The Formative Years of Jeff O'Leary

The Clique, IRTE's next show, opened Saturday, August 3rd. It continues every Saturday through August 17. It's about those high school years we all remember and love so well. At the top of the show, our principal, Jeff O'Leary will interview a member of the audience about their high school experience. So, to be fair, we decided to interview some of the cast members of The Clique before we subjected anyone else to such experiments.

This time we hear from Jeff O'Leary, who is also the director of The Clique.

BIRTE: Where did you go to high school?

JEFF: Evergreen High School (Home of the Cougars). Evergreen is a small town in Colorado, about 30 minutes west of Denver.

Perfect evening: Lobster and Joy Division

B: Who were your friends? Were you part of a clique?

J: In my school there were the cool outcasts, and then there were the loser outcasts. I was one of the loser outcasts.

I was a goth kid but not too crazy -- I didn't wear makeup or anything. I had long dyed black hair and dressed in black, listened to The Cure, The Smiths, Joy Division, etc.  I think it was early in my junior year that I transformed overnight from a totally normal looking kid into a goth. It probably would have been a lot less awkward if I had waited until the summer to completely change my identity but I guess I just couldn't wait.

I had a small group of close friends, and we were all a bit tortured but in different ways. My friend Eric was really attractive but tortured in a James Dean kind of way. He could have easily hung out with the popular kids but for some unknown reason hung out with us instead. Last time I saw him he owned a Taco House restaurant

I had another friend Chris who was a tortured rich kid. He had his own American Express card and used to take us out to Red Lobster all the time. Every month his parents would get the bill and flip out, take away his card and ground him for a week. He would eventually re-appear, looking sort of shell-shocked (his Dad was a Marine boxing champion and not someone you would want to piss off).  Another week would pass and then we would all be getting stoned and someone would say "Hey, I've got an idea -- let's go eat at Red Lobster!" Chris would always give in and then the whole cycle would repeat itself

B: Did you ever get bullied/picked on by someone?

J: I was never bullied but I did get into a fight once. My locker partner was gay and people used to give me grief about it constantly. One day I was in a really awful mood and this kid who was about half my size came up to me and said something like: "Hey man, where's your butt buddy? Are you and your locker partner butt buddies?"  He looked genuinely shocked when I grabbed him and tossed him into the lockers a couple of times. A few punches were thrown but it was broken up pretty fast.

I was suspended for three days and my friends were very impressed. Weirdly, my mom was proud of me but my Dad was very disappointed. When I went back to school, the kid who I fought with apologized to me and tried to give me a rat (he had a bunch as pets)

B: Did you ever get sent to the Principal's office?

J: I spent a lot of time in the Principal's office. Actually, the Assistant Principal (Mr. Hathaway) was the main disciplinarian so I got to know him quite well. But I did eventually move my way up to the Principal.

My problems began when I started to ditch classes too much. My school had this "attendance line" -- it was basically just an answering machine that your parents had to leave a message on in the morning if you weren't coming to school that day. I left messages on the machine pretending to be my Mom, saying I was sick and proceeded to miss tons of classes. I got away with it for a couple months but eventually I was busted. My mom refused to believe it was me impersonating her voice and suspected that one of my female friends was responsible. She still doesn't believe it was me.

Then I started an "underground newspaper" where I wrote nasty things about people I hated. At one point, the parents of one of the kids I made fun of were threatening to sue my high school unless I was punished. And I also got in trouble for fighting (see above). Eventually, I was considered such a pain in the butt that they gave me the option to either 1) drop out or 2) they would kick me out. So I dropped out of high school, much to my parents' dismay.

B: And then you became an improvisor...

Check out The Clique Saturdays August 3 - 17 8:00 pm at

Gotham City Improv
48 West 21st, 8th Floor - Buzzer #801
New York, NY 10010
212-367-8222

Tix: $6

Reservations: IRTEinfo@gmail.com

Special Discount!!!: $3.00 for High School / College Students with advance
reservation.
$3.00 for groups of 3 or more with advance
reservation.