Magic Zoo News: Robert Baumgardner is Game Warden Bob

IRTE's latest production, THE MAGIC ZOO continues Sunday, July 20 and 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 Robert Baumgardner:

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

Robert: I play Game Warden Bob. He's sort of the Magic Zoo's general manager, mechanic, animal handler, cleaning man and rhythm guitarist. Luckily he has a lot of help from the uncaged animals running around the zoo.

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

R: The McLaughlin Group. Every Sunday morning my parents would tune in to these five animals in suits that would screech and bellow about news events. It was hilarious, especially when Pat Buchanan the Bear would grunt how well prohibition worked! Plus, "McLaughlin" has the word "laugh" in it.

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?

R: Sure, The McLaughlin Group had a game called "Which of these things is not like the Other?" There was John McLaughlin, Pat Buchanan, Fred Barnes and Eleanor Clift. Eleanor was the different one. Why? No, not because she was a woman. She was known as a blee-ding-heart-li-ber-al. As an adult, while finely crafting the character of Game Warden Bob, I had a choice of four props: a hand gun, a machine gun, a bazooka, and a whip. I chose the whip. Why? Not because it was leather and the other objects were metal, but because it does not shoot projectiles.

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

R: It would look awesome!! Like a nuclear submarine that was blown out into space because of a tsunami caused by global warming. Me and the rest of the crew would travel through time and space looking for the causes of, and a solution for global warming. It would be educational because all the adults on board can read. Because they can read, they make good role models for children.

Well... I hope we all learned something.

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

THE MAGIC ZOO

Sundays, July 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 Robert Baumgardner

The Clique, IRTE's next show, opened Saturday, August 3rd 2013. The last performance (unless we bring it to a festival) is Saturday, August 17 at 8:00 pm. 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 improvisor Robert Baumgardner:

BIRTE: Where did you go to high school?

Robert: I went to an all boys prep school in northern New Jersey run by Benedictine priests.

Jersey Boy

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

R: I think the school was too small to really have strictly defined cliques. There definitely were jocks, and I suppose nerds. I played soccer, then ultimate frisbee, and sat in the library a lot. I guess my closest friends were nerds and stoners. At least the latter had a reputation for being stoners. I actually never saw weed until I went to college.

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

R: By students or faculty? Ha! I don't really remember anyone getting picked on a lot. Not that there weren't days...threats of chocolate swirlies, your-mama jokes were big, etc. One guy who got picked on in my class was actually the biggest kid in the class. I think he was an offensive lineman on the football team, and others would pick on him because he wasn't the sharpest pencil in the cup. He would take their crap, but sometimes if he thought someone else was getting picked on, he'd put the bully in a headlock. That pretty much ended the bullying for awhile.

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

R: We didn't have a principal. We had a headmaster, a very strong priest who had been living for over a thousand years. Oh, sorry. Let me turn off "True Blood". There we go. Where were we? Oh no, the headmaster was probably in his forties. I don't ever remember getting sent to the office. The priests scared me, so I stayed in line.

Check out The Clique this Saturday, August 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.