Josh Patten

I remember exactly how Mom’s voice sounded when she told me Dad died, exactly where I was standing, what I was wearing, the feel of snow on the ground as I walked to UCB to do this show, where I was sitting on my couch afterwards, staying up late to catch an early flight to Florida, what it felt like to hug my mom, to see my siblings, the taste of the hard candy in the funeral director’s office, the weight of my dad’s casket, the feel of his friend’s handshakes and hugs, how small his urn looked, the sting of the wind and the rain as we laid him to rest.

This may be why anniversaries like this are so tough—it’s one year today and I am vividly reliving everything about Dad dying to such a degree that it crowds out all the comfort and joy of remembering Dad living, at least for today.

Okay, that’s all. Not all of these have fun, uplifting morals!

improvnonsense:

I get in trouble for saying that because I deliberately say it in a jerk manner. KNOW EVERYTHING. When someone says “I didn’t know the movie my partner was mentioning” I’ll sometimes say “Well, you don’t HAVE to know it but it would be easier if you knew it.”

And then people are like “Why do I have to like Star Wars?”

And I say “Who said anything about Star Wars?”

“All these improv nerd boys love Star Wars and can’t stop mentioning it. I hate that HAVE to know it.”

I know. It’s annoying.

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For improv coaches out there, I find it’s helpful, when a potentially misunderstood pop culture thing is referenced in a scene, to politely ask what it is and have it briefly explained rather than berating somebody for not knowing what something is.  Lesson learned, knowledged retained, moving on. It’s fun to learn and be curious, everyone.

I have not always responded this way to Will raising this issue.

Specific examples: Inception stuff used to come up a bunch, and The Matrix pops up every now and again (especially bullet-time action sequences). personally, I think everybody should know that in 2004 steroidy Barry Bonds had a .609 on-base percentage, because that’s just insane. .609!

2011 was the year my dad died, I quit my job, started a few great relationships, quit smoking (5 months and change!), performed on some great improv teams, ended a few great relationships, made a lot of huge mistakes, hopefully helped a lot of people by coaching a ton of improv, told my family that I love them more often, joined a sketch team, made a lot of behavioral changes in response to mistakes I’ve made, got a new job, embraced New York City, got dumped a couple of times, went on a genuine week long vacation for the first time in years, made my six month old niece laugh really, really hard, read more books than I normally do, left a sketch team, exercised more frequently, cried very hard, thought seriously about giving up on everything I’ve been doing for the past five years, made new friends, learned more about who I am as a person, saw old friends move away, am still in awe of most things, but mostly 2011 is the year my Dad died because that’s just how these types of things work.

This was self-indulgent! Onward and upward, 2012.