This past weekend I was in Angelfire, New Mexico, a nice little ski town in Northern New Mexico. Russ Rivas asked me if I would open for him for a few shows at the resort up there for the weekend. I had performed in Angelfire twice before, actually in Black Lake, at the Ritchie-Slater Winery. My good friend, Marc Shuter grew up there and set up some shows there. I'll get back to him in a minute.
So we had three shows, two of which were pg and one extreme show that Russ likes to do. I like it, too, I get to be a little dirtier than usual! The pg shows were held at the Legends Grill at the resort, we had standing room only crowds, admission was free. Everyone that worked at the resort was super nice, we got treated like rock stars up there! The crowd, however, did not treat us like rock stars, they treated us like fat Axl Rose. There was a lot of talking and way too much noise in the room. Not the best set up for a comedy show. Friday night show, Erica Viking from Coyote 102.5 brought me up on stage. She forgot my name, but in her defense, I think she had a few drinks and had no idea she was going to be starting the show. She did invite me to come on the morning show with her and Big Benny sometime though, very cool!
Friday after the show we were hanging with some of the people that were at the show. Including this crazy drunk girl, who apparently worked at the hotel. My lady asked her, "we travel the country with Russ and we screen the girls he hangs out with, he pays a yearly salary. The question for the night is, what's the grooming situation downstairs?" And she wasn't shy, "I shave on Tuesday and Wednesday, those are my days off." My lady replies, "that's great, but what's the situation tonight?" I'm sitting there just trying not to laugh, then the girl undoes her pants and pulls them down a little bit, revealing her stubbly vag. I looked around the restaurant, which was still pretty packed, and not one single person was looking! We had a pretty good laugh. We told Erica the story that night, she seemed to enjoy it. My lady was star struck, too, she couldn't believe she met Erica Viking, what a nerd! Haha, jk.
So, on Saturday, we were planning on eating at Willies, a local bbq joint, but on our way in to town on Friday we noticed that Willies wasn't around. I called Shuter to see what the hell happened to Willies! He didn't answer, cuz he's a pretty busy dude. We ate at the Pizza Stop near the resort, the pizza was pretty good. I was impressed. After we ate, I decided I was going to quit drinking soda, or at least cut down to one per week.
After lunch, I called Marc Shuter back on the mobile phone. We chatted for about an hour. He told me that he sold his movie! I'm so fuckin excited for him! I've seen the movie twice and I loved it. Very funny and well written. "The Bigfoot Election," check out the website link, and click here for a youtube clip of the trailer. We talked a little bit about school and stuff and we decided we needed to start writing together soon. We used to meet up all the time and write back in the day when he was still doing stand-up. He's the only other person I've ever been able to write with for some reason.
Saturday night we had two shows, one of the pg variety. The first one was a lot better than Friday night's show, but still had a hard time with the noise and people not paying attention. The extreme show was at 9 pm in a different room that could have easily held 250 people. There were about 70-80 for the show. Big Benny from Coyote got the crowd going with a few minutes of jokes, which was nice, it's always shitty to go up to a cold crowd. Actually, quite a few of the people were at the first show, so I planned an entire different set. It was cool to see Benny again, it had been a few years since I had seen him.
Since it was an extreme show, I decided to start off with some extreme jokes about child rapist, Jerry Sandusky. A lady got up out of her seat and started walking out, apparently she was offended, whoops. I asked her if she realized it was an extreme show, then the crowd started getting on to her about leaving. She then flipped everybody off and yelled, "Fuck you." She was also black, and the only black person at the show, so I all of my racist jokes right then. Had a pretty solid set, felt good about myself. Even got an email from one of the guys in the crowd today, here's some things he told me in the email: "Just letting you know we enjoyed you Saturday night. You were the only saving grace. You, I also youtubed and we found that you were a funny mother fucker still." I chopped it up a bit.
So, overall, it was a great weekend, saw a stubbly vag, Erica Viking, talked to Marc Shuter and offended a black lady on a child rape joke and no racist jokes. And for fun, here's a clip of Shuter on Art's Talk, I found it while getting the link for the movie trailer, enjoy.
