(00:00:00) Are we performing a first here today to bring a deadly rigs into our Studios for Colin? I think it may be Dudley. Have you been here before? I don't remember (00:00:09) it was a different building. (00:00:10) It was a different buildings that goes back a few years then yes our old Park Square Court building I supposedly well. It's nice to have you with us Dudley Riggs. He is a producer and director of the Brave New Workshop and instant theater in Minneapolis. Dudley. Riggs has been a fixture in the Twin Cities comedy theater area for nearly 30 years and is with us two days to share some of his observations and experiences on what has happened in this field over the years and we'll be opening the telephone lines for your questions in just a moment. How long have you been in the in the entertainment business Dudley? (00:00:47) Oh, I suppose since 1937, but I've been in Minneapolis the entertainment business since 1956 and I come from a show. Family, and so there was never much volition in that I was put to work as a as part of the opening spectacle on the Russell Brothers Circus in 1937, and they put put my put me into a little carriage and pulled it around the track with a polar bear and that was my debut. But I worked as a child song-and-dance performer back during the Depression when it was my parents referred to that as a sympathy at and the put a put a little kid onstage and sing and dance and that's pretty prevailing. So (00:01:36) that's your watch that's going on was how about that? Is that every 15 minutes now? Oh, okay. We (00:01:43) have it is going out of control actually, but the anyway we came to came to Minneapolis with a company called the instant theater company which ran for about a year and a half in New York and was quite successful there and until the Off-Broadway Alliance closed Us in about 45 other theaters down and at which point we shopped around for other cities and tried several and ended up in Minneapolis in the dead of winter and opened over on 316 Cedar Avenue, which is presently the site of Redevelopment project and we seem to have always been right in front of the wrecking ball wherever we've located we move into the neighborhood and before long they redevelop it but that's so we operated there for a time and over the years. It has evolved from instant Theater Company to the Brave New Workshop for a time. It was called the John Birch Society players. It's taken on various names, but it is always been pretty much around contemporary events and and usually trying to take a satiric looked at world (00:02:58) events Santa And humor seems to be the themes that pretty much are consistent throughout whose humor. Do you enjoy (00:03:06) now? Well, I'm I'm rather another stymie. There's a lot that I don't enjoy I like Richard Pryor and I like Eddie Murphy up to a point. I probably like Frank Minaj II like shaky green eye. I like quite a number of of the what might best be referred to as review performers Brian doyle-murray who's been on Saturday Night Live used to work for us years back. I really liked his work and have have kind of I suppose what's what has occurred with this is that I guess I Like Comics who keep working at their craft and I tend to Not Like Comics or actors who stopped working when they leave the stage at night and there's a difference between the quality of art between a musician and an actor and comedian. And it's you know, somewhat based upon how much time they spend practicing and working on it paying attention to what they're doing. (00:04:14) You have to work at being funny, (00:04:16) huh? Well, I think the people who do tend to be better. There is a kind of Mystique grown up where there are kids who will get on stage and in front of a hot audience will somehow or another kill and the audience will reinforce them and they will go away thinking that they it's merely a gamble that when they walk on if they can build up their courage to get on stage that all they have to do is be there and that the magic will occur through some spontaneity of the moment and I guess I'm suspicious of that particularly on was quiet Tuesday nights when there are only 14 people in the (00:04:53) audience hard work is really the key to it as it is in so many things I'm afraid say we have some telephone lines available and If you have a question for Dudley Riggs, why are we certainly would be happy to put you on the air with him? Call us at 2:00 to 7:00. 6,000 in the Twin Cities 2276 thousand for Minneapolis st. Paul area listeners in other parts of Minnesota. Our toll-free number is 1-800-695-1418 hundred six hundred 529700 and in the surrounding states, you can call us directly in the Twin Cities at area code 612 2276 thousand. Do you how much of a creative role do you have in the shows that you are currently presenting? Do you write all of them? You're (00:05:40) so no, I'm not in the riding position at all. I have the generally the reviews are developed through improvisation with the director and the cast and and also with the musician and with the technician who is the sound effects person and so you have seven eight nine, perhaps people sitting in the room brainstorming ideas and Those are improvised on stage in the notes are reinforced by ideas that they get from the improvisational sets that they do with the public after the show and certain nights and when those you know, so that is our I suppose that is our thumb on the pulse of the public has to know that if we're getting requests if we're getting suggestions on a certain subject that should be part of the show and that that's how we stay current my contributions to the show tend to be from behind the scenes. I'm nudging nudging the direction of the show a little bit but I am not in there actively writing it from time to time. I will sit down and write a show or I will direct the show, but I'm not doing