Rodney, Woody And Miles

Friday February 20th, 2009 - LaCrosse, WI

The phone has been ringing lately with offers of last minute fallouts and fill ins and I’m not complaining. It gives me a chance to work on my Late Late Show set so I’m taking all the stage time I can get until March 10th to work on the flow as many times as possible.

Tonight I was in LaCrosse, WI at a place formerly known as ‘Loons’. They changed the name to ’Howie’s’ and the night from Wednesday to Friday but it’s still booked out of the same place and I like the booker so I said yes. Even if I didn’t I’d still have said yes to get a chance to work on my TV set. Plus it also pays some bills and that‘s never a negative.

I used the entire drive up as a comedy clinic and listened to nothing but classic nuts and bolts old school recordings that allowed me to bathe my thoughts in the rhythm of the two all time masters I personally enjoy the most - Rodney Dangerfield and Woody Allen.

What a treat to just sit back and listen to both of them work. I’d heard everything as far as the material goes but I listened deeper to how they structured their jokes and the words they chose and their rhythm and cadence and routine flow and anything else I could learn. They’re both unbelievably good and hearing them put me in a very good space to create.

I also re-listened to an interview with Woody Allen done by a guy named Larry Wilde where Woody talks about writing jokes and nuts and bolts tips it takes to create a routine. It’s also something I’d heard but I want to bone up on anything I can before March 10th so all I have to do is walk out there and nail a tight solid funny four and a half minute set.

I’ve been making adjustments and tweaks and cutting a lot and adding a little and by the time I get to L.A. it’s probably going to be a different set completely but I am going to get it as snug as possible so there are no bad surprises. The good thing is I enjoy the process.

I also listened to some Miles Davis on the trip. ‘Birth of The Cool’ is a breakout for him and again it’s a matter of studying structure. Music and comedy both have a structure and that’s one of the major lessons anyone must learn who is serious about being a comedian.

Many people think a comedian just goes up on stage and makes a few fart noises or acts like a monkey and that‘s all it takes. WRONG. Comedy is an intricate craft and a difficult and highly skilled one to master at that. Today I put in a full day of working on my craft.

By the time I got on stage I was in a laid back mellow groove. It was snowing but I’m used to it so it wasn’t a panic situation. The sound system was weak but unfortunately I’m used to that too so none of it was a big deal. I leaned into it and focused on getting laughs.

Some of the set involves tweaking some of my regular jokes and that’s not easy but I’m very happy with how it went tonight. I delivered them how I wanted and they still got nice laughs and flowed well also. This is all part of the craft and I’ll do this exact same process as many times as I can before March 10th. I’ll be ready when the little red light comes on.