Sloppy Seconds!

[Kevin Stevenson, Blaire Byhower, Erik Wargo, Tim Gale, Kat Shea, Lars Hansen, James Stebick, and Ifechukwude "Ify" Nwadiwe]

Last weekend the first Orange County Improv Cup was held in Fullerton, and Cherry Spitz showed why we are the greatest comedy group of all time. Countless improv matches were held over the two-day event, and in the end over 1400 dollars was raised for the Association of Hole in the Wall Camps. We at Cherry Spitz wanted to thank Josh Nicols and the amazing people at The Lobby Improv and STAGES Theatre for organizing such an epic event. There are hundreds of pictures of the whole two-day tournament posted at the Orange County Improv Cup Facebook page.

Night 1 saw all 16 teams performing before a panel of guest judges from the ACME Comedy Theatre. These judges would be scoring all 64 players based on creativity, teamwork, and the quality of their scenes. The brackets for Night 2 would be determined by how these judges ranked the top 10 teams.

At the end of the night the Broken Seals (sorry Egon!), the Tasty Cocks (still the best team name), the Chocolate Reindeer, the Berlin Wallabies, the Limber Kittens, and the Robo-Raptors were eliminated. The top 10 teams were then seeded based on their rankings by the ACME judges. Here's how that shook out. (Click to enlarge)


Here's how the rest of the tournament went:

The FOUNDING FLOUNDERS (Blaire's team!) defeated the ADJECTIVE ANIMALS to advance to the Elite Eight.

The GASSY COWS defeated the SPARK PUGS to advance to the Elite Eight.

+Quarterfinals+

The DAPPER DINGOES defeated the POWERFUL PONIES (Ify and Jeff's team!) to advance to the semifinals.

The SLOPPY BLOWFISH (James and Lars' team!) defeated the FOUNDING FLOUNDERS (sorry Blaire!) to advance to the semifinals.

The OPULENT OCTOPI (Kat, Tim, and Kevin's team!) defeated the GASSY COWS to advance to the semifinals.

The RAINBOW UNICORNS defeated the DEVOLVING APES to advance to the semifinals.

The Final 4 teams

+Semifinals+

The SLOPPY BLOWFISH defeated the DAPPER DINGOES to advance into the Finals!

The RAINBOW UNICORNS defeated the OPULENT OCTOPI to advance into the Finals.

+The Final Showdown+

In what could easily be the upset of the century the RAINBOW UNICORNS defeated SLOPPY BLOWFISH in the final round of the Orange County Improv Cup. That's right, Apollo Creed beat Rocky.

The Daily Titan (Cal State Fullerton news) did a peace on the Cup, and even got footage of the final results being announced. Check it out.

[it's quick, but you can totally see how crushed me and Lars are at 1:21]

When all was said and done Cherry Spitz teams placed 6th, 5th, 3rd, and 2nd in the Improv Cup. Yes, it would have been nice to bring home the gold but alas that was not our fate this year. The Rainbow Unicorns (Tony Rey, Jill Tsai, Kristen Sanchez, and Staci Pratt, and yes we actually lost to a team called the "Rainbow Unicorns") were a great team and they played some really good improv. We at Cherry Spitz are glad they are the champions no matter how much it physically pains me to even type these sentences. Real blinding pain. Seriously though, great work you guys. We at the Spitz are looking forward to seeing more of you.

The OC Improv Cup was such a success that next year's event has already been booked. That's right, Spitz fans! We will see you back in Fullerton at STAGES Theatre on November 11th-12th 2010 for the Second Annual Orange County Improv Cup! And we all remember what happens in Rocky 2, right?


-James


[Training for next year's Cup has already begun]

THE ORANGE COUNTY IMPROV CUP: November 12-13

64 of Southern California's best and most talented performers will come to play. In the end, 60 will fall. Who will be named Orange County's best?!?



