Me On TV?

Sunday September 28th, 2008 - Kenosha, WI/Lake Villa, IL

Big news. I heard from the talent booker of the Craig Ferguson show and she approved my set! Now it’s down to one more hoop to jump through - picking a date that works for us both to fly to L.A. for the taping. I sent her my avails and now I’ll wait to get my shot.

When I saw the email I was almost afraid to open it. Getting rejected would have been a painful blow especially after my Packers got spanked today but I knew deep down I’m not asking for something I haven’t earned. When I opened it a tingle went through my body.

This has been a LONG time coming and I can’t help but be tweaked about it. I really am ready for this and have been for a while now but too many things have gotten in the way. Whatever happened happened but now I’m ready to get into the game and have a career.

I’ve said it before and it’s true - there’s an immense gap between a job and a career. I’ve had a job for my entire adult life but a career starts when others get involved and actually care about what I do and where I work. I’m now ready to play the game of show business at least on a larger scale than what I’m doing now. This could be a giant transitional step.

Getting on network TV without management is a showcase opportunity to find someone who can help me get what I can’t get on my own. One of the reasons Frank Caliendo does so well is he hooked up with a high powered agent who in turn took Frank to a new level.

Talent is of questionable importance at that point. In Frank’s case he was and is a gifted performer who possesses a special skill of impersonations. That will never be what I offer so I’m in a different category. I do have comic abilities and I also have the ability to write. Not everyone has both of those so I could be in a good position - if I find the right people.

I may never be a huge star and in fact that’s a good probability. Very few people are and then there’s everyone else. I wouldn’t mind at all being one of the top ‘everyone elses’ for a few years and develop a loyal rabid cult following. That will keep me busy and working without having to worry about the pressures that go with being a huge star. I like to work.

Getting a TV shot will legitimize all my years of struggle and at least put me in credible position for corporate work and teaching classes too. I don’t know of anyone else who has a comedy class that’s got a recent national TV credit and that will be a great selling point.

I am a seasoned professional and will be able to handle myself if and when I should get a big opportunity. I’m ready as a performer and I’m also not 22 and wild and stupid. I’ve perfected and elevated my stupidity to an art form through the years so it‘s more mellow.

Whatever happens I am going to keep plugging ahead and focus on my gift of comedy. I may have all kinds of other problems and hoops to jump through and past mistakes to get over but no matter what I know I am still a strong comic and that is what I always wanted.

Getting on TV will allow me to continue reaching more people and getting more laughs.
We had an excellent Mothership Connection radio show on WLIP tonight. We had two fantastic guests and both hours flew by. My co-host Scott really has a grasp for this and it makes it easy because he does what I tell him but also has good instincts himself. We also have a third co-host named Lara and she’s very good too. It’s exciting to see it progress.

Eventually I would love to see the show expand for four hours and I think that’s doable but for now it’s enough of a challenge to fill two hours each week. Shows like tonight are proof we’re going in the right direction though. This was interesting and well paced radio.

Scott and Lara really add to the show as does Gary Pansch. We’ll continue to get better.
Guests have been no problem at all and we have now started to get a reputation of being a fun show to do so people are contacting us to be on. There are countless authors with an obscure book about an obscure or offbeat topic that would love to get free radio publicity. Now all we need are listeners and if we keep doing what we’re doing we’ll get those too.

I am finally starting to see the end of the long tunnel as far as a master plan. All of these projects I’m doing are designed to meet in the middle and if they do I’ll have more money than I can spend and more fun projects to work on than I can do. I’m almost to that now.

The King of Uranus character is the key to all this. George Clinton is ‘Dr. Funkenstein’. He presides over the music empire of Parliament/Funkadelic. In his heyday he had record deals with five different record companies but the basis of all of them was a single group. Then he started his own record company but he was and still is at the center of the storm.

I want to do the same thing. The King of Uranus will be a comedian but also a salesman who sells funny products of all kinds in various venues. The Mothership Connection is an excellent vehicle for selling myself and my products and is also an interesting radio show.

One can promote the other if I do this right and I can totally see creating a multi faceted empire of my own. How big exactly is an empire though? I don’t know if I need to have a whole one. My needs are small. I want it to be big enough to make a splash but also small enough to keep it fun and manageable. I’m not greedy. I just want to fulfill my potential.

I’m never depressed when I am working on fun things like this. One would think I’d do only that and be done with it but it’s not that easy. Life has all kinds of lumps and bumps to overcome and all of us have to figure out our own path. I think I’m on a good one now.

The bank robbery story is still there too. Hopefully getting on Craig Ferguson will open doors in Hollywood to get the script seen by someone who can buy it and make the movie before I’m dead. I am putting as many bullets in my gun as I can so when I get my chance to start shooting it I have as many opportunities as possible to hit something. It’s my time.

The Packers lost today but I’m too busy right now to care. I’ve got to keep working on a pile of projects I’ve got going and a few more that are sitting and see how much I can take without wearing myself out. Not a problem. I would much rather wear out than rust out.