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Review: New Expression June 2003 by paws o'henry This is my review of the June 2003 New Expression show. I had a great time, both as an audience member and as a performer. You see, I was in the New Expression 2003. When I got to the show I didn't know what to expect. I was living in New York at the time, and was visiting L.A. so I decided to drive up. Jamie Flam, the CEO and founder of Lunchboxing.com, had promised I could be in some skits if I made the long trip up the coast. I found an entertaining and willing driver, so I went for it. At first, when I walked in, lots of people were putting up art and eating burritos. They were also drinking beer. This was Thursday, 24 hours before showtime. We tried to rehearse some funny skits Jamie had written, and it was a huge mess. We were terrible. But I was confident in Jamie's material, which made me laugh out loud when I first read it. I had showed his skit about Police Academy to a friend who had been a professional drama critic, and he said it "lays bare the artistic bankruptcy of the entire Police Academy series." So I wasn't the only one who thought it was good. The next night, Friday, I was amazed at how many people showed up, and how hip and good-looking they were. Apparently Jamie and my other Bay Area friends had lots of neat friends. The crowd took their seats and we began the intro, which featured a strange song and Jamie's (and now my) friend, Chris Weisbart, dressing up as a crazy old fisherman. The highlight of the night, for me, was when Chris spontaneously passed around the full bottle of rum that was part of his costume. When it got to me I passed it to some people in the front row. It felt very rock starrish. Later, Jamie, Chris and others showed some good videos they had made that got a very enthusiastic reception. Now drunk, I joined the other New Expression Players (this is my name, not anything we formally called ourselves) onstage. We ran through the skit in a frenzy. Hopped up on booze and adrenaline, I thought everything had gone great. When I went backstage, I saw Jamie on the floor. "Jamie, what's wrong?" I said. "That was terrible!" he said. "Everyone hates me!" Jamie went on to explain that it had been a huge disaster and that the next night there would be some changes. As a result, the next night was even better! One of my favorite Lunchboxers, Stephen Cody, read a funny story about how he and another of my favorite Lunchboxers, Travis LoDolce, had been mugged and Travis had hand-wrestled the gun away. That was the highlight of the night. All in all, I would give the June 2003 New Expression five stars (out of 10). I missed the New Expression: Fall Classic a few months later, but I certainly will not miss the next one. 
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