Eden Riegel: News

ACME Saturday Night

Sat, 17 Apr 2010 19:00:12 -0700

Every week the talented folks at ACME Comedy put on an SNL-type sketch show that, frankly, puts SNL to shame. Recently I got to host the show and had a total blast. We started with a “pitch” meeting on Monday night. First the troupe presented a bunch of brilliant ideas for sketches they had for our show, and then we got up and cold-read the scripts. I got to play about 18 different characters in all kinds of crazy situations. Then we chose our favorite scenes, and the gang got to work giving them a nice polish. On Wednesday we got together to film a couple of video sketches for the show. One was a music video spoof of Taylor Swift’s “Sixteen” called “33,” written by Ryan Churchill and directed by Richard Keith, all about how crappy it is to get older. The other, called “Cartoon Animals,” written and directed by Joseph Limbaugh, is a Public Service Announcement brought to you by an adorable princess. You can see “Cartoon Animals” at the bottom of the page -- it’s hysterical!

On Saturday, the day of the big show, we were all psyched and ready to play. After trying on loads of wigs and costumes, tweaking a few lines, blocking and then dress rehearsing, we were ready to go live. And we were a hit! I had a blast, and I highly recommend attending one of ACME’s many top-quality shows should you ever find yourself in LA. Visit their website, ACMEComedy.com, to find out who the celebrity host is this week, book your tickets, and learn more about the troupe and the ACME Comedy School. You can also see select archived episodes on their site.

A huge thanks to Ryan Churchill, Diana Costa, Marc Danon, Leif Gantvoort, Dan Kane, Richard Keith, Joseph Limbaugh, Melissa McQueen, and Jen Parker for their amazing talent, and for making me feel like part of the gang.

Disneyland Half-Marathon

Sun, 6 Sep 2009 08:15:02 -0700

I did it! This weekend I completed the Disneyland Half-Marathon, known affectionately as “The Happiest Race on Earth!” I took part in the race in order to raise money for a wonderful organization, AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA). APLA is dedicated to providing support, social-services and advocacy for those affected by HIV/AIDS, and AIDS education and prevention for the community at large. These are tough times for non-profits, so I wanted to do what I could to help APLA, which is one of the largest non-profit AIDS service organizations in the country. I began with a fundraising goal of $2000. But, thanks to the support of my friends and family, and the overwhelming generosity of my fans, I was ultimately able to raise over $15,000! That is an astronomical number, and something I never thought I could achieve. Among all the participants, I was the second-highest earner! I owe a huge debt of gratitude to all my fans who donated to this worthy cause. Some gave what they could, others organized fundraising drives and auctions, and together we were able to make a miracle happen for many people who need our kindness and support. Thank you for joining with me to reach this incredible goal. We did it!

Knowing that so many people were behind me, race day was cake. I woke at the crack of dawn and ate a bagel (my trainer would have fainted!), then met up with the rest of my team in the hotel lobby. I ran the race with my training group (pictured below) as well as my friend Jessalyn Gilsig (who you might recognize from Imaginary Bitches as well as a million other TV Shows -- you can see her this fall playing a delicious bitch on Glee). Unfortunately, we all had been assigned different corral numbers, so we had to go to the lowest one in order to stay together. It made for a lot of dodging and weaving at the start, but eventually we were able to find open road and run our little hearts out. The Disney Marathon is tons of fun! You start in California Adventure where along the sidelines you see all the classic Disney costume characters and fun musical acts help make the day feel festive. Then you go through Magic Kingdom and actually run through Sleeping Beauty’s castle... that’s like a dream come true! After that there’s a nice long stretch in Anaheim, which could be rather bleak, but remains cheerful thanks to local marching bands and cheer groups who line the route. At around the halfway mark, when you might be losing steam, you get to take a detour right through Angels’ stadium, where you can see yourself on the JumboTron and feel the support and encouragement of a stadium full of fans. After that, you’re home free. Just a few more miles, another run through the park, and there’s the finish line!

It’s an incredibly fun and satisfying race, and I highly recommend it. My finish time was 2:06:29, which is not a bad time, I suppose. But being so close to 2 hours makes me want another crack at it. Maybe next year?!

