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Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Walt White and the dead body

Sunday afternoon I flew back into town after a great two weeks at the Loony Bins in Little Rock and Tulsa, respectively. Like I mentioned in my last post, I worked with some great comics, and had some pretty solid crowds. Made a lot of new fans in Tulsa, especially, love that place!

I had a few hours to unpack and everything before my show at Route 66 Casino's Envy Nightclub with Steven Michael Quezada, who plays Gomez on "Breaking Bad." Ever heard of it? He's also the host of a local tv talk show, "The After After Party" which he's invited me to do three times! It's been great exposure, and it's always a blast. The crew, and The James Douglas Show are all amazing!

I got to the venue around 7:45, talked to the mc, Nikki Mangin, and talked to Steven briefly before the show started. It was a nice turn out for a Sunday night, not to mention they were having the service for Johnny Tapia at the Pit, too. I was pretty happy with the turn out. About 15 minutes before I was going to hit the stage, I was standing over near the stage entrance and decided I needed some more water. I looked over at the bar and saw a well dressed bald man standing and taking pictures with people, even though his back was turned I knew it was Bryan Cranston.

Having been in the business for ten plus years, I rarely get nervous before a show, but seeing Walt fucking White at the show, I got pretty damn nervous. Luckily, I had just done two straight weeks(and one gay, hahaha) on the road and had my set down pretty solid. I took the stage and did a pretty solid job, not a big crowd for laughter, but everyone was enjoying themselves. There was one guy that was laughing every time I looked at him, and that was Bryan Cranston! I thought that was pretty damn cool!

Nikki and Steven both rocked as usual, too. I also met Double J, from 106.3 in the mornings, and he invited me to go on his show Monday morning. I almost declined because it was so early, but couldn't turn down the exposure!

So, after the show at the casino, I was walking out of the building and there were some cops and an ambulance or two, I don't really remember. There was a little fenced off area with some sheets wrapped around, but it was kind of windy and I happened to glance over and saw a body laying on the ground with a sheet trying to cover it up. Not sure what the hell happened, but it kinda freaked me the fuck out. So, a pretty solid night, Bryan Cranston laughed at my jokes, and I saw a dead body. And Nikki and Steven were bad ass, always fun working with them!

Now, I get to relax and hang with the wifey for a few days! She's starting her new improv class this Saturday, she's super excited!! I'll make sure to post when her next show is.

And I am starting my new open mic show tonight at the 405 Lounge on Central! Never ran my own show before, pretty excited to have comedy downtown!

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Being on the road

Since starting school in January, I haven't really hit the road much this year. The only times I've been out are for the Laughing Skull Festival in Hollywood and Atlanta. Last week was my first week on the road for 2012, I was in Little Rock, Arkansas, at the Loony Bin. I hadn't been there in about four years, and actually kind of struggled when I emceed there. It was a pretty slow week because of the local Riverfest going on, but the crowds were great, had a lot of fun. A lot better than when I was an opener there. Our opener for the week was Steven Baucom from Tulsa, really funny kid, has some great writing. I think he's gonna do pretty well in the business. The headliner was Skip Clark, who I had never met before. He's only been doing stand up for seven years and already headlining, pretty solid! Both guys were super cool to work with. This week I've been in Tulsa, which is one of my favorite places to be. Got to hang out with my good buddy, Jason Brown, and play some strat-o-matic baseball, or as Dave Ashley calls it, nerd baseball. I played strato growing up, and thought it was cool that Jason did, too. So, every time we get together we draft some teams and play a series or two, it's a blast! The shows in Tulsa have been a lot of fun so far, too. Dave Testroet, is the headliner, he's a great guy, I've worked with him a ton. The opener is a local guy, Dan Fritschie, very funny guy! Friday morning we did a radio interview on 106.9, the dj's were super cool, had a fun time there making fun of Dave. It's good to get back on the road, I miss the shit out of it! Tomorrow I'm doing a show at the Route 66 Casino in Albuquerque with Steven Michael Quezada, should be a lot of fun. R.I.P. Johnny Tapia