Oh yeah, HBO

We forgot to mention how the HBO/Aspen showcase thingy went... I gotta say it went pretty frickin' GREAT!!!!!! I want to thank each and every one who came out. Some unexpected kevINda fans showed up, some new ones were made, and some old friends from school. It was so nice. The other acts were great as well. Nuff respect nuff respect BOOYAKA!!!

I had a Halloween party... okay, my roomate had a Halloween party and it was great until the end. Let's just put it this way, how are you going to come to someone's house that you're friends with (or at the very least respect) and then get in an ALMOST physical fight? Then, then the next day say, "I was drunk." If you are a violent drunk DON'T go to people's houses that you are friends with (or at least respect) and get drunk.

NIGGAS, can't live with 'em and can't pretend you're not one of them. Ah, I feel better. No one got hurt.

Oh, happy birthday Inda.

- Kevin

Elect This!

Can election day PLEEEEEEEAASSSE be over? I am so sick of all these gospel choir radio ads for all these White politicians on all these Black radio stations!!!! They are disgusting. And I don't live in Chicago, so beside it being annoying, it's irrelevant! And annoying.

- Inda

Showing Off

Tonight we're showing our booties... not literally. But we're going to have fun. If you're in Chicago and want to hang out and see our booties... literally... we'll be performing in this showcase for the HBO/Aspen folks at the Playground Theater on Halsted and Belmont at 8pm. We go on second, but get there early. Five dollars.

- Inda

IOWA!!!

We just came back from performing in Iowa today (yesterday...sorry, Kevin). The show went well. We were at Cornell. The audience was great. We had a talkback afterwords and that was real cool. On the four hour drive back to the Chi we wrote a whole new show... okay, tried to write a whole new show... well, parts of a whole new show... okay, blackouts are what we were trying to do which are short quick scenes. Blackouts. They are not that easy, especially, at 9 in the morning, driving four hours through cornfields. I mean cornfields are fine if you're into that. It's just not very inspiring. When I see or think cornfields I don't think, "OH NOW IS THE TIME TO WRITE SOME BRILLIANT BLACK OUTS!!"

Watched the Black Movie Awards last night. Go ahead Akeelah and the Bee!! They took everything. I think the only issue I have with the Black Movie Awards is this: Just because it was Black and put in theatres does not mean it should be nominated. Halle Berry -- best supporting actress for X-Men 3 -- really? You already know how I feel about that movie (read blog from May). ATL? Hm. Hasn't Boyz N the Hood been done? And then the movie that should have won best film was Tsotsi, but that would assume that the WHITE MAN would play a GOOD INDEPENDENT film in a Black neighborhood. Or maybe they didn't do it 'cause of the subtitles. You know this isn't the 1800s, Blacks read now! But many don't want to, I know. LONG LIVE ATL!

- Kevin

MySpace

We now have a MySpace page, so please be our friend. www.myspace.com/kevINdacomedy

- Kevin and Inda

This is a Test

My week (I know it's only Monday) has been poopy. I'm trying to be encouraged and faithful and all that, but it's been one let-down after another. I am going to take a bubble bath. Right now. In the middle of the afternoon. And have a glass of something containing alcohol. I'm not depressed or suicidal or anything like that. I just need some comforting. And I need to throw up this half bag of raisinets I just downed. Jesus loves me.

- Inda

Of Course It's the White Lady

I went out to dinner in L.A. with a friend this week. My friend, Christy, is pigmentally impaired...she's White. We dined at a restaurant that just happens to also employ my husband as a manager in Chicago. When Christy and I arrived the hostess immediately found our reservation, which had a notation that "Inda Galvan" was the wife of Chicago manager. The wine captain/manager -- let's call her "Angela" because I honestly don't remember her name -- quickly greeted us. It is relevant to note that Angela is White. Angela asked which one of us was married to the Chicago manager. I fessed up, she took us to our table, and our server greeted us. Let's call him "Mark" because that really was his name. Mark, who is also White, asked which one of us was married to the Chicago manager. He didn't assume. Why would he? He just asked. Why wouldn't he?

The service was great, the food was fantastic.

So why blog? Well, my people... my people. A few minutes into our wonderful experience, the Black floor manager came over to the table -- let's call him "Negro Please" because, well, that's what I found myself wanting to say to him all night. Negro Please took one look at me & Christy and immediately decided that Christy was the manager's wife. He never asked. He just assumed. And all night Negro Please went out of his way to kiss up to Christy. At one point Negro Please brought Christy's cocktail to the table and asked if it was "just like home." All night Negro Please embarrassed himself by shucking and jiving for Christy. For the White lady.

Christy asked me if we should tell him. Maybe we should have let Negro Please know early on that his assumption was incorrect. But I didn't want to. I wanted to see just how long and how far Negro Please would go with his ignorance.

And it went on all night. He made it quite clear why he was doing what he was doing. And it just got better and better (or worse and worse, depending on your perspective) as the night went on. Despite the facts, his assumption was deeply set. I was dressed quite well, had the new hair on and it was working. I speak well (for a Negress). And I looked perfectly comfortable in a fine-dining restaurant. But, I'm a Black woman. And Christy is a White woman. So of course the manager's wife, in Negro Please's mind, would be Christy, right? Negro, please.

- Inda

Bamboozled!

