They say life is cyclical and History repeats itself.  In pop culture; music & fashion, we see it all the time (why I’m wearing fluorescent spandex and a scrunchy as I type this message!)  With the surge in popularity of podcasts, younger generations are starting to get an understanding, even though they might not realize it, of what was so dang nifty about the radio.

Last Monday, some students in my year at Humber put on a Live Radio Show at Comedy Bar.  It seems weird to say that because we weren’t actually live on the radio.  We were performing live in front of a (sparsely attended) audience and simultaneously being recorded for a program that will hopefully be aired on Sirius XM Satellite radio, eventually.

The whole idea for the event was that of my sketch teacher, Robin Duke.   It was both an assignment on learning about the history of comedy and its origins on the radio (Air Farce started on the radio.  Did you know that?) as well as learning how to write sketch for a medium other than stage or video.

I thought it was a lot of fun. It allowed for my characters to survive a nuclear holocaust!  This is something I would NOT have been able to afford to recreate effectively either on stage or on video.  But alas, my awesome cast (Ashley, Brandon, Paige & Wheatgrass) performed wonderfully and over all, I believe the sketch was well-received.  Go us!  🙂  (Including Bruce & Lance for the tips!)

On the other hand, the whole radio play ordeal showed me a lot about the importance of adaptability.  Some of you may know that I work part time at the Career Centre at Humber College, helping people better their resumes in order to try to land a decent job… or at least, an interview.  Adaptability is a skill that is almost always sought by employers, and a really good skill to have at work, or in life.

Here we are: the scripts have been selected for the performance, the date has been chosen and all that’s left are edits and rehearsals.   And lo, the teacher catches pneumonia and has to take a few days off work.  As a result, communications get a little more complicated and people begin to panic.  “I don’t know when to be where.  I didn’t get an e-mail about this or that.  I don’t know what to do for this.  I didn’t bother editing this because I didn’t hear about that.”  Mass chaos.

In the midst of all the confusion, Robin Duke receives an e-mail from Bob Derkach, the musical director for our radio show and long time musical director at the Second City in Toronto.   He was to accompany our pieces on the keyboard and with sound effects.   The e-mail read simply:  “Digging the confusion.”

What an amazing way to look at the situation!  I feel like there are two routes you can go.  You can get frustrated and pissed off and complain about how much of a mess you think everything is, OR you can just go with it, accept that life isn’t always carefully planned out and make the best out of the situation.

Which one do you suppose is most helpful and beneficial to the project at hand?

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Now… if only people had COME to the show…