On A Monday No Less

That wasn’t you right?

Honking your horn?

Fecklessly railing

against the observably

inescapable circumstances

you too are compelled to share

with literally everyone around you?

Literally.

As if I would not release my brakes

were there sufficient space

in front of my car

to occupy it.

As though to indicate

I ought to drive through

observably

indisputably

red

traffic lights.

We have, as a people

agreed after all.

Red means stop.

Green means go.

Shirley you jest.

That kind of person

would

never use their indicator lights,

would

gleefully excrete in a crowded elevator

trapped between floors.

Would bring nothing to Thanksgiving dinner.

You Karen be kidding me.

On a Monday, no less.

Bird Brains

My delight of a compatriot Brian Soliwada recently recruited me and my dulcet toned friend Cherie Chalouhi to write a song and story for one of his Crankie performances, a uniquely entrancing shadowplay puppet show. It was such a treat to have an excuse to work with a real musician again (she did vocals for my last song Hollow Confidence) and have our ideas be transformed into this super cool performance, here’s what we did!

Wakanda Forever - Ideas Are Bulletproof: What Defunding The Police Means To Me

I found myself today reading through some conversations on the Facebook page of a good friend. I’ve noticed that she’s been increasingly promoting conversations about and putting her energy, body, and voice into sharing her perspective on issues of police brutality in our society and I support that. I found myself inspired to respond to a comment in a thread in a conversation she was having but a short comment of my own turned into something longer that I thought might have some value outside that context so I’m restating it here. Thanks for doing the things you’re doing, being the human you are, and for inspiring me by also Trying.

So.

I’ve spent a lot of my adult life with a particular affinity for the character Batman. There’s a lot that’s appealing to me about him in some of the portrayals I’d seen that I identified with and inspired me, but as I’ve grown and learned over time a couple comedians whose names and works I’ve since forgotten have pointed out a couple things that cast the character in a new light for me.

Batman gets a lot of credit for always having a plan and good judgement and no actual superpowers but it turns out that in nearly every depiction of him I’ve seen he actually does have one, and it’s something that the police would greatly benefit from. Certainty. Before even arriving at the scene of a crime Batman already knows who did what and who “deserves” retribution, intimidation, and the violent expression of his idea of justice as administered through a perspective that is fundamentally structured around his childhood trauma. As with Santa Claus, not only are there actually Purely Good and Purely Bad people but he already knows which is which. That’s why his vigilante behavior is celebrated by the citizens of Gotham, because he punishes only the Bad People doing Bad Things and he is always certain and correct about who they are.

Police in real life have to... Hm. For the protective function they ostensibly serve in our society rather, they OUGHT to always contend with the fact that actual people aren’t purely good or bad and the totality of a person’s humanity is not determinable by a single action that may have many complicated layers to it. And they, as also human beings too, bring their perspectives and experiences and traumas to their criminal encounters.

Drunk driving is understandably illegal and objectively bad because we as a society have I think rightly determined that the danger posed to others outweighs pretty much any other concern in those situations. In that context I think a reasonable person might consider an alternative to armed police imposing their will by force on a drunk sleeping man that tragically but unsurprisingly escalated to an avoidable fatal encounter which may well turn his children into Batman.

Perhaps a tow truck shows up to that Wendy’s instead. The driver determines the home address of Rayshard Brooks…

(I nearly used the diminishing reductive term “the occupant” there but I then paused to locate and confirm the man’s name and spelling because as I understand it identifying a person by name is a shortcut to perceiving them as a human being whereas discussing a person exclusively in a limited context like “that guy” or “the individual” can be reductive and a shortcut to perhaps unreasonably simplifying a complicated situation.)

…from the license plate, and secures the vehicle before temporarily disabling it and towing it to that home address. Then the tow truck driver might hand the situation over to say an EMT(who could certify that Rayshard would likely just sleep it off safely), the DMV (who might then suspend his driving privileges), the police (who might add the vehicle description and license plate to a list of ones that they investigate when encountered on the road to confirm the driver is sober and not driving with a suspended license), and maybe a counselor (who might follow up with Rayshard to educate him on the dangers of drunk driving, perhaps equipped with the capacity to impose a spectrum of corrective actions and accountability like periodic sobriety tests, community service or restorative justice like working that Wendy’s drive through window for a few shifts, and group counseling with people like me who have been negatively impacted by drunk driving encounters. I would certainly volunteer my time for something like that and I know I’m not alone.)

