Monday, August 22, 2011
2011 Summary
I can tell summer is coming to an end. The weather is cooling off a little. Stores like Target and Kohls are advertising their back to school specials. And new Baby Daddy episodes of Maury are right around the corner. AHHHHH bring on fall. On a side note, I remember when I was a kid and my parents didn’t have much money to buy four kids back to school clothing. So my dad would take me to this swap meet thing and we would get designer jeans much cheaper than at a department store. But one year we went to the swap meet and they were selling concert shirts. They were the exact kind you could buy at a concert but for half the price. Well the big group touring that summer was Journey. So when I saw the Journey concert shirt I asked my dad if we could get it. I wore that thing the first day of school. I told everyone I went to the concert earlier that summer when I really didn’t. I got away with this lie most of the day UNITL 5th period when a classmate, a true Journey fan, noticed something about me shirt. He asked if I went to the show. I saw very proudly YES. I’m wearing the shirt aren’t I bitch. Well this guy quickly noticed that on the front side of the shirt it had the summer concert tour name listed. BUT on the back it had a tour listed from a few years prior and I didn’t notice. So the shirt I was wearing was obviously a knock off. All of a sudden this guy calls me out in front of the class saying I not only didn’t go but my shirt was a complete knock off because it was advertising two different concert tours and the band Journey would never sell something with two different concerts on it. Needless to say it was another year of retaining my virginity.
As I mentioned at the end of 2010, I was asked to perform on a cruise to Alaska in August with a great musician named Dave Koz. Dave and I met last year when I was doing warm up on the Emeril Lagasse television show taping in New York . He does an annual cruise with a bunch of other musicians and this year it was going to Alaska . He needed a comic for the seven day excursion and someone to help with hosting duties. So he asked if I was interested. What I didn’t know at the time in December was his manager, a guy named Scott, wanted to come out and watch me perform before they confirmed me to do the cruise. It made sense. Dave had seen me do warm up but not really stand up. So in December I thought I had the cruise confirmed but not so fast. So Dave’s manager Scott lives in San Diego so he asked me if I had any shows down in that area. Well great news my buddy Lamont books a theater down in San Diego at a beautiful theater and I was scheduled to do it in January. So I invited Scott a week before and he agreed to come out and see me. A day or so before the gig I got a call from Lamont confirming the details. There was a miscommunication. Lamont books two rooms in San Diego . One is a theater. The other is a place called Docs Saloon (a BBQ restaurant in San Diego ). Nothing screams good comedy than people watching you over beef brisket. I had heard good things about this room but I was worried because rooms like this can be hit or miss. And I told Scott I was working a great theater and now I had to tell him I was doing a place known for sweet tea and wet naps. I really wanted to nail this show but whenever you invite someone to a show it never goes well. But at least I thought a theater environment would be a nice venue for Scott to see me in. Scott calls me on his way to the show and says he can’t stay. He has to get back home for something and is only coming by to offer me the cruise. WHAT? I was so happy. He was just coming to offer me the cruise and wasn’t even going to watch. This is the best day ever. I am there early so we have dinner. He is telling me about the cruise and what he needs from me. Time is flying and we are having a great time chatting. All of a sudden Lamont comes over and says “Gary sorry to bother but you’re next.” Well goodbye Scott I assume you have to get going. Scott says actually I have a few minutes and can watch you. WTF. You said you had to get home. What about your family? I couldn’t believe this was happening. If I didn’t do well would he pull the offer? I mean he just gave me the gig. Now what? Luckily I go on and have a great set. Everything went as well as it could have. I couldn’t have been happier. As I mentioned in my last BLOG, my mom and dad were huge Dave Koz fans. I remember they always listened to this jazz station that played his music. Even after my dad passed away, my mom listened all the time. She went to see Dave in concert last year after I worked with him on Emeril. So when I got the official offer, I called my mom. It was late because it was almost 10 p.m. in California so it was 1 a.m. Michigan time. I told her I booked a cruise to Alaska working with Dave and a ton of other talented musicians. I said I’m allowed to bring one person and you’re coming with me. She was so excited and started to pack her bags the next day for our August cruise. My mom never travels. I’ve never been to Alaska but have heard it’s one of the best. So not only is she going to Alaska but she is spending seven days with Dave who she loves and so many other greats. I was so happy I could give her something like this. She worked hard her whole life and gave us kids everything. Being able to do this for her is awesome. Now maybe she can forget about that window I broke when I was eight years old. Let it go woman. Let it go.
January brought some club dates with my buddy Mitch Fatel.
We went to Jacksonville , FL and Dallas . Both were fun. When I got back from Dallas I worked on the George Lopez latenight show Lopez Tonight. That’s a fun show to work on. Big party environment with all screaming fans. I should say that was a fun show to work on. TBS cancelled Lopez Tonight in August because of low ratings. RIP GL.
