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.

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.

Laffs Tucson

This past weekend I performed at Laffs Comedy Club in Tucson, AZ, with Tom Sims from Phoenix and Laurie Kilmartin from LA. Both were very funny and a pleasure to work with. Had some pretty crazy crowds, which is something I'm used to in Tucson. Usually I like to just go up and do my set though. In Tucson there were quite a few hecklers, but none of them messed up any of my punchlines or anything like that, so at least the hecklers had good timing. I always love to going to Tucson, there's always a few of the local comics that come out and say hi or do guest spots. My wife got to go with me on this trip, which was awesome. Last time she met some of my friends, Jacob and Jessica, and they got along really well, so we got to hang out with them again. Jacob is a funny up and coming comic in Tucson. And he looks like a grown up version of Ernie from "Billy Madison." And he pees his pants.

The owner of Laffs, Gary Bynum, is always super cool to me. I always look forward to talking with him while I'm there. His wife and son were at the club as well. His son Casey is the manager of the club, he actually graduated from Eldorado High School in Albuquerque a year before I did. I didn't know him then though, because I moved to Albuquerque half way through my senior year. Or in Albuquerque, my senor year, with that cool thing over the n.

Overall, the shows were great though! The weather was perfect, too. The trip went by way too fast. Me, the Mrs, Jacob and Jessica had dinner at Mama's Hawaiin (sp?) Barbeque. If you ever get a chance to try it, it's on Speedway and Park. I tried the Kalua Pork, they give you a huge plate full of pork, two huge scoops of rice and macaroni salad. I barely even touched the sides, and couldn't finish all of the pork. The wife and I could have definitely shared a plate. It was awesome. (And on a side note, I just learned how to spell the word definitely. All these years I spelled it definately. But, at least I'm not one of those people that say, "your dumb." It's "you're dumb." Dummy.)

Thursday night we had a show at the Guild Theater in Albuquerque. Also on the bill were Roger Peterson, Sarah Kennedy, A.J. Martinez, and Matt Peterson. The Guild is the coolest theater in Albuquerque. They show a lot of great movies, and it's just a cool place. The guys working there were awesome, too. I think the owner's name was Keith, super cool, and Chris was there that night as well. They treated us all great. We had a pretty decent turnout for Albuquerque on a Thursday night. And I got to see my good buddy, Marc Shuter. Marc and I used to write all the time together. I miss that son of a bitch. And he told my wife he reads my blogs, even the boring sports ones. So, I hope you're reading right now, Marc. I miss hanging out with ya buddy!

So, the show went great, had a lot of fun performing at the Guild. I actually filmed part of "Mismatch.com" there back in 2005. We had one short scene we filmed there and they were cool enough to let us film. We also had a screening there for part of the Sin Fronteras Film Festival, which was wonderful! It was weird seeing myself on the big screen, but it was fun.

Next up is a show at UNM at the Rodey Theater on December 2nd! Should be a lot of fun, it's a nice big stage. Then I'll be doing Wits End in Westminster, CO, for NYE w/Spanky. Then January 4th at the M Bar in Los Angeles for part of the Laughing Skull Festival! Then I start school January 9th at CNM. We got our classes registered today, I'm gonna get my learns on.


Me on stage

Me on stage again

Jacob, Jessica, Caitlin, and me

Me, Kyle Reade, and Jacob

Upcoming Shows

The last two shows I've done were corporate gigs where I had to do pretty clean material. Not the most fun for me. If you've seen my act, you'd know I'm funnier with some adult humor. I usually don't go over the line, but get pretty close sometimes.

This week I have two shows, one at the Launchpad, and one at Tourettes Without Regrets. Both shows will be dirty for sure, it'll be nice to tell some of my favorite jokes that I haven't gotten to in awhile. Both shows have a variety of different performers, comics, bands, burlesque and poetry!

Next month I get to go to Laffs in Tucson! I love going there, one of my favorite clubs to work. I'll be starting school in Januray hopefully some online classes.

