Pity the Fool

Hey there, 'Redheads... Once again, I'm getting to blog activities early because I'll be neck deep in the adulation of strangers tonight. If you still want to come see me at the DC Improv this weekend with Judah Friedlander, the only tickets left are for the Sunday 8pm show. No foolin'. The rest of the weekend is completely sold out. Enough of the shameless self-promotion. That's not what you came here for. Why are you here, exactly? Don't answer that. Best not to question why. Don't look a gift reader in the mouth. And I'm not going to try to pull any lame April Fool's Day pranks on you either. Everything has been done. Besides, everyone I know is so jaded and skeptical that I'd pretty much have to fake my own death to get a reaction out of them. That's too much work. And what even counts as a prank anymore? I've seen some of these prank shows on MTV and all of them boil down to waking someone out of a dead sleep, scaring the shit out of them, and/or kicking them in the nuts. No real planning, just taking advantage of a sleeping target. Like fishing with a hand grenade. Sure, there's a big payoff, but it's too easy. This, on the other hand, is one of the best YouTube-era pranks I've ever seen...

Then there's the flipside of the heightened prank paranoia that today brings. When people tell you actual true things and you refuse to believe them because you don't want to get had. I checked back in the blog archives and I don't think I've shared this anecdote with you, but exactly three years ago, my buddy Seth called me to tell me that his wife was pregnant with their second child. Seth is like family to me, so I was very happy for him and I was psyched to be an uncle-by-proxy again. I wished him a hearty congratulations, then we hung up. Then I realized what day it was. I called him back and got his voicemail and I left him a message something along the lines of, "Ha ha, very funny. Way to toy with my emotions, ya prick." He called back and tried to convince me, but I would have none of it, because he's the kind of guy that would take a joke that far at my expense. I took me until his son was born for me to finally believe him. See you Monday. If you make it out to the Improv, stop by and say hi after the show.