Goodbye Tisher

About five years ago I met Tisher for dinner with my friend Wes and his girlfriend at the time Jess. I had just come from seeing The Cove for the first time. A profoundly moving documentary about dolphin slaughtering in Japan. I was all amped up about it, politically and emotionally charged. I didn't know anything about him at the time save he was on Neapolitan at iO which everyone was lauding as the next great group which I, of course, resented. He was kind of a dick as I recall, pretentious and full of himself, taking multiple opportunities to ridicule the premise of The Cove and undermine my obvious passion for it. I decided I hated him.

Two years later we started temping at Groupon at the same time. The day after the big snow storm, this was 2011, all the temps went into to work and most of the normal employees didn't. We started talking at lunch about this guy who played at iO and how much we didn't like him. He had a repertoire of offensive trope characters he always played and we bonded over talking shit about this guy and feeling superior. I'm a touchy-feely type of guy and so after that I would pat him on the back or give his shoulders a little rub when I would walk by and he started to do the same to me. From that moment on we were friends. We sat next to each other at work for the next six months and started seeing each others shows and going to movies.

A year later we were having lunch at work and we started to talk about doing a project together, that project turned into Bubble Boys our improvised comedy serial. It, to date, has been the most challenging and satisfying creative project I've done and I couldn't have found a better collaborator than Tisher.

Over the course of our friendship we've seen each other at some low points and there was never any doubt we would stick by and support each other. Our friendship went from work friends to improv friends to something a lot deeper and more complex. I've kept no secrets from Tisher and used him as a sounding board almost daily. I relied on him as a social buffer, social blanket, and social bloodhound- I not necessarily being in the loop as much as him.

Along with him inspiring and fueling me in our partnership with Bubble Boys he also inspired me to create a character, some bizarro version of him which I've written a couple short posts as and a lot of quotes on Facebook. He was always kind and game in regards to this portrayal which is not necessarily flattering and which for me was a huge experiment I learned a lot from. I didn't know how or was incapable of writing in a voice other than my own before I started to create a fictitious version of him. That has been a huge gift, has opened up some abilities and avenues I didn't know were available.

Tisher has not only been a great friend to me but to many people. He will be missed as a friend and as a unique and engaging performer. His effortless blend of high-brow concepts and content with low-brow presentation are unlike anything anyone else is doing. His moving leaves a hole in the Chicago comedy community.

But Tisher is off to greener pastures in NYC where I know it is just a matter of time until he finds success like our other Chicago friends who have fled to the coasts. I will cherish our time together in Chicago and look forward to the next stage in our friendship.