Dispensary Brunch Show

    My good friend Anthony hit me up to do a noon show at the dispensary he works at today. I am happy to get the gig cause it gives me a reason to go to a dispensary I havent been to yet and it is pretty nice. Good selection, good prices, good staff.
     They have a tent set up in the parking lot with a dj and for us to perform under. They also had some games/prizes for people to play, it was really nice. Not a big crowd though, it was early, very gray/rainy, and just not a big draw in that area. But nonetheless the show went well. I did about 10 minutes and so did Gabe and Anthony, the few people that were there were cool.
    Afterwards we got some amazing marijuana related products and I went home to play video games! Yay me!

Brunch Show

   Today I am performing at a little brunch show at The Lamp. I'm looking forward to this show cause its hosted by 2 of the best comics I know and I know it'll be packed. I was right, wall to wall people.
    I go up 2nd to last and have a great time. Real good response from the audience. I did some new stuff from the trucking company gig and some old stuff like my box of kittens bit. Real good mix. Felt solid and closed with a big laugh! Great show!
   Also, they have us free brunch and it was amazing. Cowboy Benedict was the real deal.

Corporate Gig in Redmond

    Tonight I am in Redmond for a corporate gig for a trucking company. I ride with another comic (Chase) to the venue which is 3 hours away and we get there an hour ahead of the show. The venue is great, they really made the place nice. Christmas lights are hanging up and they are having a big banquet with really good food. Me an chase just hang around till showtime meandering around the building and looking awkward.
   Show starts at 630 and Chase opens up with about 15-20 minutes to warm them up. Does well. Then I go up, Im the "headliner" and as soon as a grabbed the mic I was just in the zone. I gave them some trucker jokes about Big Trouble in Little China, Over the Top and Smoky and the Bandit which I wrote just for the show but I will probably keep cause I like them. I did about 45-50 minutes and felt great the entire time, even on stuff that didnt work I would just acknoledge it, say "ok, your not into that, moving on" and the crowd was on my side the whole time...most of the crowd. 1 old lady in the back was talking shit. Saying she'd kick my ass if I tried to hit her kid" (in relation to a joke about beating kids) and so I just played off her. I walked back to her (wireless mics) said "who said that" she got up, and I gave her a hug told her she was up past her bedtime, yadda yadda yadda.. and the crowd LOVED it. After the show a couple of people came up and told me she is a huge bitch so they all loved me ripping into her for a bit.
    This show was solid, better than I expected and I left feeling pretty damn good about myself. Also, the Goodwill in Redmond was stacked with Ric Flair Action Figures. Just for the record.

Sky Club

   Tonight I am performing at Sky Club with a bunch of my friends. This show is usually pretty terrible but tonight, a decent size crowd has gathered and they are paying attention. I go up 2nd to last and do about 10 minutes. I had some new material about imaginary friends I wanted to try but for some reason when I got on stage I told my liver transplant story and talked about smoking crack. It wasn't the best or funniest set I've delivered but it felt ok. Afterwards, I went home and played Final Fantasy till about 2am. Glamour life.

Helium

   

   This weekend was a milestone moment for me. I come away from this feeling great about not just myself, but also my friends, my scene, and my peers who I have had the pleasure of working with over the years. Joey was phenomenal. Really inspiring to be with. The man lived in Seattle and was talking about shows in Bend and had a lot of local shit down...He knew the area and that was pretty great to hear about stuff close by. His crowd were amazing, really loud and into everything that was thrown at them....and everything was thrown at them this weekend!
    I went through the entire weekend, all 5 shows and did not repeat a sing joke. Not one fucking joke. Seriously, not even a quick one liner. I did over an hour of material in those 5 shows and all 5 shows felt fantastic! I told 2 long form stories in the first Saturdy show that got a lot of good laughs and hits from only 2 stories.
    I am writing this right now at 2 am directly after the 2 show Saturday and am still fucked up as shit from the edibles...Seriously heavy shit went down Saturday and it was all great. Zak fucking killed. K I L L E D. Best set I have seen in a while. From anyone. Period. Dude in the crowd yelled out some dumb shit and Zak handled that shit like a pro and played it off so well. So well. I wish that show was videotaped.
   My sets all felt great but that last set tonight was fucking insane. I have not been that/this high in years...No joke. Zak and I stayed in that green room the entire show until like 1 am not fucking leaving. He's passed out on couch, Im pacing..just wanting to close the show well. (which I did) Everything went really smoothly tonight.
   I'm just really happy with where things are for me right now. I want more. We always do. But right now with this week of shows (Dirty Dozen Roast Battle/Diaz) behind me, and more great sets in front of me...I feel good.

Helium

   Tonight is the first night of a 3 day stretch at Helium Comedy Club where I am opening for Joey Diaz! Im coming right off a great Dirty Dozen show and am feeling great. I get to the club early and settle in the green room for a minutes and wait for the other comics. Zak shows up after a couple mins and we bullshit with each other as usual. Joey shows up about 5 to showtime and is super friendly, talkative, and down to earth. Really great guy.
     I go up and do about 14 mins of material and to a pretty solid crown. The place was packed but they werent laughing to much for the first 5 minutes. After they started though, it didnt stop and I closed strong. Zak and Joey had great sets as you would imagine, and the crowd was really warm for them.
   I gave Joey a ride back to his hotel after the show and he was talking to about some great stuff on the ride back. He knows the Pacific NW scene and was talking about comedy in Bend and Seattle and it was great to hear his perspective on things.

Dirty Dozen Roast Battle

   Tonight I have put together an all new showcase for the Dirty Dozen at helium. Tonight is a roast battle. We have 12 comics going head-to-head in a bracket style tournament, talking s*** about each other for the audience's amusement.
    I'm a little nervous because this is all new and I know there will be some kinks to work out. The show starts and I go up on stage and welcome the audience and explain the rules of the show then bring all the comics up to grab their number. It's a lottery drawing shows and nobody knows who they are battling yet. I f***** up the numbers and there's a little confusion in the beginning but it all smoothed over.
   The comic strip their numbers and then walked off the stage and I did about 8 more minutes of announcements and jokes to warm up the audience. The audience was good, about 150 people showed up and they were on board through the entire show. As the comics came to the stage and did there time, I stayed on the side of the stage and sat on a stool. I was a target for the comics to roast on and they did not hesitate. Everyone on the show had great sets and really brought some mean insults too bat.
   After the show I read my three favorite text roasts, gave away some gift certificates, and thanks everyone for coming out. I hung out of helium for a little while after talking to management and they really like the show and we will probably do this a couple times a year now.

