Jeni is unprepared but brave

Jeni Bonaldo and I performed “Matt and Jeni Are Unprepared” for the fourth time last month at the Playhouse on Park to a sold-out audience.

Elysha hosted the show and was brilliant. Hilarious, quick, and smart.

Jeni was her usual annoying self before the show, complaining about how I force her and bully her into doing this ridiculous show:

Tell true stories about your life based on prompts from the audience and from each other.

In the “Impossible Round,” we also draw from a bowl containing genres like romance, horror, western, science fiction, tragedy, and mystery. Not only do we need to tell a true story based upon an audience prompt, but it must also match the genre that you choose.

All in front of a live audience that has paid $30 each for an evening of entertainment that is completely unprepared.

Oh, and it’s competitive, too. The audience members are holding signs with “Matt” on one side and “Jeni” on the other. After each round, the audience holds up a sign indicating who told the better story.

It’s storytelling improv, except the stories must be true, and we can never have told the story on a stage before.

So it’s a little crazy.

Actually, it’s a lot crazy.

I was explaining this format to a client yesterday, and she said:

“Who would ever do that?” She sounded outraged. Flabbergasted but maybe even a little angry that it even exists. “Not only is it impossible, but to do it before a live audience that has paid money and found babysitters and parked cars to see you?”

Before I could speak, she added:

“And then to do it alongside you! The storyteller! The guy who wrote the books and won all the competitions. When I asked ChatGPT for the name of a storyteller to help me tell better stories, it gave me your name. That’s why we work together. Who the hell competes against that?”

When I was sure she was finished, I said, “Jeni Bonaldo.”

“Is she some kind of sadist?” she asked. “Who chooses to do that unless they’re tied up and threatened with dismemberment?”

“Jeni Bonaldo,” I said. “But I don’t tie her up.”

“I can’t believe you found someone as brave as you.”

“No,” I said. “You’ve got that wrong.”

I explained that Jeni is far braver than I am. I’m not courageous at all, at least when it comes to our show, because courage requires fear, and I’m never afraid. My weapon is confidence. I believe in myself in a way most people don’t understand. I don’t fear failure, partly because I know it’s normal and fleeting, but also because I never really expect to fail. But that’s not bravery.

Bravery is reserved for people who do something even though it scares the hell out of them. Courage is required when something is frightening and overwhelming.

Jeni is brave because she doesn’t want to do the show.
She loves doing the show.
She loves having done the show.

But up until the moment she takes the stage, she’s nervous as a cat in a room full of serial killers who specialize in cats.

Minutes before we take the stage, she’s actually angry at me for putting her in the show, even though she put herself in the show.

She actually created the format with me. We designed the show together. Debated and discussed every element of the evening.

She may blame me for making her take the stage, but when it comes to “Matty and Jeni Are Unprepared,” we’re partners.

I couldn’t imagine a better one. I know many, many storytellers. I know some of the best storytellers on the planet. But when it comes to improv storytelling — telling true, unprepared, unrehearsed stories on the stage in front of a paying audience, the only one I trust is Jeni Bonaldo.

She’s brave. But she’s also brilliant. She shouldn’t require courage. She’s good enough to feel supremely confident. I know that’s easier said than done. Confidence can be elusive to so many people, even when they have the talent and ability to do the job at a high level, so in those cases, courage is required.

Jeni should feel confident, but she does not. She should, but in its place, she’s brave.

And good news! Another theater has actually reached out and has already booked us for the summer.

July 11 at the Merryall Center in New Milford, CT.

Mark your calendars!