that as a regular thing every (00:06:54) day with solicitors on the line with questions. Let's get to them find out what their interests are today. Hello. You're on with Dudley Riggs. Yes, good morning. Mr. Riggs. I'm wondering if you if you are comedy Gallery was one of the first in the Twin Cities. He's and if so, what were some of the major obstacles you've had to overcome to get your brand of humor started here in the Twin Cities. (00:07:16) Well, I think I think when we when we started and I have to help you give a plug to the comedy Gallery which is not our organization. The comedy Gallery is Scott Hansen's and it's downtown above Jr's restaurant and is is one of our competitors and a very good one. We we had a kind of a curious situation. We opened here at a time when there were only seven theaters in town and now there are over a hundred and twenty performing arts groups and you know, a lot of a lot of comedy places in the last five years. It has just been burgeoning and what we have now in Minneapolis are more seats for stand-up comedy on Saturday night. Then there isn't any city in the world and that includes LA and New York because New York and La have a lot of clubs, but they're all small. Poehler and here we seem to have always open these large-scale comedy clubs and we don't view that what we're doing is running a comedy club. We're running a theater in which we occasion in which we always present comedy. So we occasionally present stand-up comedy and that we always do that as the stand-up comedy Revue with in our theater confines anyway in the beginning I suppose. It was just a matter of developing the audience we were in the early times. We were the new kids in town and we didn't know how larger audience would be. So we changed the show about every two or three weeks and and developed a little following and over the years that those people have stayed with us for the most part and gotten older and sent their kids and it's we've worked I suppose they the general suspicion of the community as to what is going on behind those storefront theater portals is one of the things we had to face. From the early 60s, but but by and large it's been in the problems of most small businesses fighting with the plumber keeping the roof from leaking and and trying to pay the taxes on time. So (00:09:22) how has the humor changed over the years would you say? (00:09:25) Well we're in this in this period now where we have a tremendous interest in this is National every city in the country now has a comedy club. St. Cloud has a comedy club. I believe on one night a week and Hibbing, you know, it's it's just there are comedy clubs everywhere. And that is a that is a little different Trend that's just emerged in the last two three years, but I think that the there was a time when we couldn't give away we found it very hard to draw an audience for satirical reviews or for certainly for political comedy or for it was people To see serious plays when they went out and so we struggled through that period And I think that with the help of television and with the help of Saturday Night Live certainly review work now looks like it was invented by Saturday Night Live and some of those old sketches that we were doing in 1965 or are still showing up on Saturday Night Live and their structure. So (00:10:31) there's the politics changed as the you know, we've seen what we put some people might call the conservative Revolution. (00:10:38) Oh, we're re-entering the Eisenhower years. And since I started this whole thing back in the Eisenhower years, I am not too displeased by that because we did rather. Well, there is a situation of the conservative swing is now causing some of our long-standing more broad-minded customers to suggest that possibly we're getting a little too little too risqué or a little too broad or To you know, we're touching hitting a nerve that we used to not touch. So there's a general we're seeing the conservative move in the audience which just prompts us to get on the other side of the pendulum and push but there's certainly a need to if our job is anything it is to try and make a judgment as to where that middle of the road position is and keep nudging it and you know loyal opposition to both parties promiscuous hostility positive neutrality. And when we're working at our most effective, we will touch both conservative and liberal values and not not necessarily offend either side because they always think we're talking about the other guy, but that's the goal is to try and maintain that that sort of balance and I think Do it reasonably. Well, although there are times when the middle of the Vietnam War period when we were doing anti-vietnam War material for years and years and years. We finally said let's do pro war material for a while and that sort of shopped our audience but he gave us a way of getting them to think about (00:12:25) it. So yeah talking with Dudley Riggs today of the Brave New Workshop and instant theater in Minneapolis. We have some listeners on the line with questions and we still have a couple of open lines at 2276 thousand if you'd like to join the discussion, go ahead, please you're next. (00:12:40) Good morning. You see that the politics have changed in values have changed what about the audience itself? If that really changed Beyond, you know, the moving to the right or to the left of the people who showed up, you know, 15 16 17 years ago when you started they pretty much the same people. Well, I think to a large degree we've kept the same people but in those days we had a smaller smaller audience and as we over the years To played two more and more people and opened a second theater and and broadened our audience out more that those numbers may not be as meaningful. But on in our early days in the 60s, we had 12 high school students maximum. That was the most everybody else