is an eternity.
Our topic on this particular round was Funky Town. I interrupted as fast as possible and laid it out. In the course of my oration, the crowd discovered that Funky Town was composed in 1832 but outlawed after the Mormons entered Utah-- where Salt Lake City was deemed not funky at all. It was preserved by its popularity in Europe, where it became a favourite of the Prince of what is now Turkey, who trained his poodles using the song Funky Town.
Poodle shows were a national pastime and kept the song rolling until it was discovered that the nervous condition of the poodles was in fact caused by Funky Town. For this reason, the Russians took on Funky Town as the key to success in propaganda, thus inspiring Communism. During the Red Scare, the song made its return to the United States as a sort of anti-propaganda, but once again fell under suspicion for the same two-beat pattern that plagued Rock n' Roll with American distrust. This and toothpaste were soon deported.
By the time I got to toothpaste, I had to take a breath and someone jumped in with "Just a minute! Poodles were not brought to Turkey until it became modern day Turkey!" They had a point, and I lost the round.
Now you know the unbridled history of Funky Town. Maybe someday we'll publish our account of asparagus.
But not until the world is ready.
It's a fantastically worded thing, this script, set in the 1930s and providing me with my new favorite catch-phrase: "Hey, it's been a slice."
We did get to improvising, once the scripted part was over. I wasn't familiar with the game "Just a Minute" but apparently the English have been playing since the Dark Ages, when loads of knights used to sit around and invent games while they waited for the lights to come on. This particular game was a court favorite until a certain Charles got into a heated argument and lost his head. After that only paupers played "Just a Minute."
The premise works thusly: Three people are competing to be the last one talking. One starts on a random subject and can be interrupted by the words "just a minute!" at any point for repeating themselves, hesitating or getting off track. The interrupter then has the floor.
I discovered that if you speak quickly enough, with authority, nobody interrupts. You'd better be ready to go the distance, however, because each round lasts an entire minute. A minute when you're, say, eating breakfast or sleeping in, may not be much. But when you're making up a monologue on upholstery, one minute is an eternity.
Our topic on this particular round was Funky Town. I interrupted as fast as possible and laid it out. In the course of my oration, the crowd discovered that Funky Town was composed in 1832 but outlawed after the Mormons entered Utah-- where Salt Lake City was deemed not funky at all. It was preserved by its popularity in Europe, where it became a favourite of the Prince of what is now Turkey, who trained his poodles using the song Funky Town.
Poodle shows were a national pastime and kept the song rolling until it was discovered that the nervous condition of the poodles was in fact caused by Funky Town. For this reason, the Russians took on Funky Town as the key to success in propaganda, thus inspiring Communism. During the Red Scare, the song made its return to the United States as a sort of anti-propaganda, but once again fell under suspicion for the same two-beat pattern that plagued Rock n' Roll with American distrust. This and toothpaste were soon deported.By the time I got to toothpaste, I had to take a breath and someone jumped in with "Just a minute! Poodles were not brought to Turkey until it became modern day Turkey!" They had a point, and I lost the round.
Now you know the unbridled history of Funky Town. Maybe someday we'll publish our account of asparagus.
But not until the world is ready.
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