Friday January 21st, 2011 - Cozumel, Mexico This is turning out to be a fantastic week for several reasons. First, the audiences on this ship are some of the sweetest human beings I’ve ever seen. I’m on the Carnival Conquest and it’s home port is Galveston, TX. A large percentage of passengers are from Texas but not all. I don’t know what it is, but they’re wonderful people. I could stay here for years. Normally, I don’t do well in the south as a whole. I was dreading this run, as I’d heard it was full of Texans and the surrounding areas, but boy was I wrong. These people are right there when it comes to hipness. They’re a little older, and very well behaved. I know how to talk to older people, as I was raised by my grandparents and have been around them my whole life. I feel much more at home with a crowd of 60somethings than 20somethings. People have been lining up to take pictures with me and get my autograph after shows. I always make it a point to be available if anyone wants that, and I can tell they really enjoy what I do. They’re telling me stories that coincide with bits I do, and I can tell I’ve had an impact. That’s what this game is all about. I never thought I’d have done this well here. The other break I caught this week is working with a guy named Mark Hawkins. He’s a comic from Detroit who eventually became a cruise director, and knows the business part of the game inside and out. He has a wife and kids and lives on Grand Cayman Island. He isn’t a cruise director anymore and now is back to doing comedy. He’s got a sweet gig. We hit it off really well yesterday and today he and the music director asked if I wanted to have lunch in Cozumel. I love Cozumel, and I gladly accepted. Mark has been out here for years and knows all the best joints I don’t know, and we had a killer meal with a better view for half the price of the other places around. I shut my mouth and let those guys talk. Both of them really have an inside to how the cruise game works. I know I’m still on an uphill learning plane, but I’m getting better. They told me some stories of what other guys did before me, and I’m a church mouse compared to most of them. I’m pretty easygoing. We decided to walk back from the restaurant, and it was a great workout. We were all a sweaty mess by the time we got back, but we worked off our meal and I learned a lot just by listening to those guys talk about the cruise ship industry. This has been a combination of fun and learning, and that’s never a bad thing. I’ll try to enjoy it while I’m learning. My friend Mutzie pulled a great prank. He worked the earlier part of this cruise and told the audiences to come sit in the front and not laugh under any circumstances. I’m worried enough about doing well out here, and didn’t need to have anything to make it any harder, but when I heard what he did I couldn’t stop laughing. That was hilarious and he got me. I’m not at all getting cocky and think I know everything, as I could have a horrible show at any time. I’ve still got another cruise on this ship with a whole new group who may or may not like me in the least. I can’t predict, but I can review. These people were on fire.
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