An Hour On WLS

Wednesday January 9th, 2008 - Chicago, IL

More side tracking today but I couldn’t say no. Jerry Agar called and said he’d be filling in on WLS in afternoon drive for Roe Conn and asked if I wanted to come down and sit in with him and our ‘Jerry’s Kidders’ panel of Tim Slagle and Ken Sevara. Of course I had to say yes for many reasons but mostly because Jerry is my friend and I’ll always help friends.

This was a really good opportunity for all of us. Roe Conn’s show has a large audience and it’s probably going to get larger now that Steve Dahl is back doing mornings. He’s in a similar situation to what I was in when I was at the Loop. Howard Stern was going over to Sirius eventually and Mancow was going to be gone so we would have had a wide open shot to slide in and have some big ratings just by osmosis. Too bad we got blown out first.

This is a much better situation though. WLS is a legendary station and it’s a talk format. The Loop was a rock station first and personalities second. The chance to build a name on WLS is a lot better not to mention it’s an AM station and will cover a lot more map space. All I’m interested in is getting my name out as a comedian. A radio career isn’t my goal.

It never was. All I want to be on the radio for is so people will hear me and maybe think I’m funny enough to come out and see my live show. It’s a way to give out some samples like they do at the grocery store. Passing out a piece of cheese or salami will hopefully sell the customer on paying for some to take home with them. I am doing the same thing here.

I was intending to do some booking contacts today and update my avails and also put an agenda together for getting my projects in order so I can start working on them all but this took precedence and rightfully so. Getting to be on a major radio station for an hour being funny is a great showcase. I am very comfortable with Jerry and we all riffed and did well.

The concept of the panel of comedians talking about the news is a good one and nobody is really doing it on the radio. I’m not at all political in my act and we mainly focus on just being funny rather than having any political messages or agendas. That’s what I love to do and Jerry and I have known each other so long we have a great rapport. This is all helpful.

Good things could come out of all of this for everyone. Jerry is still new on the air and it was a great chance for him to get some exposure to a larger audience in drive time. When I was on the Loop they told us our cumulative audience or ‘cume’ was about 250,000. I’m not sure what it is for WLS but I’m sure it’s quite high. They blast a signal to many states.

If we can just keep showing up and getting a reputation for being funny this bit will keep growing and eventually lead to live shows in the listening area. Ken and Tim and I will put on a KILLER live show because we’re all headliners and only having to do 30 minutes will be like a night off. Jerry will host the show and at the end we’ll come out and riff together just like the Blue Collar Comedy Tour did. I know we could pull that off and tear the roof off the joint. THAT is the reason I keep my pole in the water with radio. I’ve wanted to be a draw in comedy the whole time. This could be my chance to have it happen. FINALLY.

I still like being a ‘friend of the show’ on a lot of other shows too. That’s the best in my opinion. I’m not an employee of any of them and I can come in and hang out whenever the chance arises. I have that with The D List on ESPN Radio 1510 in Milwaukee and also on 104 ‘The X’ in Rockford. Pretty much any time I feel like it I can call any of these people and tell them I’m coming in and they’ll say ‘Great!’ It feels fantastic to have that freedom.

My friend Max down at WYMG in Springfield would make room for me anytime I’m in the area too. I like all of those people and that’s four steady shows I can not only be a part of but have them glad to see me when I show up. Plus I can plug my gigs and eventually it will be a nice jump start for Uranus Factory Outlet. I’m already part of the shows so I can tell what I’m doing and get some publicity at the same time. None of this will hurt at all.

That’s why I made it a point to go downtown today and help Jerry out. It helped me too and that’s the best way to do it. Win/win. I’ve always been a big fan of that. It was a lot of fun too. We hung out on the air and had some very funny moments between all four of us. I know we also reached THOUSANDS of people who’ve never heard our names before.

This is how breaks happen. All I need is ONE person to hear me and think I’m funny to open up a lot of doors. It’s never possible to know exactly who it is either. The stations all stream these days and who knows who listens? I need to be on my guard and just be funny like I know I can. I’ve always been able to ad lib on the air and get laughs in the moment.

That’s not a skill everyone in radio has. It’s not something that’s teachable either. Either a person has it or they don’t and I happen to have it so I will keep showing up any time an opening exists in front of a microphone and they allow me to fill it. I need the exposure for comedy and I still hope to be able to find a way to sell tickets and put some butts in seats.

I love making people laugh. I love it. I’m an addict. Getting emails or calls having a total stranger tell me they were having a bad day and then I totally made them laugh so hard the bad feelings went away is what I live for. I know I’m a wackadoo and am up and down all over the place so knowing I brighten someone else’s life once in a while makes me happy.

It’s a total rush to be on stage and being on the radio is fun too especially when I get the other people on the air to laugh out loud. I can’t get enough of that. I don’t care if it’s the traffic person or the news reader or a caller. Getting someone to laugh on the air is a thrill. It’s real and natural and sends good vibes out everywhere. I can feel it. I felt it today too.

I’m off schedule of what I thought I’d be doing this year but I’m ok with it. I’m working lots of comedy gigs and getting lots of radio air time and that’s all good. I did go stop at a branch of my bank today and ask about opening up my business account. I got the pack of stuff from the lawyer with all the incorporation papers so I think I’m ready to get started.

It’s going to have to wait a little longer though because I have to go to Wausau and do a gig tomorrow. I’m getting all kinds of last minute things like this falling in my lap and why turn any of it down? It’s free money at this point and I’d be stupid to shut that faucet off.