Andrew J. Lederer

as i injected some into my monologue in an effort to introduce more truth.

of necessity, you leave things out of true stories to make them tellable but the tone should be accurate -- people should have a sense of what they're not hearing. i felt i was coming across too much as a vulnerable victim of circumstance, which is, perhaps, more appealing than reality.

hubris is a big part of at least the subtext of my story and, as i told elise harris later in the day, a tragic comedy needs a hubristic king who facilitates his own undoing.

unfortunately, the nice, old men who were in my audience were not the prime demographic for this new shading.

oh, well.

later, more arrogance perhaps or maybe just attitude laced with silliness -- i got to berlin about a minute late for my 14:10 show and the people who'd been waiting for me had gone in to see the other show -- "the very near future". i entered the other space and demanded that they return to my performance sanctum. when they refused, i branded them, "betrayers!" and generally made a comedic scene.

the guy who's in that show couldn't look me in the eye when he later left the venue. i reentered a couple of times to continue my spiel -- before his show actually started -- and i think he felt competed with or undermined when, in fact, i had given him a terrific warm-up, reminiscent of variety and chat shows where another performer wanders in and supplies a touch of the unexpected.

andrew roper said i should realize the guy was very young and probably not yet equipped to deal deal with that kind of stuff and/or view that through that kind of prism. (it was funny, though.)

later, i did imac hunt's pro-am celebrity karaoke for a bunch of firemen who sang along during the "mack the knife"-off which pitted me against fierce celtic competitor and eventual winner, paul kerensa. then came some loitering in front of the assembly rooms, where i met rich hall's adorable little daughter (dixie ray, i think her name is) and rich said i could get in free to see his play tomorrow or today.

pretty cool.