Magic Zoo News: Chompers is Jeff O'Leary!

IRTE's latest production, THE MAGIC ZOO continues Sunday, July 27, 2014. It's our tongue-in-cheek take on the kids' shows we grew up with like THE NEW ZOO REVUE, THE MAGIC GARDEN, and ZOOBILEE ZOO.

Jeff O'Leary, guest performer and 2013 IRTE company member, asked some fun questions of our cast to get to know a little bit about the psychological trauma they went through growing up, and how children shows helped them adapt to society. This time he talked to Jeff O'Leary in a mirror:

Jeff: Tell us about the character you are playing in THE MAGIC ZOO.

O'Leary: I play Chompers, a friendly alligator who is constantly trying to balance his generous nature with his instinctual desire to kill and eat everything that has a beating heart.  He has been brought to the zoo against his will (kidnapped right off the street of his suburban Tampa Bay neighborhood by Princess Patty herself!) but decides to make the best of it. Turns out that living in a zoo is like a gourmet buffet for a gator -- penguins, zebras, marmosets, just to name a few of the delicious creatures on the menu. It's a veritable smorgasbord for a cold-blooded predator!  He never ate so well in his life -- let's face it, Tampa Bay isn't known for its culinary treasures.

Jeff: What was your favorite kid's show when you were growing up and why?

O'Leary: I grew up in Colorado and the popular kids show was "Blinky's Fun Club". It was a locally produced show starring a clown named Blinky. It was a very big deal to attend a taping of a show on your birthday, since Blinky sang his signature song "Happy Birfday to You" on every single show.  It was on the air for three decades, with over 10,000 episodes shot (thank you, Wikipedia!)

Eventually Blinky started to go downhill with the addition of two other characters (Otis and Zelda) who joined the show in the early 1980s. There were "creative differences" with Blinky -- apparently they objected to his peculiar sense of humor. For instance, he reportedly forced an overweight diabetic woman to eat birthday cake on air. It was a very sad day when Blinky's Fun Club was finally taken off the air in 1998.

Jeff: Did you ever apply any "life lessons" from a children's show to your own life? Did you ever have a problem as a kid that you wished would have been addressed on a show you watched?

O'Leary: I learned the true meaning of giving from Bert and Ernie's "Gift of the Magi" It was Sesame Street's take on the O. Henry classic story.  Bert sells his paperclip collection to buy Ernie a new dish for his rubber ducky. At the same time, Ernie goes out and sells his rubber ducky so that he can buy Bert a box to keep his paperclip collection in. Disaster!

I re-watch it every holiday season lest I forget the true meaning of Christmas.

Jeff: If you were a big shot television producer and could create your own kid's show, what would it look like?

O'Leary: I would create a spin-off of the Magic Zoo called "It's Chompin' Time!" starring (who else?) Chompers. It would take place in a swamp, where Chompers would hang out with all his old animal friends from the bayou -- poisonous snakes, snapping turtles, herons, etc. There would be a haunted cypress tree where an old coot would tell ghost stories. And Chompers would always be on the lookout for evil hunters who are constantly trying to kill him and make a fortune off his very valuable alligator hide.

Well... I hope we all learned something.

Thanks, Jeff and ... Jeff, we'll see you soon at the zoo!

THE MAGIC ZOO

Sunday, July 27, 8:00 pm

at The Producer's Club

358 W 44th St, NYC

between 8th & 9th Ave.

Tickets: $10.00

Magic Zoo News: Alena Acker is the Giggle Berry Tree!

IRTE's latest production, THE MAGIC ZOO opens Sunday, July 13, 2014. It's our tongue-in-cheek take on the kids' shows we grew up with like THE NEW ZOO REVUE, THE MAGIC GARDEN, and ZOOBILEE ZOO.

Jeff O'Leary, guest performer and 2013 IRTE company member, asked some fun questions of our cast to get to know a little bit about the psychological trauma they went through growing up, and how children shows helped them adapt to society. The first person who would talk to him was Alena Acker:

Jeff: Tell us about the character you are playing in THE MAGIC ZOO.

