Bouncing Back

Friday March 28th, 2008 - Chicago, IL

Great day today. One day I feel like putting a bullet in my head and the next I feel bullet proof. Bullet proof is better. Days like this are why I exist. Everything I enjoy about living crossed my path today and rather than ask questions why I just shut up and enjoyed it all.

The weather was perfect so that’s a good start. After an unexpected snowstorm it was a treat to drive in the sunshine as I went to meet my friend Dale Irvin for lunch at the Todai buffet sushi restaurant in Woodfield Mall. Anytime sushi is on the menu life isn’t bad.

Dale is one of my favorite people to brainstorm with because he’s absolutely brilliant in marketing. He was a former comic but quit to go into the corporate speaking world. Now he’s in the speaker’s Hall of Fame and makes great money as a ‘professional summarizer’ where he goes to conferences and sits in on the boring meetings and then jokes about it.

What a fantastic idea and he has perfected it into a great career. He’s THE go to guy for that kind of thing and he’s usually not without work. He told me how he’d just returned in the last few weeks from Ireland and he’s always working in places like Hawaii or Florida.

Dale has had a newsletter for years called ‘Funny Business’ and he writes current events jokes every week. He was my first choice to fill in on WLS on Jerry’s Kidders when I had to miss a week because I was out of town. Dale appreciated the shot and did great. He and I usually have a lunch about once a year but stay in contact and exchange ideas regularly.

Today was our lunch day and it was really fun. Not only was the food great we came up with a lot of ideas for each other’s current projects. Dale LOVED the Uranus idea and has a couple of products he can already put on it. He co-wrote a book of lawyer jokes and had it published recently. This is his eighth book. EIGHT. I’m still waiting to write my first.

After yesterday I needed a session like this to light my pilot light again. Did it ever. Not only that we had a gorgeous Asian hostess at the restaurant and she was left handed as are Dale and myself. She was talking to us the whole time and we really connected with her. I can really feel a connection with left handers and always have. We’re just our own breed.

I gave her a comedy CD and I bet she’ll enjoy it. Her eyes lit up and that felt good to see someone as good looking as her so excited to pay more attention to me. A good ego boost always goes good after a good sushi meal and I felt like the king of the world walking out.

After lunch I headed over to the big sports card show that’s in Rosemont this weekend. I have a few friends from Milwaukee setting up so I wanted to take a lap and say hello to the people I knew. I hung out for a couple of hours and had a blast. I really love old cards.

Today was as perfect a day as I could imagine because it pushed all my buttons but in a good way. It would have been great at any time but after the ugly mess yesterday was it’s a major highlight. I really savored everything from the sushi to the flirting to the cards.

But it wasn’t over yet. I had two shows at Zanies tonight and I wanted to redeem myself from the abomination that was last night. This week was supposed to be a work week and I said I wasn’t going to let anything take me out and I meant it. This was two clean slates.

Last night they got in free and were idiots for the most part. Tonight they all paid $23 to get in so that helps weed out the maggots a little. It was pretty full if not sold out and they were absolutely fantastic. I felt the vibe before the show and watched the other comedians get laughs and knew I was in a sweet spot. I didn’t know how sweet until I got on stage.

There are nights when everything works and this was one of them. I love these because I can play with the order of my set and switch it around even more than I already do and I focus on making this particular show custom made for this particular audience. I love that dynamic of being in the moment the whole time and having to make constant decisions.

It’s like a quarterback of a football game. I’m calling the plays up there and I can go any direction I want. What bit do I want to do? How do I want to do it? Should I ad lib a line? How about if I go into the audience and talk to them a little? These are things going on in my head the whole time and the challenge of keeping the flow going is what I live for.

I do some of the best writing I ever do in those situations because I’m in such a groove I almost always ad lib a tag line to a joke I’ve been doing for a long time. It just comes out in the flow of the moment and more often than not it’s a keeper. That’s a good feeling and tonight the whole show was like that. I had them from go and didn’t let up until the end.

I sold some cds and shook a lot of hands and heard some compliments which is never a bad thing but there was one couple who came up and said how they saw me a year ago for the first time and bought my CD and play it for all their friends and they were watching to see when I’d come back again so they could come see me. It was even on their calendar!

THOSE are the kinds of fans I’ve always wanted to have. I took extra time to make sure I thanked both of them and tried to make them feel special and I succeeded. They said the show was even better this time and I almost felt they were star struck. I don’t ever want to come across as being a pompous ass even though I’m sure I have unintentionally at times.

Nobody can be perfect and act the way others want them to all the time but I do try hard to acknowledge and thank anyone who is a fan of mine. I greatly appreciate it and I never want to take it for granted. I’ve worked too hard to get here and if someone wants to get a picture or autograph I’m going to go out of my way to do that for them. It’s good energy.

I’m a fan of other people too and when I got to have moments with a George Clinton or George Carlin or Rodney Dangerfield it was special and I’ll never forget it. If I could be a pleasant memory like that for someone else I’m all for it. Life is short of things like that.

This was just a great day on a lot of levels. I don’t know why it happened but I’m glad I experienced it. After yesterday I was questioning my birth. After today I’m enjoying life.