Blaisin' Access 140 Final Saint Rose Show

This is the Blaze and access podcast amplifying disability perspective one story at a time. Today is Friday, May 10. I'm blaze Bryant. I thought it was fitting for me to wrap up the rewind by playing the last interview and the sign off that I did on radio Saint Rose in its entirety. And it's all about doing stuff on the fly.

There are no rules. You can say whatever you want, do whatever you want. You don't have to look a certain way. That is crate of apes, Saint Rose's new comedy group. And my guest here on my left is Katie Klimachek. She is in the group. She's a freshman communications major with a journalism concentration. And Katie, if only creative apes and radio had the same sort of structure in the sense that there are no rules. But very. Thank you so much for taking the time to come in. I very much appreciate it.

No problem.

Thank you so much. So how did this club sort of come into existence? I know it was not that long ago, right around the middle of march, wasn't it?

Our president, Mike Eisenstein, he's a graduate student here at St. Rose, and he graduated from SUNY Brockport, and he was involved in a improv club there. And he thought that it would be beneficial to the St. Rose community if he started up a comedy club, because, you know, it's a great stress reliever. It's a time to meet new people and just have a good time. So it was all Mike's idea. I'm currently taking an improv class right now with Doctor Krause, and he contacted me and we just got together and, you know, kind of just established the club. And that's how it came about. So it was pretty much all Mike that came up with the idea, and then I just. I just joined it on his coattails.

Nice. You know, you gotta sometimes succeed in life. Just kind of go off of people's coattails. So what made you take an improv class and decide, hey, let's join this group?

Well, I have a strong background in theater, and I have a minor in theater as well, so I grew up doing improv. I did a summer theater, that one of it started you off doing improv and then slowly moved you into doing the acting. And I've always enjoyed improv. I consider myself a funny person. So I grew up watching whose line is it anyway, too. So that was always my inspiration stuff. And so as a drama minor, I had to take an improv class. That's one of the courses that's offered. So I took that, and I had considered starting up my own club, and right as I had considered that, I heard Mike was doing it, so it worked out perfectly. And several of the people in my improv class are in the club itself, so it works out great.

Wow, that's great. How did the name crate of apes kind of be? Please tell me it was just an improv idea.

As far as I know, Mike came up with the name. I believe that it was just. I think it had something to do with his. I think his improv club in Brockport was like barrel of monkeys. But I could be wrong on that. I'm not 100% sure, but he just came up with it. And I really like the name. I think it's a. It's a creative. All improv clubs have to have a quirky name, and I think it really ties in great with our club.

Absolutely. I mean, you know, a lot of the show, as you know, the listeners can tell, I mean, the conversation's not nearly as quirky as creative eight, but nonetheless, there's still improv. So it really is amazing to me how improv is really a part of life. In so many ways.

It is. That's one of the great things about improv, is that it's all made up. And in a sense, we do improv every single day, because you don't walk into a conversation or start talking with somebody with a script in hand. It's just all off the top of your head. It's. That's nice.

It is.

You know how to transition there.

Absolutely. And it really is. So, you guys, you know, Thursday night, are hosting. It's your first big event, right?

It is. Because we started so late in the semester, we got a late start on doing our fundraising. So we thought the best way to introduce St. Rose to our club and really get us out there for enough people to know who we were was to start off with a bang. So on Thursday the 24th, in St. Joe's auditorium at 830, we are having three improv groups from around the community come in and perform. It's called Improv Palooza. So it's ourselves, creative apes. It's RPI's improv club. Sheer. Sheer idiocy. Odyssey.

I would say Odyssey is more.

Yeah, I think it's Odyssey.

I mean, if I were in the group, it'd be sheer idiocy.

And then the local from Schenectady, Mop and Bucket company, who I think most people are aware of them, they are a professional improv club that meet in the bottom of the proctor's basement, and they do shows, I believe, like every Friday and Saturday night. And I got in contact with them in the beginning of the semester. I saw a show from them and I just kept in touch with them and asked them if they would be willing to come out and help us, you know, kind of get our names out there. And they were more than willing to do it. And Michael Burns, who is the director of MOPN Bucket, he coaches RPIs Improv club, so he roped them into doing it as well. So it's going to be three really good improv groups all working together and making stuff up, and it's $3 to get in, and then there's a dollar raffle and we'll be raffling off different gift cards and stuff. So that's always fun, going to an event and getting something out of it, right? But, yeah, it's. We're hoping that it'll have a good turnout and we're just hoping that it is a comedy club. So it's not only improv, but it's also, in the future, we hope to do sketch comedy and stand up comedy as well, integrate that into the club. So we're hoping that it gets the name out of creative apes more and people kind of get an idea of what our club is and, you know, hopefully aren't shy enough to join in the fun.

If I wasn't graduating in a couple weeks, I would absolutely join you. I would love to come in and join you. I've relied so much on my sense of humor about everything, and I used to act ten or eleven years ago, so it really. Improv is just. I just love it. I really do.