On November 12th and 13th Cherry Spitz will be taking part of an epic event known as the Orange County Improv Cup. The fine gentlemen at The Lobby Improv have organized this two-day tournament to find the best improv players in all of Southern California. All of SoCal's top teams have sent representatives and when all is said and done we will know who is the best of the best.

The Improv Cup begins on Friday November 12th at STAGES Theater in Fullerton at 7pm (stagesoc.org). There are 16 teams playing and the opening night will see the teams pair up and perform in 30 minute sets. Judges from the ACME Comedy Theater will be judging the teams as they perform and the top 10 will move onto Day 2. It's important to check the schedule and see what matches you want to see live. Tickets for each of the divisions of matches(Green and Blue) in the opening round are only 5 bucks! Plus, 30 VIP passes will be available on Day 1 (and only Day 1) for the entire weekend of the Improv Cup. 25 dollars for a VIP pass will get you more live comedy than you ever though imaginable. Best of all, proceeds from the show will be going to Hole in the Wall Camps, a charity dedicated to children with serious illnesses. Come see Southern California's best comic talents do battle with one another... for charity!

The teams have been randomly drawn and the first round brackets have been posted. Here's how Friday night is going to go:

(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Here's a more detailed break-down of when you can see your favorite Spitz members during the opening night of the Improv Cup.


TEAM 2: The Opulent Octopi
Kat Shea(Cherry Spitz), Tim Gale (Cherry Spitz Alumni), Kevin Stevenson (Cherry Spitz Alumni), and Eddie Zamora (Safety Safari).
Playing TEAM 9(The Powerful Ponies) on friday November 12th at 7:30pm.


TEAM 5: The Founding Flounders
Blaire Byhower (Cherry Spitz), Lindsay Henkenius (Safety Safari), Linda McDaniel (Comedy Kaze), and Adrian Terborg.
Playing TEAM 8(The Tasty Cocks) on friday November 12th at 8:30pm.



TEAM 7: The Broken Seals
Erik Wargo (Cherry Spitz), Steven Jones (Safety Safari), Sam Forbes, and Blake Keller.
Playing TEAM 12(The Limber Kittens) on friday November 12th at 10:00pm.


TEAM 8: The Tasty Cocks
Anthony Najera (Cherry Spitz), Tyler X. Koontz (Safety Safari), Ryan Herrera (The Fornicators of Comedy, The Fly Zone), and Andy Sharp (Fornicators of Comedy).
Playing TEAM 5(The Founding Flounders) on friday November 12th at 8:30pm.


TEAM 9: The Powerful Ponies
Ify Nwadiwe (Cherry Spitz), Jeff Echegoyan (Comedy Sportz LA College Team, friend of Cherry Spitz), LeShawn Holcomb, and Jeffrey Larson.
Playing TEAM 2(The Opulent Octopi) on friday November 12th at 7:30pm.


TEAM 14: The Sloppy Blowfish
James Stebick (Cherry Spitz), Lars Hansen (Cherry Spitz), Chase Hooper (The Lobby), and DJ O'Hea (The Lobby, The Fornicators of Comedy).
Playing TEAM 13(The Rainbow Unicorns) on friday November 12th at 10:30pm.


We can't wait to see all of our awesome fans there. Cherry Spitz is looking forward to kicking ass and taking names... all for charity, of course. All of us are super excited to be working with all of these different teams from across Southern California. Will Cherry Spitz prove once and for all that they are the best in West? Probably! You'll have to come to the Improv Cup to find out for sure! See y'all there.




-James



[Word is Sloppy Blowfish is the odds-on favorite.]



EDITORS NOTE: If I spelled anybodys name wrong or posted the incorrect group affiliation feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email. Or don't. I don't care.

