Posted 8:05 AM by Blah blah

Yesterday: engagement, Spanish food, improv comedy

My housemates' Vietnamese engagement party yesterday. I will post pics.

Last night: met Pjammer, Loni, and Clint. Tried a Spanish restaurant for the first time, called Picasso's. It was absolutely delicious and I highly recommend it to all of ya! They had a great variety of selections. We mainly tried the tapas (appetizers). It was my first time and I LOVED them!

Clint and Loni were also very cool. Both are originally Canadians. Clint is a marketing guy and plays in an ice hockey league. Pic of Clint. I may introduce him to Patrick. Loni is a software engineer.

Picasso's Restaurant

62 W. Santa Clara St.
San Jose, CA
(408) 298-4400

Then we went to see ComedySportz, which is competitive, team, improvisational comedy. It's in a room on the second floor of the Bella Mia Restaurant in downtown San Jose. Restaurant and atmosphere looked delightful too, though I don't like Italian food as much.

We sat in the front row. In ComedySportz or TheatreSportz, they DON'T heckle you in the audience. They must treat you with courtesy. The comedians asked Loni, who was giggling away, up on stage for one of their games. Then they gave her a pair of flyswatters and made her the only judge for the night! Haha.

Pjammer, who finished coursework at San Francisco Comedy College, has done standup comedy himself. He was his usual hyper fast-talking self. *Wink*

In improv team comedy, two teams of people lightheartedly compete with each other to get your approval. They play several games, like "object switch." As usual, the comedians were very funny.

However, they weren't as brilliantly funny as the folks at Seattle TheatreSports, where I went about a month ago with Patrick. TheatreSports has a slightly different setup from ComedySportz. In Seattle, they had more challenging games to improvise. In that one night, the comedians improvised a five minute musical (based on the stupid idea "weeding a garden"), a five minute opera, and a skit spoken completely in Shakespearean language. They actually made up songs for the opera and musical and sang them. For the musical, their songs actually RHYMED. Their performance also seemed longer than that of ComedySportz.

Whatever. If you've never seen improv, go check it out! It's more risky and needs an incredibly quick wit. Different from individual standup comedy.

But I want to check out TheatreSports more now! I like their style and system better.

They have these licensed TheatreSports leagues around the world, including Europe, Australia, and Asia (where some of you guys are). The closest group to me is the Stanford Improvisors, but they look like their performances are mainly by Stanford students at the end of each school quarter.

For regular performances and a more professional group, I must go to San Francisco, which has the BATS Improv. Fratelli Bologna, also a TheatreSports group, does what they call "business theater." They touch on corporate issues for a business audience. Fascinating.

Today: morning tennis, then rollerblading, as usual, with Patrick. Possible afternoon BBQ with Pjammer again. I may go visit Lisa (British chick) tonight.