Batman is also impossibly wealthy. Like able to still be super rich even after constructing and maintaining a secret space station kind of rich. But instead of aggressively applying his wealth and influence to structural changes in the society he’s ostensibly protecting like advocating for and incentivizing some of the things like I just discussed, he mostly just beats the shit out of poor, uneducated, low level criminals. Which like. Seems like a squandering of those resources and is maybe overly self indulgent. Straight white men these days, am I right?

So when I saw the character Black Panther portrayed as a guy who navigates these nuanced multidimensional and complicated situations with a focus on atonement for the sins of his father, empathy for his adversary, championing and spreading the culture he was afforded the opportunity to grow up in that gave him the perspective to try to perceive people more for what they can become than as what they are in any given moment… I don’t know. I mean, It’s not a competition but that’s a much more attractive character to me to celebrate and valorize. And the shorthand for communicating all that for me has become, Wakanda Forever.

Hollow Confidence

Everything I do to earn money involves people gathering in groups. I perform for audiences and manage large events (marathons, cycle rides, fundraisers, etc.) for participants. This pandemic brought all that to an interminable pause and in the end times downtime I’ve found myself focused on roasting vegetables, reaching out to check in with some people I care about but don’t contact much, and in this case writing a song.

We all found ourselves in lockdown and increasingly dire straits, but one company I often work for named Eventage took the opportunity to help support the fleet of freelancers it relies on for seasonal work by putting together a live streamed talent show last Friday. That positive peer pressure plus an offhand comment from my Partner that made me laugh inside inspired me to turn off whatever nonsense on TV I was self-medicating with, pick up my laptop, and overcome the inertia of I-DON’T-WANNA to write another rap about some things on my mind. I ended up putting it together in a week and just in time for the show. The last minute is the only minute.

People I’ve worked with in a professional context for years came together to do the same thing we always do, but this time to also share some talents beyond hustling through the last minute to get a 40 foot inflatable arch up over the West Side Highway, zip tie a coroplast sign to a tent in 30mph winds, or load a giant festival’s worth of assets into a 26’ box truck during an unseasonably arctic downpour. To my genuine delight it warmed my surprisingly beleaguered heart to witness and play with those friendly faces even just on screens. Plus we apparently raised over $6,000 to be paid to the performers and folks in the E-Team family most in need which I assume will be apportioned according to height so I should make out like a bandit.

The idea of accountability has been rattling around my mind a lot lo these last few months/years and I’ve started to work on what might become a documentary I guess? That’s for another day when I can interview people more readily without fear of spreading Plague 2020. For the time being here’s the song I wrote so if you missed that show you can still see it. I hope if you enjoy it you pass it along to someone else who might too.

Like. A virus. (ugh)

I’ve still got to record the audio properly before I release it on the things but the basement bunker tirade with socially distant vocals video was just too fun not to share.

Lemons to Lemonade

Sometimes I live in New York City and sometimes it's the worst.

I was on my way to puppysit my furry friend Astraea this morning.  Sometimes she looks like this.

I arrived at my legally parked car just in time to move it for alternate side street cleaning and was stunned to find this on my wheel.

And this glued to my window.

Turns out the city had at some point electronically ticketed me without actually notifying me, ratcheted up miscellaneous fees, and then authorized the Sheriff's Dept. to take my car hostage.

Astraea had to pee ASAPee and I didn't want to block the street cleaner so I called the number and was given the option to pay this exhorbitant surprise ransom and get a code that would let me take the "immobilization device" off OR pay the ransom and wait 6 HOURS for them to send someone to remove it for me.

I chose to put the bill on my credit card.  Chose.  Ha.

After attending to my friend who sometimes looks like this

I called the company that runs this program again to have them come pick up their device only to have them add insult to injury because 

EVEN THOUGH I've already paid the mystery fees I just found out about TODAY they still require me to now spend more of my own time and money to RETURN THE BOOT TO THEM.

BEFORE I'd paid the ransom they could send me the unlock code OR send someone to pick up their device.

AFTER I've paid them, they refuse to send someone to pick up their device.

I think that is immoral and unjust. 

NOW FOR THE FUN PART.

I have 48 HOURS (I'm assuming from the time I paid them which was about 10:00am on Friday, 2/28) to return the device.  

If I don't, they will charge me a fee of $25/day
UP TO A MAXIMUM OF $500.
When I pointed out that I was pressured to pay so that I could avoid getting a parking ticket for not moving my car, the agent informed me that a car with one of these devices on it is exempt from alternate side parking tickets.

How crazy is that?  