February 11, 2011 was a special day for me. And a big day for one of my best buds Steve Mazan. Steve and I met in San Francisco years ago doing stand up. I started a few years before him. Shortly after I moved to LA he moved along with other comic bud Lee Levine. All three of us were close in SF and best buds now. Well about six years ago Steve and I were doing a show together at the Improv. On our drive home he complained of chest pains. Neither of us thought much of it but within hours the pain got worse and he checked himself into the hospital. After numerous tests and scans doctors said they found cancerous growths on his liver. With more tests and more examination, doctors said Steve may only have a limited amount of time on his hands. It was hard to determine when the growths started and how quick they could spread. When Steve heard that he knew he needed to kick start his comedy career and ASAP. His dream as a kid was performing stand up on the Late Show w/ David Letterman. So over the next several years Steve worked with two very talented filmmakers and documented his journey (personally and professionally) to get on Letterman. As the years went on, Steve struggled with so many obstacles including financial, medical and of course getting on Letterman. The filmmakers took hours and hours of this journey and made it into a 90 minute movie called Dying to do Letterman.
I had not seen the finished movie until the night of February 11, 2011 when Steve rented out an entire theater in Culver City and showed it to his friends and family. It was an amazing movie. And I’m not just saying that because I’m in it. Best supporting actor….. The movie is really an incredible account of Steve’s journey and the movie has travelled across the country to various film festivals winning awards everywhere it goes. This September the movie will premiere in New York and LA. And the movie is in the process of possibly qualifying for an Academy Award nomination. Check out the movie if you’re in New York or LA. www.dyingtodoletterman.com
Right after the screening I flew back home to Michigan. My good buddy Ralphie May agreed to do a benefit show for my sister and her 13 year old daughter Devon . As I’ve mentioned before, Devon has autism and so many schools with autistic children don’t provide the activities these kids really need to enrich their lives. So Ralphie agreed to come up and do a benefit show raising money for Devon and her school. We raised over $10k with all the money going directly to my sister’s new furniture project. Just kidding. All the money went directly to the school for Ipads and after school programs. I can’t thank Ralphie and his wife Lahna for how good they are to me. And thanks to all my friends from high school that came out to support the great night. Randy, Reesa, Joan and Brad. It meant so much that you guys came.
From Devon’s benefit a flew back to LA and then back out to one of my favorite gigs, Sun Valley , Idaho . This was my third time back to Sun Valley . They do a comedy series every winter, from January – March. You have to fly in Thursday and you do one show Friday and one Saturday. Shows are at 6 p.m. so you’re done by 7 p.m. and have the entire night free. The flight was LAX to Sun Valley was cancelled because of snow. But they re-routed us to Boise and we had to take a three hour bus over to Sun Valley . What should have been a two hour flight turned into a six hour ordeal but once we got there it was great. Sun Valley is a surreal place. Just an amazing little town with tons of rich people and me. Every time I work Sun Valley I try and find a Conistar machine and am always unsuccessful. This was my first time working with comic Tig Notaro. She was hilarious. I’m very high energy and talk fast. She is just the opposite. Slow talking and low energy. By some strange chance the show actually worked.
I would love to visit Sun Valley in the summer. I heard summer is even busier than winter which seems odd because so many people are in town during the winter for skiing and snowboarding.
We ended up flying home late Sunday. I was looking forward to coming home because I had a very busy week. I had Monday home and then Tuesday I was flying out to Seattle working on Americas Got Talent. So every year AGT brings the show on the road auditioning people in six cities. From there they pick the contestants who will move on to Vegas and then hopefully to the live shows in LA which start in July. So AGT needed an audience warm up person for the series of auditions on the road. The show was going to Seattle , LA , Minneapolis , New York , Atlanta and Houston . In each city we would audition about 60 people in two days. My job as the warm up is to go out and entertain an audience of 2,000 plus people in between the acts. So for example, an act performs. Say a magician. The judges decide if the magician is going to Vegas or going home. After they decide it takes anywhere from 3 minutes to 15 minutes to set up for the next act coming out to audition for the judges. So that’s where I jump in and goof around with the audience. It’s a long day and can be fun IF IF you’re feeling healthy. Here was the problem. I got really sick on my last day in Sun Valley . The weather turned cold and I was exposed to the frigid temperatures longer than I should have. When the sun is out it certainly looks warm up it’s not. The sun is very deceiving. I fly back from Sun Valley Sunday night and immediately go to bed feeling the worst I’ve felt in probably a year. I have all day Sunday to try and get better. Nothing. I’m bedridden all day. So now I have a 7 a.m. flight on Tuesday from LAX to Seattle . The nice thing is AGT always had a travel day. We didn’t start filming until Wednesday. So I was crossing my fingers that I could rest all day at the hotel in Seattle and be good for the very first taping on Wednesday. Oh forgot to mention. This was my first time working on AGT. They had used someone else in the past. When they called me about the gig they said they were heading to six cities. They said they wanted me for them all. I said I was available. They said that’s great but because we don’t know you and know you’re style and if it’s a fit for AGT, we are only going to confirm the first two cities (Seattle and LA) and see how those go before we offer you the remaining four cities. This was awful because I was going into Seattle never having done the show before. I didn’t know what to expect. I was sicker than I had been in a long time. Each tape day ran from about 1 p.m. till 10 p.m. So I was sitting in my Seattle hotel room and I could see the theater from my window and I was absolutely miserable. I remember the hotel had a great steam room. I sat in there for a long time with the hopes that I could clear my head and not be so stuffed up. There is nothing worse than being on a microphone and you can’t hear yourself talk and when you do speak it sounds like you’re going through puberty. I walked over to the theater on Tuesday and said hello to everyone. The entire crew knew I was sick. This was starting off very bad. I went to bed Tuesday night. I didn’t have to be at the theater till noon. I woke up at 9 a.m. and luckily those next three hours went by very slow. I walked over to the theater. The audience was a mix of young and old. A lot of high school kids but mainly people who were big fans of the show. This made it easier. I got through the first day and was happy. Went back on day two with more confidence on how to work the show and what the producers wanted from me. I was still very sick but knowing how to do the show made my nerves go down. We got through two days in Seattle, over 60 auditioners.
