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.

Potential Problems Podcast

For the last couple of months I have been the third host of the Potential Problems Podcast with Allen Clark and John Cuellar. We have had some great guests so far, here are links to all the podcasts that I was on.

Cody Dove, Scotty Goff and Allen Clark

John Cuellar and Rusty Rutherford

9 w/Jacob Breckenridge

10 w/Ann Gora

11 w/Brynn Moody

13 w/Matt Mehne and Nicholas Munoz

14 w/Rusty Rutherford and James Morrow

19 w/Jason Green and Kallie Redhorse

20 w/Royal Wood

26 w/Will Bolt and Pablo Garcia

28 w/Tyler Delao

29 w/Danger K. Varoz and Keith Breckenridge

30 w/Cyrus Moses

32 w/Cody Dove and Scotty Goff

Life and Death

I haven't blogged in quite awhile, probably this entire year. I have been pretty busy with school and really didn't feel like blogging too much. I have been doing mostly local gigs, including a short-lived show at JB'z Sports Bar, which I was hosting on Saturday nights. The restaurant closed down a couple of weeks ago, but we had some great lineups and the crowd was usually pretty solid. Thanks to everyone who performed and supported the show! I'm now 0 for 2 on promoting shows, the other place I did shows at closed down as well. I think I'll just stick to performing and let everyone else deal with promoting.

I've been a regular guest on the Potential Problems Podcast with Allen Clark and John Cuellar. I have been on there for a little over a month now and it's always fun. We have had some really cool guests on there. Check it out!

As far as shows go, I haven't done many road gigs while focusing on school. The semester ended last week and I did a gig in Angelfire with Matt Peterson and Keith Breckenridge, and then went to Hondah Casino with Freddy Charles. I'm trying to fill up my schedule for the next couple of months before getting a job and finishing my associate's degree!

I've lost a handful of friends in the past half-year also, which has been extremely shitty. In December, two of my friends died. Gabby was a former co-worker at the comedy club, she left behind a young child, which breaks my heart. My friend, Jimmy, from Iowa, also died. He was a good friend of the family.

Earlier this year I learned that Lori Callahan, a comic from Denver, had died. I met Lori probably around 2005, I was doing a guest spot at Laffs in Albuquerque and she was headlining. When I got off stage she came up and complimented me on my joke writing and gave me some pointers, she said, "you know you said 'fuck' 17 times?" That was in a five minute set, I had no idea that I had, so I made it a point to completely cut it out of my act, and I rarely say it onstage now because of her. When I moved to Denver in 2009 she was great to me. She took me on some gigs with her to Douglas, Wyoming, and Hill City, South Dakota. She never made me pay any gas, either, which is super cool of a comic to do. Lori actually talked to Wende Curtis, the owner of Comedy Works about getting me a guest spot. I didn't ask her to do it, she did it because that's how Lori was. I never did get the guest spot, but a very cool gesture by Lori. You will be missed!

Last week, I also found out that my biggest fan, Shawn Chamberlain, passed away. My first time featuring at Laffs in Tucson, Shawn was there to see headliner, Dave Ashley, and he really enjoyed my show. Every time I came to Tucson he bought merch, came to all the shows, and even took me out to eat, knowing that I wasn't making much money, he was willing to help out a little bit. I've kept in touch with his family over the years as his health declined. His family was always great to me and very welcoming.

What's Been Going On

I haven't blogged since the 48 Hour Film Festival, so I thought I would fill my five followers in on what's going on in my life, even though, you probably already know, or you really don't give a shit. My buddy, Marc Shuter, and I, finished up our feature length script that we titled, "The Consequences of a Feeble Mind," Marc actually came up with the title. We started writing on March 24th and finished the first draft in early June. A couple weekends ago we finished the re-writes! It's definitely something that we are pretty proud of and can't wait to get it made. The script was entered in to the Creative World Awards' Screenwriting Competition with the first draft we made it to the preliminary round, not bad. We will find out soon if we make the quarterfinals of the Final Draft Big Break Contest!

On a side note, Marc's pilot for a sitcom he wrote for "Law Show," is kicking some major ass! Not only did he make the top 10 in the Script Pipeline Contest, he also made the semifinals of the CWA TV writing contest, and the NexTV Writing and Pitch contest. He's such a great writer, he's going to big things, and I'm honored to be writing with him. We are starting our next project soon.

As far as comedy goes, I haven't been doing much, I went to El Paso for a week at The Comic Strip with Billy D. Washington, had a great time working with him. I have done some other local stuff here and there, but really focusing on school right now. I do have some great gigs coming up though. I will be headlining the Speakeasy Comedy Lounge in Scottsdale in October, which should be super fun!

This past Sunday I had the pleasure of taping my fourth episode of "The After After Party" with Steven Michael Quezada, who you might recognize as Gomez from "Breaking Bad." (R.I.P. Gomie) I love the crew at TAAP, everyone is super friendly and they work their butts off to put on a great show! And they just announced that they signed a deal with DirecTV, which means the show is going national! So every single person that's been on there and will be on there could be seen by up to 50 million viewers! Not a bad deal, congrats to the cast and crew! You guys deserve it.

Colorado Tour and Pinetop, AZ

MAY 2-4 COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO: LOONEES COMEDY CORNER W/MATT PETERSON AND LANDRY

Had a fun week at Loonees in Colorado Springs! Matt Peterson was our opening act for the week. It was nice getting him some stage time at a comedy club, he did a great job! Had fun with him. Landry was the headliner for the week, I had met him before in Las Vegas and Atlanta at a couple comedy festivals. He won the World Series of Comedy, super funny guy and really nice, too. It was nice hanging out with the Loonees crew.

