Hannalo

A promo for the show I write on. Watch it September 24th on CBS.

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 13:26:55 -0500

A promo for the show I write on. Watch it September 24th on CBS.

Well, after a year, this finally got me to post again.

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 00:36:16 -0500

Well, after a year, this finally got me to post again.

I’m obsessed with this commercial for three reasons: 1)...

Sun, 14 Nov 2010 18:26:01 -0600

I’m obsessed with this commercial for three reasons:

1) Dan Bakkedahl as AT&T. He is a brilliant improviser from Chicago. I’m going to see him perform with Pete Grosz and Rob Janas tonight at UCB. In Chicago, these three used to perform with Jon Lutz (30 Rock) as 4 Square. I would watch them almost weekly as a student at i.O. Excited to see them as 3 Square tonight!

2) The guy who plays the iPhone. His name is Andy and he used to be on Greek with my friend, Kinsey. I met him at a party last year and he was super nice. He was also a brunette. I see this commercial and I cannot figure out why he decided it was a good idea to go blond.

3) That dress. I covet it.

Written by the lovely and talented Lindsay Stidham. Her movie,...

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 13:59:13 -0500

Written by the lovely and talented Lindsay Stidham. Her movie, “Douchebag” is coming to theaters soon!

My two favorite movies of the summer mashed up.

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:20:06 -0500

My two favorite movies of the summer mashed up.

I meant to upload this picture of me and the cast of Community a...

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:47:12 -0500

I meant to upload this picture of me and the cast of Community a while ago. This picture is from a night at the L.A. Improv Fest a few weeks ago. I took a class during the festival led by Danny Pudi (Abed) and stayed to see his show that night. Alison Brie (Annie), Yvette Nicole Brown (Shirley), and Jim Rash (Dean Pelton) performed, too. They were all extremely friendly and kind. It’s nice to see good people get success in this town. You might also spot Adhir Kalyan from Rules of Engagement. He and I have many mutual friends and he also had met Danny recently, so it was a fest of friendliness. Good times!

Stills from the indie film Take Care, written and directed by...

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:22:19 -0500

Stills from the indie film Take Care, written and directed by Scott Tanner Jones.

So many shows!

Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:23:39 -0500

I’ve been performing two or three shows a week, lately! Here’s a still from my latest Operocka show. We did a rock musical from the suggestion “Car” and it was a total blast. I think this is when we were all singing about getting to Atlanta. We all died in the end and it was incredible. This might just be my favorite improv group ever.*

*My other favorite groups are Daddy Warbucks and Mission Improvable — luckily the two other groups I currently perform with! Seriously, though, I’m having much better luck in L.A. improv than I did in Chicago.

A scene from the end of the very first HannaLo Variety Hour at...

Tue, 25 May 2010 15:45:00 -0500

A scene from the end of the very first HannaLo Variety Hour at M.i.’s Westside Comedy Theater. Amazing theatrical debut from my father, mother, and my friend Mike (who decided to add a New Zealand accent just to make it a bit more fun). The night was an overwhelming success and I’ve got my next one planned for July 10th!

NOTE: This takes a while to upload. Working on another version that will be quicker.

I recorded this song with my friend, Pete Shukoff, aka Nice...

Thu, 13 May 2010 13:41:00 -0500

I recorded this song with my friend, Pete Shukoff, aka Nice Peter. He wrote the lyrics and recorded the music.

Just got back to L.A. after celebrating the wedding of my best...

Wed, 12 May 2010 14:23:30 -0500

Just got back to L.A. after celebrating the wedding of my best friend, Lauren in Detroit Michigan. She and her husband, Benjy, are one of the happiest couples I know. The wedding was perfect and it was so great to see my oldest friends and spend some quality time together.

This is Mark from So You Think You Can Dance Season 4. He is...

Tue, 11 May 2010 18:58:18 -0500

This is Mark from So You Think You Can Dance Season 4. He is now a back-up dancer to Lady Gaga. I have a huge crush on him. Do you think I have some issues?

My friend Natalie was in town from New York this weekend and we...

Mon, 03 May 2010 14:08:53 -0500

My friend Natalie was in town from New York this weekend and we went to see a taping of The Ellen Show Thursday night. The show airs today for those of you who haven’t already missed it. (It plays at 4 in L.A., but apparently much earlier in Michigan as my best friend texted me at 7:30 my time to say she saw me). The guests were Kiefer Sutherland and a ten-year-old Japanese guitar prodigy. Not my cup of tea, but it was a lot of fun. And yes, we were expected to dance during every commercial break. My favorite part was winning a brand new digital camera. And it’s purple! Yippee!!

Warning! DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE AT A SATURDAY MATINEE

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:51:13 -0500

Last Saturday, I decided to embark on one of my favorite activities - attending a movie alone. I didn’t discover this joy until I moved to Chicago after college. I had just found out that my long distance ex-boyfriend had started seeing another girl long distance. Devastated, I took a walk around the block and ended up at my neighborhood theater just in time for a showing of Thirteen. Thirteen is by no means an uplifting movie and I actually don’t recommend it as a cure for being down in the dumps. But I realized that day that going to a movie alone meant I didn’t have to consult with anyone else. And for a movie buff like me who loves to see little-known independent and foreign films, this was a huge revelation. Also, with the constant contact we keep these days, going to a movie by myself is my only chance to be really, truly alone. My cell phone is off. I’m sitting in the dark and I can immerse myself in someone else’s story. I always walk out of the theater feeling refreshed.

