Then This Happened: Musical Stories

Support the show via Matt Griffo's Patreon page at Patreon.com/mattgriffo

Chance the Snapper is a four to five foot long alligator that was found swimming in the Humboldt Park lagoon, in Chicago, Illinois, on the evening of July 9, 2019. The animal was named after Chance the Rapper in an online poll conducted by the Block Club Chicago news website,beating other suggested nicknames such as Ruth Gator Ginsberg, Croc Obama, and Frank Lloyd Bite. The alligator inspired several social media accounts, and was the subject of national news coverage. Chance was captured on July 16, 2019, and found to be a male and in good health.

We brought in the man who caught that gator, Frank Robb - aka, Alligator Robb to tell the tale! 

It's truly an ending that saved two lives. 

Band

• Piano/Organ Matt Griffo
• Bass - Tom Urwin
• Sam Hyson - Accordion
• Electric Guitar - Richard Peña
• Drums - Leo Peña

VOCALISTS

• Matt Griffo
• Emily Ramirez 
• Preston O’ffill
• Natalie Younger

STORYTELLER

• 🐊 Alligator Robb ( Frank Robb)

Support the show via Matt Griffo's Patreon page at Patreon.com/mattgriffo

Charna Halpern (born June 1, 1952) is founded the ImprovOlympic, now known as iO. Upon iO's founding, in 1983, with partner Del Close, she began teaching Harold to many students in the Chicago theater community. Many prominent comedians performed at iO, from Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Mike Myers, 

She and Close co-authored the book Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation with editor Kim "Howard" Johnson in 1994.She published Group Improvisation in 2003 and Art by Committee in 2006.

The remaining theater in Chicago, originally located in the Wrigleyville neighborhood was forced to relocate due to neighborhood development. In 2017, the theater reopened in the Clyborn North Area. In 2020 during a forced shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic Charna decided to close theater and sell it. iO was then purchased and as of 2022 has reopened with new management. 

DEL CLOSE

Del Close, an actor, improviser, and coach who taught John Belushi, Gilda Radner and Bill Murray and elevated improvisation to an art form.

Close pioneered the concept of “long form” improvisation. 

“Long form is one suggestion and then you improvise for 25 minutes, and in short form you are constantly coming to the audience for suggestions throughout the evening and treating each improv game as its own little three- or four-minute piece,”

While many comedy groups use improvisation as a tool to develop characters and sketches, Close believed that improvisation was the show. He often said there was really only one role for a director: “Light fuse and run!”

His ideas, although hotly debated in the comedy world, have influenced nearly every improvisation group in America, from Chicago’s legendary Second City to San Francisco’s the Committee. “He was the singular most powerful force in improvisation in the world,” said Kelly Leonard, the producer of Second City, where Close acted and directed before opening his own theater. iO with Charna Halpern

The resident guru at “Saturday Night Live” during the show’s early years, Close trained several generations of comics, from Belushi and Murray to Mike Myers and the late Chris Farley. Close came up with the idea for the popular early 1980s television show “SCTV,” which stood for Second City Television and was widely credited as the intellectual and spiritual force behind a recent renaissance in Chicago’s hotbed of improvisation.

Although groups such as Second City use improvisation as a rehearsal tool to develop characters and sketches, Close believed in improvisation as an end in itself. In collaboration with Halpern, he was constantly tinkering with the form, turning the Harold into a more elaborate tapestry of scenes with a cinematic flavor. The ImprovOlympic became the cutting-edge training ground, sending many of its graduates, such as Farley, to better-known venues like Second City and television and movie careers.

STORYTELLER

• Charna Halpern

BAND

• (Piano) Dave Asher
• (Guitar) Ross Plunkett
• (Drums) Mike Amandes 
• (Saxophone) Eli V Wilson
• (Trumpet, Vocals) Ivan Pyzow 
• (Bass) Gordon

VOCALISTS 

• Matt Griffo
• Drake Shrader
• Amber Linde
• Lisa Burton 
• Joe Bill

Support the show via Matt Griffo's Patreon page at Patreon.com/mattgriffo

Support the show via Matt Griffo's Patreon page at Patreon.com/mattgriffo

The Curse of the Colonel refers to a 1985 Japanese urban legend regarding a reputed curse placed on the Japanese Kansai-based Hanshin Tigers baseball team by the ghost of deceased KFC founder and mascot Colonel Sanders.

The curse was said to be placed on the team because of the Colonel's anger over treatment of one of his store-front statues, which was thrown into the Dōtonbori River by celebrating Hanshin fans before their team's victory in the 1985 Japan Championship Series. As is common with sports-related curses, the Curse of the Colonel was used to explain the team's subsequent 18-year losing streak. Some fans believed the team would never win another Japan Series until the statue had been recovered. They have appeared in the Japan Series three times since then, losing in 2003, 2005 and 2014.

Comparisons are often made between the Hanshin Tigers and the Boston Red Sox, who were said to be under the Curse of the Bambino until they won the World Series in 2004. The "Curse of the Colonel" has also been used as a bogeyman threat to those who would divulge the secret recipe of eleven herbs and spices that result in the unique taste of his chicken.


STORYTELLER

• Liz Stockwell

BAND

• Fiddle - Laurel Scott 
• Piano/Harmonica - Griffo
• Drums - Mike Amandes
• Bass - Tom Urwin 
• Acoustic Guitar - Arne Parrott 
• Saxophone - Eli Wilson

VOCALS

• Matt Griffo
• Drake Shrader 
• Lexi Alioto

Support the show via Matt Griffo's Patreon page at Patreon.com/mattgriffo