MAY 3 DENVER, COLORADO: COMIC CENTS RADIO W/JESSE CARTER, JODEE CHAMPTION, JOHN T. WREN AND ANDREW ORVEDAHL

Friday I cruised up to Denver for an hour on Comic Cents Radio, you can check it out here. It was fun shooting the shit with Jesse and Jodee, Andrew Orvedahl popped in a little late.



MAY 6 FORT COLLINS, COLORADO: EAST COAST BAR W/BRETT CRANDALL, BEN ADAMS, STEVE YOUNG

Had a show at the East Coast Bar in Fort Collins! Steve Young headlined, it was nice seeing Steve again, he was always one of my favorite guys in the Denver scene, super nice guy and funny. I had never seen Ben Adams before, but he was hilarious! Brett was a great host, too, another super nice guy as well. They had some burlesque dancers on the show as well, which is always pretty rad. Met some cool people up there. Had a solid 10 minute set!



MAY 8 DENVER, COLORADO: DEER PILE W/CHRISTIE BUCHELE, BOBBY CRANE, NATHAN LUND, DR. KEVIN FITZGERALD, SAM TALLENT, A.J. FINNEY AND CHRIS CHARPENTIER

Wednesday night I went to Comedy Works downtown to see Troy Baxley headline, he's one of my favorites! It was an awesome show, got to see Stephanie McHugh, Phil Palisoul and George McClure also.

Afterwards, I walked over to the Deer Pile for the show with the Fine Gentlemen's Club show, Too Much Fun. Christie Buchele, Bobby Crane, Nathan Lund, Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald, Sam Tallent, A.J. Finney and Chris Charpentier were all on the show, too! Holy shit, what a great lineup. Had a fun set, a little edgier than normal! Tried some new shit that did great, too.



MAY 9 DENVER, COLORADO: VOODOO COMEDY PLAYHOUSE W/AMBER HOTT, CHRIS CARLTON, BRENDAN BIRCH AND ULTRA SEX LASERS

This was another fantastic show at a little improv theatre in Denver. Fun crowd, really enjoyed the show, and the band, Ultra Sex Lasers were really cool! Got to see some old friends, too.



MAY 10-11 GREELEY, COLORADO: THE DOWN UNDER COMEDY CLUB W/JASON "MUTT" RODGERS, J-SIN NOVAK, AND DON MORGAN

The Down Under in Greeley is a super cool little comedy club in Northern Colorado. I loved both of the shows there! First night we had about 25, but the crowd was solid. Saturday we had over 50 and they were great! Such a fun weekend, and Don Morgan rocked it! It was nice to see him do a feature set. Love that dude.





MAY 13 PINETOP, ARIZONA: HONDAH CASINO W/KEITH ELLIS

I drove out to Pinetop for the show at Hondah. Keith Ellis was the feature act, funny guy from Phoenix! Had a fun time out there.

R.I.P. Scott Kennedy

As a comic you'll often times run into bitter headliners that think they should have "made it" big, or younger headliners who know they're going to "make it" big. Every time Scott Kennedy came to Laffs he was one of the nicest comics, and one of the funniest. He had a Comedy Central Presents, and numerous other tv credits. Over 50 trips overseas performing for the troops, and never acted like he was better than everyone else. One week he was headlining and Mark Poolos was featuring. The mc for the week was awful! The club owner was going to fire him, but Scott and Mark talked him into not firing him and worked with him on his act the next couple of days and he did a lot better. I thought that was super cool of both of them to do that. How many other comics would have taken the time to help out a struggling mc like that?

I was sitting at the Frontier restaurant a couple weeks ago and one of Scott's jokes popped into my head. It's hard to believe that I will never get to see him again, he died in his sleep yesterday. I have a video somewhere of a prank I pulled on him at Laffs while he was on stage. If I can find it I will make sure to put it up here. Thank you for all that you did Scott, all the shows overseas, and just being a great person. You'll be greatly missed.

If you never got to see Scott perform, check out his performance on the Craig Ferguson.

Matt Peterson

Today is the birthday of my good friend, Matt Peterson, an Albuquerque comic. I've known Matt since before his comedy days when we worked together at Poppi's Pizza (I miss that place!) Matt was always a super cool guy to work with, in fact, on my final delivery there when my car broke down, Matt came and picked me up and took me on the delivery. It was like something out of a movie. An extremely gay movie, but still, a movie. I got to see Matt perform his first few shows over at Laffs Comedy Club, and I knew he was going to be good. He had a great stage presence, and never seemed nervous. I could usually always tell who the new comics were, mostly because I'd have to clean up their puke in the bathroom at the club. With Matt you could never tell if he was nervous.

Over the years Matt's act has gotten so much better. He's a great bit writer and he's an awesome performer, too. I love watching him get pissed off, his rants are the hilarious! I saw him one night at Howie's rip into some people, not going to mention their names, but holy shit! That was one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life.

I've taken Matt on the road a couple of times, and in May we are going to Loonees Comedy Corner in Colorado Springs! I love working with Matt on the road, he's so laid back. Some comics are hard to work with, but not Matt. Last time I took him up there was my birthday week, we got pretty hammered. We worked with Matt Baetz, who is hilarious. Had great shows all weekend, and had fun watching March Madness.

Happy birthday Matt Peterson! Love ya buddy.


To see Matt perform, he's at the Damn Bar in Rio Rancho ever Friday at 8 pm. Also, a big show at the Guild Theater March 15th. He's also one of my opening acts for my dvd taping, so get out and see Matt perform! He's on at the Box tonight at 10:30