The flight took off out of Seattle and I was so happy I made it though. BUT there was no time to relax. I landed and immediately headed from the airport to Ralphie May’s house to pick up his car and drive to Las Vegas where I was working with him at the South Point Casino for the weekend. The drive was miserable and Vegas is the last place you want to be when you’re sick. We had shows Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Luckily Ralphie wanted to drive home Sunday night after the show. He dropped me off at my place around 5 a.m. I was in my bed by 5:07 a.m. the happiest person every.
I got home from Las Vegas and had four days of rest before doing Americas Got Talent in Los Angeles . I felt very confident going into the LA shows since I had done so well in Seattle and I was going into LA feeling better than a week prior. I don’t know what it was but my immune system was still taking a beating and I was not even close to feeling 100%. I was probably at 70%. And on a show like AGT where you are constantly working the crowd and constantly trying to keep a room full of 2,000 people engaged is not a good thing unless you’re 100% on. So I knew if I could get through Seattle on 25% strength that I could do LA easily on 70%. I finished out LA with a bang. Two days of filming and another 60 auditioners. But I was still waiting to get the word from producers if I was confirmed for the remaining foru cities. Nobody said a word to me the Friday night I left after we wrapped in LA. Well the next day I got the nod. The remaining four cities were confirmed. I was so excited because we had almost ten days off before we headed to Minneapolis . I knew I could definitely rest and be 100% by Minneapolis .
The following week I was suppose to work locally in Irvine with my buddy Mitch Fatel. But there was a scheduling issue and I couldn’t do the week. My comic buddy Steve Trevino was working in Miami the weekend Mitch was in Irvine so Steve asked me to come out and work with him. I hopped on a plane to Miami and was on my way. This is a fun club with one of my favorite hotels right on the water. This was the view from my room.
Our Miami shows wrapped up on Sunday night and I had to be in Minneapolis for AGT on Tuesday. Instead of flying back to LA and then back to Minneapolis , I hung out with my buddy Randy. I met Randy a few years back when I was working at the Improv in Ft Lauderdale. Randy is a pilot for American Airlines. Just a really good guy and we hit it off the first time we met. I’ve seen him a few times since we first met and he came and saw me perform in Miami . So Randy suggested we take out his waverunners on Monday. I thought about it for three seconds and then said YES. We took these things out for hours on the water in Miami . It was a blast. As we were driving around I kept thinking I was in Sun Valley, Seattle , LA , Vegas and now Miami all within a few weeks. it was only a few weeks earlier that I was sick and laid up in my Seattle hotel. Now I was flying around the ocean on a waverunner in Miami . Thanks to Randy for an amazing time. Randy dropped me off at my hotel Monday night and I flew to Minneapolis Tuesday.
So I arrive in Minneapolis and snow is everywhere. Apparently the city got hit hard the day before and more was on the way. It was the end of March. How was this possible. I remember it was so cold when I landed. I thought I was going to get sick again. I was literally in my bathing suit 24 hours before. We were taping shows Wednesday and Thursday of this week. When I got to the theater on Wednesday I was told one of our judges, Piers Morgan, was stuck in New York and couldn’t get to Minneapolis . So we were going to start filming but with only two judges. As I mentioned before, we would see about 60 auditioners in two days, so 30 each day. We would start taping at 1 p.m. and wrap around 10 p.m. Well about three hours into filming with just two judges, the producers decided it wasn’t working. So we stopped filming. Instead of working till 10 p.m. we wrapped at 4 p.m. and all went back to our hotel rooms. This was awesome. I had the entire night free. It was incredible. But not so fast. Since we only saw about 15 acts today, that meant we had to see 45 on Thursday. So instead of a 1 p.m. start time, we got going at 10 a.m. I was so happy having the night off but the next day was absolutely brutal. I got back to the hotel after our second and final night of filming in Minneapolis and it was lights out. BTW Piers made it on time for the second day. Who could have predicted snow in March.
