As part of its 3-week run of Cecily and Gwendolyn’s Fantastical Balloon Ride, PJI is hosting 10pm bonus performances from some of Philly’s top comedy groups. Tomorrow night features Leo Callahan and ComedySportz Presents: Improvised Shakespeare.

We thought you might like to know a little about who these performers are and why we think they’re top comedians. Over the next week,our blog will feature content all about and/or by cast members of the groups we’re featuring. Awesome.

The following offering is an essay written by Leo Callahan cast member Nick Mirra. Nick is not only a member of aforementioned kick-ass longform improv group; he is also part of the  LIQUID COURAGE project, which is best described as “a celebratory combination of military history and drinking.” Their website features alcoholic drinks that embody important moments in military history. Each blog entry is a drink, how to make it, and the skinny on happened in that war or battle.

Fake Jacksons, Baby

Cross-posted at Nick’s blog My Web Presence.

Dear lady marking my $20 bills at the grocery store with the magic pen,

What do you think is going to happen if one of them comes up….what?  Pink?  Is that what happens when the vigilant pen detects a fake $20?  What will we do then?  Will you accuse me of being a counterfeit artist?  Will you not accept my money?  Will you call the cops?  I got that money from someone else.  If it’s a $20, I probably got it from an ATM.  I was none the wiser, and neither was the guy who gave it to me.  The money chain before me found it acceptable currency.  You and I can agree to treat it as such, (money is, after all, only valuable because we agree it’s valuable), and the bill can continue on its way.  Your register will even out, and I’ll have my Basic 4 and orange juice.  Nobody needs to know.  Whomever forged that bill is long gone with his illicit purchasing power anyhow.

Why are you even checking these things?  Did SuperGrocerCo contract with the U.S. Treasury to be some kind of counterfeit fisherman, trolling the country’s petty cash to sweep up fake bills?  How many times have you, the cashier, marked a bill with that pen?  Has it ever identified a fake bill?  How much do those pens cost?  The way you treat them, it can’t be much.  Much less than the $20 you are treating with suspicion.  If one of my bills comes out pink, maybe I’ll suggest that the pen is the counterfeit.  Or maybe I’ll be offended right now that you’re implying I may be passing off fake bills.  What then?  Am I taken to see the manager?  Do we rumble in the condiments aisle?

Someday I will write a screenplay centered on the premise that all $20s are fake and the counterfeiters have been inserting fake pens into the grocery stores of the nation.  That, or those pens give us cancer.

See Nick perform with Leo Callahan and ComedySportz Presents: Improvised Shakespeare, Friday, January 22nd, 10pm. The Latvian Society, 531 N. 7th Street, Phila PA 19123. $10. Buy tickets now!