a rare medium, well done

I've been doing comedy improv most of my life; I just didn't know it. As a kid, I would get together with my friends Marc and John to record comedy tapes which we'd make up on the spot. These recordings were actually fairly funny (within the constraints of Sturgeon's law*), at least for a bunch of 10-year olds. (For more on this subject, see the "Silliness" section.)

Years later, after landing a job as musical director of Mental Floss, Miami's legendary comedy improv company, I realized just what art form we'd been butchering all that time. I can't help thinking that if we'd known about improvisational techniques back then, Marc, John and I might have come up with some really great stuff. But this is only because I'm too stupid to realise that we were a bunch of know-nothing kids who couldn't have improvised our way out of a paper bag if we'd been hampered by any sort of structure.

But I digress.

Mental Floss

Mental Floss Was... For the benefit of search engine posterity, here are the names of what I consider to be the core group, the cast members who participated in the salad days of the group (with links where available): Patrick Manley Gerald Owens Nick Santamaria Mark McCracken Maribeth Graham Sal Pisani Chris Brown G. Michael McKay Lori Creevay Karen Gordon Director, Founder, Owner, Guru: Sandy Mielke Co-Owner, Lighting Director: "Long" Don Silver (R.I.P.)

I had the good fortune of joining Mental Floss just before its heyday, staying on through its most successful years and leaving (okay, being fired, but that's a long story) before hurricane Andrew put an end to the whole operation.

Floss was a big enough deal during my tenure (1989 to 1991) that I, the lowly musician, barely visible down on the floor at stage left, would get recognised by strangers on the street. No one asked for my autograph, but you can't have everything. Still, at our peak, we were packing 'em in four shows a weekend (and getting healthy attendance for our farm club, ExperiMental Floss, whose midnight shows I also played). As the only person playing every single show, I was also making pretty good money. I actually left my proverbial day job (against all advice, of course).

So what was so special about Mental Floss? Why the modifier "legenday" before the name? Well, for one thing, we were a very professional operation. The cast came predominantly from acting (as opposed to standup comedy) backgrounds, so there was excellent scenework, not just a bunch of funny theatre games. We put on a well intergrated show, with a lighting guy who "called scenes" (that is, decided when the scenes were done and provided a blackout -- none of that "and...scene!" crap); and during my time, I went from just playing during the musical improvs to underscoring every moment of the show, giving it a sort of film score effect.

So Floss was a theatrical event, not just a bunch of jokes and games. But in the end, what made Floss unique was the actors. It was an extraordinarily talented group, and they did great things. If you were there, then you you know. If you missed them, well, you can bug Sandy about those hundreds of show tapes he has stored in his house; or you can just take my word for it.

(coming soon -- the Mental Floss Story: Love, Valour, Compassion, Scorpions)