The Awkward Phase presents: A Picnic Costume How-To

Claire Meyer and Tyler Gillespie, of the Awkward Phase Tumblr/live reading series, submitted this DIY guide to creating a picnic costume, much like the one featured in one of the site's most beloved entries.  

Claire and Tyler describe their site thusly: The Awkward Phase Tumblr was recently named a runner-up in Chronicle Book’s “Great Tumblr Book Search.” The stories we want to celebrate are warm, positive, and empathetic. We want to acknowledge the awkwardness, but not apologize for it."

The next edition of the Awkward Phase Summer Reading Series is Monday, June 17 at 7:30pm at the Annoyance, and features readings from Wes Perry, Joey Romaine, Irene Marquette, Carol Bontekoe, Rebecca O'Neal, and Caroline Thrasher. 

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A letter to Will Smith from his agent by Mark Colomb

Hey Big Willy,

This is the hardest part of an agent's job. It’s the morning after (pardon the pun) and it looks like After Earth isn’t going to "get clear” at the box office. As much as I want to blame this one on bad Thetans I really think our issues had more to do with that script. Yikes. Also, now that the film is out, I think some of the blame can be laid at the feet of M. Night; I think we are well within our rights to declare him and all eight of the screenwriters as suppressive persons. Let me break this one down for you Big Willy, we just need to stick to The Cause and to the teachings of L. Ron and everything is going to turn out OT. We need to continue to walk The Bridge to Total Freedom.


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A list of 42 things that take two hours by Katie McVay

Tomorrow night, Two Hour Comedy Hour at the Gallery Cabaret in Bucktown will trot out over 50 comedians in under two hours, 42 of whom will each be given under one minute of stage time apiece. 42x42 3 is the third edition of their fabulously gimmicky comedy parade, which is capped off with longer sets from CJ Sulllivan, Liza Treyger, Chad Briggs, and Mike Sheehan.

Katie McVay, one of Two Hour's producers, is here to plug the show with a list of 42 other things that share the show's 120 minute time frame.


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An Open Letter to Comedy by A Comedian

Dear Reader,

This isn’t going to be easy for a lot of people to hear, but I need to get this off my chest so we can move forward.  I’m hearing a lot of things in the comedy world that are negative, downright offensive and borderline hate speech.  Mostly directed at me, a real comedian.


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Brian McGovern's top five Cheers teasers!

DRUGSEX Incorporated is a monthly sketch show at the Public House Theatre, a recently opened written comedy oasis. Each month’s show tackles an insanely high concept in the goofiest way possible; tomorrow night’s show, The Cheers Show, consists entirely of original scenes written in the style of the classic cold open scenes that kick off every episode of Cheers. Brian McGovern, the producer of DRUGSEX, is here with a list of classic Cheers cold opens to prime you for tomorrow night’s show. The Cheers Show is at 11pm tomorrow night (Saturday, May 11th) at the Public House Theatre.

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