It was nice to get away for the weekend, haven't had much free time since starting school. And my boss is a douchey cock smootch who always asks me to come in early just so he can sit on his lazy ass.
Here's a list of upcoming shows
2/2-Albuquerque, NM-Sandia Bowl (Headlining)
2/4-Taos, NM-Casa de los Cordovas (Headlining)
2/25-Albuquerque, NM-The Press Room (Headlining)
Showing posts with label russ rivas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label russ rivas. Show all posts
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
August 5, 2001
Earlier today, my wife, Caitlin, told me to read Jay Wendell Walker's blog about how he started comedy over 50 years ago. Here's a link to the blog he wrote, Jay's blog.
I've worked with Jay before at Laffs in Albuquerque, and even did a show with him in Mescalero, New Mexico, at the Inn of the Mountain Gods. He flew into Albuquerque, so we picked him up and drove him down to Mescalero for the show. The show was kind of a wreck, they didn't have anyone to run the show, so Jay did the off stage announcements and brought me up. Show wasn't the greatest, but we had fun. We had a show the next couple nights in the Albuquerque area. Jay's one of the nicest guys in the business. His wife traveled with him to Laffs one time and was very sweet. She even helped the waitstaff clean the tables in between shows.
In Jay's blog he mentioned how he parked Billy Tipton's car six nights a week and asked Billy how to get into comedy. I decided to google Billy's name, because I had never heard of "him." Billy was actually born a woman, but decided to live life as a man to be a musician.
Here's the story on how I started stand-up comedy. At a young age, I used to always sneak out of my bedroom and go into the living room where my mom would be watching tv. Some nights she would be watching comedy on HBO, her favorites were George Carlin and Eddie Murphy. I would stand behind the couch, she had no idea that I was there. I had no idea what the jokes meant, but I loved watching my mom laugh. There was something about watching her laugh that made me want to be a comedian. My mom always tells a story about me, as a four-year-old, with my little Beaver Cleaver style jacket and ball cap and a little suitcase leaving the house. When she heard the door open she ran in and saw me walking out the door. She asked, "where do you think you're going?" I said, "I'm going to New York to be a comedian and live with George Carlin." And you know how parents are, they never let you do anything, so I was stuck in Goldfield, Iowa.
Fast forward to 2001. I was living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I finally got to move out on my own! I was living with two buddies of mine, Larry Campbell and Nate Guyre. I met Larry working at Pizza Hut, and I met Nate through Larry, I think they worked together at a pizza place. In April 2001, we were all working at different pizza places. I was working at Pizza Hut, Larry was at Papa John's and Nate was at Poppi's Pizza, a local pizza place that I ended up working at a few years later. Our house was always stocked with pizza, sodas, napkins, and other random stuff you could find at those pizza places.
The day that Nate moved in we had a pretty wicked party. We estimated about 75 people there, and we only knew maybe 25 of the people. Our friends, AnesthesiA, came by to play a set. They didn't get too far into their set before the cops showed up. I do remember them playing an awesome Pantera medley, they combined three or four Pantera songs into one! When the cops arrived I was standing right by the door holding a beer. I also had a Denver Broncos beanie on and a giant Garfield clock around my neck. I was "Fletcha Flave!"
I invited the cops in, and even offered them drinks. Pretty stupid. The cops booted everyone out and AnesthesiA had to pull the plug. None of us got in any trouble though, which was awesome, and all of the people we didn't know ended up leaving. About half an hour all of our friends were back. AnesthesiA had all of their equipment still set up but we all decided it would be a bad idea if they started jamming again. I had been telling eveyone that I was going to start doing stand up, so they decided to throw me the mic. I hadn't really written any jokes at that point, but I was drunk so I decided to fuck around and make fun of some people. I think I did that for about 10 minutes, got some laughs, then went back to drinking.
