Coming Around Full Circle

During my senior year of college, while on our way to a club in Hollywood for a friend’s 21st birthday party, I was on the phone with my brother when I walked past David Cross and his entourage. It just goes to show you that you never know who you’re going to see when you’re walking the streets of Hollywood. About a block later from this “celeb-sighting”, I was caught off-guard by another series of sightings. As I said in my original post,

Probably the highlight of my night occurred when, as we were walking and I was talking, we passed by David Cross. We also walked by Neil Flynn from "Scrubs" and David Koechner from SNL and "Anchorman" standing outside of the Olympic Improv. I later discovered that they had performed there earlier with their group called Beer Shark Mice. Patrick got an earful every time I walked by someone.

Well things really do come around full circle as Jessica and I were deciding what to do Saturday night. Should we go out to dinner in Pasadena? See a movie in theatres? Maybe go to Santa Monica? Nothing piqued our interest until Jessica queried about different comedy clubs. It was an interesting turn in the discussion and it only took me a moment to recall my previous encounter with the members of Beer Shark Mice. So we found the website for the Olympic Improv and sure enough they were performing at 9pm. It was as if destiny was calling us. We raced to pre-order tickets online, then dressed up for a night in Hollywood-land.

Fortunately, everything was within blocks of where Jessica works, so she knew of a cheap place to park and a classy restaurant for dinner right around the corner. The restaurant itself was booked until 11pm, unless, of course, we wanted to eat outside. Despite the cold weather, we chose to chance it and we were quickly ushered to a table conveniently located underneath a heat lamp. The dinner was a little pricey, but very good.

When we had finished our meal, it was time to start heading over to the comedy club so we paid our bill and left. As we walked along the street, I recognized the sign that ingrained itself into my mind when I first walked past it years ago and knew that we had arrived at our destination. Just before we entered, we saw Andy Dick walking out the door and around the corner. Curious as to what other celebrities we might see, we opened the door and walked in.

The previous act just finished once we got our ticket stubs, so we scored some nice seats down in front (there was also a balcony and plenty of stair seating) of the small theater. A nearby staff member replied to our inquiries that he was uncertain if either David and/or Neil would be performing but a few minutes later, we saw both walk past the crowd to the back of the stage. We got ourselves some drinks at the bar and prepared to laugh.

The show itself was a long-styled improv format I’ve come to know as ‘Slacker’ where a single bit of information is initially given (in our case, the location of a ballpark) and the players build-off that suggestion (changing characters, locations, plots, etc.) for a 40+ minute improv session. We saw everything from the first-ever pizza/psychiatry business, to a convenience store that grossly undercharges for items, to a private security business, to the trenches of war, and of course to Wrigley Field (where poor old Timmy sells confections). It was all pretty funny and I really enjoyed all of the guys. In the blink of an eye it was over, and afterwards we gave our kudos to Neil on our way out the door.

The evening turned out better than either of us could have anticipated earlier in the day, especially since everything seemed like such a rash decision. Our night in Hollywood wasn’t over quite yet as we went next door to Cinespace, a restaurant/movie theater/nightclub mix for one last drink and a chance to feel important (Jess got in for free because of her business connections, on whose coattails I rode on to get in).

After a spontaneously busy evening, we called it a night and headed back East towards Altadena, but not until after fulfilling destiny’s call that had lured me back to the opportunity I noticed long ago. It only begs the question: Where will fate guide me this week?