How I’m going to Die Laughing

This weekend is the third annual Die Laughing marathon.  As always, it serves two purposes.  The first is to raise money for Fearless Comedy Productions.  We have a really exciting slate of shows lined up for this year and we need public support to help them happen.

But the bigger purpose is just to do something crazy.  Something Fearless.  We are going to fill a weekend with comedy.

A lot of people will be doing a lot of stuff.  And I’m no exception.  Here is a list of the things I’ll be involved in during the weekend*:

7:00 – 7:30 PM Friday – Fearless Opener

I’m the host for this opening segment and I’m going to pack a lot into 30 minutes.  My band, The Dregs, is going to sing the national anthem.  Or not.  Our goal is to help raise $500 in this first half hour so for every $50 raised, we will sing one less line of the national anthem.  Because we figure people don’t actually want to hear it.  If we can raise the full $500, we will re-write the anthem in honor of Die Laughing.

We will also be revealing our upcoming Fearless season.  We have five shows scheduled in 2016 and we are sponsoring three artists at the Minnesota Fringe Festival.  We’re going to tell you about all of those shows and members of our company are going to improvise scenes from each of them!

7:30 – 8:30 PM Friday – Double Blind Improv

One of the great shows developed by our company, I am super jazzed to be part of it.  Eric Thompson has put together a fantastic show and he has a long line of talented people who want to take part.  That means I get to take part just a couple of times a year.  So I’ve learned not to say “no” if I can help it.

There is also a $500 matching grant taking place during this hour.  Every dollar raised will be matched up to $500 by CONvergence Events, Inc.

9:30 – 10:0 PM Friday – Date Fearless Auction

Lauren Haven will be auctioning off dates with Fearless company members.  If you want to bid on me, I’ll invite you over to my house to watch Raiders of the Lost Ark and eat tacos!

10:30 PM – 12:00 AM Friday – Epic Lip Sync Battle

I’m hosting this event that was just a huge blast from last year.  Over a dozen contestants will be vying for a chance to win the coveted lip sync trophy.  The trick: the audience can force them to perform a song they hate.  For $20, you can force a performer to give up the song they want to sing in lieu of a song they hate.  An additional $10 will allow them to sing the song they love as well.

ALSO, our three champions from the competitions we’ve staged throughout the year will be back to perform a single song and be crowned the SUPER MEGA LIP SYNC CHALLENGE CHAMPION!

We have Barb Abney, Levi Weinhagen, and Baller (from the North Star Roller Girls) to judge this epic contest.

Saturday 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM – Fearless Lab

I have a whole twelve hours off so I’m likely to use some of it to get some sleep.  Then I will be participating in Fearless Lab.  I think I’ll probably do some improv and I’m also going to write something.  I mean what the hell?  I have twelve hours.

Saturday 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM – The Not-So-Silent Planet at StoryFest

Wait – what?  I’m leaving Die Laughing?

Yes I am.  I’ll be participating in Story Fest, a spoken word festival at City of Lakes Waldorf School.  I’m going to be doing a live reading of my story The Lease.  So if you just aren’t interested in Die Laughing but are really interested in a lot of story telling, check this event out!  I’ll be there.  For a very short time.

Saturday 3:30 PM – 4:00 PM – Melissa and Fes: All out Wedding Attack!

Along with six other officiants, I’ll be performing a real live improvised wedding.  Our friends Melissa Kaercher and Fes Works are going to be tying the knot comedy style!  I can’t wait to do this and I also hope we get to perform an improvised wedding every year from now on.

Saturday 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM – Geeks Without God Live Podcast

After having married Melissa and Fes, my Geeks Without God compatriots and I will record a podcast with the happy couple.  We’ll probably talk about the wedding and it’ll be super silly.

I’m also going to note that if we can raise $1000 for Fearless over the weekend, Geeks Without God is going to go on a “real” ghost hunting tour and record a podcast about it!

Saturday 6:00 – 6:30 PM – Blue Sun Soda Challenge

I’ve gotten a donation of some of the most…interesting flavors from the Blue Sun Soda Shoppe and Fearless members will be drinking them for your enjoyment.  I don’t want to publicly state what some of the flavors are because that should be a surprise.  But oh my goodness they sound awful.

There will also be a belching contest. So bring the kids!

Fearless Company Members are putting up a $100 matching grant during this show!

Saturday 8:00 – 9:00 PM – Judging a Book By It’s Cover

I’m the host for this event in which two teams of experts will explain the plot to a book based on nothing more than the cover.

Saturday 9:00 – 10:00 PM – Geeks Without God Live Podcast

We’ll be recording our second live podcast of the evening with guest Ariel Leaf.  We are all going to be talking about our awkward pagan phase.

Saturday 10:00 – 11:00 PM – PowerPoint Karaoke

I’m going to be doing something for this.  Not sure what.  I might be hosting.  I might be presenting.  I might be a judge.  I might just be in the audience because I really love PowerPoint Karaoke.

CONvergence events is sponsoring a $500 matching grant during this hour.

Saturday 11:00 – 12:00 PM – Vilification Tennis

Three matches of Vilification Tennis plus some other silliness.  As always, I’m the host/judge.  I leave the “being funny” stuff to others.  It’s best for all, really.

Sunday 6:00 – 7:00 AM – Stop Talking: A Game of Talking

The Minnesota comedy version of the British game show “Just a Minute.”  I’m joined by a bunch of other people who are unlucky enough to be getting up at 6:00 AM to perform for almost nobody.

I’m tossing out a personal $50 matching grant and for $10, anyone watching can suggest a topic for our performers.  We are going to make some money during this hour, by gum!

Sunday 3:00 – 4:30 – The Encyclopedia Show

I’m going to be presenting something about Fear.  So will everyone else involved in the show.  At this point in the weekend, I’ll probably be hallucinating badly so I might just get on stage and describe what I’m seeing.

Sunday 4:30 – 9:00 PM – Master of Ceremonies

I’ll be the Master of Ceremonies for the last 4.5 hours of the marathon!  I’m probably going to have to agree to do a whole lot of crazy things in order for us to make our goal.  So that should be fun to watch.

Sunday 6:30 – 7:30 PM – Double Blind Open Hat

Anyone who wants to can throw their name in for this show and I want to.  Depending on how many people throw in their names, I may do absolutely nothing at all.  Or I may do a whole lot.  Random chance is a fickle mistress.

Sunday 8:30 – 9:00 PM – Fearless Closing

I’m the host again for the last half hour as we try desperately to reach our goal and squeeze thirty more minutes of comedy out of our exhausted crew.  Then I will sign off and get some sleep.

*I’m talking a lot about money.  Because money is important.  But look – if you just want to come and watch some of this, please do.  Audience is more important than money.  There is a suggested donation of $20 at the door for the entire weekend.  But if you can’t afford that, just come and watch.  Or watch online.  Don’t worry about the money.