FuzzyCoT

Update: We've renamed the show SINema.

Well, poop. There was is another Dirty Movie Night in Chicago. The video store Odd Obsession hosts a night of "dirty movies, dirty film trailers, ... sleazy performers, free wine/booze/beer and cheese". It's a free monthly event and they don't seem to have done one since last summer October.

The show was evidently well-loved and I'm getting some nasty comments on my show announcement (presumably because of the press we got today).

Franky and I were both aware of the Odd Obsession show, but neither of us remembered the name of that show (we swear). Franky had even contacted the owner of Odd Obsession months ago to see if he'd like to be a sponsor of our show. He expressed some interest, but we haven't been in contact since. Franky says he mentioned the name of the show at that time. (But, of course, it's such a generic name, none of us can be sure now whether he said, "we're doing a dirty movie night" or "we're going to be doing a show, the name of which will be, quote, "Dirty Movie Night", end quote.)

Oh, and one of the commenters says that there was talk of having Odd Obsession's event at the Improv Kitchen. Well, they call it "your venue". I'm not the Improv Kitchen. They're just a rented venue. They've had no input into the name or content of the show. Lakeshore Theater. Franky rents the Lakeshore Theater to put on Lavender Cabaret. They don't keep him informed of every show that inquires about renting their space and he doesn't let them know about shows he's producing in other venues.

So, where are we now?

1. Oops. Sorry. We screwed up. I would never have knowingly "stolen" anyone's name. I'm confident in my and my cast's abilities -- I don't want to trade on anyone else's success. And if you know me, you'd know I'm accommodating to a fault. I would have been too afraid of the kind of ill-will we're seeing now to have done this on purpose. Next time a show name is proposed, I'll Google it, I swear.

1a. I'm double-sorry because the people who are so mad right now are our target audience. I bet they'd love the show if they weren't so mad about the name.

2. I'd prefer not to change the name, since listings info and such has already gone out, but I want to do the right thing. We're contacting Odd Obsession to see if they'd like us to change the name.

3. It's not much of a defense, but man, it is kind of a generic name. There's a Dirty Movie Night in LA, too.

4. The ideas in the show are mine and the cast's. While I had heard of the Odd Obsession event I've never attended one. I've been doing both comedy-over-video and working with burlesque shows since 2003, so when Franky came to me with the bare concept of "let's do a show at the Improv Kitchen with their green screen and dirty movies" I had plenty of ideas that I think will make for a fun, fresh, entertaining show. The cast were cracking each other up with their bits at rehearsal last night. It's a good show.

5. If you don't have the balls to leave your name or an email when you leave a nasty comment or threat of physical violence, then, you know, fuck you.