Earthquake Hurricane

   Tonight I have the pleasure of performing at a local bicycle shop / bar called Velo cult. This is a pretty cool venue and is also about 5 blocks from my house. I walk over and get there about 30 minutes early and there's some huge bicycle committee meeting happening with 100 + people inside. For a second I got excited thinking they were all there for the comedy, but alas they left once, D started.
   I went out first tonight and did about 10 minutes of random material. I totally spaced on what I wanted to do when I got on stage and just pulled the set out of my ass. It worked well though, the crowd really seemed to enjoy it and I got a few good laughs from the audience of 15.

Triple Dip Monday

   Im feeling inspired and energetic tonight so I hit up 3 mics. 1st up is Sweet Basil Thai. This mic is pretty terrible usually but it recently got a new host and the redid the floor/chair layout and its greatly improved. Tonight, the PA system is malfunctioning so we all get to go up with no mic. Luckily this room is so small, that doesnt hinder the show. I go up 7th and rattle off some new ideas about xmas music and brand name clothing that doesnt really go anywhere and close with an observation on farts... 5 years doing comedy and Im still coming up with fart jokes. Eye of the tiger.
   2nd mic is Boiler Room. I drop in and get the last spot on the list. There are about 10 people in the room and they listen. I do the same thing from the first mic and make a little progress on the brand name material and fart joke but get little response. Its a quiet room.
   3rd mic is Brody Theater. Again, I drop in and get put up about 5 comics after I show up. Very small audience here as well, maybe 7 or 8 people in the back, noone is sitting near the stage. I go up and do my meandering xmas music/brand name clothing material...doesnt work. Fart joke...little reaction. I close with my marijuana tats = Coors light tats for a quick 1 liner and it get a nice little applause break. Good ending for that set.

Open Mic at Rose and Thistle

   Tonight I hit up a new open mic near my house at a bar called Rose and Thistle. Its a small bar with a nice outside patio. Dimly lit, low ceilings, and a small stage make for a great setting. There are about 30 people there watching and I go up number 7.
   My set felt good. I just went up and bullshitted for a bit. I didn't recognize a single other comedian in that room, a lot of new people.

Tall Tales at Helium

    God damn I am on a roll lately. Every other day I am on a great showcase and tonight is no exception. Tonight, I am fortunate enough to be part of Don Frosts Storytelling Showcase at Helium. Of course, every show at Helium is awesome and this is no exception. Great lineup and a small but great crowd.
    I wrote an all new story just for this show and I was nervous how it would pan out, but it all worked well. I'm at a point where I know what is funny and what isn't but still when I do something that I've never done before there's always that doubt lingering in the back of my head. Story landed hard, about 10 minutes long and I walked into the showroom and watched the rest of the show.
    This has been a great week.

Keep it like a Secret

    Tonight I am on the Keep it like a Secret showcase which is held at Jackpot recording studios in Portland. I have never been on this show and wanted to for a long time so I am excited to finally be part of it. Even better, I get there and it turns out I am headlining it. The lineup is great, some of my fave people are on it. The greenroom has pretzels and iced tea and beer and its a really nice setup for a show. The room is small, but fills up nicely with 50 people by showtime.
   The comics all go up and get great reactions then I go up and do about 30 minutes at the end and really close out strong. I did a mix of old and new and a lot of off the top talking to the crowd...everything seemed to have a nice flow to it. It was real good times for me this evening.

Tacoma Comedy Club

   Tonight I drove up to Washington and did a little Truth of Dare showcase at the Tacoma Comedy Club. This showcase has 7 comics doing a 5 minute set and then having to pick a truth or dare submitted by the other comics. Pretty cool. The crowd is pretty full, Id say 150 people are there on a Sunday.
    I go up in the middle and did a solid 5 minutes that the crowd ate up. Afterwards, I got a dare from another comic that consisted of having someone sit on my face. Overall a great show and it was nice to get some time at TCC for a change.
     Interesting experience.

Magic Inn

    Magic Inn. That's what this is. It's hard to put into words how rough this this shots how is but it's exactly what I needed as comic relief for my life.
   There are 6 people here not giving a fuck about comedy. It's beautiful.

Dirty Dozen

   It's time for a long overdue Dirty Dozen at Helium Comedy Club. Tonight's lineup is amazing as always, I am constantly surprised at the level of talent in Portland and tonight is no exception. Everyone killed.
    I gave away gift certificates to Ground Kontrol Arcade by telling the audience my phone number and having them text me insults throughout the show. That idea worked great! I got 50+ replies and I will make that a regular part of the show from now on.

Helium

    It's been awhile since I've updated my blog. It's also been awhile since I've done comedy, I got really sick a week ago and have been staying inside. But I'm feeling better so tonight I hit up helium for some open mic action.
    I have some new material to talk about. Mainly, a commercial shoot I was on the required lots of dancing. It didn't hit as hard as I wanted it to but it still felt pretty solid. Sometimes you just gotta try new stuff and see what happens.
    Afterwards I went home for a Skype interview for some TV show I probably won't get on and went to bed.

Wedding Show in Hood River

   Well, last night turned out to be a great experience. Casner, Lopez, and myself were booked to perform in a wedding out in Hood River for 2 people that none of us knew. They knew us though, they had seen us a bunch and decided to have a comedy show after party.
   It was out in the middle of nowhere, down a long dirt road with tiny signs. We missed their driveway the first time and ended up at the end of the road where we were basically attacked by 2 giant black dogs. These dogs were huge, they were barking non stop and running in front of my car and biting at the bumper while we tried to turn around and drive away. It took us 10 minutes just to drive 1 mile cause these dogs would not stop being assholes.
   Anyways, we found the house...a super super nice million dollar mansion with mater fountains built into the walls! Water fountains!  Also worth noting, a ping pong table, fooseball, giant floor to ceiling windows looking out over some private vineyard and they fed us amazing ribs before and after the show. They even had a tent set up just to smoke weed in with a jar full of joints....classy stuff.
    Everyone there was around late 20s to early 50s and they sincerely enjoyed the show. They were all drunk as fuck and there was def some crowd work done by everyone. I went up last and did 20ish minutes to a crowd of about 40 very happy people. A lot of great riffing and talking shit to be had. Afterwards we hung out and ate more, played games, smoked, and then drove back to Portland.
    One of the best parts of the night was being in the middle of nowhere the night sky if full of stars. You can see so much/little of our universe when you get away from the city. Breathtaking.

Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction

   Tonight I have the honor of performing in my first ever competitive erotic fan fiction. This is one of the highest rated comedy podcast and it's an honor to perform on it.
   I go up in the second round, which means I have to write a story based on audience suggestions. Crowd is great, everybody has killer sets. I go up and deliver my based on grumpy cat and really have a great time. I ended up winning!

Helium

    I love Tuesdays. Im back at the usual stomping grounds and I go up near the end. The crowd is good, not too full but attentive. I break the ice with a quick "Locks for Love" bit and jump into my longer I hate complainers story. I got like 3 applause breaks throughout my set. My set wasn't that great but I had some good hits. I closed on my flasher/old dude dick story which got a tepid response. Overall, Im happy with my complainers/toilet paper story and will keep working on it.

Helium

   Tuesday night, Helium night. The crowd is packed, and with it. I go up 18th and take my entire 5 minute set telling a story about a girl breaking my heart in 6th grade. It went pretty well, my sex twice vs sex once tag hit pretty hard but it's still a long way to go for the callback. I will work on it.

Hell or Highwater

   Tonight I am doing a set at the Highwater Lounge in North Portland. Ive been on this show before and like the venue. The stage is very deep, big enough for a full band, but the lighting s terrible. They only had 1 small spotlight working for the show and it was pretty dim. None the less, the show must go on right?
   I went up 2nd to last and had a fun time talking about mall etiquette. I also talked crack, my lack of confidence, and ended on my Jeff story. Everything got ok responses, the crowd was small, maybe 15 people but they were attentive.

Comedy Bull @ Helium

   Tonight I am on the Comedy Bull Showcase at Helium. This is a fun who where you do 4 minutes up front, then the host gives you random pictures and topics to riff on for the next 5. The order is random and I go up 2nd.
   I did about 7 minutes up front before I got the "bell" The audience was loving my super hero and crack smoking material. Then I was shown a picture of an elephant and had to "riff" on it. Not much there, I talked about how much I hate zoos for a few minutes and it went over well. Then, the host asked the audience to yell out a topic for me to talk about and someone yelled condoms. I went off on that for about 5 minutes and was having fun the entire time. "who still uses condoms?"

Embers

   Tonight I am back at Embers for their variety show. It is a combination comedy, drag, singing, music, poetry show and I am happy to be back, Its a small venue with a great atmosphere for comedy. The audience is sparse, but cool. I did 2 20 minute sets, 40 minutes of material on this night.
   My first set went pretty swell, I opened up strong and the crowd of 20+ was on board for most of it. Afterwards there was some musical acts, an intermission, some drag, then back to me for a 2nd set. My 2nd set went ok. A lot of people had left as this turned into a 2 1/2 hour show so there was like 10 people in the room but whatever, I still did my time and had fun. Afterwards, I stayed around till the last act and got out of there at about 12:30.

Red Power Ranger Roast

    Tonight I had the pleasure of roasting one of the actors that played the original Red Power Ranger. This show is at Capitol City Theatre in Salem and was packed out. There was a little comic con happening at the convention center across the street from the theater and a bunch of people showed up.
    My set felt really good, I did about 10 minutes of strong material that the crowd was eating up. A lot of quick off the cuff remarks as most of my set was improv. I did not expect there to be much of a crowd but it turns out the Red Power Ranger has fans. He was really cool in person and down to earth, glad to meet the guy.

Chatterbox

  Tonight is my 3rd and last night in LA and I am starting to feel a little better but am still....meh. I had a bunch of Ibuprofin to numb myself from my sickness and I get a ride with Steve to Chatterbox. Chatterbox is a small bar in Covina. Very fight club-esque, 10 minutes to showtime and there is hardly anyone here but by showtime 100+ people have shown up and it is standing room only.

   I go up first and although I am still feeling very sick, those Ibuprofin are working wonders. I have a great set, really fun. All my jokes were hitting and the crowd really liked my story telling. The entire show was great, every comic was top notch and I had a blast meeting people even though I was under the weather.

The Tomorrow Show

    Tonight is my 2nd night in LA and I am so sick...seriously. I spent all day not leaving my room and I havent eaten anything at all. I have a hard time standing and am sweating a lot. But still, the show must go on.
   I arrive at the Steve Allen theater and met Ron, the host/booker. I am so ill it is ridiculous. I go up near the beginning and seriously have a terrible set. iIt was a small crowd but I was so out of it and just sweating my ass off I must have looked horrible. My timing was off. Everything was off. I felt bad about my set and immediately left cause I was feeling horrible. I went back to my room and had the hardest time trying to sleep, constantly waking up covered in sweat...a truly misearable day/night for me. This sickness sucks.

The Clubhouse

   My first night in LA and I am booked at a small theater venue tucked inside a strip mall. Its very unassuming from the front, but once you enter the store and make your way to the back you are greeted with a staircase that takes you to a nice small 2nd floor theater. I am also getting sick.
   The show goes fantastic, even though I am quickly coming down with a very sore throat. The crowd loves my material and I have a great 10 minute set and then quickly leave. My throat is getting worse by the second. I go to the apt I am staying in and go to sleep.

Mill Casino

   Last night I perform two shows at the mill casino in Coos Bay. I am familiar with this room as I have been here before. I go in not expecting much in terms of audience reaction and that's about what I got. Both shows were pretty much just people staring and judging me which is fine, I don't need any new friends.
   Sometimes you have gigs like this that are so rough they make you question what you're doing. But that only lasts a few minutes, as soon as I leave the casino now I'm feeling great and I go to my hotel room and watch Comedy Central.

Turn Turn Turn

   I am doing a set at a small bar that is also a vintage record/clothing store. The setting has a real nice dimly lit 70s atmosphere to it and they have 2 old school hairdresser chairs in the back to sit in. I dig it. I arrive about 30 minutes early and meet the owner and curator of the show, cool dudes. The bathroom here is real nice, you can read about that on my other blog barbathroomreveiws.com
    I ended up "headlining" the show because the original person couldnt make it. There were 2 people in the room when I got there and it looked like it was gonna be a real empty show but in the last 10 minutes about 15 people had shown up. Let me be clear, this was not a good set. No one was getting laughs from the crowd and I was no different. I did about 20ish minutes and got a smattering of applause here and there but nothing solid. Got a few bucks and a mexican coke out of the deal though.
    Oh well, still a cool venue with cool owners, I hope they keep the show going.

