Friday, November 02, 2007

Our Opening, Our Press

Tonight is the premiere, and we kick it off with “Our Bodies, Our Shells.”  Remember two posts ago, when I was mulling over the justification for wedging T.S. Eliot into a comedy show?  I glossed over the idea of Eliot as an “advertising mechanism” because, as of that writing, we hadn’t had even a nibble of interest from any media, which of course undermined my point.

But in the last two days I’ve given two interviews about the show, and as predicted, most of the questions were about Eliot.  I’m starting to figure out how publicity in Boston works—reporters love hooks.  It’s so obvious, but we rarely get to exploit it in the improv world.  It’s super-important for these limited run shows to get press hits right off the bat, because by the time word of mouth buzz builds, the show is usually halfway (or entirely) finished.  Writers in Boston don’t really touch improv, because they can’t provide a reliable review (the show they see will never be replicated).  The rare improv shows that are profiled usually have big hooks (Code Duello, Ennis Cotter, The Robert Cycle).  Sketch comedy fares better in print but there just isn’t a lot of sketch in Boston, so it tends to fly under the radar.  Anyway, we’re lucky to get some press right off the bat.

Boston Metro piece.

Boston Globe piece (scroll down).

I hope tonight goes well.  It’s the silliest of our shows, what with all the talk of dicks and boobies.