I Love Show People

Friday December 11th, 2009 - Kenosha, WI

No matter how much I whine and complain about what didn’t go right in my life, one of the things that did has been the amazing number of fantastic friends I’ve made throughout the years, and the number keeps growing. Entertainers as a whole are interesting people to be around, and I’ve crossed paths with some truly stellar examples of the best of the best.

I’ve been involved in either standup comedy, radio or professional wrestling most of my adult life and all three of those fields are ripe with characters. Most are good people and if I had to choose between the three I couldn’t do it. Good friends are good friends. Period.

People laugh at me when I say I was around wrestling, but I love a lot of those guys. I’m a fan of most kinds of entertainment when it’s done well, and wrestling is not easy by any stretch of the imagination. Those who are good at it take pride in their craft, and I’ve seen how hard they work at it. Believe it or not, there are a lot of quality people who wrestle.

I’ve known my friend Mike Moran forever. He wrestled as ‘The Texas Hangman’ for at least twenty years and had several partners along the way, most of whom I also knew and liked as people. They were the bad guys in the ring, but I’d trust Mike with my last dollar.

Another guy who pops into mind is ‘Bull Pain’. He’s a bad ass and looks the part but in real life he’s a great guy. Wikipedia lists his real name as something it’s not, so I won’t be the one to spoil the party. I just call him Bull, and he’s been out there slugging it out on a regular basis as long as I have. He’s one of the kindest and gentlest people I’ve ever met.

There’s a special bond with entertainers because we know how difficult it is both on the stage and off. The good ones have a mutual respect and I’ve had that feeling with most of the people I’ve worked with. Fortunately, the percentage of all out wankers is pretty low. I’ve had my clashes, but rarely with performers on air or on stage. We usually get along.

Today I had lunch with Lou Rugani. He’s a radio friend that works at WLIP in Kenosha and has one of THE most amazing voices I’ve ever heard. Everyone else knows it too, but he’s as humble and classy as anyone with that much talent as I’ve ever met. He played the voice of God in an intro bit on my new CD and it sounds like the real thing. He nailed it.

Lou has always been a big fan of mine and I can’t figure out why. I’ve worked with him off and on for years and he always comes out to see me perform whenever he can and for whatever reason, he always comes out on nights when I’m on top of my game. I kid about hiring him as a shill because whenever he shows up, it always seems like it’s a hot show.

I should have bought Lou lunch today as the least I could do for him voicing that bit for me on the CD, but he insisted. We sat around and laughed hard because he’s hilarious and every five minutes someone came in that he knew so he’d introduce me like I was a star. I appreciate people like Lou and Mike and Bull and all the great comedian friends I have as well. The holidays aren‘t fun from a family angle, but great friends sure do make up for it.