Except for this Saturday.

I wanted to see The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, a Swedish film based on the novel by the same name by Steig Larsson. I’ve read the book along with its first sequel and loved them (I have the third book on hold on my Kindle for when it’s released this summer.) Normally when I attend a movie alone, it will be a weekday matinee when I need a break from working. But this time it just so happened that I had free time on a Saturday and there was a theater right near my babysitting job.

It was bad from the beginning. Even though the theater was empty, a couple came and sat directly in front of me. I got up and moved over. Right before the movie started, an older couple came and sat in my row. I was the only person in the row and they chose to sit directly next to me, so that the man was completely taking up the armrest. I should’ve moved right then. While the previews rolled, the man and woman each got up at separate times to go to the bathroom. I got up and down so many times I thought I felt like I was doing the wave.

Did I mention that this movie has a lot of rape in it? Like, a LOT of rape. A man is raped. A woman is raped. And it’s all done pretty graphically. I do believe that the couple next to me had not read the book before coming to the film and they were shocked and appalled by what was going on onscreen and let me know that vocally. They also couldn’t follow the plot and continued to ask questions of each other throughout the two and a half hour film.

I’ve learned my lesson. No more Saturday matinees alone. Oh, and I wouldn’t recommend this movie for a date night.

My new improv group!

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:01:46 -0500

My new improv group!:

On Sunday, I had the pleasure of auditioning for the musical improv team Operocka. And I do mean pleasure — it was the most fun I’ve ever had at an audition!

I’ve been trying to get on a musical improv team for years, but always run into conflict. In Chicago, I came down with a horrible cold the day of auditions for a popular team. Luckily, the musical director had heart me sing before and passed me through to callbacks in spite of the fact that I literally had no voice. The day of callbacks I woke up unable to catch my breath and ended up in the hospital with an IV pumping me full of four bags of liquid to rehydrate me.

(Incidentally, a note for doctors and nurses operating IV’s. IV’s make you have to pee — a lot. So it is a good idea to check on the patient often and help them get to the bathroom so they can relieve themselves. If you are not doing this, and can’t figure out why the patient’s heart rate won’t go down, it’s because she has to pee really really badly.)

The next time I auditioned for a Second City house team. It was during the run of my one-woman show at The Apollo Studio Theater. The team was rehearsing the same time I did my show and I would miss the first four. I got an email from the director saying he wanted badly to cast me, but couldn’t because of the time conflict.

Finally, now I’m getting my chance to make up songs onstage — and in a rock opera style, no less.

Can. Not. Wait.

Hmmm....

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 14:54:24 -0500

I now feel confident enough in my Kara DiGuardio impression to stop recording American Idol every week. That show has become really terrible and should be cancelled. So I’m really glad I’ve got such a relevant impression in my repertoire….

I've decided to become a derby doll

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 16:54:37 -0500

Okay, it’s probably not going to happen in reality because a) I’m currently in physical therapy for my knee and b) I have absolutely no free time, but I went to see the L.A. Derby Dolls on Saturday night and I walked away wishing I was on skates. These girls are unfuckingbelievable!

First of all, it is so refreshing to see a crowd go crazy for a group of women who look like actual women! These girls are tall, strong, tough and hot! There is an overt sexualization going on at these games, but it doesn’t bother me a bit when men are drooling over women who could easily kick their asses. That’s empowering.

Also refreshing? Seeing a group of hipsters who are too cool to get excited about anything go crazy over a game played in rollerskates. People were there to cheer on their teams and there was no shame in screaming loudly for a team of women dressed up as Girl Scouts in helmets.

I think my favorite part of the whole thing might be the awesome nicknames. Even the referees get in on the kitschy pun action. Some of my favorites? Gori Spelling. Venus D’Maul’r. Iron Maiven. Laguna Beyatch. Oliver Clothesoff and Thomas Refferson (both refs and the latter wore a three-pointed hat). I’ve decided my derby name will be Strawberry Whorecake.

Love it.

Take a good look, Mom and Dad. This is probably the closest...

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 13:33:10 -0500

Take a good look, Mom and Dad. This is probably the closest you’ll ever get to seeing me in this state. No, I didn’t suddenly become six months pregnant. This was my costume for my role in a pilot presentation I took part in this weekend called Welcome to Paradise. For those of you non-Hollywood types reading this blog, a presentation means that the pilot has not been sold yet, but instead of shopping it around to the network in script form, they decided to shoot it first and sell it that way. Personally, I found the script to be absolutely hilarious — which probably means it has no chance in hell of getting picked up in this town. Haha.

I played the small, but crucial role of Woman. I got to be part of a great scene and made ample use of my WTF face — also used in the audition that got me cast in the Fed Ex commercial. That face is going to take me places.

Do You Watch the new 90210?

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 18:24:41 -0500

How glad were you when Jasper jumped off the Hollywood sign? So great, right? Andt then, how disappointed were you when you saw he didn’t die? How much do you love Naomi, but hate Ivy? And how annoying is it the way Ivy pronounces “Naomi” even when someone else says it the correct way right in front of her? Huh? Am I right? And how awesome is it that a mediocre, but well-loved show from the 90’s is getting a second life?

What? I’m the only person who watches this show? Even teenagers aren’t watching it? Oh, okay. I’ve got to go. Rachel Maddow is on and I don’t want to miss a minute of it!

This is what I do on a day I’m bored.

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:31:46 -0500

This is what I do on a day I’m bored.