This past weekend marked the inaugural North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival right here in sleepy Carrboro, NC. The festival took over duties of the Dirty South Improv Festival, which ran from 2000-2008. I had less involvement with this festival than I have in years past, mostly because I’ve been dormant from improv for a few months. Nonetheless, I managed to make my way on stage for a couple of shows. I played with a “Natural Selection” set comprised of improvisors from all over North America (U.S. and Canadia) as well as with my good friends Men About Town from Philadelphia.
Needless to say, I felt rusty from having not performed since January, but I had a good time on stage in both sets. Doing improv after a hiatus is a lot like riding a bike wearing only silk underwear: sure it feels good and everyone is laughing, but you can’t help but wonder if you are going to slide off the seat and rack yourself.
I saw some awesome shows as well, most notably Rare Bird Show (Philly), Elaine (DSI), Moxie (Magnet), Whorenado (UCBT), and Dr. Fantastic (WIT). I also had the chance to party with some old friends from out of town, as well as some friends who came home for the occasion. The festival is always a great opportunity to see good friends and also Corey Brown.
On Saturday, I had a chance to go to a lecture on breaking into TV writing with Bryan Tucker, a UNC alum and current writer for SNL. He had some great insights, some of which I will write more about soon. Overall, NCCAF was a “shit ton” of fun, and inspirational to boot. Big ups to Zach and the rest of the DSI staff for running a kickass festival once again. -JSG
