Jason Specland's Tumblr

latenightjimmy: The Great Benito is back.

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 11:47:14 -0400

The Great Benito is back.

Improv Is Easy!: Unsolicited Advice

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:31:45 -0400

The day the new teams are announced, there’s a lot of space taken up on the web for the newly cast: congratulations and what not. But nothing ever really gets said to the people who are cut. I’ve been thinking a lot about that today, so I decided to offer some advice to those…

I’ve been cut from both the UCB (a very, very long time ago) and (much more recently) the PIT. (I’m considering going through the Magnet program, just so I can get on a house team and get cut from it.*)

The lesson I learned from UCB: If you truly love this stuff, don’t quit! That was a long, long, painful lesson that took me about ten years to learn. Those years weren’t unproductive. I did a lot of scripted theater, and met my wife, among other things. But improv is what I really love, and when I look at the success of many of my peers-at-the-time I wince a bit and wonder what if.

The lesson I learned from the PIT? Well, it’s so much more recent and I’m still processing it. One of them is definitely, “Don’t make this stuff so precious that every show is a judgement on your self-worth.” Perhaps I’d throw in, “Love your teammates, even through the frustrating shows, because your shows will never get better otherwise.” I’d definitely add, “It’s okay to feel angry, but perhaps you should cool off a bit before you post things you don’t mean on Facebook.” (You’d think I’d have learned to recognize that “Should I really hit SEND?” feeling by now, but nooooo…)

But that lesson from UCB was well-learned, and you can bet your ass I’m not quitting. I’ll keep banging on that door that just closed on me, and I’ll keep my eyes open for other doors to bang on. I’ll keep working, keep getting better, and if I never get on another house team, so be it, but you can bet I’ll be on that stage, making people laugh as best I can, and doing what it’s in my bones to do, for as long as I am physically and mentally able to do so.

* No, I’m not really considering that.**

** Although I was at UCB so long ago, that if I were cut from the Magnet, I’d also have the distinction of being cut by Armando Diaz twice.

kingduncan42: toxicpuppet: Everything that you wanted I have...

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 08:55:04 -0400

kingduncan42:

toxicpuppet:

Everything that you wanted I have done. You asked that the child be taken. I took him. You cowered before me, I was frightening. I have reordered time. I have turned the world upside down, and I have done it all for you! I am exhausted from living up to your expectations. Isn’t that generous?

Always reblog Labyrinth, even this hipster Labyrinth

Hipster Labyrinth:

You remind me of the babe!

What babe?

Oh, you probably never heard of it…

Chris Reblogs: Improv Rambling: Empty Justifications

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 12:51:38 -0500

Chris Reblogs: Improv Rambling: Empty Justifications:

chrisreblogs:

“You’ve done this ever since you had that head injury.”

“Have you stopped taking your meds?”

“You have alzheimer’s.”

“You must be stupid.”

“This is what I get for getting an apartment of Craigslist.”

“This is what I get for getting a date from OKCupid.”

“Oh! It was just a dream!”

…

“You’re Crazy” means “I dismiss your offer, and refuse to emotionally react to it.”

"It turns out procrastination is not typically a function of laziness, apathy or work ethic as it is..."

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 01:02:29 -0500

“

It turns out procrastination is not typically a function of laziness, apathy or work ethic as it is often regarded to be. It’s a neurotic self-defense behavior that develops to protect a person’s sense of self-worth.

You see, procrastinators tend to be people who have, for whatever reason, developed to perceive an unusually strong association between their performance and their value as a person. This makes failure or criticism disproportionately painful, which leads naturally to hesitancy when it comes to the prospect of doing anything that reflects their ability — which is pretty much everything.

But in real life, you can’t avoid doing things. We have to earn a living, do our taxes, have difficult conversations sometimes. Human life requires confronting uncertainty and risk, so pressure mounts. Procrastination gives a person a temporary hit of relief from this pressure of “having to do” things, which is a self-rewarding behavior. So it continues and becomes the normal way to respond to these pressures.

