February 1st, 2012 - Kenosha, WI/Fox Lake, IL Up early once again to go to Kenosha, WI for a radio appearance on WIIL to promote a Valentine’s Day weekend show at The Brat Stop on February 11th. They’ve done them for several years apparently, but this is my first time being asked to do it. It should be a lot of fun, and I’m delighted to keep building a fan base in my targeted four city territory radius. It feels like it’s actually starting to work, even though I know I still have a hell of a long way to slide before I’m even semi well known in and around the four markets of Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison and Rockford. There are literally millions of people in that space, so it will take some time to get my name out to the public and have it sink in, if even a little. I had a harsh reminder this morning when a caller on WIIL asked what my ‘schtick’ was on stage. First off, please don’t use that term when talking to a comedian. It’s like calling a set a ‘skit’. It isn’t a skit. It’s a set. And it isn’t a schtick. It’s an act. Please get it right. Second, I’ve only been trying to polish whatever the hell it is anyone calls what I do on stage for going on a quarter of a century. What more do I have to do to have at least a bit of name recognition? That guy had NO idea who I was, and wasn’t impressed in the least when he was told. Apparently, he and I had never crossed paths - and probably never will. That sure does keep me humble to the point of embarrassment, but it also lets me know how important media coverage is in my quest to have a territory of notoriety. I don’t have to have everyone in those four cities to know who I am, just enough to show up to fill any venue at which I happen to be performing. Last week it was Franchesco’s in Rockford. February 11th it will be The Brat Stop. I have shows at Zanies in Chicago in March and June, and the tribute show to my mentor C. Cardell Willis in Milwaukee at Shank Hall on April 22nd. I’ve been getting a steady flow of positive media coverage via radio and word of mouth, and there have been some ads put out by some of the venues also. It’s building. Being on radio stations I’m normally not on never hurts. This was a nice plug today, but it’s been a long time coming. I’d never been asked to be on the morning show before, and it felt kind of awkward. We do the Mothership Connection program Sundays in the studio immediately next door in the same building, and that vibe tends to get rather competitive. Whatever the case, today I got on to do my plug. I was able to mention my website, my ‘Hard Luck Jollies’ CD, my comedy classes and even squeeze in a mention of the King of Uranus. I got all of it out in front of a new audience, and that’s how followings are built. I’ll blow the roof off of the Brat Stop, and make a connection there. Hopefully, I will be able to do more shows both there and in the area, and get back on the morning show again after that. It’s a calculated plan, but it takes time to build. And that’s only within a limited area of the four cities I chose. And I haven’t even started to crack Madison yet. I have all I can handle to keep up with what I’m doing now. Madison can wait. But not for too long.
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