Laughter

A Silver Sheen to . . . well, you know.

June 23, 2010newsBirds, Bp, Bullshit, Catastrophe, Colbert Report, Collapse, Daily Show, Garbage, Gloss, Laughter, Local Industries, Massacres, Massive Flow, Natural Fibers, Onion, Silver Lining, Silver Sheen, Spill, Tools Of Trade, Wrong Way

Yes. So.

Garbage didnâ€™t work. Natural fibers were rejected. Booming school has apparently been a failure. In the meantime, an ever-increasing parade of oil-soaked birds and the collapse of local industries.
What else can we do but laugh?

If there is a silver lining or sheen or gloss or whatever to the gulf spill, itâ€™s that the insanely large catastrophe has spawned some of the best ecological humor in recent years.

Donâ€™t EVEN try to take that the wrong way.

Pro comedy players like UCB Theater, The Daily Show and the Colbert Report have been defending ecosystems and decrying BP with their sharp and witty tools of trade. Most memorably, The Onion suggests a Massive Flow of Bullshit from BP Headquarters will drown us all.

Itâ€™s times like these that laughter literally heals. Which is not to say: it scrubs oily birds. Rather: it keeps ecological massacres such as these from driving you insane.

Go to the Green Museum

The Planet Gets Funnier.

March 27, 2010newsArtic Circle, Bottled Water, Comedy Contest, Comedy Show, Creative Endeavors, Environmental Film Festival, Eugene Mirman, Glimpses, Grist, Hardcore Bikers, Laughter, Light Bulbs, Pimp, Professional Comedians, Redheads, Seriousness, Shaman, Sketch Comedy, Sketch Show, Snl, True Work

Hooray for making planet-saving funnier. The American University just closed an Eco-Comedy Contest together with the Environmental Film Festival. Bless them for hunting down the funny in this sea of green seriousness. They received over 70 entries, and while the finalists included hardcore bikers, suggestive trash and some lewd vegetarian lyrics, the judges finally went with Green My House by Neeru Productions in Ireland (nobody likes sarcastic redheads).

Green My House is a look at some of the incredibly baller ways you can pimp your house green. Have you ever, for instance, tried the ever-sexy â€œswapping out your light bulbsâ€? Okay, so maybe weâ€™re not ready to start a green SNL (or Whitest Kids, or The State, or Big Gay Sketch Show, or some other sketch comedy show you think is funny), but at least weâ€™re moving past Artic Circle. Into creative endeavors that are actually amusing.

grist.org, for instance, has finally decided to let professional comedians, like Eugene Mirman and Aziz Ansari, donate some funny to their cause. Thank you, gristâ€“ you were killing us. Other semi-hopeful glimpses of a Sustainably Funny Future include the chuckle-inducing Green Shaman, or the â€œfunny â€™cause itâ€™s trueâ€ work from Annie Leonard. She just finished a new video, the Story of Bottled Water, that will have you tearing up. With laughter. Okay, so maybe it will be the laughter of a deep and tortured pain. But funny is funny . . . right?

Go to the Green Museum

Lysistrata, Now

November 11, 2009newsAdaptation, Ambrose, Becker, Binder, Culpepper, Die Mommie Die, Elkington, Equity Association, Greek Comedy, Jeff Burroughs, Jordon, Kenn Mann, Laughter, Lysistrata, Naomi Jones, Pockets, Special Thanks, Stacy, Tom Sawyer, Van Meter

Lysistrata, Now from 9Thirty Theatre Company on Vimeo.

Adaptation & Lyrics by: Jeff Burroughs
Music by: Andrew Pastides & Joe Binder
Directed by: Aaron Gonzalez & Justin Eure

Lysistrata, Now is a fresh adaptation of the anti-war, feminist Greek comedy Lysistrata. This modernized version of the Classic is infused with live blues & folk music and tells the tale of a group of politically-charged women who band together to fight for peace.

We are spreading a message of peace to community that doesn’t normally have access to live theatre in a time when pockets are empty to spread laughter and relief.

Starring: Rebecca Naomi Jones* (Passing Strange, Broadway), Ashley Morris*(Die Mommie Die!, Off-Broadway), Nicole Hodges, and Stacy Salvette. Featuring: Joe Binder*, Freddie Bennett, Jeff Burroughs, Cooper D’Ambrose, Kenn Mann, Andrew Pastides*, and Elizabeth Van Meter. With: Nicole Becker, Jordon Brown, Chance Carroll, Christian Cooper, Lauren Culpepper, and Katherine Elkington.

*Appearing Courtesy of Actor’s Equity Association
Equity Approved Showcase

Special Thanks to Tom Sawyer for putting this video together for us!