It was back home to LA for a few days before heading to our 4th city, New York. I love NYC. My favorite city tied with San Francisco and Fresno. NYC has so much going on. I flew into NYC on a Wednesday. I got in early evening and had dinner with some friends. It must have been a curse of the show because every city we visited had lousy weather. Wednesday night came quick and as much as I wanted to stay out and enjoy the city, I knew I had two long days in front of me. Man this AGT show was getting in the way of me having a good time. We stayed at a great hotel near Central Park called Le Parker Meridian. Such a great area of the city. The show was taping at a place called Manhattan Center. The funny thing was as I walked to the studio for the shows I passed the studio where we had filmed the Emeril Lagasse show in 2010. That was where I met Dave Koz. So this was my second time working as a warm up in NYC. Felt good. On our first day of taping, Thursday, I met a group there from Breathe Believe. BB is a non-profit organization which raises money to provide financial assistance to individuals with cystic fibrosis who cannot afford the essentials to stay alive. Angela Ruggeri and her father Sam were at the taping with a bunch of great kids and adults from BB. Of all the cities we visited and of all the people I met, I was most touched by Angela, Sam and the group from Breathe Believe. I still keep in touch with Sam and Angela and I hope to get back to NYC later this year and do a benefit show for this amazing spirited group of people. Check out their website.
http://breathebelieve.org
We again taped 60 auditioners over two days. We finished up Friday night. I decided to stay one extra day and enjoy the city since I really didn’t have a chance to because of work. I woke up Saturday and caught a matinee of a show I’ve always wanted to see, Wicked. An ex girlfriend of mine was a huge fan of the Wizard of Oz movie and she had seen Wicked live in Los Angeles several times. So I thought seeing it in NYC on Broadway must be amazing. And it definitely was. I had great seats and really enjoyed the entire show from start to finish. I’ve seen a ton of shows on Broadway in New York, Producers, Lion King, Billy Elliot, Hairspray, Rent, Avenue Q, Addams Family(ok so mostly all good choices). But Wicked ranks right up there.
The show ended around 5 p.m. I grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed down to my favorite comedy club in NYC, Gotham . This club has been so good to me over the years. I told them I was staying an extra night in the city and they let me host their (3) Saturday night shows. And I was working with a comic I had been a fan of for years but never worked with, Jake Johannsen. I found out that Jake actually lives two blocks away from me in Santa Monica . Didn’t even know till that night. Had a great three shows.
From New York I flew back to LA for a few days. I had a week off before heading to Atlanta for AGT. As I was catching up on old episodes of Millionaire Matchmaker, love Patti Stanger, I got a call from Ralphie May. Here is a transcript of the message he left on a Tuesday night. “Cannon, it’s Ralphie. I’m doing three theater shows this weekend starting on Thursday in Charlottesville , VA. Get out here. I will take care of everything.” So like that I’m on a plane first trying to figure out where the “F” is Charlottesville . I actually got in Wednesday night. We did three theater shows in three nights, Charlottesville , Glenside , PA near Philly and the final show Saturday at the Lisner Auditorium on the campus of George Washington University . All three shows were great but the highlight was Friday night at our show near Philly. Philadelphia is known for their cheesesteaks. There are two very famous cheesesteak places in Philly. Genos and Pats. And the crazy thing is they are right across the street from each other. It’s the craziest thing ever. Some people are loyal to Pat others are loyal to Geno. I’ve heard both are very good but Ralphie is good friends with the owner Geno and Geno’s son Geno Jr. So Geno Jr comes to our show Friday night and invites us back to his restaurant for latenight cheesesteaks. Ralphie had been to Genos before. This was my first time. We got there around midnight and just like I read, both places are so close together and both places are lit up like the Vegas strip. It’s crazy. Everyone orders outside and sits at picnic tables. But Genos as well as Pats gets a ton of celebrities coming through and they get to eat inside the restaurant at a special booth reserved for friends and family. And since Ralphie fell into this category, Geno Jr brought us in which was particularly great since it was cold out. Geno Jr made us some of the best cheesesteaks I’ve ever had. And here is the best part. He let me get greasy and make some cheesesteaks for the drunk customers in line. It was a ton of fun and the highlight of the three day weekend.
After the three theater shows I boarded a flight to Atlanta for AGT. I thought after Genos I would need an extra seat. I love Atlanta . I’ve said it before. Love it. Something about that southern charm always wins me over. And I got to see my amazing friends Eddie and Irina and their two adorable little girls. I always have so much fun when I’m in Atlanta . It’s so calm and peaceful. Maybe it’s because Eddie and Irina let me sleep till noon with their dog Lexi then they take me out for an incredible dinner. Why would I want to leave? Atlanta was our 5th city of AGT auditions. This was an unusual city in that we auditioned over three days rather than the standard two. So we say over 75 auditioners in Atlanta . Auditions were held at the historic Fox Theater downtown and everyone agreed it was by far the best audiences and best talent we had seen so far. Just a great three day run in Atlanta . I was happy I flew in early to see Eddie and Irina but once we started taping I didn’t get to see them so that was a bummer.
