Twelve Years a Comic

Hey gang. Welcome to March. I'm usually good about celebrating arbitrary milestones, so I'm happy to tell you that this past weekend marked roughly 12 years as a stand-up comic. *throws handful of confetti in the air* I've slowed down in these last six months, but I've got some shows coming up this month and I can promise I'll return to the slow grind of showbiz soon. Following through, is another story, but the promise is the first step on the road to sincerity.

Hey, have the Oscars ended yet? What a steaming pile of dreck that was. I normally like Ellen DeGeneres, but the best thing she delivered all night was the stupid pizza. The writing was lazy, costume changes took the place of clever segues, and it felt like she just decided to wing it at some point. The "this person needs no introduction" gag was cute but tired the first time, but why would you need to use it again? Maybe the rest of America gives a damn about how you're pals with these superstars, but the patter was awkward and forced. Sure, the star power of the selfie that broke Twitter was huge, but we're there to celebrate these people in moving pictures. And why did they not give the winners the musical hook? The self-important yammering was endless. It's fun when these guys talk over the music to thank their kids, but you can't let these egos go unchecked altogether. What I'm trying to say is it was mildly ironic that a night dominated by Gravity was so heavy and tedious. Ellen will not be winning the Emmy for the Oscars, but whoever worked on Goldie Hawn deserves one for special effects.

Luckily, I didn't watch this celebrity tribute to the Bataan Death March in real time. My wife and I had tickets to see Book of Mormon at the hungry hungry Hippodrome in Baltimore that night. I had plenty of lead time on the DVR to fast forward past the dumb technical awards. This Oscars had no pop. Say what you will about Seth MacFarlane, but at least it felt like he put some effort into it. Also, if you're tasked with handing out one of these awards, could you learn to read a a goddamn teleprompter or *GASP* memorize the three lines of cliches before you take the stage? Your purpose on this planet is to make us believe that you're not a stammering idiot when cameras are rolling. The theme of the night was also half-assed. Heroes. Three stupid montages is all they could muster up. Tell you what, Oscar producers, if you want to celebrate movies and make things fun to watch, play this next year...

And don't get me started on the In Memoriam segment. Harold Ramis deserved his own tribute for his contributions to movie comedy and kudos to Bill Murray for giving him the extra shout out while he was presenting.

I mentioned that I've got some shows coming up. The first of those is this Saturday, the 8th at Benny's Bar & Grill in Potomac. They made a fancy poster and everything...

Also, if you're a fan of pro wrestling, I'm filling in for my buddy Justin Schlegel on The Rough House Podcast. That should be available for your consumption on Thursday afternoon.

So, enjoy those avenues that the Mild Amusement Express will be traveling on. See you next time.