Thursday September 16th, 2010 - Richland, MI When it comes to a comedy domain, I’m king of the rust belt. From Buffalo to Chicago and most places in between, crowds can identify with and relate to Mr. Lucky. They know what I’m talking about, and I can go into a room of strangers and bond in a few seconds. That’s exactly what happened tonight at the Richland Pub in Richland, MI. There aren’t comedy shows there on a regular basis, but when there are they draw a nice crowd. There were about 75-80 people who packed the place and laughed all the way through the show. The place is owned by a great guy named Phil Anglin who found me years ago after I’d been on the Bob and Tom radio show. He thought I was funny and asked me to do a show at his small pub in Plainwell, MI called Rhino’s. I did, and it was a huge hit. His customer base loved it, and he went on to do many more shows there over the years. Good for him. He’s an entrepreneur with a heart, and treats people extremely well. Our birthdays are a day apart, so maybe that’s a Pisces thing. Either way, I’ve done shows for him in the past but not in a while. I approached him about doing some since I’m booked near Detroit this Saturday and these are good fillers. We could afford to take a chance with minimal risk. Tonight’s show was fantastic, and it totally paid off. I recommended Tom Slovinski for the opening spot and he did a fine job also. The whole night was a smash and I’m glad we rolled the dice. No matter what happens tomorrow night in Plainwell, we’ll turn a buck. I don’t take any credit for doing anything other than the show. Phil did all the hard work of promoting the show, and he deserves to make the most money. I’m thrilled with a hotel and a little gas money. It was a chance to work out, try new material and have some fun. Today is my comedy writing mentor Gene Perret’s daughter Linda’s birthday. Linda is a sweetheart, as are the whole Perret family. Gene was Bob Hope’s head writer for 20 years and has won three Emmy awards for his television writing. If there are more generous and caring people on this planet, I’d sure like to meet them. The Perrets are as sweet as it gets. That being said, Linda told me of an all too familiar unpleasant situation she’s dealing with that’s exactly like the one I’m going through. Gene has an online writing course and it’s wonderful. I’ve taken it several times, and I always learn something. He’s the king of modern day comedy writing, and goes above and beyond in taking time in his critiques. Still, some knob shine doesn’t think Gene knows what he’s talking about and started in with a personal attack that won’t stop. Linda told me her story and I told her mine and we both wondered why we even bother to try and help anyone. One turd always has to ruin it. Gene Perret doesn’t claim to know everything and neither do I. We’ve both helped a lot of people and expected little in return, yet we still get sniped at by morons who think they have something to prove. I’m glad I’m not alone in being hated, but it still isn’t called for. I talked about this with Phil from the club also. Phil tries very hard to please people just as I do, and he gets a face full of it too. His places are well run, immaculate, staffed with a friendly and competent crew and he said despite all that some people still piss and moan. There’s always that few that ruin it for the others. They have nothing close to a clue, but they all think they matter in the big scheme of life. Unfortunately, none of us do. We’re as replaceable as light bulbs, and the older I get the more I realize that. It keeps one humble. I think some people just want to have something to whine about. I had an aunt like that. Nothing was ever good enough for her and I never heard her say she was wrong. Not even once. Now she’s dead and nobody misses her. I want to make the best of my alive time. Part of that will be to ignore idiots like the one I’ve been dealing with the past few days. He’ll go up and tank it at Zanies, and that will be it. He’ll be back in the pool of newbies, blindly hacking is way through when in fact I could have helped save him a lot of time by offering some guidance. Had he just asked for it, this all could have turned out differently. He could have learned from my mistakes, and even gotten some pointers on what to do to make his audition set better. I know what I’m talking about, despite what people might think. I don’t know about a lot of things, but standup comedy is something I know about. Am I crazy? Sure. I’ve never denied that. I’m a dented can, what does anyone expect? If I was ‘normal’, I wouldn’t have a need to stand on a stage on a Thursday night in little bar in Richland, MI telling jokes to people who have no clue who I am. I’d have it figured out by now, hopefully having found something a little more stable. But no, here I still wander. I’m grateful for great people like Phil who set all this up with a phone call and Linda for relaying her story of going through the exact same thing I am when all she wanted was to be helpful. No matter how hard she tries for a solution, her idiot doesn’t seem to want it. All he seems to want is a forum to bitch and throw out rude, mean spirited comments to one of the most laid back and generous people I know. It shouldn’t, but it really does tend to rattle the old self confidence. We tend to only see those who think we’re the problem. I wish I could figure out what keeps putting me in these situations and avoid it the next time. I should have kept my mouth shut at Zanies when both of those inbreds walked over and started talking, but the situation seemed harmless enough at the time. My trying to be helpful led to the first incident, and then being truthful helped ignite the second blowup. I’ll also admit I can have an attitude at times, but that’s not always a bad thing. If some people don’t like it, I couldn’t care any less. I don’t think I’m better than anyone, but I do think the truth matters and when I have an opportunity to implement it, I do. End of story. This was a very enjoyable experience, and doing the show for Phil and talking to Linda on her birthday helped wash the bad taste out of my mouth of the previous couple of days.
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