2.20.2006

A history of violence (and bits)

Huge props today to all the DICEY kids up at Drake for rocking their first paying gig over the weekend.

For those of you late to the game, Drake Improv Comedy Experiment, Yo! (DICEY) is a student organization that I started at my university when I got tired of not doing improv at school. Why it took me until my senior year to do it, I'll never know. But it attracted a great group of people and became a weekly experiment in awesome - just a bunch of goofy college kids playing short-form games and messing around with long-form.

It's still around today, obviously, and is now an official student organization with a faculty advisor and Senate recognition and now, a paying gig under their belts.

Funny story - The e-mail that The Meez (Andy) first got about the gig was from Wells Fargo and the subject line was "Improve Opportunities," so he filed it away in junk mail. Businesspeople just don't know how to spell improv, I guess.

I got the report yesterday that they rocked a crowd of 200-300 people in a strange L-shaped configuration with only 1 mike. Now that's impressive.

It's funny - I started DICEY, partly to have other people to improvise with, but also out of a desire to leave something positive at Drake after I left, a legacy of sorts. Imagine my surprise now that it actually seems to have worked out that way. Thanks, DICEY kids. I couldn't be more proud.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Seriously, Tim... I'm proud of us on your behalf.

Because of you, I got up in front of a crowd on stage for the first time in my entire life. I think I might have even opened my mouth and said something somewhat entertaining... I don't know. I don't remember much of it, to be honest.

But seriously... thanks to you and Meez, DICEY is thriving and we're about to take the next big step - getting t shirts!


DICEgear!


Keri

Rob said...

Dang Tim, I don't think I realized you were the one that actually started DICEY. Congrats on that! The only thing I helped start and that really spread at Illinois State, I hear Student Health Services took care of with some cream or something.... pfft.

Oh and bonus points for getting the gag reflex out of Ro. Normally she only saves that for child prodigies.

Scott said...

DICEY is a pretty decent legacy. Well done tiger. I really would have liked to start an improv troup but we were probably looking at about two people who would have been able (and interested in) doing it. So I started the college newspaper at Robert Morris, I leave behind The MorrisCode.

Also on the last issue I wrote a glowing farewell to myself from the perspective of the editor of the paper (who I was, but I wrote it in third person to preserve my journalistic detatchment). It also featured a gigantic picture of myself. I feel that my pushing the Friedan story to page two for that set the feminist movement back 25 years. So you know... not too bad for a legacy.

- Scott

P.S. Still would have prefered an improv group.

Anonymous said...

Ha. I love how you specify who "The Meez" is... It's good because I was really thinking it was Van der Rohe, as in the famous German architect known for his buildings in Berlin, Chicago, and yes, Meredith Hall at Drake University. I guess he spells his name Mies, though.


Thanks for clarifying.


Keri