Every day when my Mom came home from work one thing was certain – she was going to watch her soap opera. Most of the time I watched it with her.
She was a religious fan of “Guiding Light” for as long as I can remember being alive. She set the VCR every morning and hit play every afternoon. Usually I sat on the floor playing with my wrestling toys as she watched (my own personal soap opera I suppose).
“Guiding Light” – like most soaps – was a pretty crazy show. There was your usual soapy drama – hookups, power plays, murder.
Then it got REAL crazy. People came back from the dead. There were twins with two different fathers. There was even a human clone. (The clone storyline was my favorite.)
My mom watched “Guiding Light” for as long as I can remember. She stuck around to the bitter end as aired its final episode in 2009. I have to admit, I grew pretty attached to the show too.
But I think sometimes we make our lives too much like soap operas. Continue reading →
Some of you may be facing 3 more years of the same old, same old status quo. Others may be on the precipice of major changes and choices in life.
But wouldn’t it be cool to jump 3 years into the future to get a glance at how things will pan out?
That’s what “Parks and Recreation” did on their recent season finale. Not to give anything away, but the final scene took Leslie Knope and her Pawnee crew on a bold leap , skipping over 3 years and settling into the near future where the next season will take place. Continue reading →
Those names will be familiar to any comedy fan who grew up in the 90s.
Who knew “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” would still be inciting laugh riots 25 years after its inception in 1988, returning to the CW this week with a brand new season of improv comedy.
You may think “Whose Line” is just asgoofy comedy show. But I think the two golden rules of improv can radically improve your everyday life.
The first key to improv is simple: Just say yes.
When you take an improve class the most important lesson you learn is when starting a scene, you must say yes to whatever happens. No matter what your partner in the scene says, you must go along with it.
Saying no kills the momentum of comedy. It stops a scene dead in its tracks.
Think about the tried and true “Whose Line” Superheroes sketch. Heres’ a refresher for you:
Each actor comes in one at a time and gives a superhero name to the next actor to enter the scene.
Can you imagine if one of the new superheroes in the scene just said no to the suggestion of his fellow actors? Comedy would die.
Instead the actors just go with it, no matter how crazy their suggested superhero name may be.
You can’t twist what kind of twist the world will throw at you today. The world spits in the face of the script you’ve written.
When your script falls apart, there are two options. You can stay stuck in your ways, arms crossed out of frustration. refusing to adapt to the unexpected
You can live palms up and out, saying yes to whatever God puts before you. You can embrace the chaos. You can improvise.
So after you’ve decided to improvise, playing along with what life brings you, what comes next?
Improv comedy grows from the art of escalation. An improv actor doesn’t stop at just saying yes.
The second rule of improve is you must always say “Yes, and…”.
Not only do you accept what the other actor has to offer. You add to it.
If someone bursts onto the scene and asks, “Have you seen what The Midtown Burglar did?” You answer “Yes, and did you see those snakeskin boots he was wearing? Impeccable fashion taste, don’t you think?”
Once you begin to accept whatever the scenes in life bring you, you can begin adding something to them. You don’t just say “yes” to your circumstances. You try to build upon them.
Even if the scene is dying, you follow through. You keep trying until you get to the conclusion. You trust even the failures are teaching you something.
Life is unscripted. You can try to plan it, but eventually the world will try to wreck your scene.
Instead of refusing to play along, try adding the two rules of improv to your life. Make everyday an improv exercise.
After all, the strangest twists and turns in life can become the most memorable and rewarding scenes.
What do you think would happen if you said, “Yes, and…” to the scenes you’re placed in today?
For 40 years, those 7 words have been uttered from studio 8H in Rockefeller Center announcing the most exciting 90 minutes of television comedy every week.
The most important of those 7 words is the first one – Live.
“Saturday Night Live”, despite what you may think, airs LIVE. It does not air on tape delay. It does not air 3 months after it was recorded. New episodes air live at 11:30 pm Eastern Standard Time Saturday nights.
There’s no getting around this. If the sketches aren’t ready or the actors aren’t prepared the show cannot be postponed. There’s a contract with the network and with the viewers. The show must go on no matter what. Continue reading →
Is it wrong that I have no interest in watching “Son Of God”?
The new movie from producer Mark Burnett made over $26 million this weekend playing to faith-based crowds preparing for the Easter season. I was not one of them.
“Son Of God” is basically all of the scenes involving Jesus from 2013’s miniseries “The Bible” compiled into one feature length film. Part of me is just not interested in paying $10 to see rehashed material on the big screen.
Really though, I just don’t see anything for me when I watch the previews for “Son Of God”.
I’ve seen the story of Jesus told this way already. There doesn’t appear to be anything surprising or insightful in it. There are no risks being taken.
Now, I’m basing all this off the trailer and reviews for the film. I could be way off here. Continue reading →
He’s made hundreds of millions of dollars over his career, spent 22 years as the host of “The Tonight Show” (with one brief interruption), and has been number 1 in the ratings almost his entire run.
Yet, as the current reigning King of Late Night prepares to abdicate his throne to Jimmy Fallon, I kind of feel bad for the guy. Continue reading →
A good portion of their job performance is based on prediction. Each night the weatherperson forecasts what the temperature will be. One segment later the sports anchor gives you their gameday picks.
They’re both just guessing. And most of the time they’re both wrong.
Yet there they sit night after night, week after week, offering their often incorrect predictions.
You probably saw it this week with high-stakes playoff football and wacky temperatures across the country. Even with incredible technology tracking the weather and advanced analytics watching every game, no prediction can be perfect.
Forecasters and sportscasters are given gobs of grace based on their personality rather than their prediction performance percentages.
It must be nice to have a job where you’re not really judged on your performance.
I think sometimes as Christians we become too concerned with The Measuring Stick – how we are judged by God based on our performance in this world. Continue reading →
Every day when my Mom came home from work one thing was certain – she was going to watch her soap opera. Most of the time I watched it with her. 
POP GOD 