This is What We Do

Hey Spitz fans,

Giant-sized thank you to everyone that came out to see us at the Art Theatre in Long Beach. We had a blast and would like to thank the Art Theatre for having us (now that we finally realized we had been spelling 'Theatre' wrong). Big sloppy hugs and kisses go out to our guest performers Josh Nicols of The Lobby and Jeff Echegoyen of the Comedy Sportz LA College Team. Excellent work guys. And how could I not thank our incredible musical guests Bonafide Audio? They rocked the party like you wouldn't believe. Gentlemen, it was an honor and a pleasure. But most importantly THANK YOU. Yes, you. You beautiful wonderful people who support this comedy thing we do. We're only the best because you make us the best.

Yes, high fives all around.

For those of you weren't there to witness the face-melting awesomeness of the show in person, here's the video we used to open the show. Please to enjoy...



For the freshest hip hop straight out of Venice California you gots to check out Bonafide Audio. The brilliant music of MC Goofie and Dr. Miles Arnold can be found on their Facebook and Myspace pages. Yes, Myspace still exists. Bonafide Audio has the dopest rhymes and can rock a show straight a capella if they gotta. They are welcome to kick it with us anytime.


This November friend of the Spitz Josh Nicols and his crew The Lobby are putting on a great improv event for charity. The Orange County Improv Cup is a two-day shortform improv tournament that will be happening November 12-13 at STAGES Theater in Fullerton (Cherry Spitz' old stomping grounds). It's going to be great. The Lobby has got performers coming from all of Southern California's various improv groups and organizations, including Cherry Spitz. Plus the money raised will be going toward Hole in the Wall Camps, an organization that provides summer camps for terminally ill children completely free of charge to the kids and their families. It's going to be a great show and all to support a great cause. More information about the Improv Cup can be found at The Lobby website. Come see Cherry Spitz take home the gold this November 12-13 in Fullerton. That's right, we're in it to win it. Just because it's for charity doesn't mean it's not on like Donkey Kong.

And finally, a bit of sad news. Comedy Sportz Los Angeles is facing closure at the end of October. For those of you who aren't familiar with CSzLA, they are an improv comedy Theater in Hollywood that has been putting on the longest running production in all of Los Angeles with their weekly improv shows. It's a great organization and actually where a lot of us in the Spitz first learned improv (myself included). They are trying to raise enough money to stay open. It would be a real shame to have a great improv organization like Comedy Sportz LA disappear. For tickets and information please check out ourloyalfans.com. We at Cherry Spitz are damn sure going to do our part to try and save this truly great part of the LA comedy community. We hope you do the same.

Well I think that about wraps it up, amigos. Thanks again to everyone who came out to the Art Theatre to see us do what we do. We hope to see you all again at our next show. We will be back at the Art on Thursday October 14th, so mark your calenders now. Our next show will be even more kickass than the last, I promise. Until then, y'all stay classy.


Rock on,
James

Ep. 2.10- Catbus Headquaters Special Part 1

From the mysterious, hidden location of the inscrutable Catbus Entertainment Headquarters the Cherry Spitz give you a special podcast for your amusement and astonishment. Listen to James, Lars, DJ Poptart, Erik, and Tony discuss the importance of Life itself. The gang also plugs their upcoming shows this week and what dangers may very well face them. Speaking of danger, Erik and James put themselves through the gastro-intenstinal gauntlet of Southern horror only known as the KFC Double Down. Listen as Erik and James begin to mentally deteriorate as this doom-sandwich clogs their arteries.


Get yours right here- Ep. 2.10- Catbus Headquarters Show Part 1

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To give our listeners a real fighting chance at our Pizza Party Challenge mentioned on the show, we recorded this podcast on Sunday, April 18th while watching the Discovery Life marathon on Discovery Channel. First one to reply here or via email at cherryspitz@gmail.com with the correct time of when the sea snakes are having sex, then you win a free pizza party from us at the Cherry Spitz. Confused, yet allured by that last sentence? We thought so. You outta listen to find out more.

$4K Raised at Help For Haiti!

Hey gang. Just thought we'd share with all your wonderful friends of the Spitz that we helped raise $4,000 dollars at the Help for Haiti show on the 17th.

It was a great turnout and a really good house. We hit the audience with a fast and furious set and they kept up with us just the same.