The next day I couldn't stop thinking about doing stand up. I decided to get a hold of one of my best friends from back in Iowa, Matt Evans. Matt is one of the funniest guys I know to do this day, and I was always trying to make him laugh when I was younger. He was six years older than me, he was like an older brother to me. He told me he would help me work on some material for my first open mic. I decided to look up info on the local comedy club, Laffs Comedy Club. They had open mic on the first Sunday of the month. I decided August 5th would be my date to perform. That gave me a few months to get together a five minute set. I started working on my own material, and Matt had written a few things as well. I was writing shorter jokes and Matt was writing bits. I took his bits and narrowed them down, because I didn't feel comfortable telling longer bits, they were harder to memorize.
As the day drew closer I was getting really nervous, but I had invited tons of friends. I probably would have bailed if I hadn't invited so many people. There was no way I could un-invite that many people. I noticed that M.O.D. was playing at the Launchpad that same night and I really wanted to see them! But, I decided, if I'm ever going to stand up comedy, I couldn't turn back.
August 5th finally arrived, I went through my jokes one more time, then watched "Man on the Moon." I grabbed my beanie and Garfield clock and headed down to Laffs. I had never even been to a comedy show in my life, so I had no idea what to expect. I was one of the first people to arrive. My friend, Charlie Cuaron, decided to sign me up on the list as Curtis E. Fletcher. I waited nervously for about an hour before the show. There were about 15-20 comics on the list for the night. I was on about the mid point through the show. I had about 35 of my friends show up, I was shocked how many came to support me, it was awesome. I watched the comics while going over my set over and over in my head, so I don't remember if any of them were funny at all. I do remember some of the comics, Oscar Solis, went up for the first time that night. We became really good friends after that. His brother, Erik, also went up, he was friends with my buddies from AnesthesiA. Freddy Charles, who was a veteran comic who had a few tv credits went up to try some new material.
The emcee, Tuck O'Lay, finally called my name. I tried to pretend to be super confident, shaking some hands on the way to the stage. I bet I looked ridiculous in that beanie and the giant Garfield clock. I don't even remember what jokes I did that night, but I got some big laughs! I was shocked. I was also thinking that they were just laughing because most of them were my friends, but I saw people that I didn't know laughing at me, and that was a feeling that's hard to describe. After my set, which was probably closer to three minutes than five, I went and set with a few buddies. A lot of the comics came up and said nice things to me, even Freddy Charles said I was funny. That was huge to me!
After the show I was chatting with some friends and a long haired older guy came up to me and asked, "how long have you been doing stand up?" I said, "about three minutes." He was surprised that it was my first time performing. He said to keep it up and to lose the clock, I didn't need it, I was funny without it. The guy was Darryl Rhoades, he was the headliner at Laffs that night at the professional show after the open mic. Darryl's been doing stand up for a long time, he's a good guy, I've got to know him pretty well over the years.
As I was leaving the club a guy approached me and handed me a business card, he said, "give me a call Thursday." He shook my hand and walked off. As I walking out to the parking lot I read the business card, it read, RUSS RIVAS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE BROOM OPERATOR. Russ was the owner of Laffs, and he thought I was funny, that was huge! I called him Thursday and he asked me to come down for a guest set that night or Sunday, I told him I'd come down Sunday, just so I would have more time to prepare. I had no idea what a guest set was. That next Sunday I did the same set and bombed. I thought I was finished after that and tried to avoid Russ after the show. He came up to me as I was leaving the club and said, "come back next Sunday, do the same set." Two of my first three shows were guest sets at the professional shows at Laffs. I got to perform with Danny Villalpando and Brian Bradley. I felt pretty good about myself after that, especially after bombing twice in a row.
Maybe I'll never make it big, or get to do it full time again, but I've performed in over 20 states! I've performed in some weird places, like a campground in Northern Wisconsin, a barn in South Dakota, and on a homemade trailer at a winery in Angel Fire, New Mexico. A lot has happened in the last 10 years, I hope to be doing comedy as long as Jay Wendell Walker.