Particularly prone to serious procrastination problems are children who grew up with unusually high expectations placed on them. Their older siblings may have been high achievers, leaving big shoes to fill, or their parents may have had neurotic and inhuman expectations of their own, or else they exhibited exceptional talents early on, and thereafter “average” performances were met with concern and suspicion from parents and teachers.

”

- David Cain, “Procrastination Is Not Laziness” (via pawneeparksdepartment)

This totally justifies every excuse I’ve been giving myself from not doing that thing I’m supposed to do.

(via aaronmoles)

cokerandstratton: Ground Control to Jean Valjean from Coker...

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 13:31:40 -0500

cokerandstratton:

Ground Control to Jean Valjean from Coker & Stratton

featuring Bardia Salimi and Alice Johnson

Vocal Production by Douglas Widick

Lighting Tech Mike Sapp

thisisdavestumblr: Your Three Most Valuable Resources: Part...

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 13:09:37 -0500

thisisdavestumblr:

Your Three Most Valuable Resources: Part 2: Time

How to kill procrastination and make the most use of your time

Dave’s perseverance makes him one of my personal heroes.

The House That Del Built: The Multiverse of Denial

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 10:57:43 -0500

The House That Del Built: The Multiverse of Denial:

thehousethatdelbuilt:

We know not to “deny” in a scene. I’ve talked about why it might be an instinct (borne of a desire to create one’s own reality rather than accept the terms of another’s) and what is and is not denial (simply saying the word “no” in a scene has very little to do with denial. Rather, denial is the…

After some tumblr silence, thehousethatdelbuilt spouts some “instant reblog” wisdom again.

Improv Nonsense: Mini-Rut

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 13:13:47 -0500

Improv Nonsense: Mini-Rut:

improvnonsense:

(written months and months ago)

I don’t want to do it anymore. I know I’ll change my mind soon, maybe even after a single night’s sleep but I want to capture what this feels like.

Did Stepfathers tonight and my goal going in was to be less ego-driven. Less concerned about how I was doing, how…

Commuters walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, during the Great...

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 09:58:00 -0500

Commuters walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, during the Great Blizzard of 1888. From “The Bowery Boys” blog.

The Brooklyn Bridge, not even five years old, weathered the winds quite well, but became a hazard due to ice. In this picture, people are crossing over as there was no other way to get between Manhattan and Brooklyn. It’s not clear if any of the trains are operating in this picture.

I love this photo. New Yorkers trudging through the snow, joined together in the bonhomie of shared adversity. This could have been my commute after Hurricane Sandy. We are not so different from the people of 1888 as we might think.

Source: The Bowery Boys: Frozen in Time: The Blizzard of 1888 knocks New York City off its feet, creating the deadliest commute in history

edwardspoonhands: bryarly: The Nature of Ambition - Grant...

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 13:53:23 -0500

edwardspoonhands:

bryarly:

The Nature of Ambition - Grant Snider

shiiiiiiiiiiii…

Sometimes, a cartoon hits you right where you live.

Upright Citizens Brigade reestablishes its roots

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 10:08:45 -0500

Upright Citizens Brigade reestablishes its roots:

johnrossbowie:

Read the attached article for some context.

Now, then, my 2 cents:

Hi - did you just start following this blog because I’m on the hit CBS show The Big Bang Theory once or twice a year? Cool.

Here’s something you might not know about me. I got my start doing improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in 1998, and doing it for free. Free falling, making horrible mistakes, having on-stage epiphanies, making life-long friends, meeting my wife, learning that I wanted to be an actor at an age (27) when a lot of actors are gearing up to quit. I was not paid for these performances - I had access to a stage and the freedom to experiment, and exposure to the greatest audiences in NYC AND more than a few casting directors. (There was a brief period of time where the UCB WAS paying me, to run the office during the day, and I was hopelessly incompetent. I did MUCH better work when I was working there for free.)

I even did standup a few times there - in a loose, pressure free environment, where a shlub without a lot of experience could get up and tell jokes in front of discerning fans.

