Thursday October 6th, 2010 - Wisconsin Dells, WI If nothing else in life, I’ve experienced variety. Sometimes I think it’s a little too much. I’ve been getting into the groove of doing the ‘Schlitz Happened!’ show and having a lot of fun doing it, but today was a completely different turn of events. The Ho Chunk Casino near Wisconsin Dells, WI has finally started doing a comedy show and it started tonight. Of all the casinos in the Midwest, this is one that has never tried comedy of any kind to my knowledge. I’ve approached them more than once over the years, but never too hard. I never really had a desire to be a booker of shows until many of those who do specialize in that started running their business into the ground. Necessity is the mother if invention. The guy who finally landed the account happens to really like what I do, so he offered it to me on his opening night. It’s in a sports bar area and will need a little nurturing to work in the long run, but it totally could. The guy in charge was very supportive and I was able to bring my friend Steve Purcell from Madison to be the opening act. The show was fine. The audience sat far from the stage, trickled in late, and most had no idea why there was a guy standing on a stage talking at them in the middle of their evening, but nobody had a problem with it. After a while they started laughing as a group and I know they enjoyed it. What a difference there was between having to do this gig and the ‘Schlitz Happened!’ show on back to back nights. It was night and day. They weren’t rude tonight, but I had a major effort to stretch time doing material I haven’t been focusing on at all for months. I pulled it off, and nobody else had any clue how different it might have been or cared a half of a rat’s fanny. My job was to do what I did tonight, and I did it. Case closed. I’ll get paid by mail, but I know I will. Steve and I got to hang out and that alone made it worth a three hour drive. Steve is a great guy and super low pressure to deal with onstage and off. After the show I stopped between Milwaukee and Madison to visit with my good friend Don Reese from Iowa. What a wonderful soul Don is, despite his very distinct look. He’s about 6’4” with a shaved head, and always wears black. He intimidates people but is one of THE nicest humans anyone has ever encountered. He’s been a road act for many years. Don and Dan Still from Milwaukee are good friends, and they both know Dwight York out of Minneapolis. They asked me to help them promote a comedy tour with those three guys last fall, but I didn’t have time to devote to it. Now, I have even less free time to put into a project like that, but I’d really like to do it. Those three guys would rock the house. There aren’t three funnier or nicer guys anywhere, and together they’d make up a visual freak show that I think could really sell. They’re all seasoned performers and would love to work together on some kind of a tour. Seeing them being booked in nice venues would be a personal reward for me because I’ve seen how all of them have been treated for such a long time. Like me, they’re plugging away anyway and I think they deserve a lot more.
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