was in college or graduate school or faculty and then we moved to South and open and the number is reversed. We had about 80 percent high school kids and that lasted for maybe a five-year period now we seem to be drawing a an audience that is predominantly in their 20s or early 30s and but we're getting a pretty much across the board numbers, but we are not currently the Rage of the kids anymore. There was a time when people said well, I wouldn't want to go there because I'll run into my kids. They don't have to worry about that now because the kids are not showing up at the theater. They are out doing something else and we're sad. I see (00:14:07) it. Okay. We have another listener with a question Dudley. Riggs is listening. Go ahead, please. (00:14:14) And I've been coming to bwx theater since the late 50s and we're kind of disappointed now that we you know, we come that we don't see Dudley Riggs reading from the newspaper the way he used to be used to love that opener. Well, I'll tell ya I like that too. And I my big excuse for stopping was that the Minneapolis Tribune in their wisdom decided to discontinue the Bulldog Edition and their Blue Streak addition used to come out at 8:15 at night which would mean that the show would have started and we could buy an Absolutely Fresh paper that nobody had seen and we could go in then and and just sort of freely work from it. And sometimes if the headlines were interestingly monologue would be interesting and sometimes it would be Dreadful. But but when they stopped having when they discontinued that then all of a sudden were looking at yesterday's paper and that then sort of almost became a rehearsed piece and I think we sort of I I kind of lost interest in it and I occasionally I still do that when I go out and play colleges. I will I will take the school paper. I'll take the local paper from that town or Occasionally, I'll take things off the wire that missed the news and try to use those that the main part of it is. I think it just needed to be authentically fresh and when it soon as it was a little a little old I couldn't deal with it very well anymore. And then also I think people were getting tired of seeing I was perceiving that they were getting tired of seeing the seeing the old guy up there with the kids. (00:15:55) Well, I suppose there's nothing quite as dull as yesterday's news and hard to make anything to humorous about that. But when you go to when you go to another town and you take the local paper, how how do you know enough about what's behind the scenes to do anything with (00:16:10) it? Well, I think that's the really requires have some good Advance work to find out where they political bodies are buried and find out if you know what the what the pressures are on that Community, but that's if we do if I know I'm going to play. St. Minnesota-duluth I will get the Duluth paper for a week or so before and I saw least know what the scandals are that that's on everyone's mind. So if there is a development I can give a fairly knowledge have a little bit of sense about what I'm talking about. (00:16:46) Here's another listener with a question for Dudley Riggs. Go ahead please (00:16:49) yes. I was just thought you might have a comment on using religion as a you know, subject can comedy. Well that's been over the years that's been my perennial favorite and I we keep from time to time. I will just put out a kind of mandate to the to the company into the directory that we have to touch religious issues. We have I view that as being probably one of the most ripe areas for satire in our in our society and it is presently certainly growing and ripeness once again, so we will most likely do another another review on the subject of religion. We've had some of those have been fairly controversial but I think interestingly they have always been very popular with church groups and with troops youth groups and they come and we stimulate conversation from the show's. I'm thinking like the production called ripped off the cross and Which was about evangelism and ripping off people and also we did one. I believe which we simply called The God show which created a great deal of boycotting by some church groups, but was nevertheless though in some ways. Some people thought it was a religious experience to come to the show. (00:18:17) Hmm. I want to give you a chance to I don't know if I should do this Pat Robertson who is both in religion and in politics to of your favorite areas. Go ahead. (00:18:28) Well, I we undoubtably will see more of Pat in on our stage in our forthcoming show which is as yet Untitled, but is in the works now, we have a working title for that show is actually there are no title for it. Yeah, but the working title is since it's about morality and in post. America and it's really about sex religion and morality and post literate America the show will probably be called something like a literate virgins from outer space or something of that sort. But we will title a show as we get closer to the to the opening and but it is definitely going to have covered the area of evangelism and morality. And when will that one show up? I'll open the November first part of November (00:19:25) talking with Dudley rigs today of the Brave New Workshop and instant theater in Minneapolis, and we have some telephone lines available. If you've got a question or a comment 2276 thousand in the Minneapolis st. Paul area. I think the lines are all open at the moment to to 76 thousand in the Twin Cities and in other parts of the state one 865 to 970018 hundred six, five two nine seven zero zero, do you have you felt over the years that sometimes you have crossed? Lion from humor and satire into ridicule and well that kind of thing. (00:20:05) Well, I think you have you run that risk every time you know to some extent that in that can be a factor of the