Set List: Oops.

The Set List at the Pack show is now in it’s second year, some 75 shows in, and has become somewhat more gratifying to produce over time. A major reason for that is collection of regulars that show up each week for another shot at playing our game.

I usually think of Gangbusters! as the more fun show to produce because I get to go on stage and do stuff, but almost every week we start from scratch in front of a new crowd. That show is like a stone in a river, becoming smoother and more elegant. Set List, in contrast, is still growing more elaborate. Over Jason's real and pretend objections, I continue to add new embellishments so that I don't get bored. Anyway, all this to say that the current storyline has something to do with me being on tour and running the show remotely. This check-in segment is definitely not the one I would have started with, but life on the road is a complicated thing. 

Historical footnote: Phil Binder is the comedian best known for his extensive work in the medium of Facebook, in which he pretends to have been turned into a dog.

Set List at the Pack is a completely improvised stand-up show that happens every Thursday night at 10:30, at the Pack Theater in Los Angeles, CA. 

Set List Winter Logo Loop

For some reason, our title card was oddly low-res, so I rebuilt it. Also, now I've got it in a video loop with a light snowfall that I can enjoy for a couple of months.

Set List at the Pack is a completely improvised stand-up show that happens every Thursday night at 10:30, at the Pack Theater in Los Angeles, CA. 

Not Art Issue 4 on Newsstands Now!

Well, not exactly newsstands, but you can find copies at The Pack Theater and Clubhouse in Los Angeles, or anywhere you run into me from now until the next issue is ready, or, of course, you could SUBSCRIBE and let the issues roll in to your mailbox month after month. 

UNACCEPTABLE is a spy comedy that I hawk each week at Set List, which is why this post is two plugs in one!

Set List at the Pack is a completely improvised stand-up show that happens every Thursday night at 10:30, at the Pack Theater in Los Angeles, CA. 

Set List: Umbrage Edition

Oh hey Jason, I was just thinking about our place in the social ladder.  Do you remember when some out-of-towner would come to the open mic at Meltdown Comics and open with their thoughts on how stupid comic books are? And how that never worked for anyone because most of the comedians aren't that into comics and don't care, and anyone who is into comic books and is here in this comic book shop to do comedy has just been personally attacked for no reason? I thought of that just now when the biggest comic book nerd I know came in here to tell us how about how terrible our show is. Everyone needs someone to pick on I guess.

Anyway, I wouldn't normally promote a show at another theater during our show, but tomorrow night we're doing a Bat Night over at Gangbusters!, which is a comedy show performed in complete darkness, which feels a lot like: This!

(Seriously though, if agree to do a theme show and then you spend your whole set attacking the theme, the thing every other person in the room is participating in, you could just sit at home. What a jackass.)

Set List at the Pack is a completely improvised stand-up show that happens every Thursday night at 10:30, at the Pack Theater in Los Angeles, CA.

Set List: Unfunny musings!

Someone remarked last week that the prompts here on Set List are insanely complex compared to regular improv suggestions.

My philosophy in writing them is that they are not improv suggestions. If anything, they are the A-to-C connections that improvisers might pull out of an opening game based on a suggestion. After all, they are not the germs of ideas, they are the comedian's notes to remind them of ideas they've already worked through. 

The good ones present either a juxtaposition or double meaning that can be pursued in the direction of a joke. The best ones might do both at once. (The mediocre ones get a laugh all by themselves!)

I don’t want to give you a random noun and hear about what it makes you think of, because–as is always true in stand-up comedy–I want you to come up with a joke, and I very expressly don’t want to hear a dull story about your boring life. 

Set List at the Pack is a completely improvised stand-up show that happens every Thursday night at 10:30, at the Pack Theater in Los Angeles, CA.