Recently, I covered Penn alum author Laura Dave (C'99) and her books The Divorce Party, London is the Best City in America and now her new book The First Husband (read an excerpt here).

After the jump, check out a new video from Laura and find out:

• how she does research for her books before she starts writing
• her alternate approach to writing without an outline
• how long (and how many drafts) it takes her to write a book

And for you Los Angelinos, tonight Laura will be doing a reading, Q&A and signing at the Barnes and Nobles in The Grove at 7 pm.

Read More......

Continue Reading »

Over the past 4+ years, I've covered lots of alumni performing improv.

There is one particular style of improv that has really caught my eye, or I should say ear: the musical improv.

After the jump, watch how Tom Christensen's (W'03, Mask and Wig) mind works as he spins the suggested phrase "You go get her boy" into a one-man musical about: a boy who crushes on a girl, a dorky chemistry teacher, jealous friends ruling the school, a frank conversation between a mother and son, and "popular girls".

And don't blame if you find yourself humming the tune to his featured "I'm not a date rapist" song all day.

Seriously, watch how his mind works.

Read More......

Continue Reading »

He may have successfully zipped up the the commencement speech he gave at Penn last week, but apparently he forgot to zip up.

After the jump, check out a quick, behind-the-scenes video of him leaving the stage to get into his car and realizing he has some business to tend to....

Read More......

Continue Reading »

If you recall, a few months ago, Penn alum Todd Lieberman (C'95, Mask and Wig, AEPi) was busy producing the latest Muppet movie due out in November.

The movie has wrapped and now the film's clever new marketing campaign has hit the web.

After the jump, check out this fun new "fake" trailer for a movie called Green with Envy and just keep watching until minute 0:51.

Love it!

Read More......

Continue Reading »

After 11 DT vlogs, the duo (Ben Naecker (C'09, Water Polo) and Blake West (W'09, Jazz Combos)) who moved to Austin to pursue music is about to split up.

Why? Because Ben is going to Stanford to pursue a career in Neuroscience.

In this Penn-ultimate episode (pun intended), after the jump find out some tips about:

• how they got some new gigs
• some great resources for e-mailing booking agents
• and footage from the recent EP sessions.

Read More......

Continue Reading »