Viva Fort Atkinson

Thursday October 4th, 2007 - Fort Atkinson, WI/Lake Villa, IL

Another busy day. Good thing I’m keeping a diary of it all because if I didn’t it would all run together in a big blur. If I’m lucky I’ll be able to sit around at the old folks home in my last days and read about how many things I had going way back when. I’ll gum a big bowl of soggy oatmeal and marvel at how much I packed into my life. That’s the plan anyway.

The main thing is I’m having fun with all my projects. I’m not on any kind of schedule or path and that can be kind of disconcerting because I’m not sure what my outcome will be. I am not doing things the traditional way at all and that brands me as even more of a kook and a maverick with the powers that be. I have always been looked at as a lone wolf and it hasn’t helped my reputation much with people who are in charge. Whether it was radio or comedy or even pro wrestling I was the outsider and the establishment thought I was nuts.

There’s good nuts and bad nuts. Thomas Edison was considered a nut as was Einstein. I would love to be put in that category of crazy but I’m not flattering myself to think I am. I am just trying to improve every day and be the best me I can be. That’s one bit of wisdom that has leaked through the cement in my head after all these years of fighting the system.

Comparing myself to others is not what I need to be doing I’m not like most comedians in many ways but in others I’m a total fit. It’s a pretty complex situation that I will go nuts trying to figure out and it won’t be the good nuts. This is a difficult business in a life that’s even more difficult on a planet that isn’t even in the busy part of the galaxy. It’s all over in a cosmic blip so why get upset about anything? I need to keep going and have some FUN.

It’ll all be over soon enough anyway so why not enjoy it and do what I want to do? Who am I trying to impress? The people who like me really like me and the people who do not really do not. What can I do to change that? I guess I’d have to be a different person and I don’t want to do that now. It’s taken me a lifetime to build this one and I’m happy with it.

Tonight I worked at a biker bar called Fat Boyz in Fort Atkinson, WI. Not a gig to build a career around but it was something to do on a Thursday night when I was off. It came to me in a package deal with the show in Janesville on Wednesday so I took them both. They were about as opposite as it gets and not many comedians could pull off a show for both. I am one of those people and I gave the people everything I had and they really enjoyed it.

The place is tiny but they squeezed about 80 people in there and there wasn’t a place for anyone to walk. Fire codes were stretched and the air conditioner was broken so it was an entire room full of sweaty people sitting close together for a couple of hours. By the time I got on it was a funky sweaty steam room but they were there to laugh and they were ok.

There were a few biker types and a few regular people and a few irregular people and all formed one audience so I tried to work to all of them and it was a real challenge. I have as much experience in this situation as anyone on the Earth and I pulled it off without a hitch. I even got paid a bonus from the owner who was thrilled. Job done. Back to civilization.