On Friday night, Jeni Bonaldo, Elysha, and I performed “Matt and Jeni Are Unprepared,” a storytelling improv show unlike anything we’ve ever done and perhaps unlike anything ever done before.
The goal was for Jeni and me to tell brand new, never-before-told stories from our lives based on prompts we received from the audience, the internet, and each other. Every story needed to be true, and we could not use a story previously told onstage before.
We did this while attempting to entertain a sold-out audience.
The show consisted of five rounds:
Round #1 consisted of prompts supplied by the audience.
Round #2 consisted of prompts generated by an online object generator.
In round #3, Jeni and I gave each other prompts.
In round #4, we returned to the audience for prompts but paired them with genres like romance, coming of age, and mystery. We were required to tell a true story based on the prompt but also in the genre randomly selected.
We called this “The Impossible Round.”
We also asked the audience to judge our stories after each round by using cards to indicate which story they liked better.
Then, in round #5, which was not judged, Jeni and I told prepared stories, just in case every story in the previous rounds was terrible.
Happily, they were not. Frankly, we killed.
I knew it would be a good show, but I didn’t realize it would be a great show—a truly phenomenal night.
Here’s the thing:
I am incredibly lucky. Unbelievably fortunate.
Finding and telling true stories on the spot based on a random prompt in front of a paid audience was not challenging for me. Though I couldn’t guarantee that my stories would be any good, I had no anxiety or apprehension about actually performing.
I wasn’t even a teeny tiny bit nervous.
I’m an animal—a soulless monster. A fool who constantly throws caution to the wind.
But for most people – and perhaps any other person – the requirements of this show were ridiculous. Nerve-wracking, impossibly difficult, and stupid.
When Elysha explained the format to the audience, they groaned in disbelief.
It was a ridiculous, preposterous, nonsensical idea executed brilliantly.
How?
I managed to hitch my wagon to two brilliant, talented, courageous people.
Jeni Bonaldo is an unparalleled storyteller. Honestly, there are very few people in this world whom I would want to perform alongside in this format, and even fewer who could succeed in pulling off this highwire act alongside me. She is a talent beyond compare. Clever, hilarious, and skilled more than you could imagine.
Then there is Elysha. Somehow, I fell in love with a woman who is a brilliant performer. Hilarious, endlessly charismatic, quick-witted, intelligent, charming, and entertaining as hell.
And then, miraculously, she fell in love with me.
Elysha was just as important to the show’s success as Jeni and me. She was the sparkling center of the performance. All three of us played equal roles in the show’s success.
But I don’t get to bring my stupid idea to reality unless I am blessed with two people as brave, talented, and brilliant as Elysha and Jeni. This show never happens without them.
A crazy idea goes nowhere without partners willing to stand alongside you in your lunacy.
I stood alongside two of the very best on Friday night. Without exaggeration, Elysha and Jeni are two of the best on the planet at what they do.
How incredibly fortunate I am to have them in my life.
Want to do something great? Surround yourself with greatness, and your chances increase exponentially.
I can’t wait to do it again.