Helium

    Tonight was a fun time. I went up at Helium and felt really solid with my material. My newer stuff about customer service heroes and Batman really went over well. I got a lot of compliments about the Batman material after the show and have really made that bit a solid 3 minute chunk. I am very happy with it. I closed on a piece about feeling ugly and going to Walmart to feel better about myself and that hit too. Tonight was a self esteem boost for sure.
   Also I got another date for the Dirty Dozen showcase so that is super cool.

Capitol City Theater

   Tonight I am headlining at The Capitol City Theater in Salem. I have headlined this theater before and am happy to do it again. They switched the stage layout since I have been there and it looks great! There is a great crowd with a bit of everything, Russian Mennonites, Bachelorette Party, Old people, and everything else. They were all really cool too!
   I did about 45 minutes and it flew by. The first 10 minutes of my set was new material about customer service reps, batman and real heroes and it all went over great. I did some dark material, some light material, the whole spectrum. I felt super confident on stage and for the most part, I feel like the crowd really enjoyed me.

Velo Cult Earthquake Hurricane

    Tonight I am performing on the Earthquake Hurricane Show at Velo Cult Bike Shop. This bike shop hosts a bunch of comedy and now has moved the stage upstairs to the main room. I like the layout a lot. I arrive early, and smoke wed while I wait to get the lineup lowdown. I am first, I thought I was gonna be lst so that caught me by surprise, I kinda regretted getting so high right before the show, but I am a professional god damnit.
   I go up after the hosts do some great banter and try to bounce a few ideas off the audience, relating to what the hosts were talking about...not funny. Then I went into my actual material and it all went pretty well. I had a pretty random set of new shit planned but I forgot my closer and did an old homeless kid closer that got a great reaction at the end. But I was still bummed I didnt close on the new stuff like I wanted to.

Dantes and Boogies

   It's Tuesday, Helium is closed, and I'm feeling good about some new material I wanna work on.
    First I go to Dantes. I arrive with low expectations and they were met. I haven't been to Dantes in a long time but it is just how I remember it. Dark, bathed in red light, and pretty sparsely attended. I do my material and ironically, the bartender is wearing a batman shirt.
   Next, I hit up Boogies Burgers for the late night open mic. It's perfect cause it's on the way home and it's a decent mic in general. Tonight there is a decent crowd and I try the same material from Dantes. The first half goes great but it putters out near the end.
   My anti batman stuff I'd solid, I need to tighten the transition into my anti branding material.
  

Embers

   Tonight I am performing at a new variety show at Embers. Embers is a big gay bar/club right on Broadway a block away from Brody Theater. I have been here before and seen drag shows and sang karaoke and I like the room. Its fairly large, with seating for about 50 and more in the back by the pool table. The bar has a clear glass fish tank built into the counter top that about 6 inches high by 10 feel long and runs the length of the bar. I imagine this is a terrible life for the fish as they have to endure so much noise and people beating on the glass constantly.
    I am the comedian of the night and I do 2 sets. The first one is 16 minutes and I do my "cleaner" material to warm them up. Everything went well, I was pretty scatter brained on stage but pulled it off. After my first set some drunk dude came and talked to me for 20+ minutes about how great I was. There were a few acts between my next set with some drag, singing, and poetry.
   For my 2nd set I did my dark stuff. They ate it up. There wasn't a big crowd, maybe 20 people but they made enough noise that it felt like 50. I appreciate the support I got for my stuff. I even had some real good riffing on the light guy....there was a light guy, an actual person who moved the spotlight and followed you on stage. I appreciate that shit.

Dirty Dozen

   Holy shit. Tonight's Dirty Dozen Showcase was a real treat for both me and the audience. The club wasn't sold out as I would have liked, but there was 120ish in the room and they were all on board from start to finish.
   I did all female related stuff because the lineup for this show was all ladies! I opened with a revamped okcupid joke and closed with my eating pussy material. To be honest,  I wasn't stoked to be doing the oral sex material cause I've done it a couple times before but I really fit into the theme of the show. The crowd was into all of it so I felt great afterwards.

Helium

    Tonight I'm back at Helium for the first open mic after the contest. I go up with some new material about working on commercials and feeling ugly and it goes over very well. Then I close on an old bit but I've been revamping about tearing pussy up and it goes great. I walk off stage feeling pretty confident, hopefully that will carry over to the Dirty Dozen tomorrow night.

Brody Theater

Monday night and I wake up from a nap and feel like going downtown to Brody. I get there right when it starting and Brandon puts me on the list near the front. Not a very big audience, as usual it's all comics.
   I go up and do some new material about commercials and feeling ugly as an extra. It goes over pretty well, I end witg some older stuff I'm working out for the next Dirty Dozen.
   Afterwards I go to boiler room and sing a song and no one dances to it. God damn it. What sucks is I nailed it too. Then I go to the arcade play a couple games of pinball and go home.

Magic Inn

Good god what a shit show tonight. I wasn't expecting much and this show delivered.  There was no PA system so no microphone. There was an audience of people who were actually there to see their friend and that was nice. A few people could care less about comedy. And one super drunk guy that was borderline mentally disabled kept yelling during my set. I went to Gresham when I got exactly what I expected.

Helium Comedy Contest

Tonight is the first round of the Portlands Funniest Comic Contest and I am excited. I have all new material that's only 2 weeks old and I'm happy to try it out. I should use more vetted material but I really like this new stuff....unfortunately the crowd doest and I don't advance. But....luckily for me I ready work at Helium and I'm really happy for the people that advanced. I'm gonna keep working this new stuff out and it will be my new opener soon.

Sweet Basil and Brody

Tonight I double dip at a Thai restaurant and Brody theater. First up is sweet basil, a small Thai restaurant located real close to where I live so I can just walk over. It's a very small room and only about 10 people are in the audience, and by audience I mean there's about 10 other comedians there just waiting to do time.
   I'm working on a new piece about giving customer service reps respect and how white people should not be superheroes. They Segway together well and It's new and I'm really like and where it's taking me so far. It's about five minutes long so that's all I say at the sweet basil open mic.
   Next stop I get to Brody theater and wait my turn. I'm probably the most dreaded comedian in the theater now, weird how time flies and I used to see Ian Karmel when I was just starting off and I thought he was the king. Now there's people that Brody who are just starting off and look at me the same way.
   Anyways I do the same superheroes material and added a tag about how Batman and Ironman are the Koch brothers of superheroes. Went very well, every time I tell this joke it gets a little bit better.

