I just did 6 shows in 6 days!

The Best Week of My Life

Just did 6 shows in 6 days!

And I booked 66 performers too!

And I performed at 4 amazing LA Theaters: The Lyric Hyperion, The Glendale Room, UCB, and The Pack Theater!

I did 3 improv shows, 1 bit show, 1 game show, and 1 sketch show!

This was probably the biggest week I’ve ever had as a performer.

Of all the hats I wear, that’s the one I wear the easiest.

The shows were good – I mean like they were fire good!!! – but hanging out with so many of my amazing peers from across different LA communities was probably the thing I’ll remember the most.

Plus, I got to hangout with Kristen Gull all week, which was a gift.

My life has been filled with extreme highs and lows as of late, but it felt good to have an amazing week like this past one, s week that was unlike anything I’ve ever done. Thank you to everyone who made this possible.

#improv #duoitagain
#theduplex #menudo #bithole #cuñadoscuñadasycarnales
#moonshotcomedy #lyrichyperion #theglendaleroom #ucb #packtheater

Shows 47-52

A Poem for Red Door

I love Red Door. Thank you for the masterclasses, y’all. From left to right: Ryan Marisco, me (Fernando A. Funes) and Justin Michael Terry

Here’s a Poem I Wrote In Honor of Red Door for My Poem A Day Project

Poem 44

The secret of the masters
Is that they play with great joy

If you want to be
A brooding, self loathing artisan
Whose sense of self importance
Is crucial to your work
Cool!

That’s not for me
I want to see people
Having fun

I want to see players
Moving from moment to moment
Making discoveries
Yes anding gifts
Building on top of every choice
In a way that doesn’t feel
Forced, labored, or resentful

I want to see players
Jabbing each other
Setting each other up
Trying to make the other break
Always knowing
That a foundation of
Let’s go out there and have fun
Supports everything

I want to see whimsey
Cut with vulgarity
For the sake of contrast
And to see that they can be
Balanced and complimentary
Like peanut butter
On a ham sandwich

Red Door
Weaves every choice, moment
And mistake into a great
Narrative tapestry
That feels like a built in world

They’re shows feel like a
Paperback novel you find
At a used bookstore
That you know
Has been passed around
A few times from friend to friend
That once you start reading it
You can’t stop yourself
From finishing
Until you realize it’s over
And then you’re like
What do I do next?

It’s a literal journey
A unscripted experience
That reveals the great heights
Our art form is capable
And worthy of reaching

I love these guys
Because they show me
How far I need to go
But how fun it’s going to be
To get there

44.2023

#improv #reddoor #theglendaleroom

Pic is from Red Door’s most recent show at The Glendale Room on Thursday, February 9th, 2023. Go watch their shows and take their workshops!

And special thanks to The Glendale Room for making these special moments oments possible!

Clown Heel English Professor

Ian Farley is a good dude.

Send In The Clowns Was So Much Fun!

I got to play a heel English teacher with my friend Ian Farley for Natasha Mercado’s Send In The Clowns!

I don’t like being a bad guy in real life, but damn if I’m not good at playing one on stage.

I played a nasty heel who judged the audience for not doing the poetry homework Ian and I assigned before the show started.

I judged audience members for their penmanship, why they didn’t do the assignment, and had random favorites. I was every petty despot English teacher who made you feel small.

I’m telling you, people looked at me with anger and disgust. They hated my character, but most of them thought that was me!

I’ve gotten looks of disgust for bombing, and these were not it – these people despised me! If I ever turn heel in real life, I have a template ready to go! (It’s just crazy to know that)

My gut is telling me to explore this heel energy more and see how many more bad guy characters I can channel. Who knows what I come up with?

Also, all of this was Ian Farley’s idea. He had a rough idea for using poetry for our bit, we came up with a loose structure, and then found the game on stage. He was a great partner on stage as we worked together to find the piece in real time – book him for your shows!

And all the other acts killed! Natasha Mercado cured a great lineup! I’m so happy we have a clown champion sharing this beautiful art form with as many people as possible! Stay tuned for the next Send In The Clowns!

#clown #bit #heel #sendintheclowns

Show 15 of 2023

The Improv Life: Why Bits are Important to Friendship

I had this job once where no one did bits. I’m not kidding. I would throw a great line just waiting to be riffed on, and the potential bit would die on the vine.

Or some body would unknowingly deliver a great premise just asking to be tossed around a circle and have every possible joke made about it. But it would just become nothing.

Hanging out with comedians and writers had spoiled me. Everything was a bit, a run of jokes to see who could come up with the funniest line. I mean not everything was a bit, but the possibility to see the humor in every situation and riff on it was always on the table.

Nor did they understand the concept of bits. I tried teaching them, but they never understood. It’s not that you need your co-workers to be good at bits; it’s that bits make life fun. They inject humor into any situation that otherwise would’ve been boring and absent of meaning.

Not that every situation must be a bit. And living in a constant state of bitiness can be exhausting. You’re always on (or feel like you have to) and you feel like you can’t be your honest self for a moment.

But not doing bits at all. Damn. That’s a hard one. What they don’t tell you is that a bit is a shortcut to friendship. If you can do bits with someone, you can also be honest and real with them when you need to be.

Friendship isn’t always about making each other laugh. It’s also supporting each other during the different movements in the opera that is life. Sometimes you need someone to laugh with; other times you need someone to hug you while your world falls apart. And if you can do bits with someone, you know you can shed tears with them too. That’s why bits are important – it’s a way to find real friends.

Shout out to all the friends I made throughout the years because they were good at bits.

#bits #improv #comedy #friendship #community #relationships 

12 Things I Don’t Like About Bits

12 Things I Don’t Like About Bits

1. People who don’t get bits

2. People who don’t respond to bits

3. People who are threatened by bits
Because they don’t understand them

4. People who think you’re being serious when you’re just really commiting to a bit, and that seriousness forces you to double down on your commitment.

5. People who like to do bits in front of others without taking into account people’s reaction to it, not knowing how to turn the dial from high to low or vice versa depending on the response.

6. People who laugh at their own bits while they’re doing them, but who get mad when you don’t laugh at them to

7. People who think they’re funny telling you they’re funny, and then proceeding to do nothing funny at all, disproving their claim as soon as they make it.

8. Office clowns who win the position by default because they speak up the most while being oblivious to how people respond to them.

9. People who claim to like bits in theory, but don’t know how to emotionally react to bits in fact.

10. People who use bits to attack others, but then get hurt when the heat is turned on them.

11. People who think they’re funny but are not.

12. Bullies

*I’ve been all these people at some point in my life.

112.2020 #poem #poemaday #nationalpoetrymonth #bits #jokes #routine #act #comedy #writer #stevemartin #orange #sketchcomedy #standup #improv