my starring role as the titular character in "educating asa"

It was 2004 -- a little over twelve years ago. The Society of Actuaries was having a meeting in New York. Somehow it was decided that, as part of the lunchtime program, there should be a play to illustrate the need for actuaries to have soft skills.

Tom Bakos wrote the play, which was titled "Educating Asa." I was a long-time member of the Academy's Committee on Professional Responsibility, and in that role I knew Bakos. I was also a bit of a ham with an unrequited dream of being an actor. So I was a natural choice to play the title role.

In my brief acting career, this was by far the biggest audience I ever performed for.

I look back at this video with a mix of pride and embarrassment. We actually had very little time to prepare and memorize our lines. There was only one rehearsal. We didn't have the luxury of costume changes, which was fine for the others. But Asa had to make a complete transformation. Given the constraints, I think I did pretty well with it. Ditching the pens from my shirt pocket, pulling the cuffs on my pants down to cover the (mismatched) socks. Putting on a jacket. But I couldn't perform a miracle. So I still had my five o'clock shadow. And I didn't completely fix the top of my pants, so the belt and waistline combo still look funky after the transition. But the point was made.

For that line about "...a pig like that you don't eat all at once," I was given freedom to pick whatever punchline I wanted. From any joke. I actually was tempted to go with "I don't know about the ones on the sides, but the one in the middle is Willie Nelson," which is one of my favorites. But the joke is overtly sexual. Still, I was tempted to go with it. Absent the context of the joke, the punchline isn't dirty at all. If anyone complained, I could plead ignorance. "Hey, you're the one with the dirty mind," I could argue, as if the punchline was some kind of Rorschach test. In the end I decided on a punchline from a nonsexual joke.

A few of my friends from work were at the meeting. Two of them knew in advance that I would be part of the lunchtime entertainment. A third, who was seated with them, didn't know in advance. Afterwards, I loved hearing about how his jaw dropped when he realized that it was me onstage.

Oh, for the record, I dress better than that when I'm at work.