Radio Air Freshening

Friday December 28th, 2007 - Milwaukee, WI/Vernon Hills, IL

I am and always have been one of simple means. Little things please me and little things irritate me. I could lose a radio job 1000 miles from home and not think twice about it but then I might go have lunch and my steak wouldn’t be cooked as rare as I asked and that is what will gnaw at me for the rest of my meal. I’m getting a lot better with it but that’s me.

Today was just flat out FUN. A lot of little things came together and it added up to a big day where I was treated like a star. Who doesn’t want that? Everyone dreams of it and I’m lucky enough to have had quite a few days like this in my life. I might not be a superstar as far as the public goes but that doesn’t guarantee happiness at all. Today was just perfect.

My friend Drew Olson invited me up to Milwaukee to sit in on his radio show from 9:00 to noon called ‘The D List’. I’m a pseudo-semi-quasi-regular with those guys and I always have a blast. It’s very laid back and low pressure and I feel like one of the boys. They have a really good vibe and I can fit right in because I know the local sports scene very well.

I’ve known Drew for too many years to count and he’s as good as there is. Great person and very talented both as a writer and a radio guy. He has been friends with Dan Needles a long time who is a TV sports anchor. I’ve known Dan for years and he’s really fun and the best sports trivia guy I’ve ever met. I thought I was pretty good but he’s the true master.

Sitting around talking Wisconsin sports with those guys is as easy as it gets. I grew up in Milwaukee and it’s taken a lifetime to pack my head full of that knowledge. Why waste it? Not only is it fun to hang with those guys I don’t do it all that often so it’s not like it’s any kind of job on my part. I come in and have fun when I’m in town and it’s my fix of radio.

Radio is a lot of fun when it’s on those terms. Those guys treat me great and listeners do too. I always get a call or a few emails saying ‘Hey, heard your cd. You’re pretty funny!’ It never gets old to hear that and I will offer you reading this the same offer I made to the listeners today. I have a few cds left and while they last if you’d like one as my sincere gift of thanks just shoot me an email and I will mail you one out. I appreciate you reading this.

Some people think I’m a total idiot and that’s fine but a lot of people don’t and they are the ones I am going to focus on. For example there’s a regular contributor to The D List who is a writer who covers the Packers. He is very good at it and I got to know him from being a guest on the show. I sent him one and he ended up playing it on Christmas Eve for his family and he told that story on the air today. How flattering is that? I was touched.

After the show Drew and I went out for lunch and bounced around some show ideas for the new year. Drew is a helper and very positive and as long as I’ve known him he’s an up front guy and goes out of his way to help all people. He had some very good ideas for me and hopefully I had a few for him too. He’s really building a strong network with his radio contacts combined with his baseball contacts from when he was a beat writer for years. He can help me get some play with Uranus Factory Outlet and it’s all a win/win for everyone.

This is how we always thought it should work. We talked about stuff like this years ago when Drew was just as guest on my show when I was on 93QFM. He always says I’m the one that gave him his first shot in radio but he was the one who did me the favor. He knew what he was doing on the air from the first time in front of a mike. Now it’s reversed and I am the guest and hopefully I’m able to pay him back by adding to his show. I try my best.

While all this was going on I had forgotten that I taped a bit for Jerry Agar on WLS. He is doing the morning show this week and three comedians made predictions for 2008. I am always happy to be on with Jerry because like with Drew we’ve known each other so long it’s not even work. Jerry played the bit this morning and I had lots of emails as I got home.

That was enough to make me feel good but I had to get to Vernon Hills Zanies to do my show by 8:00. I am filling in this week a couple of loose shows and tonight was the first. It was a fantastic audience and pretty full which was a pleasant surprise this time of year. It’s traditionally a slow week so seeing a line of people waiting to see me was a pleasant sight.

Jim Moran is yet another radio friend I used to work with who has been all over the dial. He has a girlfriend named Diane who does overnights at WXLC in Waukegan and I hadn’t seen either of them for a while and they both came out to the show. Then on a whim I got a call from Jerry Agar and he and his wife Ann came out so it was a radio reunion for me.

Jim and Diane hadn’t met Jerry so everyone got together and it was a really fun time. It was a lot more fun because the audience was great and I had a blast on stage. Working at Zanies is my home and especially Vernon Hills. I was the first comedian on that stage way back when they opened in 1992. I was an opener back then but I’m the headliner now.

Most of the staff has worked there for most of that time and I know everyone very well. They know my name when I walk in like Norm from Cheers and after I got off stage from that hot set tonight I had a huge inner smile knowing that this was all around a great day. I hung out with friends, was on TWO radio stations, headlined a major comedy club and got to have a delicious pizza after the show with Jerry and Ann at a place called Bill’s Pub.

Everyone who gets into the entertainment business wants to be accepted and thought of as larger than life. They make the mistake of thinking success is nothing less than having a stadium full of people screaming and getting clothes ripped off on the way to the limo. It’s a nice fantasy but in reality who really gets that? And if they do how long does it all last?

The real thing we crave as performers is unconditional acceptance and LOVE. We don’t get it but applause and in a comedian’s case laughs is the synthetic substitute. I never ever get tired of hearing those laughs and today I heard a lot of them and they were STRONG laughs - not just little titters. I had them going by the end of my set and I felt the energy.

What made it even sweeter was that Jerry and Ann and Jim and Diane were there to see it as was Bert Haas the booker and his wife Sally Edwards who opened the show. They all think I’m funny but more important they’re friends first. That was the best part of the day.