36th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 21:00:01 -0700

Although sadly Imaginary Bitches did not take home the statuette at the Emmy Awards Creative Craft ceremony, I’d say we were the best-looking group of losers the Emmy’s have ever seen. And it was, truly, an honor to be nominated. Especially since the little show that Andrew dreamed up in his head was the first web series to ever be honored with a nomination for an actual Emmy Award in the brand new “New Approaches” category. And we lost to a rare John Lennon interview -- how do you compete with that? The film that beat us is actually a really nice little short called I Met the Walrus. and if we were going to lose to anyone, I guess I’m glad it was Lennon.

The pictures on this page are of me and the beauties of IB before our crushing defeat (don’t we look happy?!). We knew as soon as little Bindi Irwin came out to announce our category that we didn’t win. No serious operation is going to make an 11-year-old say the word “bitches” in public. We were crushed, but, of course, the loss cannot diminish the incredible achievements of our show. This little, independent, self-financed web series about a girl who talks to people who don’t exist has received a Webby award, an ITV Festival award and an Emmy nomination, as well as critical and popular success. That’s just amazing!

UPDATE!!!! The IB Emmy special has just been released! You can view this “very special episode” on the bottom of this page. If you care about imaginary equality, forward it onto your friends. It carries an important message that everyone should hear! You can also view, rate and comment on the episode on YouTube. And be sure to check out the awesome review posted by the fabulously supportive Jamey Giddens of DaytimeConfidential.com by clicking HERE.

For more IB Emmy coverage click HERE to see a lovely little piece that Entertainment Tonight Canada shot of me and Brooke getting beautified for Emmy night. You can also visit WeLoveSoaps.net to see Damon L. Jacobs and Roger Newcomb interview me, Lizzie and Andrew on the Red Carpet.

Independent Television Festival

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:37:44 -0700

This week, Imaginary Bitches is taking part in the 3rd annual Independent Television Festival (ITVFest) in Los Angeles’s famous Sunset 5 theater! The opening night celebration was this Friday night, and Andrew and I were joined by much of the IB Cast on the Red Carpet and at a party for the festival participants. IB will be screening on Monday, August 3rd at 2:00PM, and on Friday, August 6th at 4:00PM. There will be a Q&A with me and Andrew following the screenings. Check out the ITV website for more info.

UPDATE!!!! Andrew won for best writing on Friday at the ITVFest awards ceremony! It’s very exciting. Congratulations, Andrew, for adding another win to the Imaginary Bitches Awards booty!

Year One World Premier

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:02:43 -0700

I just attended the World Premier of my new movie Year One in New York City. The film stars Jack Black and Michael Cera, was directed by Harold Ramis, and produced by Judd Apatow -- quite the comedy pedigree! It’s about a couple of loser hunter-gatherers, Zed and Oh (Black and Cera), who go on a quest through biblical times in search of their destiny, and end up changing the course of history. I play Lilith, Adam and Eve’s daughter, who Zed and Oh encounter on their journey. Zed thinks Lilith is mighty fine (hotness knows no historical bounadries) and is delighted when Adam suggests he “lay” with her. Little does he know that she’s the first girl in history to play for the other team. The women’s softball team, if you catch my drift. I guess Jack Black wearing only an animal-pelt loincloth could make any lady long for the fairer sex!

Just a little backstory: Lilith is an actual character in biblical mythology. According to Jewish mysticism Lilith was a demon who was formed from the dust to be Adam’s first wife because he was lonely. But because she felt herself to be Adam’s equal, she refused to be submissive to him, particularly in the sack. (In other words, she wasn’t crazy about missionary position.) Thus she was expelled from the garden and ended up living out her life eating babies and giving pubescent boys wet dreams. These days Lilith is remembered mostly as a feminist symbol -- in fact, Lilith Fair is named after her! I think the film-makers named the world’s first lesbian after her in order to honor her early brand of girl power.

Don’t miss Year One, coming to theaters everywhere on June 19th!

