2015 - Leaving Albuquerque

One month of 2015 is already almost in the books and I have only a couple of short weeks left in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Albuquerque will always hold a special place in my heart as it's the city that I truly "grew up" in (even though I'm still not fully grown up). I have a million memories here, I have family here, and some of the best friends I will ever know. If it weren't for some of my friends, I probably would have been to scared to ever step foot on stage at Laffs Comedy Club in 2001. Here's a blog about my first show.

So many great people in Albuquerque made a big impact on my life. My buddies from AnesthesiA were a huge influence and they offered me a lot of stage time early on in my comedy career. I would often tell jokes as they set up their equipment. Those guys have really come a long way since I first met them, they went from playing shows in my den, to opening for several of the top metal bands that came through town. They even snagged a record deal with Suburban Noize Records and their new cd will be released February 28th, so go to the show! Unfortunately, I will be out of town and won't be able to catch it. I got to perform at their first cd release party and their ten-year anniversary show.

In 2002, I met a new comic in Albuquerque, Marc Shuter. He was just 16 when he started coming to Laffs and doing stand-up. He had some really clever one liners, but he used a Steven Wright joke and I didn't like him at first. And a lot of jokes were about pooping and farting, so I wasn't a fan right away. He grew on me after awhile and we started hanging out and becoming writing partners. Marc was featuring in comedy clubs by the time he was 21 and his cd was being played on XM radio. He decided to quit doing stand-up, but got involved in screen writing. He wrote and starred in his first film, "The Bigfoot Election," which won best local feature at the Albuquerque Film Festival. It was also selected for the Hollywood Film Festival. You can watch it on iTunes or Amazon, it's super funny and well written! Marc and I teamed up to write, "The Consequences of a Feeble Mind," which took us just over a year with re-writes. We are hoping to film this year, we are both pretty excited about it. I think Marc has a great writing career ahead of him, and I have no problem riding his coattails. Just kidding.

It would probably take an entire month and a box of tissues (crying, not masturbating, perverts) to mention everyone in Albuquerque that has had an impact on my life in one way or another, so I just want to thank everyone for all the kind words, the stage time, and the advice. I'll do my best to make Albuquerque proud! Thank you everyone for being a huge part of my life.

And I suppose I will miss my family, too. My mom, Kyle, Chad, Amy and Dylan, Hunter, and Phoenix, the craziest nephews ever! I love you guys!

Thanks Albuquerque.

Wits End/Laughing Skull

The last week I was on the road for the first time in months. I was a little rusty, hadn't done a 30 minute set in awhile. I was performing at Wits End in Westminster, CO, for NYE, so I decided to go to Denver a day early and see if I could get stage time somewhere. Chris Charpentier, Nathan Lund, Bobby Crayne and Sam Tallent run a show every Wednesday, and were cool enough to let me headline while I was in town. These four guys are extremely talented young comics and they put together a great show of stand up and sketch comedy. The show was in the upstairs of a building that looked like apartments, not sure if anyone lived there or not, didn't seem like anyone did. The room was really cool, just looked like a big living room. Saw a couple comics I had never seen before, one's name was Morgan I think, she was funny. I didn't catch all of her set, but what I saw was funny. The other comic was Kristen Rand(sp?), she was great. Loved her style. My set didn't go as well as I had hoped, but it was nice to get on stage and do more than a 5 minute set.

At Wits End, the headliner for the week was Steven Kent McFarlin, aka Spanky. I had heard great things about him, so I was really looking forward to working with him. John Crist was the mc, except for Thursday he wasn't able to make it, so my good buddy, Don Morgan opened and did a great job! That was the best I had seen Don do, I was proud of him.

Thursday night we had kind of a light crowd, it took them awhile to warm up, but I got them laughing. Got to see a couple friends that night, too, which was cool. Friday first show was a huge crowd, second show was the smallest of the week, but both shows were fun. NYE crowds were great, it seems like crowds on NYE get offended a little more easy than other crowds. Which is fine, keeps me on my toes. It was a nice time in Colorado, got to see some old friends, I really miss it up there.