I've worked with Jay before at Laffs in Albuquerque, and even did a show with him in Mescalero, New Mexico, at the Inn of the Mountain Gods. He flew into Albuquerque, so we picked him up and drove him down to Mescalero for the show. The show was kind of a wreck, they didn't have anyone to run the show, so Jay did the off stage announcements and brought me up. Show wasn't the greatest, but we had fun. We had a show the next couple nights in the Albuquerque area. Jay's one of the nicest guys in the business. His wife traveled with him to Laffs one time and was very sweet. She even helped the waitstaff clean the tables in between shows.
In Jay's blog he mentioned how he parked Billy Tipton's car six nights a week and asked Billy how to get into comedy. I decided to google Billy's name, because I had never heard of "him." Billy was actually born a woman, but decided to live life as a man to be a musician.
It was a lot easier for a man than a woman back then. A turning point in Billy's life came in 1958. He had his own trio and a growing reputation, and a new hotel in Reno wanted to hire his group as its house band. He seemed on the verge of, if not the big time, at least a fairly high-profile career. But Billy declined. Instead he took a job as a booking agent in Spokane, Washington, playing music on the side. Middlebrook thinks he feared fame would lead to discovery and decided he'd gone as far as he dared.I guess if Billy had went on to Reno, maybe Jay would have never started comedy. But, I'm glad he did!
Here's the story on how I started stand-up comedy. At a young age, I used to always sneak out of my bedroom and go into the living room where my mom would be watching tv. Some nights she would be watching comedy on HBO, her favorites were George Carlin and Eddie Murphy. I would stand behind the couch, she had no idea that I was there. I had no idea what the jokes meant, but I loved watching my mom laugh. There was something about watching her laugh that made me want to be a comedian. My mom always tells a story about me, as a four-year-old, with my little Beaver Cleaver style jacket and ball cap and a little suitcase leaving the house. When she heard the door open she ran in and saw me walking out the door. She asked, "where do you think you're going?" I said, "I'm going to New York to be a comedian and live with George Carlin." And you know how parents are, they never let you do anything, so I was stuck in Goldfield, Iowa.
Fast forward to 2001. I was living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I finally got to move out on my own! I was living with two buddies of mine, Larry Campbell and Nate Guyre. I met Larry working at Pizza Hut, and I met Nate through Larry, I think they worked together at a pizza place. In April 2001, we were all working at different pizza places. I was working at Pizza Hut, Larry was at Papa John's and Nate was at Poppi's Pizza, a local pizza place that I ended up working at a few years later. Our house was always stocked with pizza, sodas, napkins, and other random stuff you could find at those pizza places.
The day that Nate moved in we had a pretty wicked party. We estimated about 75 people there, and we only knew maybe 25 of the people. Our friends, AnesthesiA, came by to play a set. They didn't get too far into their set before the cops showed up. I do remember them playing an awesome Pantera medley, they combined three or four Pantera songs into one! When the cops arrived I was standing right by the door holding a beer. I also had a Denver Broncos beanie on and a giant Garfield clock around my neck. I was "Fletcha Flave!"
I invited the cops in, and even offered them drinks. Pretty stupid. The cops booted everyone out and AnesthesiA had to pull the plug. None of us got in any trouble though, which was awesome, and all of the people we didn't know ended up leaving. About half an hour all of our friends were back. AnesthesiA had all of their equipment still set up but we all decided it would be a bad idea if they started jamming again. I had been telling eveyone that I was going to start doing stand up, so they decided to throw me the mic. I hadn't really written any jokes at that point, but I was drunk so I decided to fuck around and make fun of some people. I think I did that for about 10 minutes, got some laughs, then went back to drinking.
The next day I couldn't stop thinking about doing stand up. I decided to get a hold of one of my best friends from back in Iowa, Matt Evans. Matt is one of the funniest guys I know to do this day, and I was always trying to make him laugh when I was younger. He was six years older than me, he was like an older brother to me. He told me he would help me work on some material for my first open mic. I decided to look up info on the local comedy club, Laffs Comedy Club. They had open mic on the first Sunday of the month. I decided August 5th would be my date to perform. That gave me a few months to get together a five minute set. I started working on my own material, and Matt had written a few things as well. I was writing shorter jokes and Matt was writing bits. I took his bits and narrowed them down, because I didn't feel comfortable telling longer bits, they were harder to memorize.