I don’t perform there very often anymore — I have two kids with Jamie Denbo, whom I met in Amy Poehler’s Level 2 Improv class (by the way, comedy stardom’s gain is comedy teaching’s loss — Amy was an EXEMPLARY teacher with bottomless patience). Also, I make a living as an actor and writer and I owe virtually all of that to the Upright Citizens Brigade.

Thanks, guys.

I follow you ‘cause you were such an awesome improv coach back in the day that I still remember a practice I had with you, over a decade later. Also, Naked Babies were some of my idols.

And yeah, Amy’s Level 2 was pretty awesome. If only I knew at the time how huge she’d eventually become, I’d have paid more attention to every detail, if only to satisfy the people who ask, “You took a class with AMY POEHLER!? What was it LIKE!?”

Who Actually Won Whose Line is it Anyway?

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:38:54 -0500

Who Actually Won Whose Line is it Anyway?:

shortmikeshort:

Someone tallied up all the points.

No, the points don’t matter. But they are awesome.

J Hobart B: Tuscarora's Final Picnic

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 11:06:08 -0500

J Hobart B: Tuscarora's Final Picnic:

jhobartb:

(Photo by Keith Huang. Not pictured: Alex “King of the Jungle” Farlow)

Tuscarora Fire Company Picnic, the PIT house team I’ve been part of since 2010, has its final show tonight.

I’ve been performing on teams at the PIT for six years total, and I’ve been extremely lucky. My first was …

I had the unique pleasure of being on a team that opened for these guys for six months. They’re the real deal. I’m going to be there tonight, and you should be, too.

do-you-have-a-flag: thelilnan: I started a Bad Lip Reading thing with Javert gifs but it’s...

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 14:00:43 -0500

do-you-have-a-flag:

thelilnan:

I started a Bad Lip Reading thing with Javert gifs

but it’s probably not going to get better than this

this is amazing

Marmalade: Unafraid

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 12:41:17 -0500

Here’s a video of last night’s show: “Marmalade: Unafraid,” the improvised two-person show I do with the amazing and delightful Kathryn Dunn.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHvKRNh1-WA&w=560&h=315]
When I think of how wonderfully fun and exciting…

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Benji and Daddy in their Jammies 2

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 10:38:20 -0500

This week, Benji and Daddy discuss something very near and dear to a six-year-old’s heart: Birthday parties and food.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUmRfI_pdGo&w=560&h=315]

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Benji and Daddy in their Jammies 1

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 14:06:20 -0500

Benji and I decided that for the new year we’d like to make a talk show in which we discuss the issues of the day, at least as they pertain to a six-year-old. Since we were wearing our pajamas at the time, we decided to call it Benji and Daddy in their…

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Improv Nonsense: You Go To Them

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 11:27:45 -0500

Improv Nonsense: You Go To Them:

dougmoe:

improvnonsense:

One of the most common categories of questions I get to this improv blog is the “I’m playing with someone bad. What do I do?” Variations include that so and so is sticking out amongst the group, or maybe is behind everyone else, or playing really broadly, or mugging at the audience, or is somehow…

Just to play Old Man on the Mountain here: I was moaning to Kevin Dorff about a player I didn’t like on a team I was on once and his advice was don’t worry about “the guy.” He said, you’ll get rid of “the guy” and there’ll be a new “the guy.”

As an improv teacher, I can see the judging of other people a mile away and the most successful people strap in and go for the ride. They’re generous of spirit towards one another. That’s the whole “treat each other as geniuses” part of it.

Reading About Moses (The One Who Parted Brooklyn, Not the Red Sea)

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 10:51:24 -0500

I’m doing research for a project involving the history of transportation in New York City. Naturally, one can’t discuss such a history without talking extensively about Robert Moses.

I’m a big eBooks fan, but unfortunately, the books I was looking for on this particular topic aren’t available in electronic form. I received the physical manifestations of these books today, and I instantly realized yet another advantage of eBooks.

Thousand page tomes aren’t quite so intimidating in electronic form. Yikes!