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with Ryan Dolan
"Powder Blue Uni's"
Starring Ryan Dolan
Saturday, October 1
Wesport Coffeehouse Theater
4010 Pennsylvania Ave., Kansas City, Mo.
7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
All ages
SR
For more information, go to www.
city3.org or 816-782-3068
After attending four colleges (KU being one of them) Ryan Dolan took a chance. Originally from Kansas City, Mo., Dolan decided to do what many only dream of. He dropped everything, moved to the big city (Chicago) and is trying to make it big in the world of improvisational comedy. He has been a part of many different improv groups including a guest act at Chicago's infamous Saturday Night Live breeding ground, Second City. Currently working in Boston with Improv Asylum, he and his partner Tony Amatuzio, are bringing their improv show, "Powder Blue Unis," to Kansas City. Dolan gives Jayplay his opinions on why Lawrence needs an improv theater, advice for future improv artists and his take on why the Royals suck.
Q. Why and how did you decide to go ahead and go for it and move to Chicago?
A. KU was fourth college I had attended (Georgetown, Johnson County Community College and Washburn). Except for Washburn, I really struggled in the classroom. After dropping out of KU at the age of 26, I figured maybe I should stop kidding myself and go to Chicago and study improv. I had taken an online writing course through Second City and had gotten good
Q. How did you start out as a newbie in the improv field in a big market such as Chicago?
feedback from my teacher. I had seen shows at Second City and improv Olympic, and loved it. At I.O. (improv Olympic). I saw a hilarious show at 10:30pm on a Tuesday, which was packed. I thought that was where I needed to be. I was actually so bad at improv in Topeka, I told everyone I was moving to study sketch writing; lest they think I was crazy.
A. Chicago is the best place on Earth to learn improvisation. It's affordable.It's a one hour, $100 round trip ticket from KC. People are friendly, and it's easier to support yourself as opposed to New York. It has three great improv schools: Annoyance, I.O. and The Second City.The best thing you can do to meet people is to either intern at I.O, or work at Second City in some capacity.I got a job in the box office and I learned a lot about the business aspect of comedy and theatre.
Jayplay 09.29.05
Q. What is the funniest (to you) topic someone has shouted out to you during a performance?
A. In Chicago, I never did shows that garnered a lot of suggestions.Here at Improv
Asylum in Boston, we get a lot of suggestions over the course of a show. A lot of people think they're being funny, when they yell out crap like "proctologist" or porn-related things but we hear them so often, it's not funny. Sometimes, we will pull people up to tell us about their day or a bad date, and the "funniest" people just tell the truth. Life is funny enough on its own. And honestly, comedians are the filthiest people on Earth. If you want to see a scene about a dildo, we'll do one so awful it will make you sorry you're alive, but in a good way.
Q. What is a time that you were on stage and had a performance where you felt like you nailed it?
A. The first time I played during the Second City, we got a suggestion for a scene of "Underwater Apartment" or something. Seven of us went out, and everyone made a comment about the great underwater view. I was last, and I commented, "the fish tank is kind of redundant." You had to be there but there was this pause, and then the audience of 180 people blew up. That was a pretty awesome feeling. I went to the side of the stage with a stupid grin on my face and started shaking. I blame it on hypothermia.
Q. You have traveled all over performing, what has been your favorite place and why?
Q. Compare American audience suggestions to audiences overseas?
A. Being able to play for three weeks at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival was pretty awesome though. I went with this show from Chicago called "Chairs." We had good crowds, covered some expenses, fought a lot and I'll never forget it. After our show one night, the girls in the cast went out and the guys from our show went to a bar to drink. A couple of hours into it, Andrew Moskos, from Boom Chicago walked in (Boom Chicago is a comedy theatre in Amsterdam, where a lot of actors and writers at MadTV and SNL have performed). He was with Boom Chicago alum, Seth Meyers, who is on SNL. We drank with them all night. Later the girls came running in and they had these oomp-loompa outfits on from this show they had been to and they were covered in paint. My friend runs in laughing and then realizes that she's staring at Meyers and Moskos and she looks like a Smurf on acid. That was my favorite night there.
A. American audiences are more improv savvy, so they laugh at what they think is funny. In Edinburgh, improv isn't well known so half of the time they were just trying to absorb the fact that we were making it up on the spot and did not pre-plan anything.
Q. How do you calm down or get pumped up before a big show?
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A. it doesn't take much to pump myself up. I bring a lot of energy to my work. If I didn't like what I did, I would get my degree