audience. You do need to use a little sense about what audience you're performing to our audience is very from night to night and from evening to evening but they are fairly consistent on a given Friday night. They will be very similar to the previous Friday night and when we play st. John's University, for example, we do a different show than we would do a Carleton College and when we but the point of it is that that is not to say that we would soft-pedal something on religion at st. John's. Probably we would do more religion at st. John's and given this idea that promiscuous hostility concept the idea that we are going to touch all the bases and try to Try to be in our way friendly hostile to everybody now once the while you cross the line and we generally do not there was that one time. Someone said, well you believe in satirizing everyone regardless of race Creed or color and I guess that is true. We tend tend to attack with both barrels, but we try to try to maintain some balance and if we say something if we say something bad about Pat Robertson, we're probably going to say something bad about Bob guccione. It's same time. Hmm. (00:21:35) Have you ever over the course of the years been had to had to retract a show or change some aspects of a show because of public opposition or because of complaints by certain individuals. (00:21:47) No, absolutely not. We we were doing a show which was very anti Kennedy at the time that President Kennedy was shot and we You to do the production and ran right through the period of time which was considered morning time. And everyone was everyone was shutting down and they said well, we'll have to change the show and I said no with the show was valid before it will still be valid and the audience found it so it is it is not I doubt that. I don't think there's ever been a time when we have when we have pulled something from a show because of because of the adverse result audience murmurs reaction. We've occasionally will say this is an indicator of for paying attention to the indicator by we do pay a lot of attention to our audience and I think that the main the main thing that I offer the actors who come to work for me is aside from it being fairly steady work as an actor, which is somewhat rare is that we provide them with an environment is very Creative and we provide them with an audience that over the years has developed into a super audience. And I think they are they are at once more friendly and more critical than virtually any audience you can have in this area. And so when you perform on that stage, you learn a lot from the audience and so we appreciate them. They are part of the whole creative process. (00:23:24) Let's take some more listener questions. Dudley Riggs is with us. Go ahead. You're on the air with him now. (00:23:28) Yes. I heard mr. Riggs comment on the idea that he's retained an audience of basic core audience since he started and yet at the same time. I'm a I'm a gentleman of my middle 40s and the same time the humor that I remember as a child or even as growing up as a younger man the seems to be a lack of a loss of innocence and humor and I noticed that even an animated cartoons in the newspaper funnies. A genuine loss of innocence and humor and I wonder if mr. Riggs did want to comment on that. Well, I think I think that's one of the things we want to address in this upcoming production because the as I can remember agonizing a 1961 we use the first profanity that we ever used on stage. We used one word on stage which had not previously to our knowledge been used on any of the stages in this area or anywhere else and we agonized over it for months and months. And now of course the language in the language on television is far and Far Away more sophisticated than we thought every possible on our stage. We have tried to during that time to not get on that bandwagon and and start doing dirty mouth comedy, which is probably the cheapest way of getting less around you can walk on stage and say one Bird and everyone's going to laugh because it's the shock word. But I think that the efforts of Television I back in the days when no one had seen a review sketch and they came to our theater that was sort of magical but now that there are many many review sketches on television and people have been sort of hardened to it through Saturday Night Live which has kept trying to push the limits as far as they can go. I think it probably has made our job a little a little less necessary in some ways, but also a lot harder the if indeed we were doing work that could not was not being done elsewhere the fact that it's being done on television or some of the same kinds of things are being done on television chance to force us to move into ever more perilous areas, and we've tried to stay away from letting the show get to be a Rancho because of that. I think since the pendulum is now swinging back. We will have a lot to say about it and it's certainly on our (00:26:01) minds another listener with a question for Dudley Riggs this morning had all (00:26:07) morning. Yeah, mr. Riggs as I understand it. Your process is not a completely written process, but it's improvisational and even the core ideas come from the group if ever had occasions when you said this is great. That's not tamper with this that's on a writer and let's go I don't think there's anything sacred on in this process. We one of the things that people wouldn't they work in our theater. Learn one of the big big things they learn is to be able to give stage to the other to the other actors and when they're improvising someone else will come with an idea and step on what you're doing and you have to give it up and that occurs somewhat in the development of scripts. I do hold the sort of final veto power over what goes on the stage and I and I do frequently nudge the show and directions that I think