I’ve finally regained my confidence on stage. In my Second City classes I’ve been performing quite well, but in our class shows I have been struggling. Tonight was a breakthrough. We performed sketches we had improvised and written in previous classes. I executed what was to date my strongest performance of my Chicago “career” with two strong sketches and a blackout scene I’m extremely proud of.

Blackouts are interesting. They are thirty second sketches with quick punchlines designed as a quick energy picker-upper. They are inserted between the longer sketches to keep the energy going throughout a show. They are also just fun to write and perform.

The sketches that I wasn’t involved with were great too. All of the sketches were rough but show great promise. Tonight I felt like a real comedian for the first time in quite some time.

We’re entering our last level of the conservatory now. We are doing a show every Monday evening starting a couple weeks from now. We’ll keep some of these sketches and write many brand new ones. You’ll certainly be hearing more about those as they develop.