Very Sad News.

A friend of mine just died. Just like that, all in a moment.

Not many of you know him, or perhaps you do, and if you are finding this out now, I am sorry to be the one to tell you, but he was Snot, of Puke and Snot at our Renn Faire.

His name was Joe Kudla.

Paul and I opened for them for three years. They were the biggest act at the festival and so many people would show up so early to see him, and his partner, Mark Seive, that they needed an opening act.

Everything I know about comedy, I learned in those three years, working with Joe and Mark, watching them, learning from them.

I learned what made a joke funny. That it wasn't the joke, it was the way you told it.
I learned about timing, and that when you did something, and how, was as important as what. I learned that doing Nothing with the right expression or your face, or the right look at the audience at the right time, was as effective as doing Something.

I learned that performing in front of a huge audience was very different than a pub audience. And I learned how to do it.

I learned when to improv, and when to stick to the script. I learned that when improv was funny, you put it in the script.

Today I learned that something really, really cool is gone, and won't be happening again. The show would have started in 5 days, and I was so looking forward to seeing them again. Now I am sitting here thinking that people just can't die, for no reason, just like that. It wasn't something I thought would ever end, tho Paul and I had moved on from performing there. Not like this.

There's a lesson there, too, to be learned.

I would send my love and sympathy out to Joe's family, to his daughter, (our "Ice Maiden") and to his partner in comedy, Mark.

Damm. I will miss him.

Love, Lorraine