Second Place at CIT

Hey there everyone! Jordan here talking about the weekend DeBono just had in Indianapolis. As some of you may know (and as some of you are about to find out) DeBono travelled to the College Improv Tournament Lower Midwest Regionals this past Saturday (Feb 16th) to compete in a nation-wide improv competition. I'll give you the skinny on our weekend.

We left at about 5 pm on Friday and drove to our hotel. The trip was fun, we had a mix of songs that everyone got to contribute, too. Actually, hearing those songs really made me realize what musical diversity we have in our group. It can only be a good thing :) After checking in, we met up with our sister, Spicy Clamato, to grab some late dinner at Steak and Shake in what should have been an hour-long affair. I won't get into it, but finding/being turned away from/finding another S&S was a maddening experience.

MOVING PAST THAT, we played a staple group game that night called "Things" where one person names a category like "What's the first thing you would do as president" and then everyone answers on a piece of paper, and the category-guy has to guess whose answer was whose (also could be played as a drinking game!). After that we were tired and slept (mostly) the rest of the night away.

The NEXT day, Saturday, was the big day. Arrived at noon for an all-teams meeting about the day's format. DeBono was in the first round of 4 at 1 pm. We did REALLY well with the suggestion of "Ketchup", and using a new opening we developed, we created a wonderful story about a food critic and a newlywed couple. Our performance was good enough to advance us to the finals round at 10 pm! SO PUMPED!!

We spent the rest of the day resting, watching all the other rounds of improv and eating dinner. To be brutally honest... it was hard to watch so much improv. To quote Liam from Spicy Clamato "I'm watching this improv, and I know its funny... but I'm just not laughing. I feel like a dick". Yes Liam. Pretty much.

10 pm rolls around and after a light meal of chicken and waffles, we headed back to Comedysportz for the final round! Everyone did great, although I think everyone's afternoon set was better (a long day of improv and energy can really take it out of you). Our second suggestion was "Ice cream scoop" and we rocked a tasty jam about an Ice cream shop in the desert. Fantastic job. Everyone else gave great sets! And we ended up getting second place! SO PROUD!

So on to some shoutouts: Thanks so much to the members of DeBono! You guys rocked the house! Spicy Clamato, we had a great set, and I had so much fun doing improv with you fupas! Shoutout to Improv Mafia on winning the regional, you truly are amazing improvers :) And finally, a big thank you to CIT Producers Keith and Ricky, along with the rest of the team, and Comedysportz theater for being such great hosts!

That's all for now! Make sure to keep/start coming to our shows... I hear rumors of some crazy stuff coming up in the near future... ;)

MUCH LOVE! - Jordan

The Beat Box

If you have been to a DeBono Show any time in the last two years, you have probably seen something we like to call the beat box. It's a really catchy little game we like to play to get the audience warmed up. Some days, It may be my favorite part of the show. When the team is really listening to each other, there are some really hilarious moments, as well as moments that actually sound musically interesting.

For most of the Beat Boxes past, Jaime has been the conductor. Occasionally someone else like Nick will give it a shot, but mostly Jaime is the one who makes the calls. Though, she always looks like she has so much fun that I wanted to give it a try. Last Show was my first time conducting a beat box live and I'd like to share my insights with you... will you let me? Really? Awesome!

What does It take to conduct a beat box?

It takes energy. If you are boring then the people you are conducting are going to be bored and look away from you. Though the team should have their eyes glued to the conductor at all times, sometimes they slip. When that happens it makes it really hard to silently signal what they are supposed to do. 

It also takes patience. The most frustrating part of the beat box is waiting for everyone to find a part and build in. We have between seven and nine people usually in our beat boxes and that means it takes seven to nine cycles through the little sound bite to make sure everyone is participating. I also almost always speed up the group the moment everyone is in.

It takes a good ear. Bringing people into the beat box can be difficult if you can't keep rhythm with your body. The group takes the tempo off of not only the most percussive voice, but most importantly the conductor. You have to be able to speed up and slow down your body without getting off beat. This is incredibly important because if one of the voices fails, then you are still the rock of rhythm. 

Finally, it takes a little bit of malicious intent. What's the fun of having all of the power if you aren't going to abuse it at all? I mean come on. If you had to power to make people yell, whisper, sing really high and really low, wouldn't you want to use it? Variety is the spice of the beat box and nothing is more fun that watching a team mate push their voice to the edge in the name of comedy. 

So now that I've given you a little taste of what goes on in my head while I'm conducting, you should watch some of our awesome beat boxes from this semester! (You can also check out our freeze games and full musicals on our youtube channel).

Suggestion: Jumbalaya 

(only a 4 person beatbox!) Suggestion: Twinkie

Suggestion: Caramel

Also, If you think it's weird that we've done food suggestions most times... we think so to. You guys are in charge of whatever we do! Remember you can say anything you want. So come to next show with some CRAZY ideas and see if we can handle them. I bet you'll be surprised!

Remember we perform EVERY monday for FREE at 8:00 in the Illini Union. Bring your friends!

xoxo,

Jessica