Bye Atlanta and back home to LA before turning around two days later and heading for Houston. I think they only city we had decent weather in was Atlanta. In Houston in mid April it was awful. Almost 100 degrees and humid every day. Luckily we only did our standard two days in Houston. I think everyone was ready for the auditions to be over. Maybe because we just did Atlanta and it was awesome. Or maybe because we only had two days off between Atlanta and Houston and everyone flew back to LA before heading back to Houston. Maybe it was that the theater in Houston didn’t have air conditioning and it was so hot. I remember watching the last person audition in Houston and when they yelled “that’s a wrap” everyone cheered. This was my very first time working on AGT. I’ve done a lot of warm up gigs before. Some great. Some shitty. Some really shitty. But most fall in the middle. But AGT was by far and away the best show I’ve ever worked on. The producers treated me so well. All the crew stayed at the Four Seasons in every city we went to. Everything was completely first class from beginning to end. Of the judges I most interacted with Howie. Maybe because he’s a comic too. He was amazing and so complimentary towards me and my work. Sharon was super nice. I met Piers briefly and only had minor interaction with him. Nick Cannon was always super nice and always knew my name whether I saw him at the hotel or at the theater when we were taping. It was an amazing six city run. I hope they ask me back next year. After our flight landed from Houston back to LA I thought about the seven weeks prior sitting in that Seattle hotel and dreading the walk over to the theater when I was so sick. It all worked out perfectly. Thanks again to everyone on AGT for making me feel part of an amazing team. I see why the show is so successful.
A few days after I got home from Houston I got a call from a reporter at USA Today and he asked me what I thought of the show and who I liked/didn’t like. The article ran in May on the day the show debuted. I thought that was pretty cool.
In May me, Steve and Lee headed up to the San Francisco area to do a show on Mothers Day at a place called Theatre on San Pedro Square . The show was a lot of fun but what was even better was enjoying our favorite pizza place that we use to frequent daily when we lived in SF and we would be out late doing comedy. Thank you to Nzarios on Geary St for still being the best place to grab a latenight slice.
The end of May comes and I get a call asking if I could do audience warm up on the Dancing w/ the Star finale. This was the season with Kirstie Alley, Chelsea Kane and winner Hines Ward. This is always a tough show to warm up because the producers want the audience clapping at all times which can be difficult because although they are excited to be there, it is a two hour show and the audience can get tired and burnt out. Plus it’s a lot of VIPs there with either a dancer or celebrity and they never feel like they have to applaud. It is also a little intimidating when you’re doing warm up and you look and sitting right there in front of you is Sarah Palin. Just sitting there watching with her husband and daughter. It was fun meeting Emmitt Smith after the show too.
June brought some fun shows including a weekend in Phoenix at a brand new club called Stand Up Live. This club opened in May and the guy who owns this club also owns a bunch of clubs in Florida which I really enjoy working. So I knew this club would be awesome and it was. Whenever I had visited my family in Phoenix I worked at the Improv in Tempe near Arizona State. But I think the two clubs are having territorial issues so it seems if you work one club you can’t work the other. Go figure. Luckily Stand Up Live is awesome and I don’t mind making that my home club in Phoenix.
After Phoenix I headed back to New York for a bunch of things including a golf fundraiser for Autism Speaks. This is the third year I’ve participated in the Celebrity Golf outing at Winged Foot raising money and awareness for autism. Winged Foot is an amazing private country club that has hosted this event for the past 13 years. And even though my golf game is horrible, I still play because autism is so close to me and my family. This year we broke a record raising over $1 million dollars. A great day for a great cause. Also had a chance to meet Eli Manning of the NY Giants.
When I was in New York I was able to sneak in two nights of work at Gotham Comedy Club. I was here last time in April during the Americas Got Talent filming. I’ve said this before, I love this club and they treat me great. Thanks to Sean, Ed and Chris for the work. I will be back at Gotham the first weekend of November.
From New York it was on to Pittsburgh and meeting up with Ralphie May for a weekend at the Improv. I hadn’t seen Ralphie since our night at Geno’s in Philly. And I hadn’t been to Pittsburgh since 2009 when I worked the club with Mitch Fatel. Pittsburgh in June is miserable. I take that back. Pittsburgh year round is miserable. The weather was hot and humid. In my efforts to see all the baseball stadiums before I die, I crossed PNC Park off the list after I saw the Pirates lose to Boston in interleague play. Seems as though more fans were there from Boston.
After Pittsburgh I booked a local week at the Brea Improv in Southern California with my two buds Brad Williams and Patrick Deguire. I’ve worked with both guys before so it was a lot of fun. Brad is from the area so he had a ton of family and friends out.
