The City of Lights and Flowers!!!

Something interesting happened a few nights ago at the Drink At Work show. During Smart Girl—a sketch where Jerf sings and I play guitar—we were about to launch into the final part of the song when, out of nowhere, a woman in the audience yelled:

“Anchorage!!!”

…which was followed by a brief confused silence, both onstage and off.

So I, being the improvisational guru I am, responded, “Alaska!”

This didn’t get a laugh or anything, and probably just confirmed the crowd's suspicion of the woman being a plant or something. Anyway, then Jerf said, “Juno?” And then we finished the song.

What’s especially strange about this: Smart Girl has absolutely nothing to do with Alaska. It also has nothing to do with the United States, wildlife preserves, glaciers, or geography in general. In other words, there was absolutely no reason anyone would ever shout out, “Anchorage!” In fact, if I were to pick one sketch where shouting “Anchorage” would be the LEAST appropriate, Smart Girl could very well be it.

And that’s what fascinates me about the whole experience. I’ve encountered hecklers of all types—loud talkers, aggressive shouters, drunken mumblers, coughers, cougars, you name it. But this mysterious women somehow discovered the most effective means of heckling I’ve ever seen: just find a harmless, obscure word, make sure you’re just sober enough to enunciate it, and then yell it out at a totally random moment. I guarantee, you’ll successfully derail even the strongest of bits.

Related? Sure. Whatever.