You Take the Good, You Take the Bad...

» February 4, 2005 11:01 AM by Nicole

My major was “Performing Arts with a Concentration in Acting.”

I know what you’re thinking. It’s not as lofty as, say, “Weaving Arts with a Concentration in Baskets, ” but I did learn a few things about comedy. However, I did not learn about comedy through my classes. The Emerson curriculum taught me how to breathe out of the small of my back and roll down my spine. (Those two maneuvers are listed under the “Special Skills” section of my resume.) I learned comedy from the bizarre people I socialized with on a daily basis.

I’d like to share a few comedy tips that I learned from my cohorts at acting camp, er, I mean college.

#1. I watched Lizzy Cooperman talk to kitchen sponges, flirt with a feather duster, give birth to a beach ball and beat the shit out of a typewriter.

WHAT I LEARNED – Treat non-living things as if they are alive. Talk to them, battle them, and, most importantly, fall madly in love with them.

#2. I marveled at Kenny Kelleher’s SPOT ON impression of Blair’s handicapped cousin, “Cousin Geri,” from the sardonically irreverent sitcom, “The Facts of Life.”

WHAT I LEARNED – Find an obscure impression from 80’s television and wow everyone. "TOOTIE...WHATZ IN DA BOX?"

#3. I heard Karen Stein deliver the final monologue given by Piper Laurie in the movie ‘Carrie,’ and I laughed so hard I nearly pissed me britches.

WHAT I LEARNED – Sway back and forth as you bless yourself and say things like “Dirty pillows,” and “I smelt the whiskey on his breath and I liked it, I LIKED IT…we’ll scrub the sin away!”

#4. Nicole duFresne once acted out a tragicomedy scene with a raw piece of meat. The meat entered the scene suspended on a piece of fishing line like a fucking marionette. She caressed it like a lover and put a cigarette out on it. Truly, one of the most peculiar, disturbing and hilarious things I’ve been subjected to.

WHAT I LEARNED – Risk it all for a laugh, even eboli or salmonella.

duFresne was murdered about a week ago. The memorial was yesterday. I wasn’t sure if I should post something to our wacky McPilgrim comedy site. Then I remembered her own brand of overly intense, unsettling humor and thought it was important to pay homage.

Adios, au revoir, auf wiedersehen and goodnight.