Holocene

Tonight, I am performing at an all storytelling open mic show called the moth. I am a very excited to put my name in the hat and possibly get drawn. There is a large crowd of a hundred plus people gathered at the venue and the stage is set up real nice.
    I got draw number four! I went up and told my swastika tattoo story and got a huge applause at the end and it was a hit. this crowd wasn't used to comedy storytelling so much, as this show had a lot of sad stories as well.

Curious Comedy and ASP

   Tonight I am double dipping at Curious Comedy Theater and Alberta Street Pub. I got some new stuff I really want to hammer out so I hit up both shows.
    Curious is first. I dont come to Curious that often, no reason in particular, I just dont. Tonight it has a sparse audience but they are all chill. I go up 10th and work out my new Cust Service -  Green Lantern/Super Heroes material and get a few hits. Then I take that material to Alberta Street Pub for some more fine tuning.
    I arrive at Alberta Street around 930 and the showcase hasn't started yet. The showcase is being mixed into the open mic so that the curated performers and doing 10 min sets randomly among the open mic 3 min sets....its weird but works. I go up 17th and hammer out that material again, trimming bits and pieces and adding more....its getting there

Fun House

    I've been going to the Funhouse lounge more often lately to try and work out new material. I've been feeling very creative and want to use this time to be as productive as possible. I like the funhouse lounge, it's a good atmosphere with pretty basic bathrooms you can read about on my other blog Barbathroomreview.com. I even stopped by goodwill and bought a putter to use for the putting green they have built into the patio. There's my contribution to the Portland comedy  scene.
   Anyways, it's weird now walking into a room like funhouse and being the veteran of the venue. I've been doing comedy for 5 years now and everybody in there knows who I am. I don't even sign up I just ask to be put up and it happens. God damn it, when did this happen.
    Anyways I went up there and worked out some new material about how we idolize false heroes. Pretty much a Michael Jackson joke. It hits good at the end but I need to work on the build up.

Dirty Dozen

   Tonight is the Dirty Dozen and I am excited as ever! It is a late night 10 p.m. Friday show instead of Wednesday and I'm hoping that we will draw a crowd. The lineup for this show is the best ever, & I am really looking forward to pushing the audiences limits.
    The turnout wasn't that great, only about a 120 people in the audience and I really wanted more. They were still super receptive and laughing hard but in my head I felt like there should have been 100 more people in the room. Granted, it was a super warm night and there was a lot of stuff going on downtown.
   My opening set was ok. I did a new bit about butt sex with my first girlfriend and by the end I had them laughing, but there's still a lot of build up that I need to trim down. I'm all for character development but I felt like I was on stage for 2 minutes building a story before there was a payoff.
  

Double dippin

   Tonight I'm feeling saucy and decide to double dip a few rooms for some open mic action. First up is boiler room, I got there early and was the first person in the bar. A few people filtered in as I sat at a table and went over some new material. It was a pretty meh set, with lots of pauses and loose ends.
   I used the audience to gauge where to add and subtract with the material and took that to Brody theater for my next open mic of the night. Brody theater went much better and I got a pretty good reception for my material. I still have to cut and add a lot more but I'm feeling like it might be a solid 3 minute bit when I'm done.

Analog Theater

   Tonight I am performing on a little show at the analogue theatre, right down the street from helium comedy club. There's 5 of us on this show and I get there a bit early to check out of the venue, Its nice. the crowd shows 10 minutes to showtime and there's about 20 people in the audience.
   I go up second to last and do about 10 minutes. It felt really solid. I got a lot of laughs and got to work out my new material. This was definitely a fun show.

Helium

Tonight I am performing at the helium open mic as usual on Tuesday. I am up 16th. I'm a little bummed to only do 3 minutes instead of 5, I wrote a bunch of new stuff I wanted to try out.
   I went up with some new material about my social anxiety and lacking confidence. I got some good reads on it and really just freestyled the last 40 seconds or so. I'll work on that material and I think it'll be pretty good.
   I closed with a little preview from my next Dirty Dozen set and the crowd liked it

Funhouse Lounge

   Tonight I am the featured/opening act of a vs Improv showdown. There is a nice sizable crowd in the room tonight. Everyone is in good spirits and sitting up front.
   I go on stage and do about 14 minutes. Everything seemed alright. I feel like I lost them a little bit near the end and closed on my homeless joke which I'm starting to get tired of using as a closer so often. It's a very solid joke, but I wrote it over a year ago. I have other material which I feel comfortable closing on but I just felt the tone of the room shift down a little and wanted to make sure I ended on something I know would work.
  And it did.
 
   Afterwards I stuck around for Midnight Mass. My favorite once a month showcase that is not the Dirty Dozen. The show was fantastic as usual. Great guest set from Dan Soder. Amy killed it with a story I had never heard before proving her white trashness

Helium and the Lamp

    Tonight I double dip at Helium and The Lamp. Helium was pretty rough, small audience that was hard to crack. I did a few newest bits and nothing really landed.          Afterwards I hit up The Lamp down the street, and did another 5 minutes set to a small audience. I did get to try out a new Dirty Dozen joke at the lamp and it got a decent response so I'm sure it'll work well at the showcase.

Wichita Bar and Grill

Tonight I am in Oregon City to do a feature set at the Wichita Bar and Grill. This is a pretty large bar and they have a nice sitting arrangement for the show. No TVs are on and all the lights are off, they really put the effort to focus attention to the stage. Wood paneling on everything...feels like Virginia.
   I do about 15 minutes and most of it hit pretty well. The crowd was on board from start to finish. Everyone was laughing at the punch lines and quiet during the setups, I could not ask for more. This was a great way to spend my Saturday night!

Jai Thai

Tonight I got to perform in Seattle and a little 10 minutes at a Thai restaurant. It's a really nice venue on Capitol Hill, nice neighborhood. The restaurant has a large back room with a stage built into the corner. Good sound system and lighting, really nice setup.
   My set felt less than stellar. Kind of sucks cuz it was three hour drive but still it was nice to perform out of town. They also recorded this for rooftop Comedy submission so maybe I'll get on.

