My Changing Role

Monday January 21st, 2008 - Chicago, IL

A Manic Monday for the King Of Uranus. I almost missed my train to the city to be on Jerry’s show on WLS and had to run a block to catch it. I thought my heart might pop like a ketchup pack and realized just how out of shape I really am. Bye bye young buck years. I’m easing into geezer-hood. When my AARP card comes in the mail I‘m off to Denny’s.

Where did the years go? Throughout my life I have been the young pup in most cases. It just worked out that way. I am a little brother and even as a kid most of my friends were a few years older. Then I got into comedy and radio and I was always the kid there too. The people I hung out with were older in age but I felt comfortable with them intellectually.

Now I’m starting to feel the years creep up and they took me by surprise. I was too busy working and trying to survive to be able to fully enjoy my youth and now it’s slipping like a transmission in one of my beater cars and I’m checking the glove box for my warranty. I am acquiring a new role in life and I can feel myself slipping into it quietly. But it fits me.

I really noticed it tonight at Zanies. Hosting the new talent showcases has grown on me. At first I did it because nobody else wanted to do it. I was teaching classes anyway so the logical person to do it was me because I was already at the club. I lived close by and it fit easily into my schedule so I said yes. Now I have to drive 51 miles one way to be here.

The shows weren’t that strong at first but now they are really getting better. The comics are getting stronger and the audiences are getting bigger and I have the job of keeping it at a fever pitch so everyone can have a good time. This is the role C. Cardell Willis had way back when I started in Milwaukee at a place called Sardino’s. He kept those shows going.

I realized tonight that I am now in Cardell’s role here in Chicago. Most of these comics are in their 20s just like I was when I started. I can see their youth and inexperience and it totally hit me tonight as I was sitting with a few of them before the show and giving some tips out on how to make their jokes stronger or their performing skills better. I’m the wily veteran now and I can see them sitting there looking at me the same way I saw Cardell.

Cardell was about my age back then and he was very giving to us all. He encouraged us when we had a down show and praised us when we did well. He ran the show and we all learned by watching him work. A little piece of him still goes up with me on stage every single night I work but especially on nights like tonight when I assume his role on stage.

I remember being that young pup craving stage time and knowing how fantastic it felt to get up there and hear those laughs for the first time. It’s an electric experience that has kept me chasing it my whole life. You never forget the early years and I cherish mine still.

Cardell became such a big part of my life then and I am passing his experience on to all these young comics now. I sure hope I will be able to plant the good seeds in them that he planted in me all those years ago. I am taking the baton with pride and I will respect it.

One thing I learned from Cardell was the ins and outs of hosting a show. I have years of experience to draw from so I know exactly what to do at all times. Hecklers? Don’t even THINK about it. I can snipe them from 500 yards with a single shot. I fear nobody and the comics know I’m there to protect them. I’m their hero just like Cardell always was to us.

It’s so damn hard to get started in comedy and when some drunken wanker yells out his moronic prattle right in the middle of a punch line it can really ruin a five minute set. I am now the one that is responsible for setting the tone of the show and handling hecklers so it won’t be a problem for the comics coming up. I’m totally at home in that role. I love it.

Sitting around before the show I looked around the room and saw kids like Jeff Hansen and Bryan Berrey and Adam Burke and Hannibal Burress and many more and realized the new guard is coming up the ranks. Those names might not mean anything now but I have listed them because I predict good things for all these guys. They all have a lot of talent.

We were sitting around tonight talking about that. I told them it’s not all about talent in the comedy business but it doesn’t hurt to have it and all of these guys do. They sat there soaking my lecture in just like I soaked in Cardell’s words of wisdom. I lectured them for a few minutes knowing they might not be ready to hear it now but later they surely would.

I didn’t always get Cardell’s lessons either until years later. He would say something to us back then and it didn’t have any impact until years later when I realized ‘Oh, THAT’S what he meant by that.’ I wanted to take time and plant some of those seeds again tonight. These kids are all sharp and hopefully at some point they’ll all realize what I was saying.

The show tonight was outstanding. The audience was just ok at first but I whipped them up at the start and kept their energy up the whole night. That’s my job and I know how to do it. Even Bert Haas said ‘Wow, you really know how to get a dead crowd going.’ And I do. I learned it first hand from C. Cardell Willis back in Milwaukee. I’m the master at it.

Milwaukee was such a horrible place to start out being a performer of any kind. They’re some of the worst audiences I’ve ever seen and now I’ve got a lifetime of proof from my travels everywhere else. We were looked at as lepers back then and it hurt but now it’s the callous that makes me bullet proof. I always thought I was imagining it but now I know it to be true. There’s just something off about Milwaukee from an entertainer’s viewpoint.

But I don’t have to live there so I moved. Chicago is much more to my liking. I love the big city and now I am one of the top comedians here. There is a short list of people and to know that I’m on it is a real honor. I don’t take it lightly and that’s why I enjoy coming to host these showcases on Mondays. I just love being around the people who love comedy.

Everybody has dreams starting out and we all assume we’re going to be huge stars. I’m sure Cardell thought that and I did too. Just because we didn’t doesn’t mean we are not an
indisputable success. Cardell was a great comedian and he passed his knowledge on to me and I’m passing it on to all these other young comics. That’s how it’s supposed to work.