I hadn’t seen Patrick in a while and Patrick books a lot of shows for the military. He was doing a show in mid July for the military on San Nicolas Island. This island is located off the coast of Ventura County. San Nicolas is occupied by the navy and the island can have up to 150 people on it at any given time. We heard the navy does missile on the island. Getting to San Nicholas requires a drive up to the military base in Ventura . From there you take a 20 minute military flight to the island. The island itself is 8 miles by 3 miles but most of the military working on the island stay isolated to one area. When our guide Dennis picked us up from the little military airport, he took us to our rooms which looked similar to a hotel room minus the room service hot tub. We had to stay the night because our show was at 8 p.m. and the last flight from the island back to Ventura left at 6 p.m. So I’m on the island with Brad Williams, Ron Morey and a comic named Zoltan. Our hotel rooms are where the navy personnel were also housed but the entire time we so nobody. It was weird, creepy and very cool at the time. Here is the even weirder part. With tumbleweeds blowing around and no sign of life, Dennis takes us over to this building that looks like an abandoned shed. We walk in and there is an awesome sportsbar. Big screen televisions, pool tables, bar food and alcohol. We got there about 7 p.m. to have dinner. They took good care of us but we all thought we won’t get anyone coming to this show. Where is everyone. Well at 7:50 p.m. the place started to get busy and by 8:10 p.m. the place was standing room only. It was crazy. Where did all these people come from. We do our show and anytime you can do a show for the military it’s so rewarding. Most of these men and women are on this island for weeks and months at a time without getting a chance to head back to Ventura to see friends and family. So they were so appreciative of us being there. I guess Patrick has been doing a show on this island for years. I had heard about it from other comics. Patrick couldn’t be with us on this one because he was working in Denver . The show ended at around 10 p.m. The comics all sat around having some beers and talking. We walked outside heading back to our rooms and just like earlier, not one person in sight. Very weird. We were suppose to depart at 7 a.m. the next day but the fog was so bad we were delayed 4 hours. I was suppose to fly back to Michigan that same day in the afternoon but missed my flight because I got home too late because of the delay. I’m not sure what they exactly do on this base but I don’t want to know.
The military gig on San Nicolas Island will officially wrap up this BLOG. When I return in December, I will post my pics of para sailing in Lake Tahoe, the journey to Alaska with my mom and Dave Koz and everything else that happens this fall. Good luck to everyone going back to school in a few weeks and remember, never buy a concert shirt from a swap meet.
posted by Gary Cannon at: 3:36 AM | 0 Comments
Friday, February 11, 2011
End Of 2010
I realized that writing my blog might be easier once a month rather than writing it twice a year. It’s hard to go back months later and look at pictures from past gigs. But listen I get thousands of e-mails per week (play along) asking where the “F” is my new BLOG. Yes my fans use shitty language. I wish they were more sophisticated especially since my humor is smart, clever and clean. Whatever A*#holes.
So sure I wish I had done my end of 2010 BLOG sooner. But life is unfair. I mean why didn’t Brad give Ashley S a rose on episode 5 YET crazy Michelle from Salt Lake City is still going strong.
I would never watch that garbage but if I did I would want Emily to get the final rose. Brad calls her Em. Please don’t support that crap.
My fall schedule really kicked in the first part of October. I mean September was great because I did back to back weeks performing in California with my buddy Ralphie May. We started off with Irvine then went to the Ontario Improv. Local gigs like that are great because it’s nice to work a great club but it’s also nice to sleep in your own bed at the end of the day. One other cool thing happened in September. My cousin Brian got to throw out the first pitch of an Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game. He entered a contest and they picked his name. I had to go down and watch him do this. It was very cool to hear his name being announced over the sound system and seeing his face on the jumbotron. The pitch was great. September is the best time to visit Arizona because the temperature drops to a cool 112 degrees. And that’s at night. Perfect weather for baseball.
October was really a lot of fun. As a comic you start out for years doing lousy, low paying gigs simply to get experience. At the time you think why am I doing these gigs at a coffeeshop or rowdy bar with three people here. This isn’t benefitting me at all. Well years later you realize it does because the more you’re on stage in front of a variety of audiences (small and large), the more you develop your confidence and get better as a performer. It’s simple. I hate meeting new comics who feel they can do one performance a month and get good. They spend all their time writing what they think are good jokes and they’re above playing the waiting game to get stage time. Meanwhile those comics eventually disappear. And to that real comics out there working say thank you for thinning the pile of lazy people holding up the line. Back to my point. In this business sometimes the phone rings offering you a great gig. Sometimes it’s a lousy gig. Some days the phone doesn’t ring. Another example of how sitting in your bedroom doesn’t benefit you. You need to be out working, making contacts. Letting headliners see what you’re all about. I got a call at the beginning of October from my friend Ralphie May.