Alberta Street Pub

Tonight I am hosting the open mic at Alberta Street Pub. This is a good way to unwind after the weekend at helium and I am looking forward to it. This club as a separate side room with a stage and is really well suited to live performances. Prior to the comedy show there was a poetry reading that had 60 people attending it. They all left before comedy though. Of course.
   I got there at about 8 and put the list up at 8:30. It was full by nine and we started the show at 10. The show went till about 1145 so I was there for a solid 4 hours. It didn't feel that long fortunately, I heard some pretty good comedy tonight.
   I did 20 minutes up front. Literally just introduced myself and started the rotation. I kind of regret that, I should have done some newer shit but I was kind of beat.

Helium

   This week I am hosting at Helium for Iliza Shlesinger! As always I am excited to work the club and Iliza brings a great crowd! All 5 shows are sold out and the audience is super with it for everyone.
   I did 2 different sets through the weekend and even recorded them on video for a new tape. Also, I did clean sets. No cussing or sex stuff or anything too dark...quite refreshing and rewarding to know I can do that and get such a great reaction. All the sets go great and Iliza was really great to work with.
   I look forward to working here again.

Spin Cycle

Tonight I am performing comedy in a laundromat because Portland. I'm actually pretty excited for the show, it's the one year anniversary of the laundromat and everybody gets free washes! I got all of my bedding done tonight. The show is also good. The quirky laundromat comedy vibe works and this place also has pinball and a bar and serves food... legit
   I go up last tonight and do about 15 minutes of mostly newer material. I had some fun with the crowd and everyone there had a good time.

Main Street Bar

   Tonight I'm in a little old sports bar located in Battleground Washington called the Main Street Bar. It's the typical, middle of nowhere, wood paneling on all the walls type of bar. But it has an actual stage area set up in the back and they have seating all facing the microphone just pretty swell. 5 minutes to showtime and a very drunk woman who cannot hold herself up was sprawled out on the floor, spilled her entire glass of water and is just an incoherent mess. Good shit.
   I was the host tonight and it was just a two man show. I went up and did 20 minutes to warm up the crowd and then let the headliner finish it off. There are not that many laughs. I don't feel like my material was weak, but the crowd was not responding to much. Also, the crowd was 25 people at most. The headliner did not fare any better.
   This was putting in to work.

Crush

This is my first time at crush bar. This is a small l.g.b.t bar real close to my neighborhood. They have a real legit stage set up in here with seating for about 40.
  I go up second on the show and really felt like I came out strong. Right off the bat I was just really big and kind of throwing myself around the stage and the crowd was on board. I had a few slow spots of the middle of my set but ended up closing with a nice bang and walked off the stage very happy with myself. I forgot to do a new bit about cell phones. But other than that I am very satisfied with this evening.

The Summit

Tonight I am headling the Summit Saloon in Bend. This is a pretty large, two story bar venue that has seating for about 80 in the showroom. They have a nice stage with a few spotlights as well.
    The show goes pretty okay. I go up with high energy and do about 55 minutes. Not everything hit as hard as I would have liked but most everything I said in the crowd was into. The darker the better. Some of these civilians were definitely my kind of people.
   So what they take away from tonight is that I have 55 minutes of material without even trying. After the showcase they hosted open mic and I did another 5 minutes of stuff I forgot to talk about during the showcase. I feel like if I really wrote it out and tried I could do with an hour and a half right now.

Sky Club

   Tonight was pretty terrible. I did a 10 minute set at Skyclub for 12 people who didn't laugh at any of my shit. Comedy can be a fickle mistress and sometimes shit just sucks. Tonight shit sucked.

Pauly Shore at Bossanova

  It is Thursday, April 2nd. Pretty mundane day, still feeling jazzed from the Dirty Dozen set last night. What makes tonight special? I am opening for Pauly Shore. I'm pretty excited, I got an email out of the blue asking if I was available so of course I said yes.
   It is at the bossanova ballroom. It's a pretty big venue that I would imagine could hold around 300. I've seen a few shows in here but never actually performed on this stage. I was happy to get the chance. The show was definitely not sold out. Maybe about 65 people showed up, but they were a good audience and the room felt full.
   I went up and started the show, did about 10 minutes out front and everything felt pretty solid. I did some older jokes and threw in the newer crack cocaine material in the middle. All my jokes hit where they needed to, and I introduce the next comedian.  Bri and Sean did great as well and then Pauly went up to close out the show and did about 40 minutes.
   Good way to live on a Thursday

Dirty Dozen

   It is the first of the month and that means another episode of Dirty Dozen! It happens to fall on April Fools Day as well, good timing.
    The show goes on without a hitch. Really good audience, about 180 people, they were well into the back of the room. I feel like my set was great and I really set the tone for the rest of the show. Everybody did really well, & I brought some out-of-towners from Seattle who had a great time.
   This show is definitely a success and I'm really proud to be a part of it every month. This is a show I'm allowed to exercise my freedom of speech, and they put a lot of trust in me to head to show. I am thankful for that.

Helium

Tuesday night and that mean Helium open mic! The crowd is pretty packed and I go up near the end. My set pretty off brand and rambling. But I got off stage feeling pretty solid. Afterwards, I did not get out of Helium for an hour because people kept coming up to me saying nice things. I don't know what I did in there tonight but they were feeling it... solid.

Hell or Highwater

Tonight I am featuring on the hell or highwater showcase. It is in North Portland and pretty close to my house. Its a nice bar with a separate room with a stage and is really good for live shows.
   The show is well attended, but laugh of sparse. I go up there with a bunch of my b material. Not b as is in bad, just stuff that I don't get a chance to say that often. The crowd was on my side through the whole thing and I left there feeling pretty good about my night.