it should go but I'm also eager to see that the show if it needs to be re-written on closing night. We will rewrite a line on closing night and put it in for that last performance and I think the whole thing is a process and we never it's never a finished totally finished proc project. We always are working on it. And some of them some of them come pretty much show full-blown, but mostly they are Works in progress throughout (00:27:31) and I wonder how much they change I suppose there's no way of really answering this. But how much do they change from the beginning of the run to the (00:27:38) end? I think there's a considerable amount of change between even from night to night. But certainly one of the reasons why I got away from a totally scripted process, which we use for a number of years. Was that for one thing it was it took less good actors. I'll have to tell you to just simply hand them a script and say learn your lines but one of the reasons I got away from it was that I was writing a lot of those and I had other people riding and we were we found ourselves in a situation where we do a sketch with to 26 year old actors pretending they were 16 year old kids in the backseat of a car doing a script written by a 45 year old writer directed by a fifty-year-old Rector and it occurred to me that we were maybe missing missing out on On the subtlety of that. So so we started doing a process of making a suggestion of what the sketch should be about and letting the actors themselves develop their dialogue and they're very skilled at that and I'm quite pleased with them. I'm very proud of my actors. I think they probably are probably the best group of humans. I (00:28:47) know and how many do you have? (00:28:49) Well currently there are seven in the Resident company and 7 in the touring company and then there are there's the director and and we have quite a few people working there almost as many as the Guthrie on (00:29:00) stage one of Minnesota's major employers. Mr. Dudley Rings is with us today. Go ahead please your next. What's your (00:29:06) question? Hello. Have you ever Well, we have done that as a matter of fact, I think that's a perennial to because the if there's any one group that continues to justify stereotyping. That's it. So we do go back to that from time to time. And the I what I believe is there is a an interesting thing that you know people in theater can get so abused by their own perception sometimes and they get kind of over insulated and and they enter into a kind of a creative weightlessness period And I see a lot of people like that and frequently all they have going for them at that time is their arrogance and when I come to work at the deli Riggs theater, they usually lose that pretty quickly because it's it's a group effort and everyone is everyone is helping each other and they're not we don't have room for (00:30:09) stars. I hate to suggest there's any connection between arrogance in this But they seem to follow one on the other. How about the critics? What's your view of the role of critics? (00:30:19) Well, I generally I wish we had more of them and I and I wish that they would not be lazy. Occasionally. They rewrite the old review but and sometimes they will rewrite their review and accuse us of rewriting our review but it happens that they really have very little impact on our are for some reason. I'm not sure our audience has tended to not put a great deal of stock in the critics and the it may be because it's the critics always take us maybe a little overly seriously and at the same time to tend to take us very much for granted. I mean we've been around doing original work producing anywhere from five to New original World premiers each year in this town and it's not accepted as that it's accepted as well that leaves doing another show. And so I think the I think there is a tendency for you know, the total body of the work of the Brave New Workshop is the the creative amount of work that's been done by the Brave New Workshop in the last 10 years exceeds virtually any theater in the area may be any two theaters in the area. And so we have so we occasionally do resent the idea that they don't acknowledge that but (00:31:51) taken for granted you suppose because it's satirical and humorous or because it's been around for a long time or some (00:31:56) bubbles. It's been around for a long time most of the critics, you know who are reviewing us now started out as general assignment reporter xand, and you know, didn't they've grown up with us. And so they you know, I mean we're we're sort of something that's always been there and if I suspected We if we left town and came back. We would probably be the Darlings but but it's you know, we in the original for five years when we first opened we could do no wrong, which was also bad that it happens that generally we get we get the kind of lukewarm reviews from some of the critics and it's partly because they really don't are not really paying that much attention to the seriousness of her effort. So I think the that's why I say, I think I wish we had a little more little few more because then there'd be a little bit more a little bit more balanced but by and large the audience does not if we get a really terrible review the audience will come more to the rule and I mean if the critic really really doesn't like us they don't they tend to not give us a bad review because they know that they will build attendance (00:33:10) but Let's move on to some more listeners with questions. We also have some lines available 2276 thousand in the Twin Cities. If you have a question for Dudley Riggs today, in other parts of Minnesota outside the Twin Cities area. The toll-free number is 1-800-695-1418. We have plenty of room in our phone bank for your question. Go ahead please you're next. (00:33:32) Hello. I have a philosophical question