Psychobabble TV

Tuesday May 4th, 2010 - Chicago, IL/St. Charles, IL

What a world class scatterbrain I can be. I’ve spent a lifetime losing keys, wallets and anything else that’s difficult to replace. Today it was my cell phone, which I left at Zanies last night while I was hosting the new talent showcase show. I take most things out of my pockets before I go on stage, only because I don’t want to have a lumpy crotch to stare at.

I really don’t care if people choose to stare at my crotch, and I prefer if it’s an attractive lady, but a wallet or phone in my pocket makes me uncomfortable. Usually I’ll leave it in the car, but for whatever reason I brought it with me last night. I put it in a hiding place so secret, I forgot to retrieve it after the show and got halfway home before I realized I did it.

Obviously, I couldn’t call anyone at Zanies to see if they were still there but since I live 50 miles from the club I turned around and took a chance that I might get lucky and catch the manager still there counting money or something. Nope. Not this time. I was screwed.

It’s amazing how important a cell phone becomes in 21st Century life. I was without it a total of about 14 hours and it felt like I was exiled to Alcatraz for a twenty year period of solitary confinement from civilization. I breathed a sigh of relief as I picked it up from the box office person who let me in to get it. We joked about how dependent we all are now.

I had a full mailbox full of messages to get to, even more than usual. For some reason it seemed to be even busier than usual, and I get a ton of phone calls every day from a lot of different sources. Most are either booking related or people asking me to help them with a comedy situation. Many times I just turn it off and ignore it, but I like it to be my choice.

Tonight I had a comedy class scheduled at Zanies in Pheasant Run, but it was delayed a week because Mike Preston was taping an episode of his cable TV show “Psychobabble” instead. Mike has been doing that show for several years now and he really puts his whole being into it. I know how difficult it is and he does a splendid job of keeping it together.

Mike invited me to be on as a guest since he bumped my class, and I always enjoy being in the mix with his cast of characters. Marge Tackes is his co-host and they fit perfectly as a pair. Mike used to be a social worker and is a very giving person, sometimes to a fault.

He treats everyone on the show like adults, even though it doesn’t always come back. In the times I’ve been on, he’s always let me have creative freedom and I always try to make sure I’m prepared so I add to the show. I appreciate and respect how he runs everything so I feel a responsibility to carry my load and not be a weak guest. We’ve had a lot of fun.

Tonight Mike asked me to prepare some of my “Sixty Second Soapbox” bits that I have been doing on various radio stations for years. He played a clip from me on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and I sprinkled them in between other guests. He also had Tim Walkoe on and it was a really entertaining show top to bottom. You can check out Mike’s website at www.psychobabbletv.com. Warning: this is not your typical TV talk show.