A Treat In Wheaton

Wednesday June 4th, 2008 - Wheaton, IL

Sometimes it all just comes together. Tonight was one of those times. I did a show at the Wheaton Theatre (which is coincidentally located in Wheaton) with Jimmy McHugh and Sonya White in a version of the group concept Jimmy is trying to put together called ‘Chicago Comedy All Stars’. It’s a version of Chicago Style Standups with more vision.

Chicago Style had a ton of potential and all of us knew it but trying to run a group with no real leader is bound to fail. It was going in too many directions and the two main guys who were having the power struggle were Jimmy and Paul Kelly. It ended up that nobody won that struggle and we went our separate ways. Jimmy and I left and those guys stayed.

This is the kind of stuff bands must go through all the time. I’m glad I was a comic my whole life and only had to deal with this kind of stuff much later into the game. I learned a valuable lesson and won’t make that mistake again. I’ll recover from it and move on.

The big difference between this situation and the Chicago Style group is that Jimmy is in charge of this. It’s all his baby. He put the website up and picked the comedians and is the one who is trying to get the gigs booked. Everyone else in it is just along for the ride.

That makes it a whole lot easier because there’s nobody to argue with. Jimmy calls it as he sees it and has the final say. Period. I know that going in and so does everybody else in the group so that alone takes 99% of the tension out of it. All we do is show up and go up.

Jerry’s Kidders is the same way. Jerry Agar is in charge and we all understand that. It’s his group and we are the hired hands. I know if any of us had a suggestion Jerry would be the first to implement it if it was a good one but the fact remains HE is the one deciding.

I always felt that’s how it should be with any project and I have no problems being on a team with Jimmy or Jerry in charge. I’m going to be in charge of the Uranus project and then I’ll be the one calling the shots. For now I’m a member of two teams and I like it.

What a sweet show tonight. The theatre had a big roomy stage with a fantastic audience that exploded with laughter. Every one of us destroyed and when the audience is like that it’s a total cakewalk. Sonya really let it rip and so did Jimmy. We could do no wrong and at the end we all got a standing ovation. This was a bright sharp crowd who loved us all.

THIS is why we plug along all these years. We’re all veteran comedians with a lifetime of experience and we knew what to do when we got in front of an audience who wanted a show. We gave them their money’s worth and a lot more but we’d have done it for free.

Getting a chance to entertain an appreciative audience is a feeling better than any drug. I never took drugs but I didn’t have to because I know what that first feeling feels like. This was the kind of experience that everyone dreams about when they start out and it gives us a reason to keep doing it because it never gets old. This is like winning a big sports title.