Ground Kontrol

   tonight, I am in a show that takes place in a giant arcade downtown. The Arcade is called ground control, and it has a bar and two stories of old school video games and pinball. I come here a lot but I have never performed on the show. So I'm pretty excited.
    It's a hard room, with a hundred plus machines beeping and booping there is definitely a lot of noise pollution. The layout is pretty cool with some tables that look like they are out of Star Trek TNG occupying a small side. You stand on that side facing the tables which are up against the wall and behind you the rest of the Arcade is going business as usual. Your voice is amplified through the arcade so people can theoretically listen to you even when they're on the second floor and out of sight.
   I am second to last on the line up. I go up and do 20 minutes of some old and new material. I didn't really get that many big laughs they were mostly just listening to me, but it wasn't a bad set by any means.
   Felt good afterwards and then play some NBA Jam. I beat my friend which I'm bittersweet about. It went into overtime... We were both doing pretty badly, my controllers were fucked as well which really fucking sucked. I struggled just to be able to pass or shoot the ball most of my shots were luck. Including the last shot. With 2 seconds left my friend was up by two so I just did the full court shot and it miraculously went in! It was bullshit shot, but I also had messed up control so I think it worked out for the best

Helium Open Mic

     Tonight I am back on the grind at Helium for the open mic. I got sick last week so havent been out in a couple days. It was St. Patricks Day so I called all the green wearers out for being fake and then I just went through a couple of concepts and talked them out. The crowd was pretty tight through the whole evening, weird for a St. Patricks Day. You'd think they would be all drunk and loose but whatever.
    The punchline to my "Goosebumps" weed story didnt hit very hard and I addressed it. I told the crowd the were right for not liking it and although the story was engaging, the punchline is just not worth the buildup. I spent the last minute of my set not so much as doing comedy but just talking to the audience about how I felt about the joke. I like to include them, I feel like the audience likes it when I drop the theatrics and just talk to them like Im talking to a friend about comedy sometimes. 

Helium with Ari Shaffir

This weekend has been intense. 5 shows with the amazing Ari Shaffir under my belt and I feel like I'm on the right track. All 5 shows were packed, as they should be. And Ari was a really laid back and down to earth guy.
Thursday was a nice warm up, I dialed in some new material about crack pipes and it went over really well. Friday both shows were great I use different material for both sets and they both felt solid. Saturday the place was a madhouse. Sold out, drunk, loud....an Ari crown for sure. Luckily his people are also my people.
   It seems like I couldn't miss on stage this weekend. Even when I went up there with my less than great material everything hit. All in all I probably did about 45 minutes of material between the 5 sets. I hope the people at helium we're paying attention and move me up to feature soon because I feel like I am ready.
  

The Mill Casino

The Mill Casino... A room.full of bright flashing lights, bells and whistles, and 70 year olds. Smoke fills the air, giving the room a nice musty smell...like my parents house. Except much sadder.

Helium

Tonight, as with every Thursday I find myself at helium comedy club. The crowd tonight is perfect, there must be a 150 + in there. They were also a really wild audience as well. In a good way.
    I go up and do my material about crack stems,  then I do a giveaway for a Jerry Rice action figure, and then I come back into my bit about eating pussy. All of it's hard. I get about 20 people hollering at me after the show telling me I'm their favorite and this and that, it's really reaffirming.

Wildhorse Casino

Last night I did my first ever gig at the Wildhorse casino. The casino has a really nice stage with rows of lighting above it. Iron Maiden could have performed in here and been all set. The stage is set in a small bar off of the casino, like most casino gigs. The seating is back away from the stage, and the room is pretty barren when you're looking out from it.
   I will probably never be invited back. My set was rough. Really rough. The crowd was all 50 to 70 year olds and they didn't like a damn thing I had to say. Seriously. I was supposed to be 30 minutes and they gave me the light at 20 to get off stage because I was just not selling them on anything. It was brutal.

Earthquake Hurricane

Tonight, I am performing at a show called earthquake hurricane. It is taking place in the basement of a bicicle bar... very Portland. The venue is fairly small, but it is nice. It has theater seating and can hold about 40 people.
    I am headlining the show apparently. It's a fairly solid lineup and I thought be out of town I was going to go last but, here I am. It was a good set too. I did mostly this stuff but closed on my swastika story cuz I got the light and that is one of my shortest jokes. Good crowd, very easy going, really good show overall.

Helium

It's Tuesday night, so that means I'm at helium for the weekly open mic. The crowd tonight is kind of tight. Nobody is getting super big laughs, even the more vetted comedians.
   I go up there with my typical fuck it attitude and talk about smoking crack for my entire five minute set. It felt really good. I didn't have a game plan when I hit the stage I kind of just shot from the hip. The crowd was into it, & I even got a few emails later that night from people who said they really enjoyed it.
   I'm at a point now where I'm comfortable just winging it on stage at helium and I usually do pretty damn well. I haven't repeated myself in about 6 months on that stage. That's something I'm really personally proud of. I like going up there with something new each week. The crowd seems to appreciate it too, I've had a few people in the last month comment on how they've never seen me tell the same joke twice. Good.

Daily Double

   Tonight is a god damn shit show. Classic shit show action. Its taking place in a dive bar that leans to the side a solid 5*. The show starts a couple hours late, and their is no mic. Classic.
   Waiting for the show to start im treated to a parade of trashy people. First up, big dude leaning on me and Neeraj talking dumb shit. Then he came over a talked shit about Lonnie and Neeraj was about to lay him out. Seriously, dude doesn't take shit. Good guy.
     Later, another guy shared some jokes with us...really good jokes too. Classic racism, sex, religious material.
   The show finally starts late with out a mic... It goes as well as you could imagine. The few people in the bat are either glued to the lottery machines or have their backs turned at the bar. I feel like its 2012...I kinda like it.

Double Dippin ...

Tonight I take a break from helium and head to Dantes. The classic dark rock venue that attracts a sometimes less than perfect crowd. I haven't been and that room in well over a year. It was just like I remember, a very dark room and about 10 people in the audience. My set went okay honestly, I went up there with a dark frame of mind which is just right for that venue.
   Afterwards I hit up Brody Theater, a classic spot that I used to frequent. The walk from Dante's to Brody is something I haven't done in a while. I got to see a lot of vagrants and random people yelling into the night sky. Old times. I had a good set there as well it was a good way to end my night.

Helium

This week has done so much reaffirm what direction I'm taking in my life. 5 shows, every one of them packed! Brian brings a great crowd, they are all super nice and friendly. The early Saturday show had a kind of older crowd though, they were still great it was just a noticeable thing.
    Thursday I did a set with material that I did not even have when I did the last weekend at Helium in November. I told a five minute version of my Jeff story, a story that I wrote specifically for the storytelling showcase. The Civil War section of it has gotten applause break every time I delivered it. It's the first piece of brand new material I'm really happy with I've made in the last month. Friday I did two sets that were mostly the same as the Thursday Sat. And then saturday I opened up with my liver transplant, into my long hair/crack material. Not my strongest stuff. Why? Because talking to Brian in the green room about life, that came up and he wanted to hear what I had to say about it on stage. He was actually listening to my sets which is awesome.
   Derek sheen was the feature and god damn it he is such a pleasure to work with. I consider him a good friend and I am glad to work with him. And of course Brian was amazing, super down to earth. We talked a lot in the green room about all types of cool stuff like horror movies, wrestling, weed. We smoked a lot of weed...I was in the green room till like 1 a.m. Saturday night shooting the s*** and it really felt great to have an icon like that talk to me as an equal.

