Gettin' Ready To Rumble!

Wednesday February 4th, 2009 - Lake Villa, IL

Here it comes! I can feel a rumble in the distance in my life like never before and I just know things are about to start shaking and baking. My phone is ringing off the hook and I am even farther behind on emails than I usually am but they’re all positive and I know it’s all leading to something big - well, bigger than I’m used to anyway. This is payoff time.

How long that time will last I don’t know but this is it. I’ve worked for years at a lot of different things and they’re all coming together as one. My circle of contacts has not been the ones most others have made but they’re now getting positions of power and they have put me on their list of people to call. I couldn’t be more flattered and I’m ready to DO it!

I saw the movie ‘The Wrestler’ with Mickey Rourke a few days ago and loved it. I have lots of experience in pro wrestling from my years of ring announcing and TV play by play work and eventually promoting my own shows to mixed results. I thought Mickey Rourke nailed the character he played and I know several guys personally who remind me of him.

The associate producer of the movie is a guy I met years ago because of comedy classes. He managed a wrestler named ‘Luscious Johnny’ Valiant who wanted to be a comedian. I remember paying to see Johnny Valiant and his ‘brother’ ‘Handsome Jimmy’ when I was a kid so I knew who he was. Johnny and I became friends and that’s still cool even now.

The manager is a good guy too and he’s got a lot of irons in the fire and is working on a new movie project and has his own radio show too which I’ve been on a few times. He is a fan of mine and now he’s got some heat. Who knows where any of this could lead but it feels good knowing someone I know personally is having a hot streak. I’m happy for him.

My friend Bull Pain gave me a call today too. I was so busy running around with all my errands I didn’t call him back but I will. He of anyone can relate to the movie because he is a lifer in the wrestling business just like the ‘Randy The Ram’ character was. That’s not a bad thing at all though. At least he has passion plus he’s really good at it. Bull is a pro.

I’m the same way in comedy too. I’m a lifer. I’m sick of the road in many ways but I’m not sick of the shows. I love them now more than ever. Hearing the crowd pop with a big laugh never EVER gets old and the louder it is the more it soothes all of my inner hurts.

Those are really starting to go away now as I get older. The young angry buck is giving way to the wise old geezer but I’m not all the way there yet. There’s still a little gas left in my tank for one more run and I know I’m right at the cusp of it right now. Getting on TV is the first step and I can’t blow that and I won’t. I’ll show up in L.A. and get my set in.

It’s a lot more than that though. Getting publicity for a run of the mill white boy doing a four and a half minute comedy set on late night television is no small task. I have contacts in media both in Milwaukee and Chicago and I will use them to my advantage. I need this to get me on the map with some people and then I need to keep the momentum growing.

I have all the ingredients to build that great life I’ve always dreamed of and now it’s my combination of choices in the next little while which will determine if I actually do it how I planned it or not. I’m sure there will be a few surprises along the way. There always are.

The main thing I can feel is the lack of bitterness I have right now compared to before. I admit I was one pissed off salty dog about a lot of things and looking back on my life I’m probably justified in a lot of it but that anger cost me a lot of opportunities. I didn’t know how to deal with it and other people were afraid of it and it was not helping me advance.

Sure I’m still a little miffed about a few things but it’s not the all consuming rage I have felt in the past. I just don’t care anymore. Most of the people I’ve had my tiffs with aren’t even in a position to hurt me now and they mean nothing to me. I‘ve grown. They didn‘t.

Dave Luczak is an example. He’s a morning DJ in Milwaukee and has never been nice to me. In fact he’s gone out of his way to keep me off his radio show even though he has comedians on every week. We had a falling out over a comedy bit I did years ago and he has never had me back on since. That used to really hurt but now I couldn’t care less.

I remember he and I standing in his studio alone and he looked at me and said ‘There’ll come a day when I will tell people Dobie Maxwell used to beg me to be on my show and nobody will believe it. But I’ll never have you on so don’t even ask.’ Wow did that hurt.

In the subsequent years I’ve really tried to patch it up and make it right and at least stop the hostility but he never would answer my letters and that bothered me. Today I saw he’s attempting to do comedy himself at some theatre gig in Racine I did last year and I looked at the ad in the paper and laughed. He hasn’t paid his dues but he wants to be a comedian.

Who doesn’t? It’s FUN to be on stage getting laughs when everyone is enjoying a show. It’s the best feeling I’ve ever had in my life but it comes with a price. He’ll probably have a nice crowd there who will love him and that’s great - but they know him from the radio.

Take a ride two hours in any direction where they don’t know the radio show and then it becomes a whole different story. I’ve spent 20 plus years earning the right to go up at any comedy club, juke joint, honky tonk, hell hole or anywhere else that has a mike and kick a room full of strangers in the ass and take no prisoners. THAT is an exhilarating feeling.

I don’t hate Dave Luczak. I don’t wish him any bad. I don’t care anymore. He doesn’t affect me at all and he’s nothing to me. There was a time when all I wanted was to be part of that show just like all the other comedians in town were but I got kicked off and treated like a soiled pair of undies and it really hurt to my inner core. Now I just shrug it all off.

I’ve worked in bigger markets than Dave Luczak and played bigger audiences and that’s what I want to focus on from now on. Those past demons are dead and I don’t want to put one ounce of energy into even looking into where they went. This is my time to shine and I am going to enjoy every single fraction of a second of it. THAT is what true success is.