As the day drew closer I was getting really nervous, but I had invited tons of friends. I probably would have bailed if I hadn't invited so many people. There was no way I could un-invite that many people. I noticed that M.O.D. was playing at the Launchpad that same night and I really wanted to see them! But, I decided, if I'm ever going to stand up comedy, I couldn't turn back.
August 5th finally arrived, I went through my jokes one more time, then watched "Man on the Moon." I grabbed my beanie and Garfield clock and headed down to Laffs. I had never even been to a comedy show in my life, so I had no idea what to expect. I was one of the first people to arrive. My friend, Charlie Cuaron, decided to sign me up on the list as Curtis E. Fletcher. I waited nervously for about an hour before the show. There were about 15-20 comics on the list for the night. I was on about the mid point through the show. I had about 35 of my friends show up, I was shocked how many came to support me, it was awesome. I watched the comics while going over my set over and over in my head, so I don't remember if any of them were funny at all. I do remember some of the comics, Oscar Solis, went up for the first time that night. We became really good friends after that. His brother, Erik, also went up, he was friends with my buddies from AnesthesiA. Freddy Charles, who was a veteran comic who had a few tv credits went up to try some new material.
The emcee, Tuck O'Lay, finally called my name. I tried to pretend to be super confident, shaking some hands on the way to the stage. I bet I looked ridiculous in that beanie and the giant Garfield clock. I don't even remember what jokes I did that night, but I got some big laughs! I was shocked. I was also thinking that they were just laughing because most of them were my friends, but I saw people that I didn't know laughing at me, and that was a feeling that's hard to describe. After my set, which was probably closer to three minutes than five, I went and set with a few buddies. A lot of the comics came up and said nice things to me, even Freddy Charles said I was funny. That was huge to me!
After the show I was chatting with some friends and a long haired older guy came up to me and asked, "how long have you been doing stand up?" I said, "about three minutes." He was surprised that it was my first time performing. He said to keep it up and to lose the clock, I didn't need it, I was funny without it. The guy was Darryl Rhoades, he was the headliner at Laffs that night at the professional show after the open mic. Darryl's been doing stand up for a long time, he's a good guy, I've got to know him pretty well over the years.
As I was leaving the club a guy approached me and handed me a business card, he said, "give me a call Thursday." He shook my hand and walked off. As I walking out to the parking lot I read the business card, it read, RUSS RIVAS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE BROOM OPERATOR. Russ was the owner of Laffs, and he thought I was funny, that was huge! I called him Thursday and he asked me to come down for a guest set that night or Sunday, I told him I'd come down Sunday, just so I would have more time to prepare. I had no idea what a guest set was. That next Sunday I did the same set and bombed. I thought I was finished after that and tried to avoid Russ after the show. He came up to me as I was leaving the club and said, "come back next Sunday, do the same set." Two of my first three shows were guest sets at the professional shows at Laffs. I got to perform with Danny Villalpando and Brian Bradley. I felt pretty good about myself after that, especially after bombing twice in a row.
Maybe I'll never make it big, or get to do it full time again, but I've performed in over 20 states! I've performed in some weird places, like a campground in Northern Wisconsin, a barn in South Dakota, and on a homemade trailer at a winery in Angel Fire, New Mexico. A lot has happened in the last 10 years, I hope to be doing comedy as long as Jay Wendell Walker.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
December 2010
So I haven't blogged much about my shows, but I have a new phone which allows me to do so more often now. You're welcome both followers.
December was my final month in Denver, decided to move back to Albuquerque to be closer to family. I enjoyed my time in Denver, met a lot of great comics and made a lot of new friends.
1-Did open mic at El Charrito, I think it was their second show. I took a cardboard cutout of the most interesting man in the world on stage with me and stood behind it while I told my jokes. I felt bad ass and interesting. It was a fun room.
7-New talent night at Comedy Works was a lot of fun. I always enjoyed the shows there and this one might have been my best one yet. I tried scoring some guest sets there, but Wende never wrote me back so it never happened. Thanks to all the comics who put in a good word though, especially Lori Callahan.
