More Manic Miles

Tuesday September 18th, 2007 - Milwaukee, WI/Chicago, IL/Lake Villa, IL

Another day of running around like a maniac. First it was up to Milwaukee for a lunch at Miss Katie’s Diner near Marquette University. Miss Katie’s is a local landmark and a place my friend Lynn Miner and I have met for lunch for years. Lynn is a lot of things. He took a comedy class when I first started teaching up at Cardinal Stritch College in 1993. He has a long white beard and is called Santa wherever he goes but he’s also a talented magician.

Not only that he is a master fund raiser for Marquette and was a professor there also. He is a mover and a shaker and one of my very favorite people on earth. He had a joke sheet a few years ago and sent it out to places and we teamed up on it for a while. We also taught a humor healing seminar at St. Michael Hospital in Milwaukee because both of us were an example of their lifesaving service. Lynn had a heart attack several years ago and was sent there and that’s where I went when I had my near fatal car accident in 1993. We did a full day seminar and it was received really well. Lynn is great but I hadn’t seen him in a while.

The guy who set up the lunch was Jim Peck. Jim is a major broadcasting talent who is an icon in Milwaukee. He worked for a local TV station doing news and then went to LA for a very successful network career hosting game shows and other things. I got to meet him a few years ago when I was a guest on his talk show on the PBS station in Milwaukee. He is a great host and extremely sharp and funny and was very gracious to have me on his show.

I contacted him about using a copy of that show for promotional purposes. I want to use that and a few other TV appearances I’ve made for a DVD which I can use to get work. It doesn’t hurt to have interview segments on it and his was great. Plus it’s a kick for me as I always thought he was smooth on the air and to have a TV icon interview me was a blast.

Going up to Miss Katie’s to have lunch with Jim Peck and Lynn Miner is something that I would squeeze into my schedule no matter how busy I was. They made time for me and I couldn’t and wouldn’t miss it. I got there early and they were already there. We all had the vegetarian chili which is the best I’ve ever had. Lynn turned me on to it years ago and I’m not even a vegetarian but this stuff is killer. We convinced Jim to try a bowl and he liked it too. Somebody recognized Jim and came over to talk to him and he was friendly and fun. I try to be like that too when I’m recognized but I’m sure he gets it a lot more than I do.

Both of them are involved in fundraising for Marquette and they were talking about how a guy just donated $51 million to the school. Wow. That blew my mind. How did he get a number like fifty ONE million? Wouldn’t fifty be enough? Earlier in the year someone else gave $30 million. They were thrilled with that one and then this guy ponies up $51 million. How do you pay it? Do you write a personal check? Cash? Show up with a wheel barrow?

I told them that my father died this year and didn’t leave any of his four kids one penny and now I’m hearing people are donating chunks like this to their university. I guess life is not fair and never will be and all I can do is enjoy my vegetarian chili with two people that I really like and respect. That’s what I did and it was well worth the drive to Milwaukee.

My main business of the day was in Chicago though. I headed back home for a short nap before driving downtown to Zanies to host the Lucky 21 Comedy Competition finals. I am glad I got to do it last year because there were a lot of really good comedians on the bill. I am not a big fan of competitions anyway for many reasons. This one was a packed lineup.

HBO is one of the sponsors and it’s a comedy festival in Las Vegas. 21 clubs chose their favorite comic last year and we got to showcase at Caesars Palace. I made it from Chicago because Zanies picked me and I’m glad they did. This year it’s a much more elaborate deal and it requires voting from the internet and all kinds of other things I’m not very good at.

There are a lot of ‘vote for me’ contests popping up and that can allow people who may not be the strongest comedians to get noticed if they can persuade enough other people to stuff the ballot box with votes. I always hated that kind of tactic but it does work. I do not feel comfortable with it myself though. I just want to do my show and have people like it.

That isn’t how the real world works though. The truth is there are a lot of talented folks who might never get seen and get that big break we all need. I pray I’m not one of them. I hosted the show tonight and watched all twelve comedians on the bill go up and nail a hot show one right after the next. It’s a six minute audition and they went up and killed just as they should have. They’re all touring road comics like me and if they can’t do a six minute set they should get out of the business. I did my best to give them a strong intro and make sure the audience was up and into it before I brought them up. That’s the least I could do.

Many times an emcee in that situation would try to weasel his way onto the tape and try to make an impression on the judges but since I already did the event last year I am totally on their radar and don’t have to impress them. All I had to do was keep the show moving and I know how to do that. It was actually a night off for me on stage. It was very easy.

The main thing that was good was hanging out after the show. Normally I’m just not the kind of person to hang at the bar and schmooze but in these kinds of situations it’s a smart thing to put in an appearance and shake a few hands. Deals can be made or at least have a seed planted in the hanging out time at the bar after a big showcase like this. I didn’t want to do it but I forced myself to hang out after the show. It was a good move and I had fun.

I knew many of the people on the show but not all so I got to meet them and talk about the business which is always good. Now I know some more people and those connections come back to help in the strangest places. I hung with the producer of the show and a few of the staff and it really was a lot of fun. I don’t drink but this wasn’t a drunk fest at all. It was just some good people hanging out and talking and it was a good move to show up.

The bad part was driving all the way back to Lake Villa at 2am. I was totally sober but I was tired and didn’t feel like driving at all. It was a small price to pay for being able to get to host this show though. I am glad they asked me to and on a social intercourse level this was a day that could pay off nicely in the future. This is yet another part of the business of comedy that has NOTHING to do with how funny anybody is. I’m learning to work it.