'Bye Jihaboy

Last week, my good friend and occasional partner Bob left for Portland with his lovely S.O. Stacey to start what will doubtless be an amazing theatre. I'm going to miss him.

Bob and I met at an Annoyance class before the turn of the millennium. I hope I wasn't a jerk. We met again for my second children's show, "Kid Mystery". Hilariously, I cast him as eating machine Tad Huff. It wasn't until rehearsals began that Bob said, "I'm a diabetic. It's okay. I'll just eat during the show." From then on, Bob showed me that there was, for all practical purposes, nothing he would not do for stage artistry. This is why I know he's got nothing but success in his future.

Bob and I also performed together at ComedySportz, ImprovOlympic, and, for one shining moment, a two-man show at the Playground called (for reasons that now escape me) "Laws of Dynamics". It was a fun show. Bob was also many of the Earthlings in the ComedySportz Family Matinee of "The Paper Spaceship", a role I cast him in because it was thankless and I knew he'd be great. He was. He is.

Bob and I worked together on video projects, starting after the turn of the millennium when I'd just bought my first and only (so far) video camera, when he asked if I'd like to help him and Amber out with a music video, "Lines in the Suit". He had the idea that he would walk toward the camera, smoking like a chimney. "All well and good," I said, "but we should probably give Amber," fire-headed goddess that she is, "something parallel to do." So we made her smoke off-camera, then enter the camera walking backwards, and played it back in reverse. In the final video, it kind of looks like she's receiving his smoke. It looks pretty good, and I thank Bob and Amber for their patience with me, having taken four of their Sunday mornings to shoot it.

I could go on, but this post would be endless. Suffice it to say, Portland has gained mightily and Chicago lost a favored son, but I know our paths will cross again, and I look forward to it.