for mr. X one of my favorite authors GK Chesterton said that there is a difference between seriousness and solemnity. Although some people think that they are the same thing. This in fact is not the truth, but opposite of serious is not serious and nothing else. The opposite of solemn is not solemn and nothing else. And your comment on the difference between seriousness and solemnity well between the difference between truth and Beauty, I have a I have a sense that you know, we we are not one of the last things that we want to do in our theater is be solemn and the there's sometimes the appearance that we are not being serious when we are actually just not being solemn but for the most part, I believe that that's it over strange question to to try and I'm just not that philosophical to be able to answer that question. I'm (00:34:44) afraid at least not this early in the day on a weekend for goodness sakes. Let's move on to our next listener. Hello, you're on with Dudley Riggs? (00:34:50) Yes. I have a comment and follow up question. It seems to me that several years ago. I heard or read that Garrison Keillor thought that one of the things about his shows. In future years, that would be most fascinating to people would be the the the greetings from people all over the country and along that line. I wondering if you have been able to keep archives if you will of all of your shows from day one and if so, what you envision for those down the road. Well, yes, we do have we do have archives of virtually everything we we've done going back to a to a wire recording of our first performance in New York and 50 for which was a show that ran about three hours and a half because we didn't know how long it would run. We have kept we've kept audiotapes of virtually everything. I don't know that they are are playable. They are probably best used for retrieval if we were if we were ever going to go back and try to pull material from some previous time, but we've always thought that we would that we would do that and Trees sketches and maybe make them available in some other form but as it has happened we have not we keep so busy doing a new project. So we haven't really gotten around to do doing that. We're looking for an archivist as a matter of fact to who might be able to solve that problem for us. (00:36:16) You've been in the Twin Cities since when 58 since 1958 58. Alright. Well, this is 86. So in two years of your 30th Anniversary, if you thought about any particular celebration that you might undertake. Well, I (00:36:31) don't know I suppose we probably sometimes think that being the oldest is not nearly as important as as just doing our best but when we had the 25th anniversary, we had something it was celebration, but it took on some of the elements of being awake I felt so so I would I'm not sure that we would do much other. And put it on our (00:36:59) stationary. But well you kind of wonder if people would get what was considered funny and satirical back in the early 1960s or something like (00:37:09) that. Well, actually I have lately reviewed some of those shows and the you know show called The all dirty review in 1966. It's still quite pertinent today and many of the shows are have stood the test of time rather. Well, I'm every time I think that all of those tapes might be funny. I know I have to think about what current events might have, you know, there are people who just simply would not know what the background of the sketch (00:37:44) was. Yeah, like political cartoons from 30 and 40 years ago. If you weren't around then I don't remember why sometimes they can just (00:37:51) that any get yeah. I keep in mind that the that the biggest money-making film in 1943 was Abbott and Costello and if you Watch those films today. You understand what the risk is here. (00:38:02) Okay, let's take some more listener questions for Dudley Riggs. Hello, you're on. (00:38:06) Mr. Riggs. I have a personal dislike of an evening spent watching 45 stand-up comics are find it restrictive and stifling what are your views in Memphis to that? Well, we have tended to not want to subject the audience that to what I can best call The Comedy Club, you know environment smoke-filled room with the cocktail waitress moving around and then you have one comic followed by another followed by another. So when we do stand-up comedians, which is only part of the time we usually put them into try to put them into a format that is will not restrict them too much as performers, but will at least keep them on one theme. For example, what's so funny about being female is an all-female show with token male and with people making comments on what it means to be a woman from age 20 through 68, but the currently we have one called laugh your way to Fitness, which is basically about exercise and fitness and all those things. We have tended to not like to just have a series of personalities on stage and as a rule we don't do that that's tends to be the main the main effort of most of the comedy clubs and I we try to avoid being put put into that category as a comedy club because we don't really think that there that's where we want to be a lot of people think that comedy clubs. They're they're, you know, they're everybody who didn't succeed in opening across don't shop or disco as probably opening a comedy club now, but for the most part A they require not much capital and very little creative talent to just the book at so we try to avoid (00:40:06) that another listener with a question. Go ahead Dudley Riggs is listening. (00:40:11) Hello. I last question with regard to this certain audiences. Is it an illusion on our part as minnesotans to think that we have specific characteristics as an audience that would vary from characteristics of listening audiences in other parts of the United States. Well II think that that's I think is greatly