Inglourious Kidders

Saturday August 22nd, 2009 - Chicago, IL/Kenosha, WI/Gurnee, IL

Busy from sunup to sundown today. I didn’t get to bed until 6am because I was working on Jerry’s Kidders bits and needed to finish up. I got right back up at 8:00 and it reminded me of one of the good things about not being in morning radio anymore. The hours stink.

I’d much rather be pooped but prepared than go in the studio and waste everyone’s time as I easily could have done. I respect Jerry too much and he’s putting his neck out by even having us on at all. WGN is a major radio station and I’m very fortunate to have a regular weekly slot on it. The least I can do is give my best effort. Plus, we were short a Kidder.

Tim Slagle had to attend a funeral in Michigan on short notice so we had a short crew. I felt I needed to be the anchor today because Ken Sevara’s strength isn’t necessarily on the radio side. Tim and Ken are both comics. Jerry is the radio guy. I’m the only one who has done both full time so it was up to me to set the pace today. I love that kind of challenge.

After the show we met up with Kipper McGee for lunch. Kipper is still trying to sell us to a distributor for a syndicated show and we’ve gotten some nibbles apparently. That’s a long shot and we all know it but we’re in the machine and that means we have a chance.

Lisa Greene also joined us. Lisa is a veteran Chicago radio talent and is between jobs as so many good people are right now. She came to see me a Zanies a while back and we’ve kept in touch. She’s extremely professional and is looking to get back in the business so I thought it would be good for her to mingle with Kipper and also get to meet the Kidders.

We don’t have any female voices right now but at some point we might need one. Lisa is a pro and a sweetheart too and we all got along splendidly at lunch. Kipper is working a lot of angles and he has to make a living since getting dumped at WLS. He’s one of an all too tiny pool of radio people I trust but he loves the Kidders and I know he’ll do us right.

We’re starting to build our team of quality people around us and that’s what will put us over the top ultimately. We’re funny enough on the air and we’ve proven it on two major Chicago radio stations going on two years now. The real secret is how we sell ourselves.

Are we always brilliant? Of course not. Nobody is. What we are is consistent in how we go about our business and we show up each week prepared to provide content for the time we’re on the air. Some weeks have been better than others but as a whole this is a winner.

People with reputations as solid as Kipper McGee backing us don’t hurt one bit. We are also on one of the biggest radio stations in America and every time we go on the air it’s a notch in our credibility belt. These are all things that rank a lot higher than being funny.

As we keep improving hopefully we’ll keep building a larger following and eventually be able to do live shows in theatres rather than have to scrape the comedy club goo out of the bottom of that barrel. We’re all way over that. This is our ray of hope and we know it.

Basically what we’ve got now is a weekly half hour commercial in place to eventually sell something to those who like what we do. That product could be a live show or maybe a tangible item like a book or CD or anything else we can come up with. How can we get the very most out of it? That’s what we kicked around at lunch and all of us contributed.

After lunch it was a lot later than I thought but I promised I’d attend ‘Hearse Fest’ that was being put on by my Mothership Connection co-host Dr. Destruction. The Doc is one of the hardest working and most naturally talented people I know and the more I’m a part of his world the more I respect and admire the guy. He’s loaded with all kinds of abilities.

Not only is he a fantastic artist and painter but he also heads up a punk rock band called “The Dead Leathers“. I’ve heard him speak of the band for a while now and today was the first time they’d played in many years apparently. I told him I’d be there for it and I didn’t want to go back on my word so even though I was tired I headed up to see the big shindig.

Unfortunately there was only ONE hearse that showed up for the fest. Can a ‘fest’ have only one participant in it? I felt bad for the Doc but he wasn’t upset about it at all. He had his punk rock crowd out there and there were bands playing and booths set up with things for sale like monster masks and the people who were there all seemed to be having fun.

The bar was called Kelly’s and they had delicious food so I got a plate of lobster ravioli and watched the Dead Leathers perform. Dr. D is very good on stage and he sang the lead and played guitar and was very entertaining to watch. I wish the crowd was a lot bigger.

On the way home I decided to check out the Packer game at the Brat Stop for a little bit. I live just over the border in Illinois and don’t get Wisconsin TV stations so watching the Packers on local TV is a hassle. I sat there cheering for an exhibition game and I knew my addiction was still there. No matter how hard I try I can’t seem to break my Packer habit.

They looked really strong and even though the game didn’t count there was a whole bar full of people cheering when the Packers did something good, which was often. I scanned the whole place and saw people of all ages dressed in their Green jerseys and realized I’m not alone. Whatever drug the NFL is selling is one I want to hook people on in the future.

I didn’t stay for the end of the game and on my way home I passed a theatre which isn’t far from where I live and they were showing Quentin Tarantino’s new movie ‘Inglourious Basterds’. I’d heard so much about it I knew I had to see it before others ruined it for me.

I’ve always liked Tarantino’s movies for the most part even though they can be over the top at times. I was a fan of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown but I never understood the Kill Bill movies at all. He sure has been able to attract a lot of attention.

I thought his latest movie was interesting and it has some amazing scenes in it but I was not blown away with it like I was with say a Pulp Fiction. But what the hell do I know? In my mind Dr. Destruction should be directing movies. His talent always blows me away.