Work!

While I have so many of you here, I need a job. For reals. I would love to write for Conan, host a show about science, or pen Jurassic Park 4. I am currently making small sums from stand-up and supplementing with unemployment checks. Let it be known that I like feeding my family!

Welcome again to the massive visitors coming over from all over the place. If you want to hear more about the video, read the last entry.

Hello, Internet!

First of all- CRAZY exciting shows in my calendar! Check it out! I'm headlining The Comedy Attic in Bloomington, IN. I'm opening for Paul F. Tompkins and Brian Posehn again! Both of them! It's cuh-razy. See calendar.

Also, my CD had a kick ass opening release. It hung out for a while in the iTunes Top 50 Bestsellers! What??? So awesome. You can still buy it as a part of the 3-Pak on AST Records' site, or on iTunes here.

I had ridiculous fun at last week's Just For Laughs Festival. I got to see some of my favorite comedians go up at The Vic, meet a couple of awesome ones, hang out with some I hadn't seen in a long time, and do two fantastic shows. The Secret Big-Time Local Comedy Showcase was Tuesday night at Chicago Underground Comedy, and I got to do a 25 minute set for a sold out 250+ audience. Damn!

Then Saturday night I got to tape a set for TBS called LOL Lounge. It should be online soon. Look! Proof!



Also, my site is getting a ton of traffic because of this video going viral:



Over 5,000 30,000 new views in the last 12 hours. That's at least semi-viral! Note to the Aspergers-ridden nerds emailing me about it: so what if I fudged Giganotosaurus and said Gigantosaurus? And I may have confused where the fake apatosaurus skull came from. The point of the joke is that I have too many opinions, not too many facts. Also, I have been accused of having "plants" in the audience. Are you kidding? I have gotten pachycephalosaurus and allosaurus at least ten times each. Comedy fans are smart. See: previous category of haters. Also, I have been improvising comedy for over 10 years and know what to do if the audience has, say, NO dinosaurs they want to talk about. Case in point:

The Onion and Patton Oswalt!

I've got a very cool thing online, a featured interview in The Onion's AV Club with me! My name and face even made it onto the front page of the print edition. Crazy. Thank you Kyle Ryan!

Also, this is a little belated, but since this weekend I'm having my headlining show at The Wilmette Theater in lieu of the headlining weekend I was supposed to have at the Lakeshore Theater, I thought this would be nice to post. Here's Josh Modell, John Roy, Patton Oswalt, me, and Chris Ritter backstage before I opened for Patton last Boxing Day. We chatted about Star Wars and Avatar quite passionately as this was taken. Long live the Lakeshore!

Fossil Record: in a CD 3-Pak with Greg Proops and Paul F. Tompkins!

Read about it.

AST Records!

So here's the big news, if you haven't heard- my CD EP is going to be released on AST Records! That label is amazing, and I am very fortunate that they like me enough to welcome me into their family of artists. Not familiar? Go to their site. It's ridiculous who else is on the label.

Stay tuned here on the blog, or follow me on Facebook/Twitter, because it's going to be a pretty special release.

Long Live Lakeshore!

I am very sad to report that my home base, my club of clubs, the theater that championed me, will be shutting down next week.

If you've been to my webpage/blog before, you know that I have had a million and one wonderful experiences at the Lakeshore Theater. They've set into motion almost every good thing I've had going for me in the way of stand-up. I mean cripes, scroll down one entry!

At any rate, my headlining show in early May is obviously canceled. But I have so many fantastic memories from the place. The real loss is not mine, but Chicago's. I have grown up here, both literally and artistically, and there is simply no replacing LST. And there is no person who cares about edgy, interesting comedy like it's owner Chris Ritter. We, Chicago, are screwed. They put up amazing locals who had not been on television yet as full-fledged headliners and packed the 300 seat house. There's not even a theater space that big, period, that isn't funded by rich local aristocrats and gigantic "Broadway in Chicago" budgets that care nothing for local artists. Lakeshore put up dozens and dozens of local talents in addition to myself. Just massive support and opportunities for local comedians that occurred every week.

Headliners will end up going to smaller clubs and bigger theaters where there will be no opener, or one of a few elite ones that the club trusts. Local comedians will feel the hit immediately, and for a long time. Chicago was always lean on opportunities for comedians to grow and network, and it just got a lot leaner.

That said, if any of my fellow comics are reading this, don't quit! Keep creating your own shows! Keep submitting to other clubs! It is never nearly as tough as it feels! But if you're simply a fan of comedy reading this, you have no idea how much tougher it just got.

The Nerd Spectrum!

Last month, Victoria and I went on a date to see Brian Posehn. When I got there I was offered a guest set. That I was allowed, even encouraged to take it by my wife is a sign that I have the bestest of all wives in the multiverse.

Then with infinite luck he remembered me. Last Wednesday I got to open for Brian Posehn in Flint, Michigan at a heavy metal club called The Machine Shop. It's known as the best venue for metal in Michigan, and one of the most interesting, if not only, spots for entertainment in all of Flint. I found out when I got there that it was the first ever comedy show they'd had. Hoo boy! Most of the crowd had gigantic goatees and sleeve tattoos. "Are you going to wear a suit‽" my wife asked incredulously, interrobang implied. Yes, yes of course.

They somehow packed 400 people in there and it was awesome. They love the dark humor in those metal Flint social gatherings!

Then I went with Brian to Peoria, Illinois and got to open to sold out crowds at the Jukebox Comedy Club. Brian's got a huge following and it was awesome to get to tag along for four days.

I'm off to England to visit my in-laws. In the meantime, my headlining show at the Lakeshore is coming up really fast. Please buy tickets and spread the word! It's on me to prove my shit and pack that place.