9-I emailed Don at Wits End to see if he needed an mc for the 16-19 because I wanted to squeeze in some more gigs before I left, plus I wanted to work with Ron Ferguson and Russ Rivas. Don said I could do the week, plus gave me this night as well with Talon Saucerman and Todd Johnson. I ran into Todd at Comedy Works the night before he was opening for Joe Larson and Kermet Apio. Kermet is awesome. The night at Wits was fun, kind of a small crowd, but they were fun.
13-My last time at the Lions Lair was a lot of fun. Jill Tasei and I heckled Peter Cohen a bit which was nice. I did some new material that worked pretty well. Caitlin went on stage that night as well and got her best response, she was excited. I'm gonna miss the Lions Lair.
16-19 I got to mc at Wits this week like I mentioned earlier, the shows were great and I got to meet the new owner of Wits, John. He seems like a really cool guy. I'll miss Don, he was always super cool to me. I'll probably never see him again.
28-Filmed a 3 minute set for a tv show "The After After Party" which is a late night talk show hosted by Steven Michael Quezada who plays Gomez on "Breaking Bad." I used to do shows with Steven back in like 04 and 05. It was a fun show to film, there were about 150 people at the Wool Warehouse so it was a good sized crowd. As soon as I filmed my set I ran over to Maloneys to catch the end of the Iowa-Missouri game with my buddy Nate Tramontina. It was cool catching part of an Iowa game with him finally, he was born in Sioux City. He told me he quit Anesthesia he was the lead guitarist. I was pretty bummed about that. They signed a record deal with Sub Noize records. They're bad ass. I'm hoping to hang out with Nate more now that I live in town. I've written a few goofy songs that I want to record with him so I might get that done!
29-Matt Peterson needed rent money so he put together a last minute show at Howies, it was my first show since moving back and it was awesome. I've never had a bad show at Howies. The lineup was great, AJ Martinez and Joe Quesada both went up and rocked, those guys get better every time I see them. I remember seeing them when they first started back when we did shows at the Tavern. Sarah Kennedy was next and tore it up as usual, she's becoming one of my favorite comics to watch. Matt went on before me and tore it up, too. Its cool to see how much he's progressed over the years. We used to work together at Poppis Pizza.
30-I drove all the way to Dallas the next day, left at 430 am. It was quite a drive, but got to the club at about 6. I met Randy Butler the owner of Hyenas for the first time, he was a really nice guy, showed me around a little bit and let me do some time at the show that night. I was only scheduled for Friday and Saturday. The opener was a guy named Larry Campbell who had some great stuff and got the crowd into it. I went after him and had a pretty decent set, could've done way better, but travel days don't give you a lot of time to prepare. Nick Guerra did 30 after me and destroyed. I'm so glad I didn't have to follow him, I would have ate shit pretty bad. His jokes and his improve rocked. I kind of felt bad for the headliner who had to follow, but he tore it up, too. Headliner was Dustin Ybarra, Gary Hood told me about him before so it was cool to see him perform. I think Nick and Dustin will both make it big, it was a fun show.
31-Big New Years Eve show at Hyenas! I was excited to be working with Carl LaBove, one of the Outlaws of Comedy and Sam Kinisons best friend. I just read a story online that said Carl's kid was actually fathered by Sam. Kinda fucked up Carl's life with getting his license and passport taken away, not good for a road comic. Anyway the shows went great, Carl tore it up both shows and did different material. Plus he was super cool. A lot of times you'll work with a headliner and they think they're way better than everyone else and have a shitty attitude and treat the openers like shit, well Carl was the opposite. I didn't get to meet him before the show but right after my set he came up and introduced himself to me and we chatted for a bit after the show. Hope I get to work with him again sometime.
December was my final month in Denver, decided to move back to Albuquerque to be closer to family. I enjoyed my time in Denver, met a lot of great comics and made a lot of new friends.
1-Did open mic at El Charrito, I think it was their second show. I took a cardboard cutout of the most interesting man in the world on stage with me and stood behind it while I told my jokes. I felt bad ass and interesting. It was a fun room.
