Approximately 20 years ago, I had the pleasure of participating in Montana High School Speech & Drama. I competed in Humorous Duo Acting with my good friend, Rusty Limesand. He had a great sense of humor, and an amazing threshold for physical pain (which came in handy given our love of vaudevillian comedy).

My senior year, we were lucky enough to win the state title in Humorous Duo Acting, and to take home the team state championship in Drama.

After high school, Rusty became a prison guard, and a cell extractor (they guy who removes unruly prisoners from their cells).

I went to college and won a national championship in collegiate speech and drama, before continuing forward for my Ph.D.

We were an odd pair in many ways. He was a jokester, who loved big, physical comedy. I was more cerebral, and liked writing more than anything else. I always wrote our routines, an approach that would put me against the grain in college speech and drama (where it is rare for people to write their own material).

Sadly, Rusty passed away in 2011 (in a bizarre turn, his story was part of an episode of Dateline NBC). But I still have lots of great memories of him, humorous duo, and our time together. Thinking back on it, 20 years later, it seems like another life.