If You’re Tired Of The Big So-So

I saw Get Your War On last week. It was the swearingest show I’ve ever seen in my life. The show, based on a popular Internet comic from New York, was put on at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, D.C. by a theatre group called Rude Mechanicals out of Austin, Texas. Truly, it is a national effort. I loved it. Anyone familiar with the comic knows that it is a stripped-down 4-panel invective aimed at terrorism, war, and those who profit from both. To call it bilious does not do it justice. Bush, Cheney, bin Laden, Rumsfeld, North Korea, Wolfowitz, Ashcroft, and even Voltron are on the receiving end of some blisteringly funny rage.

It’s a traveling show, and if it comes anywhere near you, I suggest you see it.

Less sweary, but just as entertaining, was the night of improv comedy I saw at the Washington Improv Theatre. Once you get past the too-clever acronym, you find yourself in the midst of some pretty talented kids. There were two troupes, Best Friends and One Sixty One, performing 30 to 40 minutes each with minimal direction from the audience. It wasn’t like that abysmal “Who’s Line Is It Anyway” bullshit, where professionals are forced to perform acting exercises for our “amusement.” This was more like jazz, where the actors were allowed to riff, and if they hit something good, solo for a bit.

If you’re in Washington D.C., I suggest you see it.

And here’s some more pictures.

I don't know what that building was, but I thought it looked cool.

Me and Abe.

Me and George.

Here's another damn elitist liberal sipping on a soy latté.