should've taken greyhound

So it was my first week working for Funny Business which I was pretty excited about. They book a lot of shows all over the country. I knew I wasn't going to make any money on this particular trip. Albuquerque to Denver to Sioux Falls to Denver to Albuquerque is about 36 hours, that's over 300 bucks in gas. My pay for the week was 250. But I took the gig anyway to get in with a new booker. I didn't want to make the drive in one day, so my buddy, Don Morgan, said I could crash at his place in Frederick, Colorado, Thursday night!

Wednesday I bought new tires for the car, I was ready to go! Normally I take Greyhound, but it would have been 56 hours on the bus. Thursday I took off fairly early so I could stop in Colorado Springs and pick up some t-shirts to make some extra money in Sioux Falls. (Paid 78 for 12 shirts, sold two at 20 each, -38!) I was getting into Denver a little before 5 pm, just in time for rush hour (not the shitty Jackie Chan movie.) As I was driving I ran something over, didn't think it was a big deal until I heard a weird noise coming from the car. The check engine light didn't come on but the car was shaking, so I got off the freeway and noticed the steering was a little jacked up. I pulled into a parking lot off of University to check things out. There were fluids everywhere, I had no idea what was wrong though. Don showed up and noticed the power steering unit was messed up (160 dollar part, hooray!) At that point I didn't know what to do I could hop on a Greyhound which was 288 bucks round trip, or cancel the gig and ruin my chances of getting booked with Funny Business again. Don offered to let me use his jeep to Sioux Falls for the weekend and he would work on my car when I got back. Worse gas mileage, but no labor fee on my car! Finally a plus on the trip. Went and checked out the show at Comedy Works downtown, too, which was awesome. Dov Davidoff was pretty funny.

Friday I got up really early, hit the road at 530. 11 hour boring ass drive thru Eastern Colorado, Nebraska and South Dakota. I got to Sioux Falls around 5. The club (Fat Daddys Comedy Club) and condo are right downtown, which is pretty awesome. Got to the club and met the owner, Bethany, very cool lady, and has a cool accent. Got to the condo, met Mike Smith the headliner from KC, funny guy and super nice. Show was at 730, small crowd, maybe 20 people. Jesse Ross showed up, he's a huge fan of my friends band, AnesthesiA! We both had AnesthesiA shirts on. The show went pretty well for the crowd size. Gin Blossoms were in town, we can't compete with them. Hey jealousy! Jesse wanted to hang out after, but I told them we had another show to do. After he left I realized, we didn't have another show. I should have paid to attention to that, only three shows instead of five.

Saturday we had a bigger crowd, probably 40 and there were two bachelorette parties. Usually those are hell to deal with, but they were really cool. The opener was very funny, Justun Sangster. Warmed up the crowd very nicely. The guy on Friday did a great job, too, Joe (forgot his last name.) I went up and had a pretty solid set that I was happy with! After the show I walked around to check out downtown Sioux Falls. There were quite a few people out and saw a few bands playing outside, they were no Gin Blossoms though.

Sunday night I got to see an old co-worker buddy of mine, John Hult. He was always one of my favorite co-workers at Laffs, never a pain in the ass like most servers. It was cool to see him, I even jammed a cd that he made me on the way to Sioux Falls. He brought a couple guys from his band to the show. We had 15 in the crowd and no mc, so I had to go first. Kinda sucks going on without a warmup, but definately not the worst situation I've been in. Show went well, got laughs. So that wrapped up the week, three shows, 75 people, sold two shirts and zero cd's! Watched the last seconds of the Mavs-Heat game 3 with Mike and hung out a bit at the bar.

Monday I hit the road at 930, got some sleep, pretty uneventful drive until I hit Sterling, Colorado. Power steering messed up a bit and almost hit a curb. I checked to see if the fluid was good and it was full, then the cap fell so I waited til the engine cooled down so I could grab it. Ended up running into three different Iowa Hawkeye fans while I was there. Ended up at Dons place around 8. We went and hit up some open mic nights. Did a set at Lions Lair, I did my material I had written for my character, 80s guy, but said it was my set I did on Star Search at age 11, pretty funny. Did that set at Benders right after, also tossed in some newer jokes. It was fun, it was good seeing some of the comics again. Went to Pete's Kitchen with Don and Ron Ferguson afterwards.

Tuesday spent all day working on the car, I'm really hating this Suzuki Forenza! I hate comedy, I hate going on the road, I just wanna be home! LA next week for the dvd taping then not on the road for a few weeks! Next year I'm gonna take a break and only do a few gigs.

the after after party

Last night I filmed my second episode of "The After After Party" a local talk show with Steven Michael Quezada, a local comic/actor. They told me I'm the second comedian to come back, the other being Kenny King. Vince Gilligan, Anna Gunn, and Bob Odenkirk were all supposed to be guests, but all had to cancel for different reasons. RJ Mitte, who plays Walt Jr on "Breaking Bad" came in and did the episode I filmed. Not sure when it will air yet. RJ was really cool, I got to chat with him a bit before the taping he was really nice. Took a lot of photos with the audience and stuff like that. He said he watched the first two episodes of season 4 and they're insane. Can't wait to see the new season!