Every year Ralphie performs on this Carnival Cruise out of Tampa with travel to Mexico. He does the cruise for a radio station out of Tampa, a guy named Cowhead. Yes Cowhead. Well I met Cowhead in April of 2009 when I went in studio with Mitch Fatel. Mitch was promoting his shows at the Tampa Improv and Mitch asked me to come in and do afternoon radio with him. I met Cowhead and the crew. Cowhead has the most popular afternoon show in Tampa so that’s why comics go on his show. My first meeting with Cowhead was uneventful. In fact I later was told he didn’t like me all that much because he thought it was weird for a headliner’s opening act (ME) to come in studio and be on air with the headliner. I guess it never happens but Mitch and even Ralphie like when I do radio with them. And I love doing radio. So I do the show with Mitch and leave and don’t think much of it. Months later I’m in the car with Ralphie driving home from Arizona and he says let’s call the Cowhead show. So we do and Cowhead explains how I first went into the studio and he thought I was an arrogant dick for trying to get airtime. Once the interview started he admitted he enjoyed me being on air and said he loved hearing some of my stories about audience warm up on television shows. At the time I went in with Mitch I had no idea he thought this BUT now we laughed about it. And every time Mitch was on or Ralphie was on, Cowhead would call me even if I was in LA. Back to the cruise. So every year Cowhead does a cruise for his listeners. They take over a portion of the ship and they do cool things exclusively for their listeners. This was the fourth year for the cruise. Ralphie and a comic named Bert Kreischer perform on the cruise each year. Here was the great thing. I get a call from Ralphie saying Bert has to cancel last minute and can’t do the cruise this year. He said Cowhead really wants me to take the spot. He said we will fly you to Tampa and then hop on the cruise with us going to Cozumel. Everything is paid for.
Let me think about this. UMMMMM hell yes. A few days later I’m on a plane to Tampa . The cruise was amazing. We left Tampa on Thursday. We were at sea Thursday and Friday. Saturday the boat docked in Cozumel and the Cowhead listeners enjoyed the day at a private beach club with tons of food and drink. It was just for the listeners so that was awesome. And Cowhead fans are great. I decided to do a little snorkeling during our stop in Cozumel. Cowhead’s wife Amanda came. She is so awesome.
Cozumel was great. We were back on the boat Saturday evening heading back to Tampa. Sunday night we did our comedy show. It was me, Ralphie and a local Tampa guy named Rahn Hortman. Very funny guy who was just a pleasure to work with.
The comedy show was a blast. I had an amazing four days on the boat. It was back to Tampa on Monday. Nothing worse than getting into port at 8 a.m. and your flight back to LA isn’t until 7 p.m.
But thanks to Cowhead and Ralphie for the great gig and the free vacation. Getting back to what I said earlier, it’s gigs like this that make you realize all the years of hard work pays off when you make these relationships and get to perform on a cruise like this.
Back home in LA but only for a few days before leaving to the Kansas City Improv. The last time I was in KC was a few years before. The club is in a shopping center but they moved locations since the last time I was there. The new location was right up from the old club. Weird thing was the new club was boarded up with nothing in it. It looked creepy being able to see the old club from the new club. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s like when you go back and see your old childhood house and you’re like wow I use to masturbate in there. HMMMM. KC Improv. I worked with Mitch Fatel on this gig. Had a lot of fun. Got to see my buddy Erik Lundy who is a bud of mine I met in LA. He lives in KC now. Very talented artist. And funny comic too. On the last night of the shows, the manager comes in the greenroom and says to me “are you a sport’s fan?” As a guy I’m like “hell yes.” Well he tells me Priest Holmes is in the audience. I look at him like “WTF. WHO?” It was clear I am not a sports guy because Priest Holmes is a former running back for the KC Chiefs and most everyone knows him. My 12 year old nephews knew him. Not sports fanatic Gary Cannon. We met him after the show. I played it off like I was a big fan.
On my flight home Monday from KC, the airport was bustling. I thought I was at New York ’s JFK. I was checking in and the guy at United was like “my wife and I were at your show this weekend at the improv.” I thought that was really cool. He must not have been that big of a fan. I was still sitting in coach. Dick.
From KC it was off to Atlanta . I LOVE Atlanta . I’ve said I could live in Atlanta if I wasn’t doing stand up. Some people would say, “Gary you do stand up…” Very funny MOM. Yes and I have the studio apartment to prove it. Second reason I love Atlanta is my great friends Eddie and Irina live there. I met them living in San Francisco years ago. Two of the most generous, kind hearted people you will every meet. I love staying with them because they have a beautiful house with two beautiful daughters and a great little dog. It’s the best sense of calm and relaxation I get all year. It really is so enjoyable to visit. I went over Halloweeen weekend and was able to get work at the Atlanta Punchline as well. Always good to make the visit a paid vacation. I worked at the Punchline with my good buddy Al Madrigal. Al and I started comedy together years ago in San Francisco so it was fun seeing him. During our week, we headed over to TBS and did some interviews for their website. That was fun. Last time I was in Atlanta me, Eddie and Irina went on a tour of CNN. Some 20 year old college intern took us on the tour and those interns are reading the tour dialogue right from a script. So when I asked her if Larry King ever made an inappropriate move, she didn’t know how to respond.
Luckily we were off Halloween night. No shows. So I was able to go out with my friend Eddie as he took his girls trick or treating while Irina stayed home to pass out candy. It was a lot of fun. In LA you don’t see people out just because it doesn’t have that neighborhood feel.
Thanks Eddie and Irina for not only another great weekend but for your amazing friendship over the years. I love you guys.
November started with a few benefit shows at the Improv. The first was with my friend Julia Lillis. I went to Iraq with her earlier in the year. Very funny and so much fun to travel with.
