January 14, 2008

Laughs Unlimited in Sacramento, CA

Laughs Unlimited in Sacramento, CA

Cap City in Austin, TX

Cap City in Austin, TX 

South by Southwest in Austin, TX

South by Southwest in Austin, TX

Garage Comedy @ El Cid in Los Angeles

Garage Comedy @ El Cid in Los Angeles

UC Santa Barbara

UC Santa Barbara

Death Takes a Braunger @ The UCB LA

Death Takes a Braunger @ The UCB LA 

Go Bananas in Cincinatti, Ohio

Go Bananas in Cincinatti, Ohio

The Laff Stop in Houston

The Laff Stop in Houston

Garage Comedy @ El Cid in Los Angeles

Garage Comedy @ El Cid in Los Angeles

October 26, 2007

Circus Bear

Oh, Portland, town that I love. With your crisp air and sweet rain and tattooed, able-bodied 22-year-olds that ask for change. Also, great music venues and Voodoo Donuts. Oh, VD, yours is not to question why, but instead, why not? Why not put a strip of bacon in a maple bar? Cereal on top of a doughnut, say, Fruit Loops? Why not? How about chunks of Oreos? You know the answer. I remember when the FDA made you stop making your donut with Nyquil in it. Made me sad. Not that I ever had one, but like Marc Maron said about suicide, it was just good to know it was there whenever you wanted it. Your t-shirts do not lie, Voodoo Donut. The magic IS in the hole.

And the Towne Lounge. So awesome that I can come back, bring a comic with me who’s never been to Portland, and do a couple shows for fun audiences. After we cover plane tickets, there’s never anything left but beer change, but it’s like the cheapest vacation ever. And I can breathe good fresh air for a weekend. Which, of course, is ruined by the fact that you can still smoke in bars there. Man, I’m sorry, but that shit is done. One thing I like about LA is that I don’t have to wash my jacket after wearing it once in a bar. Wait, when did I get on this soapbox? What do you mean, you needed someone handsome up here? Wait, you NEED someone handsome? I have to get down? Oh, okay.

Speaking of soapboxes–wait, soapbooths. Wait, speaking of bad transitions, I’ll be in Las Vegas with Garage Comedy for the HBO Comedy Festival. We’ve got a bunch of tents outside of Ceasar’s. Sort of a weird little village. I’ll be hosting a staring contest every hour-and-a-half thursday, friday, and saturday during the day. It’s sponsored by Twix, so I guess if you win, you get cookie candy that I’ll probably throw at you. A ton of funny people are going, so I’m excited about that. Especially just to see what Brody Stevens does wandering around the village. There’s gonna be stunts and games and all the random, weird, slightly disquieting fun you’ve come to expect from Garage Comedy. Whee! And unlike Atlantic City, I won’t suddenly yell out, “Goddammit!” from sheer depression, startling the people around me. Or the person in the room next door.

Right now I’m kind of in the grip of a strange, soothing terror over my one man show opening November 1st. At the UCB LA. At 8:00. Not that I’m plugging it. See, I need deadlines in my life to get anything done, so it’s good I have a “no turning back now” point of reference. But I’ve never done one of these, so I have no experiences to base it on. I just really want it to not suck. So many one person shows I’ve seen have been pretentious and preachy and schmaltzy. The first two I’m not too worried about, but the third I kind of am. Just because a lot of it involves the relationship I have with my parents.

Ah, whatever. Even if it does come off as an episode of “The Wonder Years,” at least it’ll be an episode starring a circus bear.