Wednesday night before my show, my buddy Ron Ferguson got me free tickets to Comedy Works to see him perform with Steve McGrew! I had never seen Steve live, so that was a nice way to spend some time on a Wednesday. I had met Steve years ago at Laffs in Albuquerque, but didn't see him perform.

I had a couple days off before I had to fly to LA for my first round in the Laughing Skull Festival. Denver comic, Jason Keyes and I shared a hotel in Hollywood, not far from our venue, the M Bar. Jason is a very funny, underrated comic in Denver. I hope he goes far, he's funny, smart, and he's a good guy. He tore it up at the M Bar and he had to go first. The mc for the night was Chris Mata, who I hadn't seen in a couple years. I worked with him in South Dakota and drove him to the airport in Minneapolis. It was nice seeing him again. Met some other great comics on the show that night as well. Met Mark Agee, originally from Dallas, I had heard good things about him before. Alex Hooper had a killer set, I was shocked to not see him in the top 2 for the night. Allison Breen and Jennifer Murphy finished second and first respectively, both were very funny!

The coolest thing about the trip was hanging with Steve Abeyta, an old friend of mine. He goes to school at the Musicians Institute in LA, he's a kick ass drummer! If you don't believe me listen to some AnesthesiA! Steve lived only a few blocks from where I was performing so he met up with me after school. Good times were had! Also met Matt Lewis, another comic in LA. I've talked to him a few times before but never met him. I like the scene out in LA quite a bit, I've only been out there twice for shows and I've met quite a few comics and all of them have been really cool. I'm hoping to plan a trip out there in the summer time to do some showcases.

I was pretty disappointed in myself for not having a better set on Wednesday night at the M Bar, but today I got an email from Steve Hofstetter letting me know that I was selected for the 2012 Laughing Skull Festival in Atlanta! They had a different format this year where they took two people from the live shows that were selected by judges, then an extra comic was also selected, not sure if they went by tape or judges or what. But I got in and I'm very excited about it! I know quite a few comics who have been to the Laughing Skull Festival in the past and they said it's well worth the trip. Can't wait!

karma/illegal petes

Caitlin, Jake and I went to Lakewood for a show at Karma on Saturday night. Show started late, wasn't really a great set up for comedy, but the show was actually really fun. The people that were there actually paid attention and got the jokes which was nice. And they had the Iowa-Penn St game on, so I got to see the ending of that!! Go Hawkeyes!! It was a fun show, Sam Tallent, Jodee Champion, Jake Sharon and Jesse Carter performed, too!

Jake and I had another show at Illegal Petes right afterwards which is near Denver University. I'd never been in that area it was kind of cool. The show was pretty awesome, I had a lot of fun. Once again a great lineup: Mooch Wilford, Alicia Jacobs, D. Kelley, Jake, Sam Tallent and Brian Blank. Sam's set was pretty much all improv and he did a great job. Pretty entertaining to watch, he's a bright guy and I think he's gonna do really well. Brian Blank, not so much. Just kidding Brian.

Caitlin and I are going to see Floater on Wednesday night at the Larimer Lounge! I'm excited to see them, I've been a fan since '99 when my friend Nate Tramontina introduced me to their music when we worked at Pizza Hut together. I miss Nate. If you miss Nate, you should check out his band, AnesthesiA! They signed a record deal with Suburban Noize Records last fall. AnesthesiA

This week I have a show at Wits End up in Westminster on Thursday night with Jake Sharon, Dave Testroet, Eugene Kenny, Hippieman, and a few others, it's gonna be a great show! Friday I'll be in Albion, Nebraska, and Saturday in Evansville, Minnesota, with Jordan Zuckerman!

Albuquerque

Went down to Albuquerque with Jake Sharon to do some shows. Friday the 20th was at the Lotus Night Club. I did a 12 minute headline set, yeah 12 minute headline set! It was fun though. Kind of a shitty place though. Got to hang with my friends, N8 and Ashley after though which was nice.

Saturday did 2 shows at the County Line. Small crowds, but had a great time. Lots of cool people showed up which was nice. Pay was crap, but I got to see some family and friends.

Also I advanced to the semifinals in the New Faces Contest at Comedy Works which is bad ass!