Updates

Introducing: The You Convention – comedy that’s all about YOU!

Are you sick of those comedy teams that are so full of themselves? Well fret no more! Here comes The You Convention! Not only do we make it funny – we make it all about YOU!

The You Convention is the newest house team at The Improv Space. So new in fact, that the group makes its world debut this Wednesday, October 10 at 8 PM! This is YOUR chance to be a part of hyperbolic history! And it will only cost you $5 FREE DOLLARS!

Now I want you to guess who just happens to be a member of this brand new group. Go on, guess! Huh, the internet doesn’t seem to be as instantaneous as advertised. Oh I’ll just tell you: it’s me! I hope that wasn’t too much of a curve ball for you. But wait it’s not just me (thank god)! I’m thrilled to be starting this group along with Dan Adams, Hunter M. Altman, Brian Cooperman, Robin Higgins, Andre Radojcich, and Mark Royer! Great improvisers, all. And of course, we wouldn’t even exist as a group without Adam Macy and the rest of the fine and funny folks at The Improv Space. So I hope you’ll come out to see us this Wednesday so we can make YOU laugh!

But in the off-chance you can’t make a Wednesday night show, I’ll be performing more YOU-focused improv comedy this Saturday night with my other group the Magic Meathands! We’ll be joined by the improvisers Barney Five. Check out our Facebook event for more details.

Sorting Some Things Out

Yes I actually took a weekday off from blogging yesterday. Were you lonely? Did you miss me?

I converted CoreyBlake.com into the current blog format back in April 2008. For a while, I mostly blogged on a “whenever” schedule (sometimes daily, sometimes weekly, sometimes a few times a month). But thanks to the encouragement of my friend and coach Cindy Marie Jenkins, I committed to blogging Monday through Friday. Since November 2010 that’s just what I’ve done (OK, with the exception of a couple days off for Thanksgiving in November 2010, the lost week in January 2011 from a computer crash, and yesterday). A little over a year isn’t really that long, but for the Internet, I think it’s worth mentioning.

If you follow this site, you know that a good percentage of my blogging shifted to covering comic books, graphic novels and the like. My ongoing work with Dig Comics inspired a new direction in my career(s) that has included comics punditry, journalism, consulting and generally spreading the good word of sequential art in its myriad forms. It’s an area that continues to fascinate me. So I’m creating a new site/blog that will be dedicated to what I’ve been doing in that realm here and more. Right now, it looks to be on track for a February 1st launch. I’m very excited and have lots of ideas for the site’s future. I’m starting at what I’m hoping is a manageable level and hope to build up as I’m able. So as I continue to work behind-the-scenes on that, comics coverage here at CoreyBlake.com will take a breather and then resume at the new site next month.

Meanwhile, my performing with the comedy troupe Magic Meathands continues. We do fully improvised shows in and around Los Angeles, and also do community outreach shows for audiences that aren’t able to come to us. I perform with them every chance I get and am also running their blog, which generally updates every Monday. In between posts about upcoming shows (we perform at least 3 times a month), I’m hoping to start spotlighting members, some of the groups that do shows with us, and some of the non-profit organizations that invite us to do shows for them.

Earlier this month, I also launched something for music fans. Ten on the Tenth had a great first month for an idea that popped in my head 5 days before it went live. Based on some feedback I’ve gotten, I’ll be tinkering it a little for February. If you missed it, how it works is I announce a theme (January was “new”) and then on the 10th of every month, people post their list of 10 songs within that theme. Watch for February’s theme to be announced around the 8th.

So with all of that (and more ideas still percolating), what happens with CoreyBlake.com? The frequency of blogging here will probably drop to two to three times a week so I can juggle the other stuff. There will be some self-promotion but that gets boring (for me too), so I’ll also talk about things that catch my eye, and maybe getting back to some of the silly blogging I was trying out in 2008. Otherwise, we’ll just have to see what catches people’s attention. Heck, I’ll even take requests. If you’d like to see me blog about something, let me know.

I’m excited to see where all of this will lead. If you’re still reading, thank you very much for being so interested in what I’m doing. I stopped reading after the first paragraph, so kudos to you.

What’s with all the comic book talk? I thought this was an actor’s website.

Corey Blake as seen by Scott Shaw!

In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been blogging more and more over the last few months. And a lot of it is dealing with comic books. Or graphic novels, if you prefer. Or sequential art, if you want to be hoity-toity.

I love performing, so you’ll always see me talking up new shows and videos and whatever else I’m in. (Three new Magic Meathands sketch comedy videos should start posting in a week or so, and I’ll be in all of them!) But there’s more to me than that. The world of comics also endlessly fascinates me, and it turns out I like talking about it to whoever will listen. Fortunately, the internet and blogs were invented so that I can write ad nauseum about my topic of choice.

I love the idea of introducing comics to new people, so I hope to be able to do more of that. (Unfortunately time limitations prevent me from doing the New Comics for New Readers weekly list I used to do. I’m hoping to find a replacement.) I’m also interested in the history of comics, how that has given us our present, and where comics are going. And finally, I like taking a closer look at the LA comics scene in particular, as I think that’s something that’s under-represented online.

(I can’t blog about everything going on in the world of comics. So if you want to read more about what you see here, check out one of the links in the right-hand column under Comics News, Etc. That’s a list of my a favorite sites focused on comic books and the culture around them.)

So you will probably continue to see me comment on comics news or spotlight certain works or aspects of the comics industry interspersed between self-promotion of my own work as a comedic performer and actor.

