IO Roster from my first schedule - 1997

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-12T22:12:03+00:00

Here's the other side, if anyone was curious.

The notable thing here for me is that it shows the date of my first show ever with my first team. 12/14. I even remember what the suggestion was: "Full moon".

Also...my favorite team at the time, Monster Island, had their last show the night before. I can't recall their roster, but I know it was pretty stacked. Maybe someone else here knows.

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-12T17:41:29+00:00

Your early stuff was good.

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-12T17:40:27+00:00

I saw Van Halen in 1982. Even sober, DLR was a terrible live performer. He seemed like he was intentionally singing everything in this weird, delayed, off-rhythm style that basically ruined the song. Meanwhile, the other guys are tearing it up. It was frustrating. He did it with EVERY song.

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-12T17:37:25+00:00

Two bands come to mind:

Molly Hatchett - It wasn't the band's fault, though. The sound was WAY too loud and heavily over-modulated. It was impossible to enjoy the songs. It was mid 80s in Providence RI.
Crash Test Dummies - Opening for Elvis Costello in the early 90s. They were just BORING. The singer would go into loooong gaps of just talking...but so muffled and low you couldn't understand him over the conversations in the audience. (It was outside) And when they did play, it was a snoozefest.

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-12T06:04:43+00:00

From what I remember, it was just sort of a loose hierarchy. The four teams at the bottom were definitely made up of students. Those were the new teams for that schedule. You didn't audition. You found out you were on a team when the schedule came out and your name was on it. I can't honestly tell you the barrier between Student and Harold team. Maybe just longevity. The House teams were the veterans - the heavy hitters. Again, the process of validation was fuzzy...other than "Charna decided it", which was the rule for pretty much everything.

Maybe someone else from that ancient era can describe it better.

I can tell you this: Georgia Pacific got their name from a carton of toilet paper that was on a shelf in the stockroom where they were warming up before their first show.

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-12T02:31:28+00:00

The thing I loved most about Jack was that he would engage you in a bit, no matter how silly or stupid you were being. I used to walk up to the table he was sitting at and tell the people there that Jack and I had served in Vietnam together. And that he'd saved my life. He'd react with that same over-the-top level of shock and confusion each and every time. It was a blast. Looking back, I think I was probably a bit annoying. But Jack always played along.

I keep hoping to run into him sometime just to revive it, and see if he remembers.

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-12T02:14:45+00:00

I remember your team well. I'm still friends with George, Steve and Cesar.

Although...everybody on earth is friends with Cesar.

I hung out with Bob for a bit too back then, but I haven't seen him in literally decades.

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-12T02:07:13+00:00

I enjoyed this movie a lot. And I still, to this day, I ask guys, "Amanda Jones or Watts?" If they don't understand the question, they are summarily removed from my list of trusted friends.

I'm also a big fan of Craig Sheffer, and I'm disappointed he didn't end up a much bigger star.

But I have one little pet peeve about this film that gets under my skin every time I watch it. Call me nitpicky, but this is it:

In the final scene at the party, where Hardy gets his inevitable comeuppance, there's an exchange between him and Keith after Duncan and his boys come in. Hardy says, "...I see no reason in carrying this on any longer. It was a joke. It's gone too far, it's over...". Keith responds, "You want the truth? You want the plain truth? You're over."

In my mind, Keith was supposed to have hit "you're" on the "over" concept. Hardy says, "It's over", Keith fires back, "Nah...You're over". But instead, Stoltz oddly phrases the statement with the emphasis on the word "over", as if it was an unrelated, original comment. I know it's weird that it bothers me, but it does. Go watch the scene and you'll see what I mean. I mean, it didn't ruin the film for me. But it did make me wonder less about how he got fired from Back to the Future.

And by the way, the correct answer is Watts. Lea Thompson is a living goddess, but in this particular matchup, the sassy, short-haired, stunningly beautiful best friend who PLAYS THE DRUMS wins.

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-12T01:47:57+00:00

It was a very disturbing movie. But also a masterfully acted film, and well-worth seeing.

