Brian Kameoka's blog

Bob Odenkirk and Tom Johnson in a Load of Hooey at the Brody Theater

This weekend (March 16-17, 2012) I have the privilege of performing in a very cool show at the Brody Theater, Bob Odenkirk and Tom Johnson in A Load of Hooey. The co-creator of the legendary Mr. Show and a current star of Breaking Bad will be at the Brody to team up with his old cohort, Brody artistic director Tom Johnson, for a night of standup and sketch comedy.

Bob and Tom will both be performing standup comedy and solo pieces, and along with a cast of Brody Theater performers (plus me) will perform in sketches written by Bob. The cast includes Marilyn Divine, Brian Kameoka, Ian Karmel, Kerry Leek, Brian MacMillan. There will be three shows:

- Friday, March 16 @ 8:30pm.
- Saturday, March 17 @ 7:30pm and 10pm.

There’s also a Q&A session with Bob on March 17 at 1:30pm. Tickets are available via the Brody Theater's website and will go fast.

Kevin Dorff

Kevin Dorff's playing Portland again.  SEE THIS SHOW AT THE BRODY THEATER ON SATURDAY!  I wish I were going to be there!  If you're near Portland, Oregon, you should check the show out this weekend - he'll be sitting in on the Saturday night's 8pm show, a new long form show called I'll Make You a Better Me.  I just spent time trying to figure out if there was any way I could make it up, but I can afford neither the plane ticket nor the nine-hour drive this weekend.

These days most people know Kevin Dorff as writer/performer for Late Night with Conan O'Brien, or for appearances on 30 Rock, The Office, Adult Swim's Delocated and soon, the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien.

Improv folks who've been around know Kevin for his extraordinary talent as an improviser.  He possesses a legendary improv resume - the Second City revue Paradigm Lost (won Chicago's Jeff Award and was documented in the VHS-only Second To None), the seminal long-form show Jazz Freddy, and ImprovOlympic house team Blue Velveeta.  He's also among a handful of Second City mainstagers to go "super mainstage," as he put it - meaning stepping down after a long run as opposed to going direct to a TV gig.  One of the few gigs he did, between leaving mainstage and joining Conan, was to come out to the Brody Theater in Portland and teach workshops as well as sit in with us.  Hard to believe that was ten years ago!

Here's a pic of me and Dorff in 2001 in Vegas:

On a personal note, Kevin has been a friend since we met in 1992 when he and Noah came to workshop and sit in with "rv" - I group I was in while in college.  My nickname "Cuke" came from Kevin - from a scene in a show we did.  Since he's moved on to the bright lights of network TV, we don't see each other much but have stayed in touch via email (and now text message), and have met up a few times when possible.

Some "link love" - follow the Brody Theater via Facebook, Twitter, or Flickr.  For the more old fashioned (web 1.0?), you can also bookmark their website and/or join their email list.

Road Trip Feb '09 - part three

A backstage view of the new Brody Theater...

View from off stage right (this pic is actually from before the stage was painted)

Grainy iPhone pic of Kerry and her amazing Chinese lantern lighting over the bar area.  Kerry would kill me if didn't clarify that she is neither drunk nor retarded, it's just my bad photography.  Kerry is awesome and beautiful and so is her Chinese lantern display.

Every improv theatre should have a prayer room.

Standard Brody Theater preshow ritual - guys look constipated.  Kerry eats a sandwich.

B-Mac! (Brian MacMillan).  Brian and I worked together at Unexpected Productions in Seattle where we performed together a bunch.  He now lives in Bend, Oregon where he's a reporter and weather guy for ABC affiliate KOHD.  Check out his website, macmillantv.com and follow him on Twitter (twitter.com/BMacNews) where you'll get great tweets like "Tonight on KOHD News @ 5 - The taser footage I promised!"

Road Trip Feb '09 - part two

One of the purposes for my roadtrip was to visit The Brody Theater - a 12-year-old theatre company in Portland, Oregon of which I am a proud founding member.  After ten years in Northwest Portland where the Brody was located underneath the Bullring Restaurant, the theatre was essentially evicted (I got to make it up to the farewell show, "And Stay Out!" which was detailed in the Willamette Week here - I even got name-checked!).  That was just over two years ago, and now, the Brody is back in a great new location (16 NW Broadway, at the corner of Broadway and Burnside in downtown Portland) with a beautiful theatre.

Here's a photo of the new space from the street:

And they boast one of the coolest bathrooms I've seen at a theatre - or anywhere, for that matter.  It's wonderfully decorated with a hodge podge of cool album covers:

 

This bathroom is a true conversation piece.  While hanging out at the bar after the show, you end up chatting about your favorite ones.  My favorite is the Buddy Hackett *Original* Chinese Waiter Comedy Album.  Yes, the original - beware imitations!

Road Trip Feb '09 - part one

I've been on a great road trip to the Pacific Northwest, or the "Cascadia" region (Oregon, Washington, British Columbia).  First stop, hung out in Seattle with old friends from Unexpected Productions for a reunion poker game (we used to have a regular Sunday night game).  I won the game!  Then I checked out the open mic at Swannie's because a bunch of U.P. folks were performing (the U.P. people I saw were great).

I met up with my good friend David Wahl, of the must-read blog Creative Creativity and co-author of the Archie McPhee book Who Would Buy This?, and we tried to go to the Grouchy Chef but as you can see below, it was closed:

I was really disappointed - I had always heard about this place in vivid detail from David (check out his blog post here), and wanted to experience it myself.  There was another sign on the door from the Grouchy Chef - see David's blog for the picture.

From Seattle, I headed to Vancouver, stopping by the Upfront Theatre to say hi.  It was great to learn that Billy Tierney had been named Artistic Director.  In Vancouver, I was graciously hosted by Alistair Cook and got to meet up with a ton of improvisers in town for VTSL's St. Valentine's Day Massacre, an annual Theatresports tournament.  Steve and Lee from Crumbs; Kevin, Amy and Kirsten from Rapid Fire; Billy, DK and Morgan from the Upfront; Renee and Matt S. from Dad's Garage; Taz and Ryan from Vancouver.  Oh! And the Seattle team of Mark, Elizabeth and Leona.

Today I'm in Portland to perform with the Brody Theater tonight and tomorrow.