American Idle

Hey there 'Redheads... Well, we're a mere two weeks into the new year and I've already hit my first full-fledged blue funk. Yeesh...the last blog was so full of gusto...with the expectations and the goals and whatnot. I'm still planning on fosberry flopping over the bar I set for myself, but I seemed to have stubbed my toe on the approach. I celebrated my 6 year shitcanniversary from DC101 last week...that never fails to get me thinking about what the future might hold when I get comfy and complacent in the ass groove on the couch of life. The screenplay I was yammering about in the last installment has been roughly outlined and I was happily surprised when I googled the name of my evil villain and got absolutely no results...that's as sure a test as any that you have an original idea these days. It's becoming a fun, if slightly aggravating, exercise to squeeze the lump of nerf in my noggin to come up with character names and establish the rules that will govern the little universe that the story takes place in. Now comes the part where I get off my ass and actually write a scene. It's taking entirely too long to fire up the rocket-bike and jump the Snake River Canyon between visualizing a scene and putting it on paper. So, there's that to deal with, plus I've been beating my head against a brick wall trying to come up with some new material. Anyone on the DC circuit can recite my act, complete with the I-uh's, so since I've polished that 30 minute turd to a streak-free shine, it's time to pepper in a couple new yucks for '08. Oh, and I have a mustache. I was sick for the better part of a week, and I didn't shave for awhile. When I finally got around to grooming the Teen Wolf sequel on my face, I decided to give the 'stache a shot. It'll either be gone by the next installment or I'll grow it to Wilford Brimley proportions...rides are a dollar. So, how are you?

Some cool Amiable Zany sightings to keep an eye peeled for...

On Friday the 25th, I'll be at the DC Improv MCing for Ari Shaffir. One night, two shows. Tim Miller is featuring. If you've been itching to see me locally, you should probably get that looked at.

Any 'Redheads in Baltimore with Comcast digital cable, you'll be able to see me OnDemand sometime in the near future. I taped a showcase up at the Comedy Factory last week with Charm City luminaries Big Ben Kennedy and Jim Meyer. Let me know where the camera decided to add the ten pounds.

For those of you in the Big Apple, I've gotten an opportunity to perform at Caroline's. My previous appearances at NY clubs like Gotham and the Laugh Factory have been in the context of crappy bringer contests. This time I got a hook up through a buddy of mine who works at Z100. He knows the publicity director and he put me in contact with the booker, ipso facto I got 7 minutes to do my shtick. I have no idea what to expect from this, so I asked one of my compatriots in NY to drop some knowledge on me. Here's what he told me:

Doing the show is a huge deal if you started in NYC, and went through the open mic ranks. But as someone who is actually good at comedy and does real shows, it won't be a big deal. It's just a regular show. Honestly, there isn't a ton to gain from it, other than face-time in NYC, which is valuable. The positives that you can draw from it are 1) The booker will see your set, and hopefully give you more in the future. 2) You'll meet a few comics who may not be able to put you on any shows, but will increase the number of comics in NYC that you know. That's about it.

So, there ya go. I'm not a big fan of the exchange rate of 4 hours travel time for only 7 minutes of stage time but c'mon, it's Caroline's. If you're in the city and want to check it out, it'll be Tuesday, Feb 19th @ 9:30.

With the pluggage and baggage out of the way, there are a couple things that have been marinating for awhile that I've been meaning to get to. Just before the new year, I was up in NY for my cousin Josh's wedding, a lavish black-tie affair at the Waldorf...swanky. There was an after party for the younger guests at a bar a couple blocks away from the hotel. So, I hang out with two other cousins of mine who will remain nameless, but they're both women in their mid-twenties. Both were dressed to the nines, complete with strappy shoes. We get done at the party around 3am and we catch a cab to Penn Station to wait for the 4:50 train to Long Island. The two of them start complaining about how their feet hurt. I don't think men will ever fully understand the mentality of women when it comes to shoes. It might harken back to the darker version of the Cinderella story, before Disney fluffed it up, where the step-sisters were cutting toes off to jam their feet into the glass slipper. Style over comfort...no wonder Easy Spirit went tits up. Women would wear bear traps on their feet if they had a bag to match. I get that their feet hurt...what I don't get was what they did to cope. They both took their shoes off and walked barefoot through Penn Station. I can't even imagine eco-system of filth, the petri dish of festering funk, the slithering muck that lives on the floor of a NY train station. I half expected them to start dissolving. They insisted that I was overreacting. So, to all you lady 'Redheads, I ask you, fair or just plain foul?

That's all for now, but be sure to check out a special bonus blog that I'll be doing for Arjewtino at some point in the coming week. I met the guy who writes it at the Good For The Jews show last month and he asked me to do a guest blog about the experience of the Jewish comedian...oy vey.

To be continued...