I've got it!!! Damon Wayan's new sketch show, The Underground, is actually a brilliant trick he's playing on Showtime and, thus, the viewers.

I bet he thought no one would figure out his crafty plan, the mad genius that he is. And, I admit, it took me a while. But the gig is up, Master Wayans. The gig is up.

- Inda

EEEEEWWWWW!

So, one of the other writers (CARLA) on the ongoing Blaxploitation project has decided to write a scene about a rather goofy fetish. I won't give away the what, but it's pretty darn goofy.

Or, at first glace it is. Carla just forwarded me a blog that someone else wrote on the subject. The blog contained pictures. Lots of pictures. And there were lots of comments to the blog. Now that my brain has been subjected to this freakishness, I realize that goofy is not the right word. Ick. Yuck. Sick. Nasty. Gross. Grotesque. Ewwwwww!!!!!!

Thanks, Carla. Thanks for that. I'm going to go wash my eyeballs now. With bleach and a brillo pad.

And make sure everyone comes out to see the show in February so I'm not the only one damaged by this.

- Inda

Priceless

I had a callback for a Mastercard commercial. So I canceled two engagements/appointments because callback trumps job interview and rehearsing with Inda. So they called me with a time, then on the day of the callback they called me and ask if I can come an hour later because the client (Mastercard) was stuck at the airport. So I said, "Cool." That's when I canceled my other job interview. Then they called and said, "We may have to move you to a later time," and I said, "Sure," 'cause that's how actors do. Then they called to confirm me for an hour later and I said, "Cool." Then an hour after that they said, "The client is still stuck at the airport and they are just going to cast out of New York."

Theatre Degree --- $40,000.

Amount of money I would have made had I booked it --- Priceless.

F*#K you, Mastercard.

-Kevin

Vivica Is Gone

People on the radio are talking about Vivica A. Fox getting the boot on Dancing With The Stars.

They're saying that Black woman are hatin' on her. She was the man and her partner was the woman in their duo. She should be ashamed of herself as a Black woman for getting lip injections. She's too scary. She was too strong. Whatever the reasons, people didn't call to vote for her.

I don't think she didn't deserved to be kicked off. She consistently danced better than a few other people who are still on the show. But it's about more than the dancing. It's about popularity. Yes, Jerry Springer and That Fat Country Lady ("Mommy, is that really her name?" "No, baby, but it may as well be.") should be gone. Harry Hamlin probably should have stayed one more week. Monique (sorry, Kevin) scared the heck out of me when she moved herself -- and not the audience -- to tears with her crying. But Springer and That Fat Country Lady have huge fan bases calling in. Rednecks don't have anything better to do than call in. And they don't watch cable since they only get 2, 5, 7 & 9 with that tin foil antenna, so they're watching. And calling. Vivica just didn't get the audience votes.

She didn't get my votes. Actually, nobody did. I stopped calling when Kelly Monaco lost the dance-off to J. Peterman from Seinfeld. Nothing against Vivica. I'm just done. And I love Kelly Monaco. I even wrote a song. I don't know how to put audio on the blog, though. Kelly Monacooooooooooo.

- Inda

The Chicken Was Good 2

I, on the other hand, am not bitter. To be nominated is an honor, though it is difficult to JUDGE something that is so subjective... okay, that sounded bitter. I thought the chicken at this event was good and very appropriate. CHICKEN. BLACK Theater Alliance Awards. There was dancing and singing at the BLACK Theater Alliance Awards. What else... it started a little late... no, wait -- I was late, but again appropriate. It's the BLACK Theater Alliance Awards. One thing about our people -- we are consistent.

We thank the Black Theater Alliance Awards for recognizing us and recognizing that if they had let us win it would have gone straight to our heads. The blog would have looked like this:
YOU CAN'T BRING IT LIKE WE DO! LOOK AT OUR TROPHIES AND WEEP! WE RULE!!!! WE ARE THE BEST EFFING BLACK SKETCH COMEDY DUO IN THE EFFING UNIVERSE!!!!!!! WE OWN YOU BITCHES! WHAT!?!? YOU CAN'T TOUCH US. IT SHOULD BE CALLED THE kevINda THEATER ALLIANCE AWARDS!!!!

So, it's good to be humbled.

- Kevin

The Chicken Was Good

So, last night Kevin and I attended the annual Black Theatre Alliance Awards. Blaxploitation: The Remix, which we co-wrote, was nominated for eight awards: playwriting, ensemble, actress in an ensemble (China L. Colston), most promising (Tamberla Perry, Keith Smitherman, Eddie Jordan III), and sound design. I was individually nominated in the lead actress category for the play Pretty Fire, and Kevin was nominated in the actor in an ensemble category for a live stage version of Good Times. Yes, someone decided that it should be a play.

Anyway, we went home victorious.

Victorious LOSERS!!! But I looked fantastic. Really. I'll get copies of pictures from someone and post them. Really, I looked good.

And the food was great. Loved the chicken.

The event was fine. All the beautiful Black actors in Chicago mingling and dining (on really good chicken) and honoring each other's work. Ben Vereen was also honored. He even danced a tinsy bit after accepting his lifetime achievement award. That was cool.

And, of course, it is an honor just being nominated. And having your name mispronounced when they announce the playwriting category. And having it misprinted on your nomination certificate. Okay, I'm being bitter. I admit it. I hate losing.

Oh, almost forgot...we did win for best sound design.

- Inda