I also found out I got into the first round of the Laughing Skull Festival! I'll be in Los Angeles January 4th at the M-Bar!

Corporate Gig

Last night I took a corporate gig through a booking agency. At first I turned the gig down because they wanted 50-60 minutes clean, then the booker told me I could get another comic to open then I could cover the rest. It worked with my work schedule, so I decided to do it. I asked local comic, Sarah Kennedy to open the show. She's clean and very funny!

When we get to the hotel the people are having dinner and waiting for dessert to be served. We were told it would be 15-20 minutes, no big deal. These people had probably never hired a comic before, but at least they didn't make us perdorm while they were eating dinner. The lady in charge finally went up and said, "hey the comics are here." Not exact words, but not much of intro. I told Sarah I would bring her up though so it wasn't too awkward. So I took the podium, yeah there was a podium, and I introduced Sarah. She did a solid 20 minutes and did great! The crowd was a little chatty while she was on "stage." I sat in the back and watched, she had a few jokes I hadn't heard her do before, funny as always. I think she's got a great career ahead of her. She's only been at it for a couple years.

Sarah brought me up and I started by making fun of the company and got some huge laughs. I did some crowd work before I got into my prepared material. Seemed like a really fun crowd and I was having a great time. Until my third joke. I was asking a few guys in the crowd if they had names for their genitals, it was a PG-13 show. So I couldn't say penis. A big guy wearing a cowboy hat and cowboy boots walked in and I asked if he named his junk. He wasn't playing along so I just went back to my joke. After the first punchline he stood up and said something, I don't remember what it was. I just thought he was being a dick to make his co-workers laugh. Then he walked towards me and I wasn't really sure what he was going to do. He pulled out a pocket knife and said he was gonna cut off my balls, so I said "Git R Done." Well, at that point I realized he wasn't joking around. He grabbed my crotch, for some reason my balls were missing in action, so he actually didn't grab any of the good stuff. But he held on with one hand while he had the pocket knife in the other. I kept backing away from him with the mic from the podium still in my hand. He finally let go and walked off and I went back to the podium. I had a bunch of thoughts in my head at the time, I have never been attacked on stage like that. I kept thinking that someone should have done something about it, but noone did so I just kept my mouth shut about it. I did a few jokes about it when it seemed like he wasn't listening, but its pretty fucking hard to get back into funny mode after being threatened like that. I should have just walked out, but I wanted to be a pro and stick around. And, of course, get paid. Had I walked out I am guessing I wouldn't have gotten paid for the gig.

Any other comics been through anything like that? I think I am going to email the booker and manager of the company.

Alien Warrior Comedian

I first heard about the Alien Warrior Comedian a few years ago when I was working at Laffs in Tucson. At the time I thought it sounded funny, so I googled him and watched a video on youtube. It was pretty impressive. Well, a few years went by and I had totally forgot about it. In May this year I was featuring for my buddy, Dante, at Wits End Comedy Club in Westminster, Colorado. (I'll be there New Years Eve, too, tickets are on sale soon.)

On Friday one of the managers informs us that we have a guest set, the Alien Warrior Comic! I was excited to see his act until I realized I had to follow him. I've followed low energy comics, high energy comics, guitar acts, but never a different species. I normally don't get nervous before going on stage, but when he walked in he was exremely intimidating. I'm only 5'9" and he seemed at least a foot taller than me. I wasn't sure if he was really that tall or if it was part of the costume. He took the stage at the early show and did really well, had very clever written jokes and was great handling hecklers. I was pretty impressed, he had a really solid set. Following him wasn't bad either, he got the crowd into it and they were having a great time, just made my work a lot easier.

After my set, the Alien Warrior and his buddy, Rolan, both told me they enjoyed my set. Both gave me great compliments which was nice. And the Alien Warrior was WAY less intimidating at that point. He ended up doing a guest set at the late show as well, so I got to see him perform again!