7-New talent night at Comedy Works was a lot of fun. I always enjoyed the shows there and this one might have been my best one yet. I tried scoring some guest sets there, but Wende never wrote me back so it never happened. Thanks to all the comics who put in a good word though, especially Lori Callahan.
9-I emailed Don at Wits End to see if he needed an mc for the 16-19 because I wanted to squeeze in some more gigs before I left, plus I wanted to work with Ron Ferguson and Russ Rivas. Don said I could do the week, plus gave me this night as well with Talon Saucerman and Todd Johnson. I ran into Todd at Comedy Works the night before he was opening for Joe Larson and Kermet Apio. Kermet is awesome. The night at Wits was fun, kind of a small crowd, but they were fun.
13-My last time at the Lions Lair was a lot of fun. Jill Tasei and I heckled Peter Cohen a bit which was nice. I did some new material that worked pretty well. Caitlin went on stage that night as well and got her best response, she was excited. I'm gonna miss the Lions Lair.
16-19 I got to mc at Wits this week like I mentioned earlier, the shows were great and I got to meet the new owner of Wits, John. He seems like a really cool guy. I'll miss Don, he was always super cool to me. I'll probably never see him again.
28-Filmed a 3 minute set for a tv show "The After After Party" which is a late night talk show hosted by Steven Michael Quezada who plays Gomez on "Breaking Bad." I used to do shows with Steven back in like 04 and 05. It was a fun show to film, there were about 150 people at the Wool Warehouse so it was a good sized crowd. As soon as I filmed my set I ran over to Maloneys to catch the end of the Iowa-Missouri game with my buddy Nate Tramontina. It was cool catching part of an Iowa game with him finally, he was born in Sioux City. He told me he quit Anesthesia he was the lead guitarist. I was pretty bummed about that. They signed a record deal with Sub Noize records. They're bad ass. I'm hoping to hang out with Nate more now that I live in town. I've written a few goofy songs that I want to record with him so I might get that done!
29-Matt Peterson needed rent money so he put together a last minute show at Howies, it was my first show since moving back and it was awesome. I've never had a bad show at Howies. The lineup was great, AJ Martinez and Joe Quesada both went up and rocked, those guys get better every time I see them. I remember seeing them when they first started back when we did shows at the Tavern. Sarah Kennedy was next and tore it up as usual, she's becoming one of my favorite comics to watch. Matt went on before me and tore it up, too. Its cool to see how much he's progressed over the years. We used to work together at Poppis Pizza.
30-I drove all the way to Dallas the next day, left at 430 am. It was quite a drive, but got to the club at about 6. I met Randy Butler the owner of Hyenas for the first time, he was a really nice guy, showed me around a little bit and let me do some time at the show that night. I was only scheduled for Friday and Saturday. The opener was a guy named Larry Campbell who had some great stuff and got the crowd into it. I went after him and had a pretty decent set, could've done way better, but travel days don't give you a lot of time to prepare. Nick Guerra did 30 after me and destroyed. I'm so glad I didn't have to follow him, I would have ate shit pretty bad. His jokes and his improve rocked. I kind of felt bad for the headliner who had to follow, but he tore it up, too. Headliner was Dustin Ybarra, Gary Hood told me about him before so it was cool to see him perform. I think Nick and Dustin will both make it big, it was a fun show.
31-Big New Years Eve show at Hyenas! I was excited to be working with Carl LaBove, one of the Outlaws of Comedy and Sam Kinisons best friend. I just read a story online that said Carl's kid was actually fathered by Sam. Kinda fucked up Carl's life with getting his license and passport taken away, not good for a road comic. Anyway the shows went great, Carl tore it up both shows and did different material. Plus he was super cool. A lot of times you'll work with a headliner and they think they're way better than everyone else and have a shitty attitude and treat the openers like shit, well Carl was the opposite. I didn't get to meet him before the show but right after my set he came up and introduced himself to me and we chatted for a bit after the show. Hope I get to work with him again sometime.
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