Ready...Set...A Ready Set

Friday February 27th, 2009 - Hoffman Estates, IL

Perfection isn’t easy. Today I worked a few more hours tweaking and tinkering with my Late Late Show set and I sent it in for final approval. I took my time and made sure it was exactly the way I wanted it so now no matter what happens at least I can know I put in the effort and didn’t cut any corners. If it kills, I earned it. If it doesn’t, I can live with it now.

Nothing would be worse than going on national TV and tanking it with a set I was not thrilled about doing. I’m sure I’d show it and it wouldn’t be good for anyone. This one is definitely not that at all. It’s packed with jokes I like and is in an order that flows well.

I’m very grateful for all the people that helped me bounce ideas around. I received a lot of fantastic suggestions and I appreciate them all but today it was a matter of using what I know and going with my instincts and choosing exactly what specific jokes I will go with.

Actually I hacked it up pretty good and ended up changing quite a bit but it just felt like the right thing to do and I was in a good mindset when I did it. I felt like I was ‘seeing’ on a deeper level and I just went with my gut feelings on everything. When I do that I usually end up with good results and I totally let go and let my feelings take over. I’m confident.

Now the job is getting it memorized so I can go out there and nail it on March 10th. I do have a few opportunities to try it out and I will use every one of them. I heard somewhere years ago that when Jerry Seinfeld found out he was getting the Tonight Show for the first time he went out and practiced his set eighty times. EIGHTY! I will not have that luxury.

I will go over it that many times in my head though. I normally don’t ‘practice’ my lines because I’ve been on stage thousands of times but for this set I will definitely prepare. I’m putting my heart and soul and energy into this because I want to make sure I don’t eat it.

I’ve had killer sets many times in my life and it feels better than anything I can describe but only the people in the room saw it. This is TV and a whole new level. I need to nail it out of the box and have a good tape to show future bookers and also get back on TV too.

Tonight I did a show with Jim McHugh and the Chicago Comedy All Stars. It was a big fundraiser for a youth football team and there was a nice big crowd of people close to my age who were either parents or relatives of the kids on the team. It was a very classy event held in a banquet facility that was set up extremely well. Sound and lights were excellent.

That makes a huge difference and Jim knows that so he made sure it was done. I love to work with him and also Mike Preston and Sonya White who were also on the show. It’s a blast to do the show where all of us are on the stage and take turns doing short little bits.

I didn’t do my whole TV set but I did lay out a few of the lines and they really got some solid laughs. That put me in a great space and the show built as we went along. It was fun and we also raised money for a cause. Now my cause is nailing a solid set on March 10th.