Five Fringe Shows I Would See Based on Title/Image Alone

With 176 shows to choose from and limited time and budget, it can be hard to choose which Fringe shows to go see. Do you wait a couple of days for reviews to start rolling in? See shows from people you’ve seen before and trust? Only go to shows that have the nudity warning? Buy a five show punch card and see my show five times?



you can see our show as many times as you like.  I won't stop you.

you can see our show as many times as you like. I won’t stop you.





Why not just judge a book by it’s cover and pick a show based on how interesting it sounds from it’s title or if it has a cool show image on the
Fringe website? Here’s my pics –



Professor Hotrail and the Time Travelling Meth Lab!
you had me at tweaked-out puppets and time travelling meth lab

you had me at tweaked-out puppets and time travelling meth lab





The Vindlevoss Family Circus Spectacular!
Nothing to see here, just a zombie carrying a bearded lady

Nothing to see here, just a zombie carrying a bearded lady





To Mars With Tesla or The Interplanetary Machinations of Evil Thomas Edison
Hopefully they have one of those things that shoots electricity between two antennae.  Probably not but fingers crossed!

Hopefully they have one of those things that shoots electricity between two antennae. Probably not but fingers crossed!





Centipede! The Musical
The one thing that was missing from Human Centipede?  Songs.

The one thing that was missing from Human Centipede? Songs.





Yelling at Bananas in Whole Foods
I'm sure that there's more than just a guy yelling at bananas but I'd totally see a show of just this guy yelling at bananas.

I’m sure that there’s more than just a guy yelling at bananas but I’d totally see a show of just this guy yelling at bananas.





Happy Fringing!

Denson and Young Preparedness Level: Mostly.

The Minnesota Fringe Festival starts this week and Denson & Young’s show Dick & Fart Jokes in the Key of F opens this Friday at the Rarig Proscenium theater! It’s been a long road of hard work and preparation since we started writing the script in 1993 but we’re finally prepared. The lines have been memorized, places are blocked, set pieces painted, the costumes are bedazzled, the city officials have been bribed, the cards have been strewn across theaters around the twin cities, the instruments are oiled, the alligators are trained, the actors have been tazed, the witches have been burned, the little people have been apologized to, the elder gods have been awakened and the steroids have been injected!



In case you’re wondering what the show will be like, here’s a little preview we did for the Fringe for All –







and here’s the director’s notes we just dictated to our secretary to be put in the programs –




We would like to personally thank you for coming to our show but we’re much too busy so hopefully this note in the program will do. This show you’re about to see (or had seen all those years ago if you’re sifting through that shoebox in your closet that has the words “fond memories” written on it) is largely inspired by true events and mainly adapted from the Denson & Young Japanese manga. Some slight changes had to be made due to the limitations of the Fringe Festival’s insurance and our own budget restrictions. While those who know the story may be disappointed that the elephant jousting and flamethrower duel had to be cut, the spirit of the story remains the same. If you would like to learn more about Denson & Young, there is a little music store in an alley off of Rue Nationale in Congolin, France. In the music store is an old bowlback mandolin. Break the mandolin open and inside is a copy of our autobiography. This autobiography is also available at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com.




What else can you expect? I’m not exactly sure, I’m not off book yet! Come on down, see the show and let Denson & Young give your soul a Swedish massage with music.

Lost at Fringe

Bill is out working on a top secret project, so today’s hurried post comes to you from myself while lost in a see of Fringe Madness.

I have 3 shows I’m involved with, keeping me very busy. I’d like to take a moment to share them with you before I get to the meat of the blog post.


First up is a show that both myself and Bill are performing in… “Stop Talking: The Game of Talking”.

Thursday, August 9th: Host: Tim Wick. Timekeeper: Patricia Wick… Players: Bill Stiteler, Chrys Vanderkamp, Bill Young, Aric McKewn, Eric Knight and Dawn Krosnowski

Friday, August 10th: Host: Tim Wick. Timekeeper: Sara Stevenson Scrimshaw… Players: Joseph Scrimshaw, Jena Young, Kelvin Hatle, Jen Scott, Jerry Belich, Windy Bowlsby and Mike Fotis

Sunday, August 12th: Host: Joseph Scrimshaw. Timekeeper: Sara Stevenson Scrimshaw… Players: Bill Stiteler, Tim Wick, Matt Allex, Courtney McLean, Bill Young and Windy Bowlsby

We’ve done this show before, and though I’m sad that I won’t get to play with Bill on stage (giggity), I *am* exited to share a stage with the above listed.