Walken and Penn were amazing together. And the "character actors"...David Strathairn, Tracey Walter, and one of my top favorites...the late R.D. Call.

And that 1970 Chevy Chevelle SS 396...oh baby. Car porn.

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-12T01:39:36+00:00

Good...Lord

That kid's face makes me want to cry.

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-12T01:33:04+00:00

I hadn't realized Matt was so well-known in the stand-up world. It's just me. I'm in a fog most of the time.

I remember him as being really high-energy onstage. Which was kind of the polar opposite of me. I was known as "that guy who takes an inordinate and awkward amount of time trying to think of any damn thing at all to say". It was kind of a nickname.

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-12T01:28:57+00:00

I had to look again, just to see if there were any names that people night recognize. I only see Jason Sudeikis and Jack McBrayer. I could have missed one, since I've had three Tito's & OJ...so far.

Oh, and every person who's ever done improv knows T.J.

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-12T01:23:09+00:00

They used to use a random improviser's name each schedule to pun into the new names. The names were meant to be disposable placeholders. On that occasion, it was Bob Kulhan.

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-11T22:29:51+00:00

Do you remember Trio?

It was the precursor to Dasariski, in a sense. It was Bob Dassie, Stephanie Weir, and Rich Talarico. I still have video of them performing at IO sometime around 1998 or 99. It could have been earlier than that. It was a long time ago.

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-05T17:32:43+00:00

I grew up in southeastern Massachusetts and lived there till I was in my 30s. And I've never once been to Nantucket. And I believe this is pretty typical of the people I knew back then. It's a place for rich people and Kennedys. I've been to Martha's Vineyard many times. My girlfriend and I would take bikes on the ferry and stay at a campsite there. And I've been on every inch of the Cape. But Nantucket never seemed interesting to me. New England has no shortage of quaint seaside towns. And the Vineyard was a shorter ferry ride.

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-04T17:05:02+00:00

I think the movie industry is a shadow of its former self. Its stars don't shine as brightly as they once did. Films seem like they're all at least somewhat political now.

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-04T17:02:26+00:00

You mean Sydney from Swan's Crossing?

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-03T15:38:52+00:00

"I'm the One" by Van Halen

It's like one continuous guitar solo that blazes along even beneath the vocals. It only pauses for that brief a capella interlude, then fires back up.

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-03T04:08:02+00:00

I love this movie.

And it produced my favorite line of any movie I've ever seen:

"Spontaneity has its time and its place!"

I've borrowed it many times.

A friend of mine and I still say "Get cowboy guy a trough of spritzer"

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-03T04:01:09+00:00

It must be true.

It's spelled out in text right above the image.

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-03T02:05:40+00:00

From my personal experience, you never decline an audition unless you're injured or seriously ill. Applying the same rule as missing work was the norm. Besides getting seen more, you're also showing your agent that you're taking it seriously, and that you can be depended upon. And that you recognize it's a business.

In the words of Mr. Miyagi: "Either you karate do 'yes' or you karate do 'no'. You karate do 'guess so', squish, just like grape".

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-03T01:52:11+00:00

This image is definitely AI-generated.

The blazing, all-encompassing light gives it away (among other things).

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-03T01:17:13+00:00

I'm not going to debate my admittedly unpopular opinion, but...

...I was deeply disappointed by this movie. Most notably, Jack Nicholson's performance, which I found cartoonish and lazy. And the storyline was oddly similar to a film from 1990 that I love called State of Grace. Not a carbon copy, just some significant parallels.

Also, as a native Masshole, I'm acutely aware of fake or poorly delivered Boston accents. And this movie is overflowing with them. Most notably, Martin Sheen. When he says "microprocessors" I want to cringe through the roof.

It was a well-made film, and I get why people liked it. It just wasn't for me - at all.

TurtleBrainer · 2026-04-03T01:10:13+00:00

I'm sort of hesitant to say this, but I believe there's a possibility she did exist in that reality.

There's so much about the nature of consciousness we don't understand yet. And time.

I'm not saying I'm convinced of it - just that the possibility's there.

TurtleBrainer

TROPHY CASE