As you may know, last week I emailed Meryl Streep’s agent, Kevin Huvane, and proposed to him that if Meryl is “tired of the usual bullshit” she could quit acting in movies for a little while and join Octavarius. I received the following respectful email today from the good people of the Submissions Department at CAA:
March 12, 2010
RE: BRIAN WOHL – AGENCY REPRESENTATION – IMPROV GROUP ENTITLED “OCTAVARIUS”
Dear Mr. Wohl:
We received your e-mail dated March 8, 2010 requesting that Meryl Streep participate in the above-entitled project. Although we appreciate your interest, please be advised that we cannot assist you with your request. Accordingly, we are forwarding your e-mail back to you and we have deleted your e-mail from our active system.
Thank you for considering Ms. Streep. We wish you much luck in your endeavors.
Quit acting in movies and join our group. You are an incredibly talented and versatile performer. I believe that with your talent, you could easily be a fantastic improv comedian. Octavarius is doing our best to make shows that are fun, entertaining, and challenging artistically. We feel that you would be a fantastic addition to our group.
Your performance in Sophie’s Choice was heartfelt, subtle, and true. It made me hurt for Sophie and be angry at her for making a choice. This would serve you well as an improv comedian providing grounded scenes with excellent character work. Your relationship with Stanley Tucci in Julie & Julia was not only genuine and fun, you also brought out excellent needs and high stakes in your work. Something that is very important in improv. You also have a great sense of humor in all of your television interviews. It might take a rehearsal or two before you pick it up. Just so you could at least feel comfortable performing with someone like Keith.
I understand you might be having a rough week, not winning another Oscar and all. I know that you might feel unappreciated by your “peers”. 16 times the bridesmaid and only 2 the bride. Well, with us, you’ll always be the bride. We’re all for one and one for all. We hang out a bunch. We podcast, watch fun stuff, go places, and make fun wherever we go!
We appreciate you Meryl. Come on, why don’t you slum with us for a while? It’s really fun.
I just finished watching HBO’s documentary, Thank You, Mr. President, which is a 45 minute film with Helen Thomas commenting on her past 60+ years as a member of the White House Press Corp. Helen entered the White House Press Corp in 1960 as one of the few women in such an elite position. She has questioned 10 Presidents and is one of the most respected members of the Press Corp. She has always maintained a mantra that it is important to “put [Presidents] in their place, which is [that they are] one of us.” That’s something that, for me, is easy to forget.
Throughout her life she has maintained a healthy skepticism about the world. Which I would like to maintain as well. I want to make it clear that skepticism should not be confused with cynicism. I define skepticism as a doubt that an absolute truth can be found. I like to think that as humorists, we at Octavarius maintain a healthy skepticism about the world. We rail against cynicism and do our best to prove to the world that fun is everywhere and it’s up to us to find it.
Although Helen’s job carries a burden of asking tough questions of Presidents Republican and Democrat [I could not find video of this question, but here is my transcript of it (HT: [President Clinton] Despite the ongoing investigation, you felt no constraint in saying what your relationship with Monica Lewinsky is not, was not. So it seems, by logic, that you ought to be able to say, here and now, what was your relationship. Her lawyers called it “colleagues” is that an apt description?] Helen has managed to find fun.
Helen said in the film that, aside from some mild flirting, she never got an interview or answers due to her sexuality. Helen, I’d go on a date with you. And I’d love to hear what you’ve got to say.
Hello, my name is Brian Wohl and I understand you’re looking to hire a personal secret agent. I am highly qualified and indispensable to your operation. I have many talents. Including but not limited to: basic understanding of at least 2 languages, basic bike-riding, I am excellent at watching and/or reading things, I type, I also [...]
Yesterday, I found this online. I recommend you watch it by itself first. Then, open it up in several windows or several different devices around the room and play them to create a round effect.
Robert and Keith decided to have fun while I wasn’t home last month and apparently Marc filmed it. Yup, that is Robert Hughes from Bollingbrook, Illinois and guy whose name we use to replace actual people’s names in our podcast.
I want to let you all in on a game that we in Octavarius have been playing since Super Bowl Sunday. It’s called Will Smith Points. Castellvi and LP have a giant poster of Will Smith in their living room for all to see. This poster contains the classic Will Smith red carpet pose: Him [...]
As you’ve seen in the Previous Fun With REAL NEWS posts, I like to imagine real headlines happening to fictional characters instead of real people. And then I do my best to share that vision with you. Yes, it’s that deep.
I edited this screen-cap from HuffingtonPost.com’s Books page at 5:10pm CST on 2/15/10.
With pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training this week, winter is coming to a close, spring is upon us, and baseball season is beginning. I’ve been a Cubs fan for a good portion of my life. What truly sealed the deal for me was my first visit to Wrigley Field with my mom and [...]
As you’ve seen in the Previous Fun With REAL NEWS posts, I like to imagine real headlines happening to fictional characters instead of real people. And then I do my best to share that vision with you. Yes, it’s that deep. I edited this screen-cap from HuffingtonPost.com’s Main page at 1:10pm CST on 2/9/10