I mused out loud that maybe I should just pay the $500 and keep the device so I would be able to park my car anywhere I want and not have to worry about parking tickets anymore and the agent agreed THAT WOULD WORK!

So.

I have until 10am on Sunday, March 1st to raise $500 for this cause.
If this post is successful I will effectively have an overpriced free parking device that I would be thrilled to loan to anyone in NYC FOR FREE in my own personal crusade to balance the scales of New York City parking JUSTICE.

It's not life or death, but whatever interest I generate with this might just help prove to myself that I'm not a crazy person for believing this city's parking policies are cruel and unusual and ought to be changed.

Playtime

I like being on TV it’s fun, especially live. It feels like being onstage what with the no safety net and racing against time and team of people, only some of whom do you actually understand what they’re doing to make the THING happen but you’re grateful for all of it.

I got to do a 3 minute interview by Megan Mitchell on local TV News with Patrick Phillips today, one of the 7 strong cast of Mercury by Steve Yockey. He’s kind of THE writer of the long-running TV show Supernatural and also of another play I got to do a couple years (and maybe 25 pounds?) ago at the KNOW Theatre called The Fisherman’s Wife, and I get to play with some of the very same actors. This time around I get a boyfriend in Andrew Ian Adams and an impossibly optimistic non-love interest in Eileen Earnest.

The play I’m in right now is fun and all what with the exploration of vengeance, the boundaries of social norms in polite suburban society, and the consequences of guessing wrong when deciding for yourself what other people are capable of. But really it’s just immensely satisfying to collaborate again with a team of people with different and familiar skills to tell a well crafted story. That’s maybe my favorite thing to do that isn’t about my baser appetites. Like for cheeseburgers or ramen. Or other things. But after those, storytelling with proper villains is hands down the thing I get the most gratification out of in life. So far.

The show closes May 11th and as always, just as soon as we get really good at it we’ll be throwing it away. Bit of a theatrical microcosm of the circle of life, I suppose. Here’s to another couple weeks of my favorite gratification. Until the next one.

Whatever Doesn't Kill You

My Mom had a rough go of it in 2017 and almost none of it had to do with the presidential election.  Major heart surgery in May, post-op complications, blah blah blah and a long road of incremental progress.  She survived because that's an inspiring skill she's been practicing her whole life, that plus a lot of help from a supportive family and community along with some trained professionals, and after many challenges and triumphs she's rapidly returning again to spending many of our interactions these days unrepentantly browbeating me into someday providing her with a granddaughter.  It's an as yet unsuccessful nuisance.  I'm grateful to be annoyed by my Mom.

After a gladly welcome gluttonous and leisurely holiday season I found myself back in Cincinnati settling in for a couple weeks of respite before my season of NYC event production work started up.  I was really looking forward to a lot of sitting, but something came up.  My always-friend, sometimes-employer, and occasional-tormentor Andrew (artistic director of the KNOW Theatre) asked me if I wanted to learn a play in a week.  I was certain I was incapable of the task but with the excellent fellow they had cast in the role suddenly navigating some familiar familial emergencies I accepted that I ought to try.  It was an extraordinarily stressful week where I was pushed past my limits, something I often advocate for despite the inherent discomfort and looming prospect of self-imposed shame and failure.  It's easier said.  My FitBit activity tracker was convinced I was having the most cardio heavy week of my life when in reality I was merely standing, pacing, and experiencing extended clinical panic for the prolonged waking portions of 4 days in a row.  Towards the end of the memorization process my heart rate hovered over 100 even while I was asleep.  I couldn't eat, but I could still throw up.  

But the show must go on.  Opening night was coming.  That's what everyone in the village is working towards, and if you're a member of the tribe then the only thing you have to do is all the things you can do to help get the Thing done.  Just like everyone else is.  

We made it through opening weekend.  Derek Snow is back in action and has taken back the baton to finish the run.  Only after I'd gotten my head above water and learned the show well enough to catch up to the team that had already been working on it did I have the opportunity to appreciate that through happenstance and misfortune I got to act with an outstanding and intimate scene partner in Nicole Smith, help some friends and colleagues tell a resonant story, and play a really satisfying character in a fantastically well-written play that coalesced into a business-as-usual magical experience at The KNOW.  Some people wrote nice words about it and I hope lots of people get to see this show.

Telling stories by trade is a fool's errand, but teamwork makes the dream work.

SuperTrue by Karen Hartman

P.S.

