For one year and two months I’ve been learning improv. It was not my original intention to cover 6 levels of Improv training classes. When I took the front house manager job at the Improv Asylum, I was required to take the Level 1 class just so I know what the hell I’m talking about when patrons ask, “hey, what’s the improv training center like?” Well after that Level 1 class, I got sucked in to this improv cult and decided to take all the classes, which will now accumulate to a graduation show on January 17, 2010. Yes, that’s right… performing in front of the general public and showcasing all the improv learned. I…am…so…fucking…nervous. Luckily, I made it to a House Team, to get a feel of what it’s like to do improv in front of an audience (note: House Teams are a group of training center students and alumni performing every Tuesdays at 8PM at the asylum). I’ve become super focused on this new interest of mine–watching shows and learning–but what becomes of Vic Yambao the Artist? Has he retired his paint brushes and oil paints? Has he put away his sculpting tools and sketchbooks? Fuck no, them shits are expensive. I just need to find a way to combine both interests instead.

It was sometime in July, when the NXT, came out with the review, “LOST IN BOSTON, or, Something Wicked Pissah This Way Comes.” that I found out, the only person who actually looked at my website when I asked them to was  NXT member, Evan Kaufman–I know this, because after Evan asked me to make a prop for the NXT, everyone else seemed surprised to find out I was an artist (Update 1/11/10: It was NXT member Patty Barrett who suggested me to Evan. All this time I’ve been giving credit to the wrong person….all this time…..). They needed a political banner in their opening musical, something in the style of Shepard Farey’s Obama “Hope” Poster. Something to punctuate the NXT’s point about one of Boston’s great municipal official….

He’s a FUCKING half man half horse!

Look at him! A goddamn centaur complete with horse legs, horse tail, long face and EVERYTHING! I had a blast making this thing. It’s at least 3ft long and rolled up like a scroll so that it dramatically unravels in front of the audience. And I was paid! A rarity in my life as an Artist.

Now that the word is out that Vic can do art stuff….I hoped that it encouraged any of the improvers and sketch writers to milk my talent for all it’s worth. I love comedy and art. Any help to kill two birds with one stone is much appreciated.

And then NXT and training center director, Jeremy Brothers thought of me when writing his sketch comedy for last night’s “…And Other Uncomfortable Holiday Moment” Sketch Show. I was already excited but became even more motivated when I read the script. It was hilarious stuff. He asked for 8 to 10 sketches in different art styles and as much as I wanted to do that many, my long extraneous battle with time management kept getting in the way. So I was only able to come up with four.

Basically, Jeremy’s character’s wife, Hope, wants him and his friends to gangbang her. She instructed him to make diagrams on how she would want them to “do” her. Diagrams done in different art styles.

Warning: The following drawings are very explicit. I warn you…even though by the time you read this, you have probably seen the pictures below anyways…I have no idea why I’m even warning you.

So this little gem was inspired by two girls kissing…I turned one of the girls into a boy and added two other guys. Done in Oil pastels on paper.

This is a bit more disturbing than the others. Thanks to Google for never failing to show me porn in their images (even when I’m not looking for it). Now, looking at porn for other reasons than “I’m bored, curious and alone”— is weird. Showing what I came up with to my girlfriend and expecting her to be proud—is weird. Hearing the audience respond to such graphic sexual act–priceless. Done in acrylics on board.

Compared to the other two, this one is pretty tame. I came up with this thinking about art styles and my immature high school kid in me poked at the idea of doing a Jackson Pollock style white drip painting on top of a scantily clad chick. After I finished it, I accidentally Lewinsky’d my black dress pants…with the paint I mean…not with, you know…. nevermind. Done in colored pencils and white acrylic on board.

Ah, Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica.” A painting inspired by the horrible tragedy that beset upon the Basque town of Guernica. Where widespread destruction of innocent lives dropped from the sky like some wrathful uncaring god. Yeah, my tampering of this painting probably sealed my fate to hell. I couldn’t help it. Is April 26, 1937 still considered “too soon”? Anyways, it was my favorite and I believe it was Jeremy’s as well….actually I heard the most laughs with this painting and it was the one they used to close the Sketch.
“What does the horse represent?”
“Um…the horse represents….a horse.”

Jeremy explaining to his friend’s which one of them is in the painting.

So that’s that. I’ll be doing House Teams every Tuesday for the next 5 weeks so go check it out…do we suck at comedy or not? You’ll never know unless you show up at least once. I sometimes wonder if I’m funnier now than when I started working at the Improv Asylum… well, considering I was going through a break up at the time, I was financially shattered, and jobless for that summer……yeah…no, definitely funnier now.

-Vic
12/18/2009