mikefotis.com

Happy Tuesday! Sorry about the comments being off yesterday. I don’t know why that happened. It should be ok for today. Maybe?

1. Yesterday I was weak. I only stayed awake until 230am watching The Olympics. I don’t have what it takes to medal in Olympics watching.

2. Two days ago I bought my cat a new scratch pad. For two hours, I was a hero. After that I returned to my normal status-being in the way.

3. I have a zit forming on the inside of my nose. Ouchie!

4. Who’d of thunk that green olives and cream cheese would combine to create the perfect burger topping? Well, it does. Yum City.

5. Saw Tropic Thunder yesterday and I thought it was really funny. Which apparently puts me in the minority. Which apparently makes me stupid. Whatever, that shit made me laugh. FOTI.

Mike

Happy Monday! It’s been a wild few days, let me tell ya!

1. I really don’t want to go into full detail, but on Thursday night I had my big phobia reconfirmed. I guess I need to be careful what I talk about in my Fringe shows.

2. Last night I stayed up until four in the morning watching the replay of Sunday’s Olympic action. That pretty much sums up this Olympic experience for me. If they’re on, I’ll watch. Here are my thoughts on the events I have seen so far.

-Women’s Beach Volleyball-Hubba Hubba! Also, what athleticism!

-Women’s Diving-There is almost no difference between a “Brilliant, life changing dive” and a “disastrous, emabarassing, shameful dive.” Seriously, the commentator in this event is fond of hyberbole.

-Fencing-5 seconds of beauty and skill. 1 millisecond of ridiculous flailing.

-Rowing-The person who sits at the back of the boat and screams, “Row!” while the other athletes row does not really deserve a medal. It’s like the diving coach that sits in the stands and screams, “Dive!”. Are rowers really so dumb that if they’re not reminded to one action constantly they’ll simply forget and sit in the boat?

-Track and Field-

The “running” events remind me of the one year in high school when I did track and finished last in nearly every event.

The “field” events make me want to weld a heavy ball to a chain, add weight to a frisbee, sharpen a stick, find a field and then go and throw that shit.

-Swimming-Should be re-named “Phelping.”

-Basketball-Jim Lampley said it best when he asked Kobe and Lebron if all the passing in the international game would finally make it into the NBA.

-Water Polo-Savagery in the w

*O

Happy Thursday!

1. Hey! Check out the cool new banner at the top of my page! It’s in honor of the BNW’s new late night show, The After Party. The BNW has taken its normal after show improv set and super sized it. Now, not only do you get some of the best improv the Cities have to offer in one show, but you also get cool videos and sketches tossed into the mix! It’s a comedy salad. We’ve done this show the past two Friday nights and it’s been a pretty big hit with audiences. Come and check it out for yourself. People have been asking for a long time for a different type of improv show. Well, now you’ve got it. Friday Night 10pm. BNW.

Click here to become a fan!

2. Last night while grocery shopping, I got the weirdest call.

“Hello?”

“Is Mariella there?”

“You have the wrong number. Sorry.”

The girl on the other end starts crying. “I don’t want it to be the wrong number!”

“I’m sorry but it is.” I’m actually a little concerned and I want to try to help, but before I could she becomes super snotty and says, “Fine. Whatever. Bye.”

I went on to buy bread and egg substitute.

3. Speaking of, is it possible to microwave eggs?

Mike

Happy Tuesday!

1.  Man, the Olympics is filled with nothing but inspirational, heart warming stories. And each story you hear seems to be just a little bit more heart wrenching than the story prior.  Seriously, it’s as if every Olympic athlete was forged via hard work and tragedy.  I hope to hear about the athlete who is quote, “A giant fucking prick. He has never experienced any hardship and punches orphans to gain strength before races.”

2. I ran into Patton Oswalt this morning. I was entering a building in the warehouse district as he was leaving. It wasn’t like we were in a busy part of downtown where such a thing might be a little more expected. Nope. We were entering/leaving a half abandoned warehouse.  I was on my way to a call back for a commercial for the Minnesota lottery. I wonder if he was doing the same thing. I doubt it, but you never know. Very nice guy.  Very soft hands.

Mike

Happy Monday!

1. Well, Fringe is over. A giant party was had and I was more awkward than even I thought I was capable of.  Seriously. Wow. Sorry to anyone who was near me last night. I didn’t mean to suck away your fringe joy with my “being”.  Oh well, onto more successful moments of this Fringe…

2. Thanks first and foremost to Jen Scott, who played bass for all of my shows. She’s amazing. If you saw the show, you know that.

3. This Fringe was a Fringe of firsts.  I have never sold out a Fringe show until this year, and though I’ve been close, I’ve also never gotten the encore slot-until this year. That’s because of all of you who saw my show and spread the word. Thank you very much. You all deserve props. MAD PROPS.

4. And with that, Fringe is over.  I know all the reasons to complain about the Fringe.  Those of us who participate can be pretty insufferable for 10 days while we fall into complete self absorbtion, obsessed with reviews, audience reviews, postcard layouts,  venue assignments all in pursuit of the ever elusive “buzz”. I get it.   But the truth is, Fringe is one of my favorite times of the year, filling me with this awesome mixture of anticipation, humility (let’s face it, even if you’re a Fringe darling, it’s only for 10 days), and awe in relation to the talents of my friends.   I’m able to do my solo material for excited audiences, see people who are very dear to me whom I only see 10 days a year and maybe this is simply because I’ve been thinking about the past a lot lately, Fringe reminds me of my first few years in the Minneapple when Joe and I were working like crazy to establish a name for ourselves. Those were really, really fun years.   Oh well, let’s close this book. “fringebook” can now return to its original name.

