One For Grandma

Saturday April 5th, 2008 - Wabeno, WI

My grandmother would have been proud of me tonight. It would have been the one and only time she would have but tonight would have been the night. She hated the fact that I was in ‘that damn show business’ and never understood why I would ‘waste my life’ on it when I could have been working a civil service job like every other loser in my family.

She was born in Wabeno, WI in 1911 but grew up in Shawano. She came to Milwaukee in 1927 and lived there until she died in 2004. She told me too many times to count that if I didn’t play Wabeno that I wasn’t worth my salt. She thought it was a joke but after I had to hear it for so many years any funny wore off. I got to the point I was tired of hearing it.

I thought about it all the way up in the car on my ride with Bill Gorgo. I mentioned it to him and then I even mentioned it on stage both shows at the Potawatomi Northern Lights Casino. The audiences were very good for both shows and this is the kind of a gig where I get treated like a big star. They don’t see much live entertainment here so it’s a novelty.

Bill was the perfect opener for this situation. The audience is mostly older and he has an idea of what to do because he’s been a comedian for a long time. We had two very strong shows and the staff thought we were fantastic. Whether we were or not they thought so.

We got our coupons for the buffet which was delicious and we sat there talking but both of us could feel the eyes of people staring at us who had seen the show. We both knew we were being watched and knew to be on our best behavior. It really isn’t that difficult at all because all the people really want is to be able to have a little human interaction with us.

Bill and I were standing at the salad bar when a very nice older lady shyly smiled at us. Then her husband walked up behind her and said in an almost sheepish tone ‘We thought you were both very funny.’ Bill and I both smiled and said an animated and sincere thank you and we could see not only their eyes light up but the others sitting around eating too.

The show was continuing whether we wanted it to or not and as an entertainer I have to be aware of that. I am and I don’t mind. We both made a couple of jokes that made us the butt of them and made those people feel good about themselves. How hard is it to have to listen to someone tell us how wonderful they thought we were? We both played it right.

This is a very important part of the business most people overlook. If we didn’t want an intrusion on our meal we could have gotten room service but we chose to eat at the buffet after the first show and chances are someone might see us who saw the show. That’s how it happened exactly and we got a chance to look great by just taking a minute to say hello.

I hope Grandma got a chance to see all this tonight. All these years later I finally got to do a show in her hometown. She never approved of any of this when she was living but I hope if there is a next world she’s doing well in it and could take a minute away to come back and observe something she thought she’d never see. If not I still had fun anyway.