It's just. I'm glad. I'm glad to hear that. Improv is just. It's one more of the difficult comedies, I guess, or forms of acting, because you're not given what, what to say or what to wear or anything, but at the same time, it's one of the funnest, because you can do whatever you want. You could be walking on the moon, you could be eating a sandwich with a llama. Who knows? It could be anything. And that's the sheer enjoyment, sheer fun of the club. And so, hopefully, our hope for the fundraiser is to, in the event, for people who may not be aware of improv, they know that that's what it's like and they know that it will be a club, that they can come and relax and just have fun. And people who are familiar with improv, they can see that, you know, it's not a stressful, it's no competition. It's. Everyone is just out there to have a good time and make people laugh. That's our goal with this event.

So with you personally, what's your favorite element of improv?

I would have to say making things up, which is obviously a big thing of improv.

But just a tad.

Yeah, just a little. Little general. But to narrow that down, I love doing voices and just anything from, like, a little kid to an old man and anything that you want to do. I really find that you can be so versatile when you have so many different accents, whatever dialect. Yeah.

Enough talking about improv. Let's do it. Let's do improv. Absolutely. We'll let you go first since you're the featured guest here.

All right, well, we can do a question, a question game where all you do is ask questions, and if you do anything but ask a question, you're out of the game.

Okay. All right. So if that's what you want to do, let's do it. All right, we have about five minutes here.

All right. So, Blaze, how are you doing today?

I am doing fantastic, Katie. How are you?

Oh, is the sky blue today?

Yes, it is. I think.

Well, I think that might be a bit of a statement.

No, I put it my tone.

You end the question.

I did end it with a questioning tone. Yes.

All right, well, we'll let you go.

I'm being fair.

By the way, did you have any tomato salad with lunch today?

Is it even lunchtime yet?

Oh, I don't know if I have homework. Nope.

That's not.

Oh. Got myself out there. But see, it just. It's so much fun with a game like that. It's called questions. Usually you just have, like, a group of people and they go off against one another, and it's really fun. You just say the most. My favorite part is catching the person I'm going off against off guard. We'll be talking about what color is sky, what colors the grass, and then I'll say, did you eat lunch with a hippopotamus named today? And they'll just be so, like, where the heck did you come up with that? That they don't even know what to say, and they're out of the game.

But I only want a hippopotamus for Christmas. Will only a hippopotamus do?

Only a hippopotamus will do.

No tiger doll or whatever that is?

Nope. Really? Nope. Only have.

Why is this, Katie?

I don't know why? Because hippopotamuses are just, hippopotami are great. They can kill an alligator and they can be your best friend. They can also wear tutus and dance with alligators, too, like in fantasia. That's why I love hippopotamuses. Hippopotami, if you want to be, you know, say, the correct form of it.

Well, is there really such a thing as a correct form? Because after all, hippopotamuses is in a song.

That's true. Hippopotamus is hippopotami, however you want to say. Tomato, tomato. It's really whatever floats your boat, I guess.

But doesn't water float the boat?

Does water float the boat, blaze?

Yes. Or maybe even grape juice.

Grape juice. I love grape juice. My mom got me little packets of grape juice for Easter, which. That's awesome. They're like crush flavored.

Really.

You can put. It's like making soda. Making water into soda. Awesome. Make something healthy, unhealthy.

Exactly. So like, kind of like Jesus, like turning water into wine, I guess.

Yeah. Yeah. There you go. Look at that. Connecting those two together is just, it's just so amazing. My mind is just blown right now.

Well, I, you know, I try generally after these segments are over, my mind is typically blown, but, well, you know, I suppose we shall wrap this up here and, you know, get our minds back to unblown status. St. Rose's new comedy group is crate of apes. To find out more information about the group, you may follow them on Twitter strose comedy or on Facebook. Search St. Rose, crate of apes. Katie, I seriously cannot thank you enough for being the last guest that I ever interview here on radio. St. Rose, for this show. I cannot thank you enough.

Oh, no problem. Thank you for asking me to be interviewed. This is quite exciting.

Katie, the pleasure is mine. And I want to thank you so much for listening to the conversation here. Over the last three months, we've had several guests, all of which I eternally thank for being on the show. You know, whether it's sports, music, comedy, acting, even floral designing after Valentine's Day, I just cannot thank you enough. And to the people that helped produce the program this year, especially Isaiah ago, who did so at the live event for St. Pauldrick's Day. So in the famous words of Randy Newman and Toy Story, you have a friend in me. I thank you. I love you for the conversation. I'm Blaze Bryant.

Blaze and shows@gmail.com that's Blaisin shows@gmail.com follow the Blaze and access podcast wherever you get your podcast and on social media. Facebook and X and shows, and if you have a minute or two, I'd be grateful if you left a rating and a review that helps other people find the show as well. Transcripts are AI generated and are not perfect, but they do give you a baseline sense as to what I'm talking about here on the show. We're back to our regularly scheduled programming next week, and I really hope you enjoyed the rewind. As I was going through the various segments and archives, I could not help but have a giant smile on my face to be so appreciative, to have had the experiences that I did from my time at St. Rose. So with that, I'm Blaze Bryant telling you that you are listening to the blaze in access podcast amplifying disability perspective. One story at a time. Have a great weekend, and to all the mothers out there, a happy mother's Day.