Mike

Hi guys!

So I got the encore! Woo hoo! I hope to see you there and I’m incredibly grateful to those of you who helped make it happen.

Mike

Let’s make a memory! Together!

Happy Friday! Hey! I’ve been nominated for a Fringie! That’s pretty cool. Thanks Fringefamous.com

1.  Ladies and Gents, it would appear that my excitement over getting the encore slot was a tad premature. The juggernaut of a fringe show called Bull seems to have that honor all but sewn up.  Rats! But let’s look on the bright side shall we? I still have one more performance left and I couldn’t be more excited! The only thing that would make this whole affair more exciting would be a packed house on Saturday at 230pm at the Theater Garage! It’s been several days since my last show so here are some reviews in case you’re on the fence.

*Pioneer Press listed the show as a MUST SEE and said,

Mike Fotis is funny. Funnier than the parodies with large, flashy casts I saw on opening night. OK, he doesn’t have fancy props; just a woman plucking a bass and a three-ring binder sitting on a table that he flips through. It sounds boring, but the stories he reads —nay, lives — from those pages are hilarious. He doesn’t need his cohorts from Brave New Workshop to make self-deprecating fun of how Tom Petty torpedoed his budding romance. I never knew picking a schoolyard fight, ridding a house of bats or blogging for retribution could be so entertaining.

— Renee Valois

*City Pages said,

Sit-down comic Mike Fotis (literally, he sits in a chair at a table and reads from a notebook, albeit disarmingly) hit his stride about five minutes into his series of comic monologues on opening night, and combined a storyteller’s cadence with sharp, self-deprecating observational humor. With Jen Scott providing groovy backup on stand-up bass (at least she stands), Fotis tackles many of the pressing issues of the day: his intense self-loathing while playing video games, his teenage musk of “death and sexual desperation,” his first (entirely unjustified) fight, his galaxies-wide fandom for Tom Petty, and his multiple run-ins with bats (squeakers, not sluggers). He also achieves a very high laughs-per-minute ratio. Sat 2:30 p.m. Minneapolis Theater Garage. —Quinton Skinner

The Strib/Vitamn said,

Go ahead and object to Mike Fotis if you want: He sits at a table and reads from a script. You’ll have a lot more fun, though, if you let yourself enjoy his writing and acting. He spins stories about regular stuff — junior high, or the bats in his house — while never forgetting to mock himself at every turn. He’s very funny. - Eric Ringham

Anyhoo, I really hope to see you at the last show.

Mike

Happy Thursday! It’s kind of hard to believe Fringe is heading into its final weekend, huh? So much build up. So much prep. Such a short fest. Bummer.

1. Honestly, I ain’t got much to talk about. I am a little burnt out in regards to hyping shows and the what not, so maybe today’s blog will be about…sports. Yes. Because when you’re all not reading about and going to see Fringe shows, you are surely wondering about sports. So here goes…

-Brett Favre is a Jet? I guess. Man, that whole situation was handled really poorly by the organization and Favre.  Would I have liked him to be a Bear? Sure. But I have to look on the bright side, if he were to become a Bear, Kyle Orton’s Hall Of Fame career would have to wait that much longer to begin.

-The Cubs are really getting ready to break my heart. Actually, they are pretty good this year. Not flukey good, but legitimately good. They actually have a chance of making it to the event that shall not be named…

-The Twins are so goddamn plucky! It’s a little hard to believe that a year after trading away their ace for nothing even approaching value, that they’re still right in the A.L. Central race. It’s hard not to love em’ just a little.

-Dance, dance, theater, theater. There. Feel a little better?

Mike

Happy Wednesday!

1. I sold out last night’s performance. Yip-fucking-ee. Unless I’m mistaken, in all of my years doing fringe either as a solo act or as part of Ferrari,  I(we) have never sold out a show. Anyway, it was a wonderful feeling to see so many people in the audience ready to have a good time. I’ve been very lucky this year. Not only have I had large crowds, but more importantly, I’ve had really responsive crowds which is so much more important.  Anyhoo, I have one* more show on Saturday at 230pm at the Theater Garage. If you** could come that would be awesome.

2. Here’s a brief interview I did with City Pages!

Mike Fotis
AN INTIMATE EVENING WITH FOTIS: PART TWO

City Pages: Describe your show in 10 words or less.

Mike Fotis: Awesome. Funny. Lazy. Not Memorized. Not my attempt at therapy.

CP: You’re going to tell stories. Share one of them now.

Fotis: OK! I grew up on a yogurt farm (did he?). It was awesome (was it?) until our entire field of yogurt plants (yum) went bad. After that, I was sent (mailed) to the Army (Navy) and invented (discovered) apples.

CP: You’re going to sit. Aren’t we worth having you stand? Really?

Fotis: Yes, but here’s the thing that I’ve never understood. You’re sitting watching me. Why can’t I sit too? It just seems unfair. Tell you what. If the audience stands during my show, I’ll stand, too. I guess, in the end, I’m making a statement about how there’s too much blocking in Twin Cities Theater.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Mike

*It’s possible I might get the encore slot on Sunday. Actually, I have no idea if that’s possible since I don’t know how the other shows in my venues have been selling. Whatever.

** By “you”, I am referring to Sara Richardson, who has talked a big game, but has yet to commit to a performance.  You know, typical clown like stuff.