I felt a lot more comfortable this time doing the show, it was much easier and I had a great set! The crew at the show is awesome! I don't know how Steven comes up with all the material plus filming, that's gotta be pretty hard to do. If you get a chance to see a live taping its a blast! They do it every other Tuesday at the Wool Warehouse.

I'm excited to get a new website done this month, also got new headshots done last night by the photographer of the show, Paul Lopez. I'll have them later this week! Well, I'm off for Sioux Falls, SD, tomorrow I'm gonna stop in Denver and find somewhere to do a set.

amarillo

Did a show at the Holiday Inn in Amarillo on Thursday night with Spencer James. I had met him once at the Comedy Works in Denver, but had never seen him perform. The Holiday Inn packed the place, I think she said 129 people, not bad for a Thursday in Amarillo. I had a pretty solid set, but they didn't get a few of the jokes, which always makes me laugh. They sit and look at me like I'm an idiot, you're the one who didn't get the joke. I've done enough of these shows to know I should "dumb it down" for the audience, but I really don't want to. I think that's why I prefer clubs, people at clubs usually get the jokes, there are some that I do that take some people awhile though. Oh well, I'm not gonna change my act, I like what I do. If I didn't, it would be boring.

The people at the Holiday Inn were some of the nicest I've ever met. Very friendly! Spencer was really cool, too. He even bought me dinner! Free dinner is always great!

Tuesday night I'm getting new headshots done, and I'm filming another set for "The After After Party" with Steven Michael Quezada. Should be a fun night! Then it is off to Sioux Falls, SD for the weekend!

Also, I will be re doing the website finally! I'll keep everyone posted.

wichita

Well, the week is over in Wichita, rapture never happened and we didn't have much for crowds. Late show Saturday was best of the week though, so I ended on a good note. Worked with Charlie Weiner, great guy and a huge baseball fan! Watched a lot of games with him.

Doing comedy during graduation week is always tough, but at least it was fun and I didn't bomb which is nice haha. Local attorney, Danny Seville took us to Pig In Pig Out a local bbq joint and fed us for free pretty much the entire week! Holy shit it was awesome, great brisket! Yum!

The mc had some funny stuff, Dillon Narcisi, he's a young dude with a jew fro. He was excited when he got paid, he didn't know he was getting paid, it was adorable. I guess the original mc didn't show up.

I'm about to head to the Greyhound station, there's probably going to be more people on the bus than there were at our shows.

Oh, and check out www.myebar.net its Charlie Weiner's website with listings of great restaurants, clubs and bars, its really cool!

Heading back to Albuquerque, gonna do a set at Hallenbrick on Monday night and off to Amarillo Thursday for a show at the Holiday Inn with Spencer James.

I was sad to hear about Macho Man's death. I guess God was craving Slim Jims.

Oklahoma City

Last week I was at the Loony Bin in Oklahoma City. I always seemed to get booked in Oklahoma in May. I was worried we wouldn't have great crowds since the Thunder are in the playoffs, but the crowds weren't bad at all. Wednesday was open mic night before the show. I only caught a couple of the acts and they were pretty funny. Our mc for the week was James Draper who lives in Norman. It was his first time hosting a week, it was cool. He did a nice job and I noticed him gaining more confidence as the week went on and his sets got better. He's got some great material.

Headliner for the week was Theo Von, who I had seen before on "Road Rules" on MTV. Theo was super cool and really funny! I only watched his set the first two nights cuz I couldn't handle the smoke in the showroom. I almost lost my voice, too. Not good! But it held up fine for the shows. Theo has an awesome website www.cranktexts.com its so funny! I was up late reading some of the stuff he put on there, its hilarious.

One of the bouncers at the Loony Bin is from Fort Dodge, Iowa, which is where a lot of my family is from! Small world. The staff at the Loony Bin is awesome, everyone is really friendly. And the crowds were fantastic! Especially Sunday, it was a smaller crowd, but it was my favorite of the week. I sold way more cd's than I expected to and don't have any left for the weekend in Wichita. Sad face! And the Thunder won game 7 on Sunday, which is probably why the crowd was so great.