Alena: I'm the Giggle Berry Tree. I'm a wise talking tree who functions as a confidant.  The animals come to me when they are feeling sad or need advice.

J: What was your favorite kid's show when you were growing up and why?

A: I was obsessed with Punky Brewster to the point that when it was taken off the air, I made a sign that said, "Bring Back Punky" and was ready to go protest at the Network.  I guess I liked it because I related to Punky a lot.  To be honest, I don't remember a lot about the show anymore.

J: Did you ever apply any "life lessons" from a children's show to your own life? Did you ever have a problem as a kid that you wished would have been addressed on a show you watched?

 

A: I definitely took to heart all of the episodes of shows that demonstrated the dangers of drugs and alcohol.  I was an extremely obedient child and teenager.  Then I went to college and that all went out the window.

A problem that I had that I wish had been addressed: "How to make your older brother and his best friend stop setting traps for you." Perhaps it was a little obscure to be relatable to kids across the board?

J: If you were a big shot television producer and could create your own kid's show, what would it look like?

A: It would be called, "You Are Not the Center of the Universe." I think that's the message kids (especially NYC kids) need these days. There would be segments about smart phone etiquette and teaching kids how to interact with actual humans.

 Well... I hope we all learned something.

Thanks, Jeff and Alena, we'll see you soon at the zoo!

THE MAGIC ZOO

Sundays, July 13, 20, & 27, 8:00 pm

at The Producer's Club

358 W 44th St, NYC

between 8th & 9th Ave.

Tickets: $10.00

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.

IRTE's Jeff O'Leary

Hey, everyone.

For our final installment of "Meet the Groovy Gang" we're going to ask Jeff O'Leary a couple of questions about his character, his cartoon watching, and any groovy adventures he might have had as a kid.

Did you watch cartoons like Scooby-Doo or Josie and the Pussycats when you were young?

I was a big fan of Scooby Doo. Unfortunately I never got to see Josie and the Pussycats when I was a kid.  My favorite cartoon of that era was Hong Kong Phooey.  It blew my mind that the main character  transformed from a mild mannered janitor into a kung-fu superhero by jumping  into a filing cabinet.  It also has the greatest cartoon theme song of all time which I will gladly sing for anyone who asks me.

Tell me a little about the character you're playing in "The Groovy Gang Adventures". What inspired you to create him or her?

I play Chompers, the talking Alligator. The character was actually created by Nannette [Deasy] – he was part of  the back story for her character Lorna Blue when IRTE did the show “Hint!”. I always assumed he was Lorna Blue’s imaginary friend but now I know that he is real. Very, very real.

The lovable flesh-eating 'gator, Chompers.

Did you belong to a groovy gang when you were a kid?

Even cooler -- I was on a team of superheroes! My older brother Jim was really into comic books  and he created a group called The Challengers. He was The Condor, my best friend Randy Harris was Laser Sword, and I was Mechano Man.  I had all sorts of cool gadgets and doo-dads with which to fight crime. During the summer we would play outside for hours, acting out our adventures.

Can you tell me one a memorable adventure you had when you were young?

When I was in second or third grade I tried to run away from home. There was some sort of dispute about allowance or chores with my parents and I decided to punish them. One morning I packed some odd bits of food (I specifically remember cheese) in a grocery sack and walked out the front door. I was about a block away when my Mom came outside and yelled out “Oh Jeffffff! I made you some scrambled eggs!” There was a brief moment of hesitation and then I turned around and went back home. I really like scrambled eggs.

Labor disputes are always settled by eggs. Hard boiled ones were my weakness.

Thanks for everything, Jeff.

"The Groovy Gang Adventures" can be seen this Saturday April 20th at 8:00 pm.

Where?

Gotham City Improv, 48 W 21st St, #801 between 5th and 6th Avenue in New York City!

Tickets: $6


Are you a junior high, high school, or college student? Tickets are $3 at Gotham City IRTE performances with advanced reservations.

Too cool for school? Take advantage of the "3 for 3" deal! Tickets are $3 per person for groups of three or more with advanced reservations (only at Gotham City).