Contact Buzzing

Saturday August 1st, 2009 - Chicago, IL/St. Charles, IL

I’m staying busy making contacts but everything else is sitting around collecting dust. If I could clone myself I’d be able to get a lot more done but right now it’s only me trying to get momentum going and I feel like a NASCAR driver that has to be my own pit crew.

That’s no way to win a race so I’m trying to establish my crew and come up with a goal we’re all trying to achieve together. Actually I’m in several races right now and have a lot of things going that require a team in place to get it done correctly. I’m seeing that now.

The first stop today was WGN in Chicago for a Jerry’s Kidders segment. That team is a pleasure to work with on the air and off even though we had a choppy performance today in all of our opinion. We were in and out and all over the board but at least we are always able to have fun even if we’re not clicking as we know we can. We all enjoy the process.

Afterward we met with Vicki Quade who wrote and sold the very successful show ‘Late Night Catechism’ and a number of other offshoots. She knows how theatre works and we would like to get our live show into theatres rather than comedy clubs. Many people don’t like the idea of comedy clubs for various reasons and we want to develop our own crowd.

We met for over two hours and shot ideas back and forth and I thought it was absolutely well worth all of our time. Vicki is in contact with theatre people all over Chicago and all over the country too and she’d earn a commission on gigs that we’d be thrilled to pay her.

After our meeting I drove to St. Charles and took a lap in the Charles Towne Mall. It’s a new month and I needed to start walking again on a regular basis so today was a good day to get that in gear. I feel bad for the owner of that mall and most others around because of the abundance of vacant space available. I think there were more stores closed than open.

I stopped at Zanies in Pheasant Run Resort to say hello to everyone and ended up with a gig. John DaCosse is a great guy and has a day job where this was a busy week and he put in a ton of hours. He is the house emcee at Pheasant Run quite often and he wanted to get some rest so he offered me the hosting spot for the late show. It helped him so I said yes.

It helped me too because it was a few bucks in my pocket when I can really use it. It’s a win/win situation and I always love to see it work out like that. John Roy closed the show and I have always had a ton of respect for him. He’s got a great work ethic and has gotten better and better over the years and continues to improve. I enjoyed watching him work.

He did two shots on The Late Late Show and also was on The Tonight Show once with a second one scheduled next year. He won the $100,000 grand prize on Star Search and I think he deserved everything he got. He’s smart and works hard and I give him his props.

John Roy and Vicki Quade are people I want to exchange time and energy with because it makes us all better. I need to keep improving so I’ll have something to offer in return.