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10 QUESTIONS: ANDY MASON April 25, 2004
1. Who are you? Andy Mason, mad scientist-in-training (I can’t help but emphasize the mad part) and token Generically Named White Boy. 2. Where did you first find out about OOPS? Well, I saw the poster that had me believing Drew Carey was going to be mentoring us to improv greatness. But, it’s all good, as it turns out we didn’t need the help. J That reminds me, a shout out to everyone else who contributed to OOPS’ birth and growth before having to graduate or leave – Lisa, Mike B., Zach, and anyone else that I didn’t mention. 3. What's your favorite improv game to play? That’s a tough one. Everybody has me tabbed as the Sound Effects guy, and that’s cool, because I love that game. But I also love Murder Mystery and Irish Dri – oh, pardon me, “Drunk Man’s Hymn.” I’d say those three would be my favorite, but in a photo finish, I’d go with Sound Effects. And you know, I’ll have forgot about two or three other games I like a lot by the time this goes up on the site, but eh, whatever. 4. Do you have any favorite memories from your time in OOPS? You kidding? I have tons of favorite memories from OOPS. Here are 10 that I can think of at the moment, in no particular order:
5. Do you have a most embarrassing moment in OOPS? Two, actually. In one show, Nick and I were doing a lot of two-man games that involved audience suggestions. Somebody kept yelling out “PORN! DO PORN!” “THEY’RE IN THE SHOWER!” “THEY’RE SHOPPING FOR THEIR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY, DOING PORN!” And the host of the game decided, yes, these were all great ideas. (I’m gonna git you, Stoyle!) Naturally, those games were the creepiest things we’d ever had to perform; just so you all know, Nick has a girlfriend and if I weren’t single, I’d have a girlfriend too, not a boyfriend. In conclusion, NO MORE porn requests please! Also, there was the time I got the games mixed up while hosting “Quick Change” once and barked out the directions for “Stand, Sit, Lie” instead. I guess that’s why they call it “OOPS.” 6. What else do you like to do besides improv comedy? Well, I like to do physics
– it may not sound like it when I’m doing homework, but I do. And I play guitar
and bass, I’m always up for a game of Frisbee or football or what-have-you, and
most importantly, I always make sure to crack open the Bible and go to the
Newman Center Masses to say I’m sorry to God for any improv games that went
horribly wrong. ;) Well, if you want a bit of
personal history, I’d have to say the fact that I loved doing the school
musicals back in high school, and people seemed to think I was pretty good at
it. However, when I got to UB, I didn’t have time to add on a theater major to
a physics major, and there wasn’t much of anything for non-majors to do in terms
of theater – that is, until OOPS came along. At the time, I was a rabid fan of
Whose Line is it Anyway? (I still am, just haven’t been able to get to the TV)
and thought, “Hey, that looks like fun, I’ll give it a shot.” So, I went over
to the first practice with Josh, who was my hallmate at the time, and the rest
is OOPS lore and legend. Aw man … I have like 20.
I guess I’ll pick “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Excellent execution, Harrison Ford
is at his best, great message delivered by the movie, lots of little bits of
humor scattered around – my favorite part is the birth of the concept “Why go
into an arduous fight with a highly skilled evil swordsman when you can just
shoot him?” – and of course, it’s always fun killing lots of Nazis! Well, next semester, I’m headed off to the University of Pittsburgh and try and get me one of them high-fallutin’ Ph.D.s in physics. After that, I tentatively plan on doing astrophysics or planetary science work research. Perhaps I might do science writing, there’s a lot of possible options. In terms of improv, it’s up in the air at this point, but rest assured, you haven’t seen the last of me on stage! 10. Do you have any parting words to your friends and fans? Exuberance. Poltergeist.
Incendiary – oh, you mean like words of wisdom? I’d like to thank you guys for
everything we’ve been through together. Maybe I have a hard time saying it out
loud, but you all mean a lot to me and I already miss every one of ya. It’s
time for me to move on, and sooner or later, it’ll be your time too, and you’ll
find it’s a good thing. Keep in touch, don’t be strangers, and I’m pretty sure
I’ll be around again – after all, it’s Pittsburgh, not Mars! I leave you with a
little snippet from my all-time favorite song, which I think summarizes about a
novel’s worth of feelings about this sort of thing. Catch you on the flip side,
and God bless you all! |