Theater folks are a superstitious lot. Not a judgment, just a fact. They refer to Macbeth as the “Scottish Play” and you say “Break A Leg” rather than “Good Luck.” I can’t speak to whether or not there is any truth to these traditions but they persist to this day.
The Chainsaw Boys had our own little ritual before beginning a show, we’d all say to each other, “Don’t Suck.” This does fall in to line with theatrical precedent, so to we’re old school in that way.
Now in the interest of full disclosure, we sometimes sucked, not often, but it did happen. So “Don’t Suck” isn’t foolproof. We did have one ritual, which absolutely, one hundred percent worked.
Matt Ostrom, before every show would say, “Don’t pet stray dogs.” I can report, that no strays every found their way backstage pre-show. And if they did, none of us would dare pet them.
That’s some improv magic.
The Writings of Leo Byrne Jenicek 