That ring in the photos?  My Mom gave me that maybe 15 or so years ago.  Still no granddaughter though, my body my choice.

photo by Dan Winters

photo by Dan Winters

photo by Dan Winters

3CD (Three Card Donny)

Here's a song I wrote and recorded with some friends of mine.  I hope you enjoy it, feel free to share with anyone you like.  

It's available on all sorts of streaming and download services (Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Music, iHeart Radio, Pandora, etc.) but:

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD IT HERE FOR FREE BELOW

*If you feel inclined to send me money you can use Square Cash or Venmo and I'll put it towards paying the musicians and then shooting a music video, but really you should probably just donate to Planned Parenthood or the ACLU or something.  Shooting a video sounds hard.

DRUMS: Brandon Vitruls of  THE NEW ROYALS

HARP:  Rachel Miller of  BEYOND PLUCK

VIOLIN: Ben Fordham

SUPPORTING VOCALS: Shelby Becker

    VERSE ONE

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain

‘Cause what he’s doin’s workin’, flirtin’ and circle jerkin’

Double chin twerkin', spurtin’ lies and doublespeak

The man lost the vote, we still hand him the Presidency?

See I was taught that what you reap is what you sow

Nose to grindstone, workin’ folks blind to

The meaning underneath a damn ball cap slogan

“No pain no gain", well here we go again

Here’s the church, and here is the steeple

Open up the doors to reveal the people

Facts are for pussies, grab ‘em, throw ‘em out the door

                Lie to me…

And then lie to me, I’ll believe.  ‪Sheryl Crow.

We always love to see an underdog story

More we root for glory.  As long as you don’t bore me

I’ll throw anybody under the bus

To make us great again. United States of just us

     CHORUS

We weren’t ready for a female.

We'd rather talk about her e-mails.

But yo, the devil’s in the details.

We let a demagogue prevail.

I said, we weren’t ready for a female?

We'd rather talk about some e-mails?

Look for the devil in the details.

We let a demagogue prevail.

    VERSE TWO

Who hacked the DNC?  “Da, you know me.”

Small hands, tall tales. Big bad man huffin', puffin’

Screamin’ like an adolescent heathen while he's scheming, crying

"Why’s everybody always picking on me?"

The man even had Vladimir Putin tootin' his horn,

The FBI showin' scorn, with James Comey droppin’ 

Bombshell broadcasts, with no substance

Finger point, side glance. Liar liar fire pants

A candidate with Bannon’s hand up it just made a puppet dance 

And shimmy all the way to the White House, No Doubt

Don’t Speak

                      a word unless it’s something so absurd 

That people can’t even be sure they heard it come out yo’ mouth, so

The strategy to deplete the integrity of the media 

Was to give ‘em somethin’ they ain’t never seen before

The novelty and scandal he spit from a Twitter handle

They couldn't be bothered to ponder what’s at the man’s core?

    BRIDGE 

I’m a hustla baby.  

         The man’s a hustler

I just want you to know

         And he WANTS you TO KNOW

It ain’t where I been.  

         Nah, it ain’t where he’s been

It’s where I’m ‘bout to go.

         It’s where he’s ‘bout to go

And I’ma run this country

         Yeah, he ‘gon run the country

And be who I am.    

          He gon’ do it like he BEEN doin’ it

With the Fourth Estate,

         “They just don’t know WHAT to do”

Putty in my hand

         “Kneel before Zod!”

Now give it to me

    VERSE THREE

The First Mamma, mademoiselle Obama?

Calmer than the rest of us workin' through all our trauma

“When they go low, we go high.” Drama

Massachusetts, California, smokin’ up Nevada. 

                                                                      Huh?

Treat other people how You wanna be treated

                                                                     Oh, okay

Unless they’re Puerto Rican, Mexican, from Sweden

Woman, Gay, or Muslim, better watch how you speak

‘Fore the Alt-Right champ burns you up in a.  Tweet

The Golden Rule applies to every single citizen

But if you’re not American it’s practically ‪Original Sin 

Whoever has the gold makes the rules.

Damn, Three Card Donny takin’ fools to school

And yeah it feels colder, but yo.  Winter’s over.

So keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer

‘Cause the nasty women know it’s always dark before the dawn

                 Get.     That.

You gotta      Get.       That dirt off your shoulder.  Yo

     CHORUS

We weren’t ready for a female

We'd rather talk about her e-mails

But yo, the devil’s in the details

We let a demagogue prevail

I said, we weren’t ready for a female?

We'd rather talk about some e-mails?

