Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Edo and I are trying to save money by eating at home more often. Does delivery pizza count as eating at home to save money? The best pizza place in San Jose is down the street from us --

Kukar's House of Pizza. And a salad. Then Kurtyka came over to join me at the San Jose Improv for the SFCC Graduation Showcase. Another great crop of new comedians. Kurtyka has the same attitude that I do: it's funny when it's funny and it's funny when it's not funny. How can you lose? I got to close out the show, and did some of my new stuff that I like very much ("booby, booby"). My stalker wasn't there. I'm worried about him now.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

The Larkspur Cafe Theater, Larkspur. It's such a cute little theater, and this gig is part of the Women Who Kick Comedy Butt series developed by Grace White. I hosted, and Maggie Newcomb and Julia Jackson were the other comedians. It was a relatively small crowd, so I had the venue leave the house lights up. This accomplishes two things: It's easier to relate to the small audience when you can see them, and they are less likely to bolt early 'cause we can see them. I learned that trick from Dion Warwick (she doesn't seem to have a Web site, or I would have put a link). Julia and I both used the secret tactic of telling "take home jokes." This is a good way to get the audience back on your side when you've lost them somehow. You tell the joke abou the guy who walked into the bar, the audience laughs even though its not YOUR material, and you get them back and can get back into material. Don't tell anyone I told you. I had a pretty big Quiznos sandwich for late lunch, so I just had Cheetos for dinner. And orange fingers for dessert.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Rooster T. Feathers Comedy Club, Sunnyvale. Another Benefit for Hurricane Katrina Relief. This time for the American Red Cross (call 1-800 HELP NOW or visit the Red Cross Web site to contribute). I had a black bean burrito with cilantro and onions for dinner at about 4pm, then had a little popcorn during the show. The audience size was disappointing, but it was a great show. Tina Allen, Tim “Slappy” Babb, Sandy Stec, Dave Burliegh, Dan St. Paul, Heather Woodhull and ME! We all had great sets and took a lot of pictures afterward. Even some audience folks wanted our picture, which was cool. Funniest line of the night: See you next week for the Hurricane Rita Benefit.

Friday, September 16, 2005

The Dark Room Theater, San Francisco. Benefit for Hurricane Katrina, with proceeds going to Second Harvest. (Click here to make your contribution to Second Harvest.) Edo and I stopped at WENDY’s for dinner on our way up to the city. We went to the same Wendy’s where the lady put a finger in her chili. We found no digits. The show was awesome! Two sketch groups performed (Killing my Lobster and Uphill Both Ways), plus Scott Capurro who I’ve never seen before and loved. It was a hip little theater in the city’s Mission District and the audience was awesome and I had a blast. Cherylin (not sure of the spelling) the Goth Transvestite Spoken Word Poet cracked me up. Thanks Sean McGinn for letting me be a part of the whole thing!

Wednesday, September 7, 2005

Larkspur Café Theater, Larkspur. I really thought I’d be able to get dinner at the venue, but it wasn’t really set up for that, and I turned down an opportunity to get Mexican food (which might not have worked out after all because I don’t remember ever seeing Mexican food or Mexican food remnants), so I never really got to eat. It was worth it, I guess, ‘cause it’s a good cause. Did you notice how I used the word “cause” twice in that sentence? Anyway, the cause was Comedy Day. Spreading some joy in Golden Gate Park sometime in October. I won’t be around. It was a great show, another WWKCB extravaganza with a butt load of great female comedians.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005 through Friday, September 2, 2005

The Sands Regency Reno, Reno NV. Staying in the hotel with Reannie my roommate (I like the alliteration of that), Gracie the promoter, Erikka and Lori. A tour of “Women Who Kick Comedy Butt.” The first night I had Arby’s beef n’ cheddar. There was an Arby’s in the casino! The second night I had a salad from Trader Joes. That morning I had gone to the employee cafeteria for bacon. The third night I had ribs from Tony Roma’s. There was a Tony Roma’s inside the casino! The last night I was there, we all went to the Rib Cook Off Festival in Sparks and I had ribs and corn on the cob. After the show we went to Joe’s and I had some sort of non-descript sandwich. Reno was sad to me. The air is dry, there is a constant ring-a-ling in the casinos, which you have to walk through, there’s constant smoke and the people seemed so pathetic. And toothless. I guess Reno must be better than their trailer park. As for the shows, they liked me, they were lukewarm, they were lukewarm, and they liked me. Audiences were sort of small, and not very sophisticated. I enjoyed working with the other comedians, but I guess I don’t have much more to say about it.

More dinners . . .