Enjoying My Invisibility

Friday June 26th, 2009 - Dubuque, IA

After getting drenched by Michael Jackson’s media monsoon most of the morning I feel pretty good about my own life right now. The more I hear the more I think his death was a blessing. He was the life source of countless bloodsuckers, parasites and human leeches.

It’s amazing how everybody seems to want to be ‘the one’ in any particular field but the very few that actually do achieve it are tortured lonely souls who usually die way too soon and never peacefully. I don’t think the human spirit was made for world wide notoriety.

There has to be a balance and once in a while I think any celebrity type has to be at least a little bit like a normal person. Getting recognized everywhere on earth has to be a pretty difficult cross to bear for anyone and I’m sure some handle it better than others. I wonder if I’d be able to handle it all day every day for years and years? That would get to anyone.

I get recognized from time to time but nowhere near enough to call it fame. Most times the people are extremely nice and only want to tell me they enjoyed my show and it made them laugh. What comedian wouldn’t want to hear that? I never mind it and always try to make the person who says it feel at ease. I really am grateful so hopefully they see that.

But when the brief exchange is done I can continue walking in public and eventually it dies down, usually way sooner than later. Then I can blend in with every other run of the mill average Joe and rarely will I get noticed until after the next show somewhere else. It hasn’t ever been to the point of not being able to go outside but real fame has that cost.

Michael Jackson couldn’t go out and hang at the car auction or a baseball card show or anywhere else I like to go and don’t even think about it. If I do get recognized it’s positive and usually just a nod or wave or very brief exchange of words. Unfortunately I’ve never had any throngs of teenage girls swoon and faint when I walked by. That’s disappointing.

Or is it? Tonight I had a fun show in Dubuque, IA. I’m working with one of my former students Steve Purcell from Madison, WI. Steve has really used the class for what it’s for. He does comedy when he can but he has a wife and two daughters at home and a day job.

We’re working at the Mystic Casino and it’s a very nice place. The room we perform in is beautiful and the staff couldn’t be any nicer to us. We did our show tonight and a lot of people came up to us and told us they loved it and shook our hands and it was a small part of our day. After a few minutes everyone trickled out and we walked to the restaurant.

We sat and visited and ate our meal in peace and had a very fun time. I mentioned that a small event like this would have probably made Michael Jackson or Elvis jealous because they couldn’t do it without causing a mob scene. Our meals tasted pretty good after that.

I guess nobody has everything they totally want and that includes the biggest of the big. I may not be a mega star but at least I can have fun doing a show and then go have a meal.