Project Two

... is coming.

Hubris clobbered by Nemesis

We started working on this show more than fifteen years ago. We didn't know it at the time - we thought we were redefining 1970's American television culture.

Chris and I were making episodes of "Husky & Scotch" - a crime drama with familiar characters, written by two people who (wilfully) never watched the similarly named Starsky & Hutch as we thought we should reinvent the wheel without being tied down by the conventions of the original wheel design. For example, my little sister Kristina played the voice of 'F.F.L.O.Y.D.', the (70's) crime-fighting duo's deadly vehicle that was cunningly disguised as a ten year old 1.3-litre Austin Metro.

It was way before the letters 'H&S' became synonymous with risk assessment practices - so ahead of it's time that authenticity was negligible.

We also did an evil-twin storyline that culminated in a chase through a Southend recreational park and a magnificent 'death by spoon' scene.

We were seventeen.

Also this was 1997 and the internet only had green text and early prototypes for hampsterdance [sic], so illegally downloading TV episodes was something we'd only believed possible, never imagined.

Chris Mead and I have a new show coming out. We debut it on 4th April at London Improv at The Miller. It's improvised science fiction. Done properly (see picture below).

"Science fiction is the search for a definition of mankind and his status in the universe which will stand in our advanced but confused state of knowledge, and is characteristically cast in a Gothic or post Gothic mode."

- Brian W. Aldiss

... also, sometimes it has aliens that look like squid.

A couple of years ago Husky & Scotch produced "Andrew & The Slides of Chaos", which was then the best thing we (anyone) had ever done.

Then last year we made "Doctor Who's Line Is It Anyway?", which superseded it.

This year we embark on 'Twoprov'. Hopefully it will be at least as good (see picture left).

I'm going to occasionally write a few bits and pieces about it as the show comes together. Just in case someone is interested. We'll be leeching off the skills of some phenomenal improvisers along the way (Katy Schutte, Paul Foxcroft, Cariad Lloyd) and it'd be a shame to keep all their wisdom nuggets completely to ourselves.

Whether you read them or not, we'd love to see you at the show in April. It HAS taken us nearly 16 years to put together.

- Jonathan Monkhouse

"The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them, into the impossible."
Arthur C. Clarke

Crunchy Frog needs you, computer-human

Crunchy Frog are looking for a good web developer who loves impro, and would enjoy a chance to relaunch and redesign The Crunchy Frog Collective website. It would be a great opportunity for someone who wants to be a part of this great movement into the public eye.

The Crunchy Frog website is the best place to go for nationwide coverage of the UK impro scene. It's a great resource and there's loads of information on there. As impro in the UK is burgeoning, the chaps who run it want to make it even more valuable for improvisers and for the general public.

There will be some money available but - as it's not a money-making site, it's mostly done for love. If you're passionate about impro and you're a web-developer, why not combine those two things?

Tech stuff:
Currently the site uses a mix of open source Cutenews, Yabb and WebCalendar. Ideally CFC want all that transferred onto one (possibly Wordpress) system, but they are open to ideas.

If you are interested (baring in mind it'd be really cool) either contact us here at London Improv, or go directly to Dylan Emery.
London Improv - LondonImprov@gmail.com
Dylan Emery - dylan.emery@thestickingplace.com

Online Harold for Long-Form Improv Disparates

I have had the pleasure of working with some wonderful teachers and improvisers from around the world. Sometimes we Maydays invite favourite teachers back over from Chicago (Bill Arnett, Nancy Howland Walker and Marshall Stern) and New York (Jay Rhoderick) to fine tune us and join in our shows in Brighton and London. And let’s not forget Tim Sniffen (Baby Wants Candy) who coached me and 8Bit at the end of last year.

When I was at iO and Second City, I met some great American, Canadian and Australian improvisers who I loved performing with. I also dearly miss Jason Delplanque from the Maydays who has moved to South Africa to take the improv world by storm over there. I was contemplating the international talent I have connections with and realised that – of course – we live in a world of vast media and communication opportunities. Why not make an online improv show where any of these people, and any of you, can add the next scene? London Improv have been kind enough to act as host and me (Katy Schutte) and Laura Mugridge are launching ‘Open Letters to P. W. Wiseman’.

Open Letters to P. W. Wiseman is an online Harold where we publish an improvised scene and ask the world to improvise the next one. There will be 9 scenes (or so), each inspired by the last and by the themes ‘organic’ and ‘rural’. Scenes must be one continuous shot with improvised dialogue and have a connection (i.e. to do with character, object or environment) with the scenes that have gone before. 'Open Letters to P. W. Wiseman' has three chapters and we encourage successful submitters to film second and third beats to their story or exploration. Each scene must be under 5 minutes and entered within a week of the previous one being published. To enter, publish your scene on youtube and send the link to katy@katyschutte.com including which scene number it is.

Scene 2 is due by Friday 30th April. As this is our trial show, guidance/rules may change as the project goes on… Good luck – let’s make some new comedy!

Scene 1:

by Katy Schutte