Look for the devil in the details

Michelle Obama OUTRO:

“Don’t be afraid.  You hear me?  Young people, don’t be afraid.  Be focused.  Be determined.  Be hopeful."

A Song In The Works

Word around the campfire is there was a bit of an election last year and not everybody's thrilled about how it turned out.  I too felt feelings and thought thoughts and I know as an often-artist the real trick for any community is to keep sharing those thoughts and feelings so that we better understand each other.  I think there's so much insight and progress to be gained from open hearted conversation about this stuff and getting those conversations going within ourselves and between each other is a powerful gift artists can give us.  

Distraction and entertainment are nice too.  I had a mood one week and wrote a rap song that I'm working on with a couple talented musicians.  It's in the early stages now but I think it'll be fun so I'm gonna make it into a music video once it's finished.  Here's a fun early draft, more to follow!

So Much So Good.

I had a kind of a crazy time for a hot minute there towards the end of 2016.  Just before working the NYC Marathon (anything to avoid having to run it!) I found myself in a recording studio with THE Samuel L. Jackson when a friend of mine I hadn't talked to in a while ended up hiring him to sing a funky dinosaur song and the very next day I was playing a character in an immersive theatre experience at a private party for THE Will Smith.  And then a week later I was dressed up as a security guard for a couple lines of dialogue in an upcoming feature, turns out I don't look too bad in uniform.  Unless I'm wrong?  I have erratic taste, I'd be the last to know.

Some Children Think I Have A Career!

I've neglected to share a bunch of the stuff I've been up to for awhile now but I imagine I'll get around to that sometime soon.  In the interim I couldn't help but share a couple glimpses of my recent opportunity to celebrate my friend Caitlin Ingram's birthday by participating in Career Day where she teaches over at Villa Madonna Academy High School/Junior High in Villa Hills, Kentucky.  Along with guest panelists Olivia Plath, Jared Joplin, and Ben Raanan, I got to share some of my career experiences with some up and coming theatre students, and they gave me some great advice on how I might one day start a career telling stories.

My 15 Minutes of Fame

I seldom know where my career will take me but this morning it had me on a local TV promo spot for the sexy crimefighting play I'm doing at The Know.  We open tomorrow night and our new friends, producer Tiffany and on-air talent Kara, welcomed fellow castmates Sola Thompson (happy birthday Sola!) and Linnea Bond on their show on Fox19 this morning for a little fight choreography segment.  Now I've officially been on TV.  Which is exciting.  Wait.  Which is exciting!  That's better.  Plus I do a cool jumpy kip up thing at the end.  Fun!

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PROMO

The Butterfly Effect

That's probably overstating it but it was the best I could do in the 1/8th of a second I spent coming up with a title for this post.  You deserve better, 3 people who will ever read this.  And in the future I'll give you that.  But for now I just wanted to share that I sometimes work for the non-profit company that runs the annual TD Five Boro Bike Tour in NYC.  They also put together a few other regional bike rides every year and I've had a lot of memorable and exhausting experiences working with them, and even though I've moved across the country I still make my way back to join the team when I can.  Especially since I just found out that they put a photo of me working a Volunteer tent up on their website.  Those ladies absolutely crushed the tasks at hand that day and we made some of the best impromptu PB&J sandwiches I've ever seen.  Always cut on the diagonal.

CLICK BELOW TO SEE ME WORKING WITH HIGH SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS

BikeNY

Getting in The Know

I haven't performed in a full length live play since my way back when Shakespeare days but next week I start rehearsals to play the nefarious Doctor X in a comic book themed play called Hearts Like Fists at The Know Theater in Cincinnati, OH.  We'll rehearse all of March and perform through April 25th.

I get to be the villain!  If I can survive the cold this is gonna be a lot of fun.  And hopefully good.  And probably cold.  Okay I'm mostly worried about the cold, although I should be more concerned with the 16 pages of text I couldn't exactly memorize while driving around the city this past month for my Fashion Week gig.  Good point, Thinking Aloud Self.  I'd better get on that.

The Best A Man Can Get

I had the misfortune of a major financial calamity a couple weeks ago but the small commercial gig I just booked and filmed a couple days ago should help soften the blow.  Despite a fun audition where I met the quirky comedic Jamie Janek I didn't initially land the gig but I did feel pretty good about the experience.  Fast forward to 9:30 last Friday night (about 10 hours before they started shooting and 3 hours after the guy they originally cast bailed on them) when I got the call asking if I was available and interested in getting paid to do some acting work while getting to feel like a hero for swooping in at the 11th hour.  That's basically my entire wheelhouse so I quickly agreed only to find out that as a bonus I'd get to be working opposite the mesmerizing Christina Myers again 2 years after doing a play with her back in NYC.