The second show I’m involved with is “On the Differences Between Two Ladies and the Resolution Thereof”. It’s about the first emancipated duel between two women. Much of it is true to the actual event. I’m the fight choreographer/fight director for this show, and though the performance style isn’t what I typically go for, I am pleased with the end result. The show is getting mixed reviews, and I think much of it is that many people have expectations of what kind of style and pacing a show in the Fringe should have, and it doesn’t match. But the people that love it LOVE it, and the people that hate it HATE it. It’s my favorite kind of response to get for a show.

The third and final show I’m doing is “Fringe Orphans”. It’s a clump of vignettes tied together by nothing. Seriously. We keep getting people looking for a theme, or a tie in, or something, but really kids, we don’t pretend it’s going to be anything like that. Just an assortment of skits. I think all of them are fantastic, though I’m biased toward my own. I “wrote”, directed, and partially choreographed our scene, with other choreography done by Chris Olsen and Mike Lubke.

Now that I’ve done my duty in pimping my fringe shows, here’s a thing that’s been bothering me about Fringe this year… WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO WOBBLES?!?!?!

The beloved Fringe Mascot Wobbles of the past many forever years is missing, and those masterminds at MN Fringe aren’t talking. Typically, if you lose someone dear to you, you launch a search, or at least talk to everyone you know about how your child is missing. Instead, Wobbles has been replaced by an XKCD character. You didn’t think we’d notice, MN Fringe? You thought you could just dress up some stick figure and put him in Wobbles place, walking by, whistling, with your hands in your pockets?? He doesn’t even have whiskers!

But they’re not talking. It’s got me suspicious. Especially since the rating system has also changed. Stars? Who the hell uses stars as a rating system?

I had hope earlier that we may be able to still save Wobbles, as I would once in a while see a very bad review of my a show with a 1 kitty rating. Sadly, it looks like those kitties are all gone now. I heard the last mewlings of Wobbles, too late to save him.

So here’s to our beloved Wobbles. May he rest in peace in that big thrust stage in the sky.

And MN Fringe Heads… I’m watching you.

My Grandmother Thinks I’m a Pornographer.

Several years ago I directed a play for the Minnesota Fringe Festival called “Porn! Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Dong”. It was a musical loosely based on Jenna Jameson’s autobiography



Get it? Loosely? Ba-Zing!





and written by my friend and fringe collaborator Mike Yanke. Here’s a phone conversation that I had with my grandma about the play that I found on my ol’ myspace blog. Enjoy!


GRANDMA: So what are you doing right now?

ME: I’m just on break right now from rehearsal.

GRANDMA: Rehearsal from what?

ME: Oh, just the Fringe play I’m-

GRANDMA: Oh, is this the play your uncle Ron was telling me about?!?

ME: Wha?

GRANDMA: Your uncle Ron called me and said Oh, Bill’s play is pornography! He said he read in the paper that there’s nudity and sex and pornography in this play! Are you doing pornography, Billy?

ME: What? No! I’m not doing a pornography! There’s no sex or nudity in this play!

GRANDMA: So youre not doing a pornography?

ME: No. I’m not… doing a pornography.

GRANDMA: Good. I think you can get arrested for doing pornography. I dont want you to go to jail.

ME: I’m not going to jail for doing this show, grandma.

GRANDMA: Well, what is this play about, then?

ME: It’s a comedy.

GRANDMA: Oh, a comedy! What’s it about?

ME: Well, it’s a comedy about pornography.

GRANDMA: Really? You can do comedy about pornography?

ME: Sort of.

GRANDMA: Is there a script?

ME: Sort of.

GRANDMA: Can I get a copy of the script to read?

ME: What? Why?

GRANDMA: Well, I think I’d like to read this script before I go see the show. So it’s not pornography and sex?

ME: No.

GRANDMA: Oh, good. I dont want to go see any pornography. (laughs) I dont even know what pornography is!

ME: Please stop saying pornography.


Thank God she never came to the show. It was all pornography.