The Magic Meathands are made up of community members of all walks of life. By bringing together members of the community and instructing them in the art of humor through improvised comedy theatre, we will create and empower a group of comedic performers who can then share the joy that humor brings with the community itself.
Using Improv we will then seek to facilitate engaging, compelling and inspiring theatre that maximizes the comedic potential of any given moment. In short, we’ll try to be as funny as possible.
It is our intention, then, to provide Greater Los Angeles and Southern California with regularly available programming that is both affordable and accessible at as many locations as our resources will provide.
As our experience grows and our process is refined we will then look to expand our craft to other formats such as film, internet streaming and live scripted work.
That summer many students joined their ranks. Among them were Main Company Pioneers, Wendy Lee and Lauri Fraser. Together these students toiled away at the challenging art form of comedy improv working toward a goal of putting on a performance for a live audience.
One night that summer, during a workshop, two students by the name of Heather Shepherd and Maurice Weiss performed a scene set in a German sausage factory in which the German people were in dire need of meat and were relying on that factory to save them from starvation. Heather, playing an ace sausage stuffer declared “Don’t worry! I will use my magic meathands and our people will be saved!”
On October 29th, 2004 eight bold “beginners”, joined by Vodka and Donuts cast member, Carl Olson, took the main stage calling themselves “the Magic Meathands”. Together they performed a courageous 20 minutes of live improvised comedy at the Empty Stage Comedy Theatre. In this landmark exhibition, men’s clinics were so overrun that men were trying to get into women’s clinics for treatment and a Hooters waitress (played by Wendy) sought new employment in a nunnery. The nun (played by Shepherd) rejected her application because she was too full of sin to hold the pen.
The show was a success and for the next six months the Meathands took the stage every eight weeks to make performance a part of their learning process.
Students came and went but a handful stayed together and continued their study. In March 2005 the Monday Night Beginners workshop evolved into an intermediate workshop. This group began to focus on the Empty Stage style of long form improvisation. Joined by student transfers from other local schools, the Meathands put together a string of some of their best work leaning on trust and dedicated teamwork to make the simplest ideas entertaining.
In June 2005 the program expanded. The Monday class became too full and so an ongoing intermediate workshop opened on Wednesday to provide space for the eager new students. The Meathands, now an intermediate long form student troupe began performing twice a month.
Additionally, in June 2005, a Saturday beginner’s class was launched to provide new “home grown” performers for the intermediate workshop. In only eight weeks, the new group of beginners took the main stage, launching an exhibition series known now as “Penguin Lamaze”. Among these daring new students were Main Company Pioneers, Mary Benedict, Phil Gibbs, Eric Field, Tara Powell, and Nikki Turner.
In September 2005, Wendy Lee, part of the original Meathands cast, became the first student from the new program to be accepted into the Advanced Performance Workshop run by Empty Stage Artistic Director, Stan Wells. Wendy was immediately cast in the “Being Humans” Mainstage Comedy Troupe where she still performs when she isn’t out in the community with the Meathands Main Company. Many would soon follow in her footsteps.
In fact, by March 2006 there would be eight “Alumni” of the program including Lauri Fraser and Heather Shepherd. Seven of the eight got together at the end of the month to do the first of what would be called “Alumni Shows”. That night, the Meathands would evolve again; what once was a group of beginning students were now not only intermediate students, but a small group of advanced-level performers as well.
The Alumni shows took place on the fifth Friday of the month and improved with every outing. In May of 2006. The Meathand “Alums” ventured outside of the theatre to the Coffee Cartel in Redondo Beach, CA.
In November of 2006, Main Company Pioneer, Phil Gibbs became the first of the original “Penguins” to be accepted into the Advanced Performance Workshop at the Empty Stage. Over the next six months, four other original Penguins would follow as well as Main Company Pioneer Jason Palmer who joined the Saturday workshop in the fall of 2005.
Also in November 2006 the Saturday beginner’s workshop expanded to Thursday night creating two year-round workshops that would train the art form’s foundations to new students.
By June 1, 2007, twenty Meathands would be accepted into the Advanced Performance workshop and be considered Alumni of Bill Johnson’s Beginner-Intermediate Improv Program. Ongoing monthly performances would be established in three communities in Los Angeles County.
The Magic Meathands had evolved once more…into the Magic Meathands Main Company!
Click on Meet the Meathands to meet the current cast members!