I was in Vegas for the World Series of Comedy this past week at the Alexis Park Hotel. I was one of 101 comics competiting in the competition, including Alien Warrior Comedian, who's real name is Mark Weitz. I didn't make it to his show Tuesday night, but heard that he advanced to the semifinals. I finally ran into him the following day out of costume. Definately not as intimidating without the costume. I saw him at a couple of the seminars and the booker meet and greet. His name even came up when we were hanging out with Screech (Dustin Diamond) at the Orleans.

I'm hoping to catch more of Alien Warriors act, other than just seeing a short guest set. If you wanna check him out go .com.aliencomedian.com

World Series of Comedy set

Well, my set finally came and went just a few minutes ago. I'm not too happy with my performance, but I didn't bomb. My first joke didn't get a big laugh like normally, in fact they hardly laughed at all. That kinda threw me off, but I still went ahead with my set. I told a joke that I wasn't planning on telling, its usually just a filler joke. Then I missed the light so I didn't close strong either. Pretty disappointed. I haven't got a chance to do much here either, I woke up Wednesday not feeling very well. Oh well, got to see some great comics and catch up with some old friends! Hope to come check it out next year, too.

Nick 13 show

My wife, Caitlin, invited me to a concert with her a little over a week ago, to see Nick 13, the front man for Tiger Army. I'll admit I was a little hesitant at first, because she said he was doing his new country style. She bought the new album and I listened to it a few times, and at first I wasn't that excited. But, I couldn't turn down a date with my honey, so I agreed to go. I've always enjoyed the Launchpad, my favorite place to see a show. Very intimate and easy to meet the bands. I've seen some great bands there: Dog Fashion Disco, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Reel Big Fish, Suburban Legends, Six Feet Under. I've even performed there with my buddies, Anesthesia.

As the show got closer I got more excited. I was interested to see what the live show would be like. We got downtown around 630 and walked around a bit before heading back to the Launchpad. We went up to the upper level and sat and waited for the show to begin. It was scheduled to start at 8, but it was after 830 when it started. I had never heard of the opening act, Brett Detar, of Juliana Theory. We went downstairs to check him out. He looked the villain from my asthma workbooks I got as a child. The small crowd was pretty receptive of Brett. He seemed like a pretty sad man, like Steven Wright with a guitar. I dug his style though, he played acoustic and banjo on a few tunes. Watching him made me wan to see Dax Riggs live. Dax has been doing solo stuff lately. Brett was giving away his cd for free after the show, he should sell zoloft. I think he was a great opening act for Nick 13, a nice change of pace. It always sucks when you go to a show and every act sounds the same. That's one thing I love about comedy, I rarely get booked with similar acts.

After Brett finished we stood around waiting for Nick 13. Caitlin kept talking about how handsome he was and how it seemed like he was singing to you. She's funny, she has a huge crush on him. I've listened to Tiger Army before and I really dig their style. Great song writing, too. Finally, the band, sans Nick took the stage. The drummer was an older guy, looked to be in his 50's. Looked like a cool old man. I noticed he had a wedding band, too, probably had a cute old lady at home. The guy on stand up bass was from England, you could feel the sound on every song. The guy on steel guitar seemed like a pretty old fella as well. The steel guitar sounds awesome! Guitar player was Dave Gleason, I only remember his name because it was on his guitar strap. He was a pretty impressive player. At times he had a Chuck Berry sound. Nick 13 took the stage a few minutes later with his acoustic, the least impressive of the instruments that night, but very solid. I could almost hear Caitlin's pants getting moist when he took the stage. She wasn't lying, he is a pretty handsome sumbitch, and very charasmatic. I recognized most of the songs that they played from the new album, and a few Tiger Army songs as well. People kept shouting out Tiger Army songs. Most singers probably would have been a little pissed about it, but Nick just smiled and said he'd play them next time Tiger Army was in town. He was very appreciative of the crowd, I can't imagine how difficult that transition is going from Tiger Army to Americana. But the fans seemed to enjoy it and even sang along. Can't wait to seee him next time through Albuquerque!