Dirty Dozen

    Tonight is the 8th or 9th installment of The Dirty Dozen showcase at helium comedy club! A showcase that I am fortunate enough to host once a month. We have the schedule pretty solid now, I am doing the Dirty Dozen the first Wednesday of the month every month. I like it. Also, Thursday through Saturday I am hosting for Brian Posehn! I have a big week ahead of me.
     The show goes fantastic, as always. A slightly smaller crowd than I was used to actually, only about 120 to 140 showed up. The last two or three shows have been 200 plus people.
    All the comedians had fantastic sets, and we ended strong with Kristine Levine.

Naval base in Bremerton

   Tonight I had the pleasure of doing a little out of state gig with my good friend Lonnie and Adam. It was held on a naval base that was huge! There were a few aircraft carriers and other giant ships docked in the harbor. The gig itself was in a big sports bar that they have on site.
    The crowd was good. Mostly younger people in their twenties just looking to laugh. I was expecting to see guns and camouflage but I did not see any guns and only a few people were wearing camo shirts. They were super receptive to everyone on the show. I did about 20 minutes, with a lot of random riffing in between jokes. They ate it up, a lot of people were talking to me after the show asking if I had a DVD of my own, that's something I need to start thinking about.

Helium Storytelling Showcase

Tonight was amazing! It was a new storytelling and they gave us each about 10 minutes to tell 1 long form story. Long form story telling is a new thing for me and I wrote à brand new set just for the show. I'm feeling a little on edge because with all new material you are never sure how it'll work but with a new 10 minutes it could be rough haha.
    My story hit hard and I felt like a rock star on stage the entire time. Luckily I recorded it so I look forward to the footage. This show inspired me to write new material and I succeeded big time.
  

Helium

    Tuesday night, feeling right, got some new bits, hope they bite...
     Tonight I wrote a bunch of new material about police officers. Over 5 minutes of new stuff that I go on stage hoping well head. Some does and some doesn't. Most of it doesn't. Tonight was a great exercise and what happens when I spend all day getting high watching George Carlin videos and thinking, "I should try and make a political statement in one of my jokes"
   

Comedy Write Now

  Tonight I'm in the basement of a bike shop telling jokes at an open mic. This mic has a cool format. You get 3 topics to write about and 10 minutes to write a 3 minute set. The order is chosen at random and tonight I go first. Three topics are: Frogs, Track n Field, and Taxes.
    I go up and talk about my friend Jeff ho licked toqds to get high, memories of the nes game track and field, and skip taxes. Pretty OK set, nothing expected. Fun times.

The Pocket Theater

   The Pocket Theater is a wonderful little theater in Seattle. I am here with some improve friends doing a guest set in the middle of the act. The theater holds about 50 and has a great lighting setup and projector.
    I go up and from the start, really connect with the audience. Real good vibes for almost the entire set, they were loving me. I told me hospital/long hair joke duo and they landed hard. At the end of the set they lost steam for my homeless closer though, kinda shitty end. This one guy sitting front row was fucking loving me, I appreciate that positive feedback.
    Nice bathroom too!

Midnight Sun

    Tonight I am in Olympia at a small theater called Midnight Sun. I came with some improve friends and will be doing a 20 min set in the middle of the show. The theater is small and holds about 40. Very dark and intimate venue.
    When the show starts there are 13 people in the audience, not a big crowd but they are into it and loud laughers which helps fill the room. I go up and do my set...without a mic either. There's no mic haha.
    The set goes great, I do some darker stuff because I see a lot of goatees in the audience. They eat or up. I also did a new bit about punking and old man...goes well! New stuff makes me happy, and I feel productive.

Boiler

    Its a new year and I'm feeling up for anything, so I hit up boiler room for some open mic comedy. I get there and get put on last, which is fine cause I need to work out some new shit.
     I hit the stage and my first " ancestry" joke goes well. I follow it with an older bit about a yellow Adidas jacket and it goes great. I need to bring that one back... Then I close on the joke that got me banned from Harveys. My eating pussy joke...it goes great and I walk out of boiler with a positive attitude.

Eugenios

   I'm back at Eugenios for a little comedy showcase action. This is a small but cool room to perform in. I get there about 30 minutes early and I'm the first so I play pinball next door.
   I come back at showtime and the place is packed, people are swarming the bar! Show starts and....all those people leave. That's comedy. It goes from 40 to 10 people real quick haha. And a couple people aren't even paying attention...classy.
    I go up 2nd to last and do about 15. I riff on goodwill, I riff on tmnt, and I riff on the crowd..lots of riffing. No need for an A+ set here, this is about trying new stuff and some of it sticks a little so its a win.

Dirty Dozen

   This is the 1st DD showcase of 2015 and I am amped! I'm actually quite sick, but this show trumps all. The lineup is fierce as always and the crowd is packed 200+... its a good scene.
    I go up and do 10 up top and really get the audience amped. All my jokes go over well and I grab some good audio from it. Great set, great feedback, and great show!

Harveys

   Ringing in the new year at Harveys Comedy Club and it feels great! Perfect way to start 2015. The feature and headliners are both cool and down to earth dudes, makes green room nicer.
    Wed night both shows go off great, and I do the countdown on stage in front of 300 drunks who were loving it. Ended up bar hoping till 2am and having a snuggle buddy to spend the night with.
   Fri night was pretty good. The early show was a mostly older crowd and was feeling apprehensive about some of my darker material. The show went well regardless, with a lot of "good jobs" afterwards. The late show was kinda meh. The crowd was small, not even a half full room and it was also a younger crowd. I was feeling great cause I knew they'd be on board with my material. They for the most part, were, but with such a small crowd I felt like I was less than stellar.

   Sat shows....well... First two were great! Really solid. Then, I went dark and dirty for the late show. Crowd dug it, but owner was furious. Told me I'd never work his club again. Sometimes you have to make tough choices about were you wanna be as a comedian, I made that choice tonight. And I'm very happy with it.