overrated that there that Minnesota audiences are you know are that that different I would say that if anything this is an ideal environment for to create new work because of the fact that the audience is here are not as jaded and hostile as they are in some areas and but that is not the suggest that they are naive and I think that the audience here is quite Discerning and but they have tended to as they do in all parts of Minnesota life people come from New York City and come here and they're startled because everyone is so nice and I think the that niceness may get over played a little bit but in our audience, we've encouraged them to talk back to us and they do and we think that they are no more. They certainly are no more naive than than New York audience might be on the same subject. (00:41:39) Do they tend to be a little more reserved a little less free with their laughter their Applause and so (00:41:45) forth. I think they tend to be a I think they tend to be if anything they're very famous for the standing ovation. But there's a I think they tend to not try to hurt the actor which is what some east and west coast audiences will do they will they will go and it becomes a battle between the actor and the audience and I think they tend to not do that. I think but that doesn't mean that your pushovers that they mean if they see something that is beneath them or if you start talking down to that audience, they will let you know and but not when they do it won't be in that harsh way that New York audience might (00:42:29) they don't throw verbal Tomatoes or Eggs (00:42:33) know so it's sort of thrown in a mitten (00:42:37) Zone. Okay, we have about five minutes left time for a couple more questions. If you would like to ask totally rigged something to to 76 thousand in the Twin Cities and one 865 to 9700 in other parts of the state. I think we probably get time for a couple three more questions from you you sort of talk a little bit about the business side of of humor. It seems like it that the business side at any rate is pretty doggone serious. (00:43:07) Well, I would suppose so I have I've been doing this a long time without ever really getting to be a very good businessman and I think see there's a tendency, you know, people can get into discussions about right brain left brain and creative or business and so on and I think that you are called upon to do both and can but There's there are people who certainly are better at the business than I am. And who do you know who really run tight ships and manage to have better bottom lines on the other side of that. I think I probably have more fun than they do and I generally and I'm I think can be pretty much proud of the people that come through if are you know, someone says what's our business our business is really aside from entertaining the public it's also generating those talents and creating that resource. (00:44:09) Let's see if we can get a couple more listeners on their here before we have to leave. Hello, you're on with Dudley (00:44:13) Riggs. Yes, and it mr. Exhibit high school students didn't seem to come as often as they did before and I work with those kids and it doesn't seem to me they see topical humor except on their own level. And I wonder if that's something to do with the Ambiance of the government has at this current time. Well, it certainly could be I think we worked rather hard to to increase the age of our audience and that wasn't there was a time when the audience was quite young and now they are certainly they fit the middle adult range and I had not I don't think we're actively trying to drive the kids away. But now that we look and see why aren't they coming? We're sort of glad that they're not on the one hand, but at the same time we know we are still trying to speak to them and we eventually in some forms. We reach them. We do go out and do schools and we reach them when we go to them is that they don't come to (00:45:15) us and we'll take another caller. Go ahead Dudley raises here. (00:45:18) Hey Dudley, could you talk about Franken and Davis a little bit their hometown boys, that did good. Oh, well Tom and L. We're part of a company that we started in. Whoo ancient time ago which was called the under subcommittee and it was a project that we did for the summer in which we took high school kids and top them certain improvisational techniques and at the end of the summer we put together a show and that was the first time they came in and then each of them individually worked for me in Productions over a period of two or three years and then they formed the team and went off and they would leave and come back and did that several times as a team even after they run Saturday Night Live they had performed the ETC theater. They are now writing a new movie and are I think are in the position now of not just being writers but are being producers as well. So we should see they were producers on Saturday Night Live last year and I think they're their career is still in the ascendance of the thing. (00:46:29) Well Dudley rigs have read we have run out of time. The hour is gone quickly to those of you still on the line. I'm sorry. We couldn't get you on the air, but maybe we'll be able to bring you back again visit with us about the state of comedy and where things are going. Thank you Dudley under the are very much appreciate you coming in. Dudley Riggs is the producer and director of the Brave New Workshop and instant theater stay tuned. Jim bikal is going to try to fill the 13 D's of J.G. Preston nonce portfolio on ksjn am in just a moment music coming up on the MPR FM Network weekend is made possible by economics laboratory products and services for household institutional and Industrial Cleaning worldwide David sleep the engineer today. Thanks to Dorothy Hanford. This is Minnesota Public Radio are member supported service.