Bobby & Bobby -- for the last time?

For two years, mid 2004-2006, I lived with Mr. Dan Hetzel, a terrific fella and one hell of an improvisor. Shortly before he moved in, I'd watched The Kid Stays in the Picture, the film version of the autobiography of film executive & producer (and former actor) Robert Evans. Evans colorful storytelling and distinctive style has been parodied numerous times, most notably a Mr. Show sketch about God-as-Evans recording the audiobook for his autobiography, which I sadly cannot find online. Anyway, Evans is a bizarre and in many ways sad human being, and he cracks me up.

Around the same time, Hetz played thriller author Robert Ludlum in an improv set. The real Ludlum, now deceased, wrote The Bourne Identity and it sequels, as well as The Holcroft Covenant, The Icarus Agenda, and other similarly-titled espionage thrillers. Hetz's Ludlum is a worldly adventurer, a gourmand of exotic species, and a writer of, as he described them, "corkers".

We joked, while living together, about performing improv as "Bobby & Bobby," revealing to the world (or to at least a hundred teenagers who paid a buck to see it) the imagined lifelong friendship of these princes of men. Six months after I moved out to move in with my fiancée, we finally made it happen.

"Bobby and Bobby" have performed about a half dozen times now, telling tale after fantastical tale of knife fights in Kowloon and celebrity ladies of the 70s bedded. With Hetzel moving out of town this summer, this Sunday at 8PM at the Brave New Workshop (2605 Hennepin Ave S, Minneapolis, MN, tickets $1) may be your last chance to see them. And it may even feature a special guest!

Regarding the photos above, those are (l-r) Ludlum and Evans. I decided to gray scale the image because the Ludlum photo was already black and white, and because Evans' skin color is disgusting. Any oranger and deer hunters could wear him.