Behind the scenes, I’m looking into a way of combining these two aspects of my life – a way to educate, discuss and spread the word about comics in a live presentation. It’s an exciting process to discover just what this new thing is going to be. I hope you’ll join in the discussion and discovery. Please feel free to post comments here on the blog, talk with me on Facebook and Twitter, or ask me a question on Formspring. It’s great to hear from you.

Hey look! A Twitter feed!

The kind folks at WordPress have made an easy-to-use widget so that I can put a feed of my Twitter updates on my site right here! So there they are now on the right-hand side below the calendar and to the right of the Blogroll links. 

The feed is updated every 15 minutes, so there will be a lag. To get instant gratification, follow me directly on Twitter right here.

Enjoy!

(Unless you don’t enjoy Twitter. Then… I guess suffer?)

(Hopefully next up: WordPress allows embedding of videos from any website instead of just a handful with immense (and glitchy) hoop-jumping for the rest.)

Corey’s hands now meaty and magicy

A couple of weeks ago, I was formally invited to become a full member of the main company of The Magic Meathands improv comedy ensemble. I was and am honored to be asked, and so of course I accepted!

For the past year, I’ve been studying under director Bill Johnson’s Magic Meathands training program and performing in the Saturday student medley showcases once a month. It’s a great environment to learn and grow. I highly recommend it. (And I don’t even get any kind of commission!)

Now, I’ll be performing with the rest of the very funny main company members on a fairly regular basis on Thursday nights at The Spot Café & Lounge in Culver City, as well as other performances to be announced. Keep an eye on the Magic Meathands’ calendar.

My first show as a featured player of the main company will be next Thursday, January 29th, 8:00 PM. Admission: $5. Again, that’s at The Spot.

I hope to see you there!

Your Ideas Intrigue Me

Would you like to sign up for my… Mailing List?

Golly gee gosh, I sure hope so. If so, click on that clickable part right there. The CoreyBlake.com Mailing List will be a good place to get announcements, show information, and other important stuff like that. For now, you can expect a new message once a month or less. If you don’t visit the site every day or so (although you should!) and would rather not get notified of every blog posting, this is the way to go. You’ll be kept up to date on all of the good stuff without getting inundated with messages.

I’ve also set up new subscription options for the blog thanks to Feedburner.com. You can be notified of new posts either through your RSS reader of choice or through email.

And for those reading this through Facebook, I realize that videos and pictures don’t usually show up for you, which probably results in something about as coherent as hearing a quarter of a conversation. Until some kind of remedy is discovered by the Internet Gods, you’re just going to have to click on the “View original post” link at the bottom to make any sense of it all. Sorry. (I also realize that Facebook frequently turns punctuation into cartoon swearing. Lame, I know.)

Besides all of that Internetosity, don’t forget about my improv show this Saturday night at The Spot. I’d love to see you there!

Improv(‘)ing this Saturday June 14

This Saturday at 8:00 PM, I will be performing with The Magic Meathands in a FREE-FREE-FREE show at The Spot Café & Lounge! The Bill Johnson that isn’t a racist lawyer who just lost his bid to become a California Superior Court Judge will be leading us once again.

These shows are always lots of fun, both for the performers and the audience (that’s you!). So stop on by and enjoy some improv that’s actually pretty dang good!

Bring your laughs!

The Importance of Plumbing

Not five minutes after Aaron Lyons and his lovely lady (and fantastic singer) Kelly Fletcher left our apartment following a scrumptious brunch, we were told there was an incident with the plumbing downstairs and we couldn’t use any water for a couple of hours. Naturally, I suspected Aaron and Kelly probably busted a pipe on their way out. That would be just like them.

So, while we’re waiting for two hours to pass, I’m reminded how good we have it. It quickly became clear just how reliant we are on plumbing because I now can think of nothing to do that doesn’t involve a sink, shower or toilet so just had to go check all on the issue at tspplumbing.com, or www.plumbers-portsmouth.co.uk.

Before we were demoted to 2008 B.C., I played the nearly-final mix of the song “Ballad of the Waitress”, which Aaron co-wrote, that I recorded last weekend. He and Kelly both saw me perform this song in the last Foe Pa show and really seemed to get a kick out of hearing this version. Edie Murphy continues working on mixing it, and we’re going to see if we can add some fiddle to the song since she’s such a great fiddle player.

Edie has been wonderful to work with. Her country band Dime Box recently released their first album, Five & Dime Waltz. Check it out! It’s available on iTunes. They’ve got come samples on the band’s MySpace page. What’s weird is that we discovered that Aaron somehow knows another member of Dime Box, lead singer and banjo player Kristi Callan.

Small world, huh? So small, we still can’t get this plumbing thing right.

First recording coming soon

I just spent much of the day recording a song I co-wrote with Aaron Lyons from last September’s live Foe Pa sketch comedy show. The wonderful Edie Murphy patiently and expertly guided me through the process. I’m very excited to share it with you all. I hope to post it soon.

Improv’ing this Saturday

Watch me play with the students of Bill Johnson’s The Magic Meathands this Saturday at The Spot Café & Lounge in Culver City at 8:00 PM. It’s guaranteed fun silliness, completely unscripted and off-the-cuff. I’ve been having tons of fun with this group. The best part is the show is completely FREE! Yes, that’s right! FREE!

Oh sure, now you’re interested.

I hope to see you there!