The 2009 Webby Awards

Mon, 8 Jun 2009 20:27:39 -0700

On Monday Andrew and I attended the Webby Awards winners’ gala to accept my Webby People’s Voice Award for Outstanding Individual Performance for my work in Imaginary Bitches. The event took place in New York City, at the stunning Wall Street Cipriani. It was an awesome time, and we were just pinching ourselves that something Andrew dreamed up in his head could be the recipient of what the NY Times calls “The Oscars of the Internet.” While I don’t really know how they can say that without their tongue firmly planted in their collective cheek, I was awfully surprised to learn that this is the 13th year the Webbys have been honoring the best of the internet. 13 years!! I frankly didn’t entirely realize the internet had been around for so long. Of course, since that first year Webbys have just gotten bigger and bigger. This year tons of celebs were in attendance, including Charlie Rose, Martha Stewart, Alan Cummings, and Cameron Diaz. Fellow honorees included Jimmy Fallon, Isabella Rossellini, Sarah Silverman, Lisa Kudrow, Trent Reznor and Sir Tim Berners-Lee (the real inventor of the world wide web!) And we were seated at a table with the creators of the LOLcats and Fail Blog! (Check those guys out -- it’s funny stuff!)

The Webby Awards have a really cool tradition of allowing winners only a 5-word acceptance speech. Not only does it provide an opportunity for creativity, but it also keeps the evening short and snappy! Since fans of Imaginary Bitches were responsible for me winning the award, we though we should let them choose my speech. So we held a contest on twitter and the IB Message Board for Webby speech ideas, narrowed them down to our favorite five, and let the fans vote to decide the winner. The winning speech, written by IB Superfan Mary-Beth Sands, was “I’m sleeping with the director.” Not only is it true, but I thought it provided just enough sauciness and mystery to make people want to check out imaginarybitches.com. The fans did good! My other favorite speech suggestions were: “I never envied haiku before” and “Drinks on me, meet at...” You can see me delivering the winning speech by clicking on the You Tube embed below. And if you click on the video on the bottom right you can see my red carpet interview with Shira Lazar.

Of course, we couldn’t keep Catherine and Heather away from the Webby Gala (they were hoping to deflower some computer dweebs!) and so you can see the three of us vlogging from the red carpet by clicking on the play button on the top right of your screen.

Rock the Soap

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:28:50 -0700

This weekend was the first annual Rock the Soap cruise, to Ensenada, Mexico. A dozen of the most popular soap stars in the middle of the ocean with a boat load of fans? That sounds like it has the potential for disaster! But it was truly the best fan event I have ever attended, and a crazy fun time was had by all, soap fans and stars alike. TV’s Bob Guiney produced the event, aboard a Carnival cruise ship, with the folks from Soap Net. The weekend included signings, meet-and-greets, a Karaoke night where fans could sing duets with their favorite stars, and a signature “Rock the Soap” concert, where all the daytime talent belted out rock tunes backed up by the awesome Bob Guiney Band. There were also plenty of opportunities for throwing back a few shots of tequila and letting our hair down. We had so much fun it was a joke. Andrew and I spent a ton of time with Elizabeth Hendrickson (AMC, Y&R) and her adorable boyfriend, Melissa Claire Eagan (AMC), Greg Rikkart (Y&R), and Van Hansis and Jake Silbermann from As the World Turns. We ended up being so bowled over by how funny the ship was (it looked like it was right out of the 70s!) that Andrew cooked up a really fun time-travel adventure comedy that we shot throughout the weekend. You can see the film, called Eden Elizabeth Ensenada, on the top of this page. You’ll notice the film stars “the Imaginary Bitches players.” That includes me, Lizzie, and Greg, as well as cameos by Missy and Van. And since all of us IB alums were already on the ship, we also did an Imaginary Bitches Q & A and signed copies of the Season 1 DVD for the fans. It was a terrific weekend. Great work Bob Guiney!

UPDATE!! Rock the Soap 2 has been announced! RTS2 sets sail April 9th, 2010 from Los Angeles, and promises to be a great trip. Just so there is no confusion, unfortunately I will NOT be there for this round of rockin’. But there will be a ton of awesome stars in attendance (Lizzie, Greg, Van, and Melissa are all signed up!) and I know you’ll have the time of your life. To find out more and see footage from the last RTS, check out the Rock the Soap Website!