having a very Odd Lot Christmas!

Best of all, I had excellent company for the improv!
Jeff and Amy are in Hilton Head
this week, celebrating their seventh year together.
We set up our "date" for this night about two weeks ago!
Dinner at Rancho Alegre first, as we'd done before when they were down for Amy's birthday.
I was so thrilled to know they'd be here for one of my very favorite Odd Lot shows!

The Soucyman was emcee for the first half, with Chris Stanley tickling the ebony and ivory - hooray!
But, look!
The music man had competition!
Sushi (aka Lilian) Soucy had written a Christmas tune and gave a command performance of it!
(I.e., her dad commanded... lol!)
The joke was on him - she rocked it quite nicely!

Then the players entered the stage for the games of the first hour!
That's Thomas Houston, Sushi, Jason Arons, Dom, Trick Kelly, and Travis Spagenburg.
The first skit de la soirée was "World's Worst", allowing them all to have a go.
And go they did, with most making a play on a job I had suggested:
ice skating announcer.
Comme c'est magnifique! Jak wspaniale! Kitana shaanadaar!
(smile!)

Two skits later, we had two guys actually ice skating on the stage at the Loft on Liberty!
Not just ordinary men, either, not by a long shot.
These were Shakespearean thespians, with Justin plotting evil mishaps against the goodly Jason!
What a hoot and a half!
And they didn't even don the feathered hat usually worn for this genre!

In no time at all, a large monster stood before us!
No worries, it was just the three-headed storyteller, there to create a bedtime tale.
Thomas, Sushi, and Jason each got a word in edgewise, repeatedly, as they regaled the audience with "The Last Reindeer".
Poor little lonesome thing!

Oh, my, a gate-crasher with a microphone in his hand!
It's the exuberant Justin Kent, in a loud and cheery Hawaiian shirt!
Mele kalikimaka, dude!
No, wait, that song doesn't have anything about mistletoe in it, so it won't work.
Queen Amy proclaimed that these K-Tell hits be centered on that festive shrub -
so be it!
In accordance with the song genres touted by Chris and Trick, Justin and Thomas did their very best, and succeeded, too!
(smile!)

After intermission, Thomas became the emcee.
The Soucyman took the stage solo.
From his memory as a 5-year-old American boy newly moved to Germany, he told the tale of Saint Nikolas... and the fearsome beast, the Krampus, which was his companion.
Bwah ha ha! BWAH HA HA!!
I'm sure the kids in the audience were glad we have Santa Claus here in the States!

It was a much-welcomed change of pace to have the "World's Best" spring forth!
For this second hour of joviality, the line-up featured Kyuu, Drew (new to me), Elliot Szabo, Megan Soucy, Justin, and Chris.
The upshot of the new "Best" skit was this: "Worst" is easier to portray.
Shifting gears definitely takes more work!

No problems with the "Dear Santa" letters, though!
Drew was the hapless chappie with hopes of finding a girlfriend and a job under his tree.
Santa Elliot had to set the guy straight: free will meant the chap needed to apply himself to win the hand of yon fair lady.
Also, Santa was not the unemployment office!
Rather funny!

My locale suggestion - an elf coffee house - was selected for the game of "Slips" - woohoo!
Elliot and Megan were a couple in search of java and they'd walked into a local place at the North Pole.
Little did they know that Kyuu was on a work-release program and would take umbrage at the mispronounced elven words!
Touchy, touchy!

This skit lightened the mood back to full-tilt festive!
Justin had to make up a song about the seated man's memories of Christmas... and what a cheery Dad-song it was, about building a trampoline and having the kids bounce on it for "fifteen seconds"!
Santa'd bought himself a new car!
And this year, the man was engaged and sang the last line, "I love you", to his lady.
Excellent work, y'all!
(smile!)

This one, though, was easily one of my favorites because it had... SCIENCE!
Specifically, Drew, Elliot, and Megan were building a diorama for their physics class.
Drew was to have gotten coconut for snow -
and he did get coconut -
but it was a whole one, not the shredded stuff - lol!
And they had Santa riding a Krampus and bouncing on a trampoline, but Elliot decided the coconut would be more impressive for bouncing!
Megan, as the smart one, knew she had made a terrible mistake by forcing the two guys to run the project.
How could she live with the failing grade they would all three get?
Hahahaha! Hahaha!

"Genre Change" pitted her husband with Kyuu.
Chris was tasked with bringing the news to Kyuu that his grandma got run over by a reindeer.
Kyuu could hardly keep a straight face!
Watching him trying not to laugh made it that much funnier!
For this photo, the genre was "Western", so Chris was a sheriff - see his right hand moving near his gun holster?
It truly was hilarious!

A few skits later, the show was drawing to a close.
Time for Thomas to take the stage for his signature closing song.
"Have yourself a very Odd Lot Christmas, laugh until you pee.
We all know it's better than what's on tv."
I may not know all the words, but I know that stanza!
Such a lovely way to show gratitude to both Odd Lot and the audience!

For the last few lines, he paused and called the other members of tonight's entertainment crew up there with him.
I just loved seeing him beaming in their midst!
I even more loved that I was sharing that glow with my ex and his lady!
Such a wonderful evening of good times and good cheer for all there!

At night's end, my "I'm on holiday" bracelet from The Casements was joined with the penny I'd found at Rancho Alegre and my uncalled raffle ticket from Odd Lot's show.
Amy had a winning ticket and garnered the biggest package of Haribo bears that I've ever seen!
She and Jeff also left with two coffee mugs I'd made in memory of their first encounter with Odd Lot.
All in all, a most memorable end to another rainy night in Georgia!
i thank You, God!