My name is Jacob Godbey and I’m a comedian/filmmaker currently based out of Missoula, MT. In late 2015, my comedy partner Alex Tait and I started Gingers On Ice, a humorous variety show to showcase everything we find funny.

After a warm reception in our home state, we took the show on the road for a month in June 2016. The following are of my tour journals, edited down a bit from the stream of consciousness that originally filled my notebook pages. If you'd like to know more about the show, find us on Facebook, or at my website. Oh, and here's part 1.

6.12.16

Olympic National Park, WA

When Alex suggested we go to Olympic National Park, I insisted we leave from Seattle and travel up the coast to it, rather than around the bottom, which we would then have to backtrack the next day to get to Portland. Little did I know that my route involved us taking the car on the Kingston Ferry, which cost 30 goddamn dollars. The ride was fun, but it took us to Forks, Washington: a town somewhat famous for being where the Twilight books are set. Lame town.

We powered through and ended up in the Hoh National Rain Forest. We perused the Hall of Mosses and took note that 137 inches of rain falls annually. We also noticed that the self-registration campground only accepted payment in the form of cash or check. Looking through our bags and wallets, we surmised that I had 2 dollars and Alex had zero. Nonetheless, we set up our tent and placed our registration slip behind a little plastic screen mounted on cork board.

6.13.16

Hoh National Rainforest, WA

Despite wracking my brains the night before, I never came up with a solution to our cash or check problem. We settled on two options: drive the 30 miles back to Forks (which takes an hour on the forest roads), or somehow get our registration slip back so there would be no record of us ever being there.

Unfortunately, our laziness got the best of us.

We stuck some tape to a business card and slipped it into the registration box, hoping it would catch on our slip and we could pull it out. For legal purposes, I should say that Alex committed the act and I simply drove the getaway car. Alex successfully pulled our registration slip out and we were on our way. Ol’ Teddy Roosevelt is probably rolling in his grave.

We stopped at the aptly titled Beach 4 and no matter what age I’ve been when I see the ocean, I revert back to my 5-year-old self. I splash around, try to comprehend the vastness, and squish the sand between my toes. When we were done, I pulled the car onto the highway, stepped on it, and saw Alex’s expensive Nikon camera tumble from the roof down the rear windshield.

I looked over at Alex and he was in shock. I glanced in the rearview mirror to survey the damage and noticed his camera had caught on my vehicle’s spoiler. Huzzah! But the camera was still outside, we had guardrails on either side, and there was a semi-directly behind us. I threw on my hazard lights and inched over as much as I could. Alex jumped out of the car and scooped his camera up like a father cherishes his newborn. It was a close call.

Crossing the bridge into Astoria, OR, I blasted the title track from Marianas Trench’s album, Astoria. It was a small transcendent moment, for that song means a lot to me, and I thank Alex for letting it happen. We finally made it to my Aunt Debby’s (not the snack cake) in Tigard and got some much-needed rest. I think we only drove 200 miles, but it took us some 7-odd hours. Blegh.

6.14.16

Portland, OR

Right off the bat, Portland presents itself differently from Seattle. The downtown traffic is better, the city is quieter, and the parking is far, far cheaper. We ventured into Powell’s Books, and I was pretty amazed with their comprehensive literature collection. After that, we ate at Blue Star Donuts and their blueberry basil donut blew my mind.

We showed up early for the Harold jam at our venue, Kickstand Comedy Space. Harolds are a type of long-form improv. I won’t waste space here, explaining it, but here’s an excellent article if you want to know more! As soon as we started improvising with the local comedians, I realized just how much these people enjoy comedy. They love the art form so much they created a space where folks can not only perform, but also feel safe and accepted while doing it.

Gingers On Ice performed as part of a longer improv showcase called The Velodrome. The first group, Gift Shop, was solid, but the second troupe, Tunnel, was some of the best long-form improv I’ve ever seen. I never got her name, but they had a woman in their troupe that made me laugh my ass off. She specialized in husky-voiced, often-smoking characters.

Our show was okay, marred mostly by our monologue coming off as too sexually aggressive. That’s not a descriptor I like to be associated with, so we moved on quickly and rebounded with Typewriter, our improv bit where I speak with the audience members. We finished with Boy Bra and during the bridge I walked up the middle of the audience, spewing titty verses like a bro-busty preacher.

After The Velodrome, we stayed for the music jam: scenes inspired by 10-30 seconds of music. Our scene partners were all strangers, but everyone was spectacular. Alex and this cute blonde girl named Elizabeth had a scene where they played child Ghostbusters attempting to smite the devil. Classic shit. To me, what it truly special about improv is that it only takes a few rules to bring outsiders together. I was performing up-to-par scenes with total strangers and I’ll never forget how welcome I felt at Kickstand. Seattle: 0 Portland: 1.

6.16.16

Salem, OR

13 (!) people paid for tickets to the show, which is quite incredible in Salem, where we know literally no one. Alex and I kicked ass and I’ll always remember the Salem show as one of our best. We gelled like none other and improvised with the drunk and talkative audience.

After the show, a kind woman approached me and insisted I had a “nice face.” She suggested that we go dancing with her and her friends at this bar that was “spinning metal and ambience music.” I promptly forgot the name of the bar and unfortunately never caught up with her, though I certainly intended to.

6.17.16

Redwoods State Park, CA

Ugggggggghhhgghhgghhgghhgghhgghhgghgghghgghgghgg. If you’ve never driven from Salem, Oregon to the Redwoods state park, just don’t. It’s beautiful and it’s windy and it just makes a guy want to already be at the goddamn redwoods already. How is it that I can have 3,000 motherfuckin’ songs on my iPod and we don’t want to listen to any of them?

6.18.16

Sacramento, CA

Highway 299 was spawned from Satan’s dickhole. The windy, relentless, road made me nauseous for nearly 4 hours today… and I was the one driving. Nonetheless, we powered through and made it to Club Grotte in Sacramento.

At the preschool I work at in Missoula, there are education students that have to spend a certain amount of hours working in early childhood. During her time at the preschool, I met Cassidy Grotte. We chatted a little bit and largely ignored each other for a whole year until her and her friends (called “the Squad”) came to the first Gingers On Ice show in November 2015. We hung out a bit for a few weeks and I kinda sorta fell for her a little bit maybe and then she moved to Texas to finish her student teaching. But we stayed in touch and she kindly agreed to host us at her parents’ house in Sacramento.

With her parents gone on a fishing trip, Alex and I rolled in and wasted no time getting smashed with Cassidy. Eventually Cassidy’s brother Mitchell and Alex left. I remember going to the bathroom and talking to Alex, who just barely gritted out of his teeth that he and his girlfriend Hayley had broken up. I told him to chin up and that I was too drunk to offer better advice.

...Not my best moment.

I mentally put him on 24-hour suicide watch and left to go back to Cassidy in the living room. Eventually we went to bed and we just ended up reading. As in, she read a book out loud to me while we were both trashed. It was cute and a trait in someone that I never thought I’d be into. We fell asleep thoroughly intoxicated.

Next week: I meet Cassidy's parents, get my ID declined on my 21st birthday, and spend too much money at the Jelly Belly Factory!