#diddygethard

[jessep-s-blog]

I brought #AmericaGethard to GWAR's Slave Pit and they took us on a crazy awesome tour.  Theres so much cool stuff there that this video doesn't even show.  Hopefully some "lost footage" will turn up.  This was awesome.

[thegoodweb]

Chris Gethard made this video asking Sean "Diddy" Combs to come do his show at The UCB Theater in New York.  He launched a Twitter campaign to make it happen.

Then, Diddy did the show.

The Twitter campaign was #DiddyGethard

Here's another video that happened after a year of failed attempts to get Diddy to come to the show

Gethard's own account of the full story can be read on Splitsider

A good article on the story can be read on The Huffington Post

Chris Gethard simultaneously launched The Chris Gethard Show Cross Country Adventure, which started by the entire cast of his show getting into an RV at UCB Theatre in New York, and travelling across the country doing whatever the twitterverse tells them to do, and relying on the internet for money, food, and sleep along the way.  It will end with a live show at the UCB Theatre in LA.

It started with him raising over $10K from the internet on Kickstarter.

[poupak]

#DiddyGethard

Last night, something magical happened at the UCB.  Diddy took the stage with Chris Gethard and his Gethard Show performers. 

It had been 13 months in the brewing.  I was lucky enough to interview Gethard right before the show and hear him talk about it first hand (listen to the interview here).  I didn't know him until now.  I have been at the UCB for a year, and I just met him this week. Of course, I knew of him.  Who doesn't know of Chris Gethard in the world of improv in NYC?

In his interview, he explained that for 13 months, they went back and forth, there were ups and downs... and then finally, Diddy confirmed.  He would do the show on January 14th - last night.

What is really inspiring in this story is Gethard's tenacity.  First of all, he dreamed big.  He didn't shoot for the stars to get to the moon, she shot for the stars to get the stars.  He relentlessly continued his quest, despite experiencing disappointing moments.  He also got a lot of help from his "followers" on the web and his friends in comedy.  He's that kind of guy - gathers momentum.  I don't know him well at all, so I don't know what it is - but I am guessing he is really nice, and a bit weird, and totally unapologetic about it.  I also heard he is supportive to other comedians or wanna be comedians.  He also sounds like a genuine guy. And he's funny.  And he's fearless - of course, he gets nervous about what he's doing, about things going wrong or even the dangers of some of the stuff he is doing... but he still goes for it.

I am not one to get star struck or anything - I am not that cool.  Probably come from the many years I was working in TV productions, booking French "stars" on the show and interviewing them.  I think people are people; at the end of the day, we are all flesh and bones, and we all have the same bodily functions.  I do, however, get impressed with and hugely respect certain human qualities.  Diddy, for example, kept his word and gave Gethard a huge gift.  Gethard showed that he was persistent and could make his dreams come true.  I found this inspiring.

What do you want to do with improv? Why are you doing this? For me, I just want to be a great improviser.  If I am totally honest with myself, I know that I NEVER want to be famous or do movies as an actor or live in a trailer.  I do, however, want to be on stage and perform with others.  I would like to take part in scripted comedy as well... and maybe do more theater just to experience this out of body feeling you have when you play other characters.  I am doing it for me, but I like the instant gratification of doing it in front of an audience and knowing that you did well. There is something magical about theater.  I want to continue being part of that magic.

I also need to write that novel I've been brewing for so many years now.  The problem is, I really need to isolate myself to be able to do it.  Just like in acting, I experience the same out of body feeling when I write characters.  I live and breath like them.  I can't work full time and do this.  It's too intense an experience for me to be able to go back and forth.  In my art history class some years ago, I wrote an essay about Toulouse Lautrec and wrote it in the first person voice.  I WAS him for the few hours I spent writing that essay, which I wrote in one go.  30 pages.  Just a few hours.  It was an amazing feeling to be thinking like that great artist... it was only a feeling, of course, but it was magical as well.

This is my kind of weird and I have to STOP being apologetic about it.

(Side note: I don't want to stand in lines ever again with a lot of other people - I am, I realized a few years ago, a little agoraphobic [that's why I hated living in London, and still can't go shopping during the sales or the holidays].  If I can get to that point where I can get to any shows or any interesting live event without ever having to stay in line with other people, or being drowned in large crowds, I'll be really happy.)

#DiddyGethard showed me that you really can make anything happen if you put your mind to it, with a little help from friends and strangers.  Gethard did. So can all of us.