Saturday event: Watch me tell true stories in real time

At Buffalo Improv House, I get the mic to serve up slices of life for players to exploit

If you’re reading this, you probably know that I have something of a reputation as a writer. 

If you haven’t met me, you might not know I also have something of a reputation as a talker. Want a four-part exegesis on the dominant strains of pizza available within Buffalo city limits that continues until people edge away to “get another drink,” I’m your guy. 

I also am susceptible to dares. So when Buffalo Improv House offered me the chance to get on stage and tell stories based on cues from the universe or the theater audience, I said yes. 

Since then, I have devoted my spare time to envisioning all the ways it could go spectacularly wrong. After my story, the improv team is challenged to fold my story into their own work of comedic origami. Three rounds.

What will all that actually look like? None of us knows, which is rather the point of improv.

Hey, some people watch NASCAR for the crashes. So if you’re free Saturday night, the checkered flag drops at 7:30 p.m. 

Order tickets here ($22) or $25 at the door. Buffalo Improv House is in Suite 207 of 255 Great Arrow Ave., across Elmwood Avenue from Moriarty Meats & Café Bar. There’s a big parking lot across Great Arrow.

My favorite part is that I was asked to choose a nonprofit doing great work in Buffalo to get a share of the proceeds. So I get to help Big Big Table, the pay-what-you-can community cafe serving meals cooked with love to anyone who’s hungry at 272 Hudson St. 

Also, sorry for the short notice. In the event there are more events like this, I’ll try for earlier warning.

After 57 years on the planet, a childhood that ought to be a book, and 36 years as a journalist, I have stories to tell. Put me on stage with a mic in my hand, ask for a random tale full of sound and fury, and who knows what will emit from my piehole? 

I’m curious to find out myself. 

#30#