Magnificent Monday Magic

Monday March 23rd, 2009 - Chicago, IL

Some days everything works. Other days everything doesn’t. Today started one way and ended up the other. I woke up at 5:15am and was supposed to catch my train into Chicago at 5:26. I flew out of bed and dressed as fast as I could and started hauling ass to get to the train station. I cut mud pretty good and got there exactly at 5:27 to watch the train leave.

There was nothing I could do about it and had I tried to run any faster I’m sure my liver or pancreas or other internal organ I might need for a few more years would’ve burst like a frozen pipe in February. Better to wait for the next train than ride in an ambulance now.

The next train wasn’t for another half hour and it got me into the city later than I wanted but I was still on time to meet Tim Slagle and Ken Sevara to go over the material we were going to do on WLS in a special Jerry’s Kidder’s segment. Jerry Agar is filling in for Don and Roma on the morning show this whole week and invited us to do our bit once again.

I must say we handled it very nicely. Not only were we all in a good mood, we also had Maura Myles and Wendy Snyder sit in with us. It was like a band adding a horn section. It made us all sound great as those ladies know how to bring it on the air. They’re both pros.

Jerry knows what he’s doing too. He shouldn’t be on fill in duty in my opinion but it’s a chance to get some income and nobody can blame him for that. He has a wife and kids he needs to feed and far be it from me to judge anyone’s financial affairs. He needs a job and I respect anyone’s right to earn a living. What I mean is I think he should still have a job.

All of that talk and thought was put aside and we all went into the studio and let it rip. I could feel we were on a good roll in the first ten seconds and that’s what radio does to get a person’s soul and never give it back. Days like today are what keep us hooked for life.

After the show we hung out at our favorite restaurant Ronnie’s a few blocks from WLS and our old friend and biggest supporter Kipper McGee came to join us for a while before a doctor’s appointment for some back problems. He was hurting but still came to see us.

We all like and respect Kipper very much and it was he who gave us a giant push on the air like none of us have ever seen. He believed in us and so did Jerry and that’s why we’re always trying to please them first because we all appreciate how much work went into it.

Jerry was in a groove today and I thought all the Kidders were as well. I also thought we interacted well with both Maura and Wendy who are witty and sharp in their own right. It isn’t a strain at all at this point. We took a year to hone our chemistry and it‘s still there.

I sure hope this isn’t the last time we’re on the air together but I can never tell. This is a project that has technically been terminated when Jerry got fired but they keep asking him back to fill in and he in turn asks for us to join him. We’re like ghosts returning to a death site. We got fired months ago but we’ve returned many times. And I hope we will again.

Jerry drove into the city because it was such an early shift so he drove me back home. It saved a few hours of the train process for me so I decided to use the time to keep working on all the things I’m working on. I need to funnel every free minute I have into doing that.

I received two emails today from the Late Late Show from different people telling me it still hasn’t been determined when my segment will air. People keep asking and I’d love to be able to tell them when but as of now it hasn’t been decided. I’m fine with it. It’ll come.

Tonight was another showcase of the up and coming comics at Zanies in Chicago and I was again the host. I’m really enjoying that gig and it’s turning into a mini event. Lots of the people performing bring people to see them and the audiences have been pretty full.

They haven’t always been great audiences but at least there were butts in seats drinking and buying food. That’s what pays me so I always appreciate it. For whatever reason they were on fire tonight though. This audience was one of the best I’ve seen in many months.

It’s always amazing to me to study audience dynamics. It’s totally random and each one has to be dealt with separately. Sometimes the numbers are large but they are stiff and not into the show at all. Other times a small crowd of 20 or so can be electric. I’ve seen it all.

It has nothing to do with young or old or white or black or male or female or things like that. Yes, audiences can be different because of those factors, but even then there are still no guarantees they’ll all be the same. People are individuals and then they collect together as a random crowd and just like lottery number combinations the possibilities are endless.

Tonight’s audience was a lottery winner. They exploded with laughter and I could sense it in my first ten seconds on stage just like I knew in the first ten seconds on the radio that we would have a good show. I knew it. I felt it. And I was right. Again, this is the kind of show that keeps a person doing it when the audience sucks or is small. This was a keeper.

I wonder why it went so well today both on the radio and on stage? Was there some sort of biorhythm going on in the universe to make it so? Was it the opposite of a full moon or something and everyone was magically in a good mood? I have no idea but I sure felt that everything I was involved with was on point. Life was firing on all eight cylinders today.

Missing the train was no big deal but when it happened I thought in the very back of my mind that this could be the start of a ’Mr. Lucky day’. I’ve lived way too many of those to count but everything goes wrong and I can’t control it. Not today. Everything went right. I wish I could bottle up days like this and use a little bit of it when I’m having a bad one.

Another thing I want to mention is that it’s John Pinette’s birthday today. John is one of the very best comics of his generation, which is also my generation. He is a baby face kid on stage that everyone loves and I love to watch him work. He’s a natural and also a very nice person too. I’ve worked with him several times and always enjoy watching his show. I hope he had as good a birthday as I had a day today. I wonder how long this will last?