Thanks again to Virginia and the FOUND Theatre for setting all this up. Really tasty desserts, good acts, and a fantastic crowd; what's not to like?

See you on a stage near you soon.

Cheers,

Lars

Ep 2.01 - D-House - The Specialtists

In a grand meeting of nearly all the Spitz, Lars, James, Tim, Ify, Blaire, Tyler, Tony, and Erik assail your senses at the D-House in this maniacal podcast. Such topics include: sex robots, swastikas, life-saving enemas, and inferior puddings. We also discuss our show happening TONIGHT (that's right TONIGHT), so if you are in the Long Beach area this fine Sunday evening get on over to the Found Theatre and help us help Haiti.

Download right here-The Specialtists

And because we love you, here's some links to the crazy crap we were covering on the show:

Roxxxy the Sexbot

What the hell is a "Cool Dog"?

Semen-like pudding cups





Hope to see you at the show tonight! Stay tuned, dear Spitz fan and come bust with us in '10.

[spotted Richard]


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"Help Haiti" Benefit Show

Hey guys.

By now everyone has undoubtedly heard about the earthquake that hit Haiti and the devastation now facing the country.

Cherry Spitz will be performing at a benefit show this Sunday night in Long Beach. The Found Theater is hosting a night of musicians, actors, comedians, and other performers to benefit the international humanitarian aid organization Doctors Without Borders. Details about the show can be found here.

The show starts at 7pm and there is no charge to get in. The Found is simply asking that you donate whatever you can, as 100 percent of the money raised at the door and through concessions will be going to Doctors Without Borders and the Haitian aid efforts.




This is gonna be a great night of performances and all for a really good cause. Hope to see you all there. And don't worry, we'll be back to doing fart jokes next week. We promise.

The Found Theater

Doctors Without Borders



-James


[serious post]

Ep 22 - D-House - Audio Hug

As the holiday season kicks into high gear, the Cherry Spitz is here to give you some comedy sweetness in this meandering podcast. Join Lars, James, Tony, and Tyler as we send you some raw, unprepared, spitballing magic.



Also, we bring you "Tyler on Tyler", in which Tyler explains to us non-black Spitzers what the hell is the appeal of Tyler Perry. We also break down the new movie Precious , although none of us have seen it. As Tyler explains it, I'm having a hard time believing its 91% Fresh on Rottentomatoes.com.

Get you new SpitzCast right here- CHERRY SPITZ PODCAST 12/2/09- AUDIO HUG

Also here's a picture of Tyler's father, Vincent "Black Atticus" Masterson to give the listeners an idea of who were talking about and why Tyler hates it when we do. See? He's a total badass.


Intro and outro music performed off of mc chris's new remix album Apple Tummy.

And don't forget to catch James performing the comedy in Fullerton this Saturday night. If you don't go, baby seals will start clubbing themselves. And those seals are much too young to go to clubs. It's a bad influence on their fragile upbringing with all that hip-hop music and loose women running about. I'll stop now.

[nobody go downstairs!]

COME SEE (one of) US LIVE!

This Saturday, December 5th, Cherry Spitz' own James Stebick will be the guest performer at The Lobby's Fourth Anniversary Show. The show starts at 10:30pm and will be at STAGEStheater in Fullerton.

The Lobby is a fellow improv group and friend of the Spitz. They're really funny guys and this show promises to be one hell of a good time. Check out their website:The Lobby Improv

STAGEStheater is located in beautiful downtown Fullerton, and was actually once home to the Spitz. More importantly, STAGES is both totally BYOB and two doors down from a very fine liquors store. That's right. You can bring any drink you want into the theater. The drunker you are the funnier we get.

STAGEStheater
400 E. Commonwealth Ave. Fullerton, CA 92832
STAGES website
Info on The Lobby show

And now, so you don't feel like this post was a total self-promotional waste, here's a funny picture featuring Samuel L. Jackson. See y'all Saturday.


[James/the guy in the pic]