Quick Hits: "Elvis" on Twitter, last video podcast, first audio podcast

Hey all-- sorry for the lag between posts, just wanted to do a couple of quick updates.

- "Elvis" is on Twitter! We've started a Twitter feed, @shitelvissays, to promote "Elvis Has Left the Building"-- which is like two weeks away! (Holy crap.) It's all quotes from the show-- and therefore, all stuff "The King" said onstage. So if you're a Twitterer, then follow away; we'll be updating it pretty regularly in the run-up to the show. And our full-on promo blitz is about to begin, so if you haven't reserved your seats yet, get on it: Friday night (8/13, at 9:30pm) reservations can be made here, Saturday night (8/14 at 10pm) here.

- At long last, we finished the two-years-in-the-making first-season finale of "The Adventures of Karl & Bernie". It is very good, thought maybe not quite worth the wait. Anyway, it's your last time to see and hear (as opposed to just hear) the boys for a while, so watch it at karlandbernie.com--or what the hell, just watch it below:


Karl & Bernie and the Tattoos from Karl & Bernie on Vimeo.

- And the big news of the past week: The first of our nine season two episodes is now up! We're really excited about the new season-- being able to go audio-only has allowed us to do longer episodes with more scenes and more storytelling freedom. So check it out-- if you haven't yet subscribed to the "Karl & Bernie" podcast on iTunes (and if you haven't, shame on you) do that here; you can also stream the episode on the Karl & Bernie site or on our Facebook fan page.

Will have a full rehearsal blog in the next couple o'days. Later!

-bailey

"Karl and Bernie" Podcast Recording, Day Three

Posted at karlandbernie.com, 7/13/10


Took me a while to get around to writing it up, but we had our third full day of podcast recording last week and it went really, really well. There were six scripts floating around throughout the day; we were doing pick-ups from episodes 4, 5, and 6 that we had to push off during June's recording day because of unexpected absences and illnesses, and then we picked up a good chunk of the final three episodes (7, 8, and 9), though there's still about a half-day of work to pick up on those in August.

First up, my lovely wife Rebekah recorded her scenes for all six of these episodes; she was in Louisiana being a real journalist back in June, so we did a good long stretch of scenes with her, Mac, and Mike. We also had a special guest for the entire day--Mac's son Liam, who is all of 14 years old now (much to the shock of those of us who remember his baby days). Mac knew he'd be making his summer visit during this recording day, so he came up with a really funny idea for an episode that we worked him in to. The kid got some of his dad's acting chops--he's great in the episode.

Once Rebekah knocked her scenes out (perfectly, as always), she hustled off to work and our friends Derek Beres and Dave Monhagen joined to play a couple of roles each. Neither are actors by trade, but both brought their own wonderful qualities to the show--Derek a sense of likable calm, Dave a terrific, jovial versatility. One of the fun things about doing the podcast, with no line memorization and less pressure on the performance, is that we're occasionally able to bring in people who aren't actors per se, but have a specific quality that is a nice fit for a particular character. Jessie and Tom did that for us last time; Derek and Dave, along with our work buddies Elke Marks and John Mahoney, provided that extra spice for us this time around.

A couple of our MVPs were back this time too--Meridith Jones and Amy Hughey stopped in late in the day to give an extra kick to some of the supporting roles in these later episodes. We also wrapped up Liam's scenes (seriously, this kid is gonna crack your shit up) and most of the Karl-Bernie two-scenes for the last cycle of episodes. At our next session in August we'll finish up that stuff, and also welcome back a couple of our old favorites: Meghan Lennox from the "Karl and Bernie and the Third Wheel" episode is slated to return for an episode, and our California MVP R. Ernie Silva will be popping in to play three more roles, including-- wait for it-- Bernie's dad.

-bailey

"Elvis" Rehearsal Blog: Going Off Book

In Elvis Has Left the Building, our boy Mac Welch stands (and dances, and struts, and karate-kicks) alone on the stage for a good 70 or so minutes. Only a fraction of that is time spent singing; most of the time, he's talking, and in the rambling, sometimes nonsensical voice of a man who's not quite all there. In any one-man show, line memorization is one of the biggest hurdles to get over. It's particularly tricky in this show, because Mac is a stickler for detail, and wants to get these monologues word-for-word accurate--not just because that's the responsible thing to do as an actor, but because The King's word choices (and fumbles) are so unique that you really have to do them exactly as he did. (Plus, there's always the chance that there will be people in the audience--like us--who know these tapes by heart, and will know if he goes off on a variation.)

So, in both of our stagings to date, we've made sure to structure the rehearsal schedule in such a way as to allow him enough time, room, and repitition to really learn the lines correctly. Since we're only doing two to three rehearsals a week, we decided to spread the due dates for lines across a full month. This week we're on the last week of that month, so as of this week, this guy know these lines. It certainly helps that he'd learned them before--but hell, that was four and a half years ago. And it helps that some of the speeches (like this one) are ones we've known and recited for years. But memorizing a nearly hour-long monologue is no easy task, and kudos to Welchy for pulling it off.

Posters and postcards are in, and we got a lot of 'em, so you'll start seeing them around the NYC soon. And the show's only five damn weeks away-- so plan ahead, like grown-ups do, and make your reservations (Friday night here, Saturday night here). Make it happen, kids.

-bailey

How could we not post this?

A taste of the real thing, Jack...

Here's a brief audio clip (with some murky video accompaniment) from Elvis's notorious "pull your goddamn tongue out by the roots!" rant, which is one of the centerpiece scenes in Elvis Has Left the Building. We're not exaggerating. None is necessary!

A Poster and a Documentary

Get a load of that, Jack! That's the awesome poster (much love to designer Steven Vatter) for Elvis Has Left the Building. Posters and postcards are at the printer as we speak, so pretty soon we'll start slammin' those up and passin' 'em around all over the NYC. Uh, anybody wanna volunteer for the street team?

ALSO- We've begun four weeks of new content on the iTunes feed, so go subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already. Up right now (and streaming over on the Karl & Bernie page) is part one of a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the podcast, courtesy of filmmaker Joshua Whitaker. Next week, July 7th, we will finally, finally post the last of the Karl & Bernie videos (for now, anyway), "Karl & Bernie and the Tattoos." The week after that, part two of the making-of documentary. And then, at long last, on July 21st we will proudly present the very first episode of "The Adventures of Karl & Bernie" audio podcast-- and (spoiler alert) it's an origin story.

So mark your calendars, kids!