On Monday night, Jason Brown and I did a show at the Elks Lodge in El Reno, which was set up by my second cousin, Mark, who id never met before. He hasn't even seen my mom since the 70's. It was cool to meet him and the show wasn't that bad either. For a Monday night in El Reno anyway. We did the show and hung out a bit afterwards with Mark and his wife and a couple people from the show. I went with Jason to Tulsa and stayed at his place. Introduced him to the lovely musical stylings of Wesley Willis. Suck a polar bear's funky ass!

Oklahoma was a blast, can't wait to get back, hoping to add Tulsa to my schedule. Made some new friends with week! And you should be on twitter, follow me @funnyfletcher, Theo Von @theovon, and Jason Brown @comicjbrown!

I'm in Wichita this week with Charlie Weiner!

wits end

Once again sitting at a Greyhound station, which is great motivation to get to that headliner spot. Had a great weekend in Westminster, CO, at Wits End Comedy Club. My buddy, Dante(www.comicdante.com), was the headliner, I met him last year, super cool guy. Elliot Woolsey was the mc, he sold his bed last year, neat story.

Thursday night was Cinco de Mayo, so we had kind of a light crowd, but they were great. I think I actually like smaller crowds at Wits a little better. After the show we went to Buffalo Wild Wings with a local Denver comic, Troy Walker, he's a funny dude, check him out.

Friday night Dr Kevin Fitzgerald did a guest set, and channel 31 was there, they interviewed him and the club owner and filmed part of his set. He was great, I had never met him before. Both shows were a lot of fun, especially the late show. Late shows are fun, they usually like my humor a little more. The owner of the club said he is a big fan of mine, which is awesome.

Saturday night was the big 3 show night, that's almost like a real full time job. We had a couple guest sets, including the Alien Warrior Comic! Very cool! He's a guy who dresses as an alien and he's about 6'9", he's huge, check him out on youtube. Shows were all great as usual. It was great working with Elliot and Dante. Elliot had great shows all week. It was fun watching him. And its always fun watching Dante, he always rocks. And he was awesome enough to offer me a gig for a dvd taping in June out in LA! I'm excited about my first comedy trip out there.

I'm heading back to Albuquerque for a couple days then its off on the road for two weeks. Wednesday thru Sunday I will be at the Loony Bin in Oklahoma City with Theo Von from MTV Road Rules, should be a fun week!

Albuquerque, El Paso April 28-30

Sitting at the Greyhound station in El Paso about to head back home. I hate people who always have to talk, its like they get freaked out if its quiet for two seconds. Shut the fuck up lady. And there's a poster it says, "When the Globetrotters travel, they go Greyhound." Its probably because they all work there. And that explains why they only play one game a week, takes a few days just to get to the next city. I think they call it Greyhound because their time is like dog time.

Thursday night was my last time performing at Howies in Albuquerque. Its been a great venue the last couple years and I never had a bad show there. Thursday we had a great lineup-Roger Peterson, Brett Hiker, Joe Quesada, Sarah Kennedy, me and Matt Peterson. Show was great! Everyone of the comics rocked, Brett and Joe have really come a long way since we used to do shows at The Tavern. Only flaw of the night was the heckling. I've been doing comedy almost ten years and I've dealt with hundreds of hecklers, they don't bother me, unless the hecklers are other comics. There was also a guy who is looking to start up a weekly comedy show in town at a venue I'm not going to promote here, but I am gonna guess he's not going to get any of the good local comics on the lineup, good luck buddy. He was on his phone for the first part of the show, and heckled a little bit during as well. Like I said the heckling doesn't bother me, but if you're looking to do a local comedy show, don't piss off the comics. They finally left during Matt's set and he did some pretty funny rants about the trio of douches. Matt should rant more often, it was hilarious! And by the end of his set his hair looked like Bill Murrays at the end of "Kingpin."

Friday I headlined the Federal Courthouse Bar in El Paso. Had a solid lineup of comics, Tim Schultz from Nashville featured, he was great! Him and I rode down together with Dave Graham, a very funny comic from El Paso who happened to be in Albuquerque the night before. It was my first time following a guitar act, it was fun. Sam and Alex(I forgot his last name, its on the flyer though) both did great. I worked with Alex last year, he's improved a lot. Patrick Candelaria stopped in to check out the show, too, it was great to see him. I did a midwest run with him last year.

Last night the show was at House of Rock, a music venue. Good size venue, it would be cool to catch a concert there. Sam was the host again, but I missed his set. The opener was a magician, he was pretty entertaining, not a big fan of magic, but it was good for the show, had a lot of different styles of comedy. Aleks with a K featured, he's always funny. I had a fun set, didn't get to do a full headline set, they had a band booked after our show, so I had to get off stage at 10. I always like coming to El Paso, crowds are always great. They don't buy merchandise though, maybe I need to record a cd in Spanish.

This week I am back at Wits End featuring! Working with my good buddy Dante and his lady, Rebekah Kochan. Looking forward to it!