In 1984, I played on the worst Little League team ever. EVER. We went 0-15, and I don’t recall us ever losing by less than 15 runs. In fact, in one game that I clearly remember, the opposing team (The JCs) scored 39 runs in the top of the first inning. We scored 1 run in the bottom of the first. And then the umpires called the game off. Not for slaughter rule. For darkness. The JCs had batted for over two hours and it was dark by the time the first inning was over.
That inspired the Fringe Show, High Cheese, that I am putting on with Chip Chantry (who was just named Philly’s Funniest at Helium last week) and Carl Boccuti this Saturday at the Adobe Cafe at 8 p.m. (there will be a second show on September 20th at the Adobe as well) We decided to make the show about baseball, but extremely loosely (one of our primary objectives with baseball was to get Fastball Pitcher Bob Gutierrez on the show, if that tells you how loosely we’re taking the topic.) So don’t worry if you’re not a baseball fan; neither is Chip, and he wrote a bunch of this stuff. We’ll cover that terrible Little League team, the trials and tribulations of Steve Bartman, and of course our obligatory take on “Who’s On First?”
I’ve wanted to do a Fringe Show since I moved here 12 years ago, just always found an excuse not to do it. No more excuses. This is it. My wife and I are having a child in December. There are no guarantees that I’ll ever again have a chance to do this. And if this is my only one, I want it to be good. Really good. We’ve written some funny stuff. We still have more to write, more to edit, more to block, and a hell of a lot more to memorize. I have no idea if we can pull it off. And that’s the excitement of doing a Fringe Show. Trying to pull of something you honestly don’t know if you can. This could be a really great show. Or it could be a total train wreck. Either way you’ll get your $10 worth. I really hope you’ll come. More details can be found here.
Sincerely,
JGT
P.S. Oh, and there’s karaoke after the show. If we get 50 people there, I’ll perform “Flashdance” at karaoke.