Life's A Glitch

Friday July 17th, 2009 - Lake Villa, IL

Life has never been simple, at least not for me. There’s always been some kind of glitch that shows up out of nowhere to let me know I need to stay humble. Alright already. I get the message. Can’t we move on? Don’t I have more important things to do in this life?

I learned today that apparently now my appearance on The Late Late Show isn’t getting aired next Friday but rather next Wednesday July 22nd instead. Personally I don’t have an issue with it and in fact to me it’s a lucky coincidence because that happens to be George Clinton’s birthday. Supposedly ‘22’ is a power number so maybe it won’t hurt me at all.

What did hurt was knowing I have to retell the people I already told that the segment is going to air on Friday. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel already printed it and now I look like a horse’s ass for getting the date wrong. I also was scheduled to be on CBS 2 here in Chicago on Friday and I had to call the publicity guy back and tell him it’s been changed.

I know none of this is my fault but it’s still uncomfortable to have to go through all this. I feel like a five year old trying to get the adults to watch me and having to pester them all until they do. I really don’t want to bug anybody about this. I just wish it would air and be done with so I can move on and focus on my next one. That’s when the career will start.

I was talking about this with my friend Max. In any entertainment endeavor like acting or comedy or radio or whatever, moving to the next level is never easy and few ever do it. Even fewer still keep doing it. It’s not easy to release an album but a lot of people still do manage to do it. But how many ever do a second one? That’s where the real challenge is.

In comedy, I released a CD in 2003. Since then a ton of people have also done that but I took time and effort and made mine better. I paid extra to make it look nice and I put a lot of effort into putting out the best product I could. Was it worth it? Absolutely. I wouldn’t do it any other way and even now people tell me my CD stands out from most of the rest.

That’s nice to hear but I’m doing a second one. Why? Because I’m better now and I am growing as a comedian. I want to do a third one also and a fourth and a thirteenth at some point if I should be lucky enough to live that long. A true artist keeps growing constantly.

I’m a better comedian even since the TV taping in March. That whole experience taught me a lot of things I could do better and I’m working on improving everything every time I go on stage. Hosting the Zanies shows on Monday nights offers me several opportunities to work on new lines and chunks and I totally do. Next time on TV I’ll be WAY better.

In my mind the first one is long over but it’s important that people see it so I hope it just gets aired on Wednesday and that’s it. Max and I talked about how hard it is to expect the good result because as dented cans we’ve seen it go the other way too many times. Max is one of the few who gets that and I’m glad we talked about it. It could be easy to get down about it but the fact is I know I did it and I do think it will air. Eventually. Well, I hope so.