Naturally I had to take Jamie to lunch the next day.  It seemed the right way to repay the Fates for the series of coincidences that led to me getting the great gig, plus if I'm lucky I'll get the chance to work with her after all.  I love it when a plan comes together but I'll take a little good luck when I can get it.  

If you want to take a look at the edit we put together you have to know the secret password, just click the link below and ask me.  I can legally tell you though that I've never before had so much fun talking about deodorant with a beautiful woman while we pretended a bunch of other people weren't also in the room and recording us.

PLEASE CONTACT ME DIRECTLY TO SEE THE COMMERCIAL

More Of The Best Medicine

You know I think I might eventually get really good at this.  Last week I got to see Louis CK perform about 8 feet away from me on the main stage at The Comedy Store with a new comedy friend.  (Happy birthday, Diana!)  He said he's 47 now, he's been doing comedy for 30 years, and the first 20 years absolutely sucked.  Coincidentally my Meisner training at The Esper Studio taught me that it takes 20 years to become an actor.  I guess I'd work on something else if I didn't do this performance life but that's what I'm focused on now so game on.

In this latest comedy set I talk a bit about my experiences in children's theatre with the Traveling Lantern Theatre Company I worked with for a couple seasons back when I lived in California the first time.  After a season with them based out of  San Diego I moved to Philadelphia to be with a girl I was in love with.  When things went south with the girl I was still living in Philadelpia.  Not a good venue change, I don't do well with cold.  My exit strategy was another season on the road with Traveling Lantern.

At the end of next month I'm headed back to NYC for a month to make some dollars and then spending March and April acting in a new play called Hearts Like Fists at The Know Theater in Cincinnati.  Until then?  Drinking and comedy.  Game on.

CLICK BELOW TO VIEW MY COMEDY SET:

The Man In The Black Hat ON: STEREOTYPES

I Shot A Pilot!

But I did not shoot the deputy.  Or in this case co-pilot, I guess.  After a fun improv audition I ended up cast in a quirky little pilot.  Once we had a team together we spent a long night in a rented house playing with a script and doing our thing and here's what we came up with.  I love it when a plan comes together.  Or in this case, whatever we did that night, I guess.

TO VIEW THE PILOT CLICK BELOW:

ANTISOCIALLY CORRECT

Okay okay, I'll be a comedian.

I'm nervous about actually trying to work in comedy because of all the reasons.  Plus it's one thing that makes me really uncomfortable so I'm thinking that's probably good enough reason to give it a shot.  I got booked for my second set at Flappers in Burbank a couple Saturdays ago and they want me back for another show in the main room on November 13th.  They know me there as The Man In The Black Hat and I've settled on that as my Nom de Comédie.  Look for me in comedy clubs near you, I guess.

I just got the recording of my latest set and it seemed to go over pretty well.  So fine.  I'll be a comedian.  Here goes nothing.

TO VIEW MY LATEST SET CLICK BELOW:

FLAPPERS COMEDY CLUB, YOOHOO ROOM: POOP AND BABIES

Standup Comedy, Finally

After years of being told I should give it I try I finally gave it a try.  I got some advice and pointers from my UCB Improv 101 classmate Laura House and went to an audition in the main room at Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank a couple days ago and I was not awful.  I'd prepared far too much material that I had to awkwardly edit for time, I talked way too fast with a lot of "um"s and "like"s in there, but I did not completely fall apart despite having to go up after watching an 11 year old girl named Trista absolutely crush her set.  

Standup is something I've felt like I had to do for a long long time, so many people have told me my whole life that I should be doing it and before I got onstage I was more nervous than I'd been since that one time my best friend and I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane.

Anyways it was technically an audition and 2 days later they booked me for a Saturday evening show on August 16th so now I guess I should learn how to do this job too.  It's okay, I like learning.  Game on.

TO HEAR THE AUDIO CLICK BELOW:

STANDUP AUDITION, MAIN ROOM AT FLAPPERS, BURBANK

My Lunch Buddy

I don't know that dogs are man's best  friend per se but I certainly love sharing with them.  Whether it's love or lunch, sharing means caring.  Here's 90 seconds of impromptu buddy comedy improv puppytime with me and my friend Olivia.

TO VIEW THE VIDEO CLICK BELOW:

SHARING OM NOMS