Episode #1239

[Uncle Roger]

She appeared in a few skits as well. The most memorable was the 20th anniversary skit back in 1986. This was a Jeff Thompson skit and it achieved a level of controlled insanity that Jeff never reached again. Adriana was cast as Mrs. Johnson and made her entrance carrying a broom and began sweeping the stage. Very method, huh?
She had a bit of dialogue that contained a major plot twist.  She announced that she was the mother of Dave Woodard  Junior. (Bet you didn't see that one coming!) But her accent was so thick, no one in the audience had any clue of what she had said. Jeff had to repeat the speech for the benefit of the audience.
A blooper unique to the skits.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

(  Wow!  )

[Uncle Roger]

Unfortunately, very few of the early skits are not on YouTube.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

(  Although, maybe that's for the best if her participation in them is any example...)

[Uncle Roger]

I saw it live and a few times since then. The early skits are quite raw, for lack of a better word, and are uniquely fascinating. But so is roadkill.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

(  An interesting way to put it!!  )

[Uncle Roger]

I wasn't at this particular festival but Helen Samaras told me a great story about a California event. The script was much too long and the author decided to edit it the day it was performed but never incorporated the changes into the cue cards. Whoever was doing the cue cards was having a hard time keeping up with what was going on onstage, so they were several pages behind the actors. Under normal circumstances, Helen is very soft spoken and demure. Not this time! At one point,  she was so frustrated that she actually said: I'd say my next line if they ever get to the right g*dd*mn f*cking cue card

[Mysterious Benefactor]

(  In a way that must have been too funny!! Though I doubt at the time the actors thought so!!  )

[Uncle Roger]

I saw the skit on video years ago and it made Plan Nine From Outer Space look like Citizen Kane. Besides the cue card snafu, there were other things that contributed to the overall weirdness. There happened to be a wedding reception going on in one of the adjacent rooms and mariachi music would filter in during the most inopportune moments. Someone got the bright idea of using masking tape on the collapsible room dividers to block the sound of the music. Unfortunately, whoever was in charge of the masking tape was very close to the video camera. The sound of the masking tape being unraveled was exactly like listening to the campfire scene in Blazing Saddles

[Mysterious Benefactor]

(  Sounds like the whole incident was too insane for words!!)

[Uncle Roger]

The audience was growing more and more impatient with the skit which seemed to be going on and on like Shogun. At a certain point, you can hear the audience chanting very loudly Movie Movie Movie. Not necessarily a chant for a DS movie. I think that they would have settled for any movie at that point.