The benefit was organized by my friend Cher and was for a great cause, the Children’s Trinity Foundation. Cher does this event every year and it raises money for underprivileged kids who go without toys over the holiday season. In past years I was out of town when Cher did the show so I was very happy I could take part in this year’s event.
The second benefit was mid November and it was put on by my good buddy Roger. Roger and I have been friends for years and he is the reason I do audience warm up for tv shows here in LA.
I met him years ago when he did warm up on the Late Late Show w/ then host Craig Kilborn. I saw the show tape and saw this guy come out and entertain the crowd before the show started and thought that was such a great job. I stayed after the taping and asked Roger how I could get into the business. He called security but he was very sweet as he did it. Most warm up guys are really nice and will talk your ear off about how they got started and what to do if you want to get into the business. Warm up is a very small community of people doing it. But some guys are jerks and feel like you’re going to steal away their work which is pretty ridiculous. If you’re good you’re good. So three weeks later I got Roger fired and was doing the warm up gig at Kilborn. No Roger was really helpful getting me info on what I should do. I spent months doing comedy shows where I worked with audience and would attend tv tapings all the time to see different people work. I always thought Roger was the best. Anyway months and months later Roger told me the Late Late Show was looking for someone to do a few days a month, days he couldn’t do because of other shows. Myself and two other people auditioned for the job. We did warm up on an actual show. I got the gig. And Roger and I have been friends since. So fast forward six years. Roger and his longtime girlfriend Sandra (whom he met doing warm up at the Kilborn show. She was in the audience and he pursued her). Well they love dogs. LOVE dogs. Bulldogs in fact. They adopt and foster dogs. They are amazing people. Well they wanted to do a benefit show to raise money for the southern California bulldog rescue based in Irvine . So we held a benefit show on a Sunday afternoon at the Irvine Improv. It was a huge success. People in Orange County love their bulldogs and they came out to support in full force. We plan to do this as an annual event.
Now it was off to one of my favorite gigs as a comic, the Improv at Lake Tahoe . I did this gig earlier in the year and just love it. Lake Tahoe and Sun Valley , ID are two favorites because they are ski towns and full of tourists spending lots of money and I get paid to be up there. Similar to the Carnival cruise in October. The weird thing with both Lake Tahoe and Sun Valley is you spend a ton of time outside during the day enjoying everything the city has to offer. Then around 5 p.m. you have to start heading back to the hotel and get ready for the show. It’s usually one show a night. Shows are fun and you’re done by 9 p.m. for the night but at that point everything is shut down. I’ve always said as crazy as this sounds sometimes the comedy shows get in the way of trying to have a good time. But I did Tahoe in February and just loved it. I was happy to have been asked back so quickly. And over Thanksgiving weekend and also my birthday. So that was even more fun. Howie Nave is the club manager and opening act. He also has a morning radio show in Tahoe and he always has the comics on. Great guy. Always so good to the comics. Tommy Savitt was the headliner. It was my first time working with him and I truly enjoyed his act. Weather was great. Always nice to look out your hotel window and see people snowboarding down the mountain. I usually close the curtains because that light makes it hard to take a nap at 3 p.m.
It’s December and I have no idea where the year went. I know it’s almost over because I just looked at my money earned this year and I officially broke four figures so I know the year is ready to wrap. But despite the year being almost over, December is a busy month for me.
One of the top clubs in Los Angeles, the Laugh Factory which is the place Dane Cook plays all the time when he’s in town, was putting together a show to break a Guinness Book world record for the longest running comedy show. And to raise money for Toys 4 Tots. The Laugh Factory wanted to try and put on an 80 hour continuous comedy show. It started on December 6th and would run through December 9th. The idea was a comic would always be on stage during this time. Always. So at any point during this 80 hours you could go to the Laugh Factory’s website and see a comic performing. Whether it was 5 a.m. or 1 p.m. And people could come watch the show if they brought an unwrapped toy for the benefit. A win/win right. So I got a call asking if I would participate. I was totally down. I was asked to do 7 a.m. on that Wednesday. I thought since I’m never up that early, it was only appropriate that I wore my pajams on stage while drinking coffee. It made the most sense. The club did break the record and raised a ton of toys for needy kids in the process.
In addition to doing comedy, I love watching it. Especially a few people specifically like Brian Regan. Truly one of the best working right now. Just an amazing comic.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with Brian several times and he always has a ton of new material and all of it is fantastic. I saw Brian at the Wiltern mid December and my cousin saw him the next night in Arizona and was asking me about some of his jokes. Funny a night later Brian was doing almost all new stuff than he had the night we saw him. Just an amazing person both personally and professionally. Thanks to Brian and his awesome wife Kathleen for the hospitality.
It was time to leave the warm LA weather and make my way back east. I decided to leave for New York mid December because I love New York before XMAS. But I thought instead of making the flight from LA to Michigan right before XMAS I had the bulk of the trip down already. It’s only a 90 minute flight from New York to Detroit compared to almost five hours from LA to Detroit . So I booked a week of work at Gotham Comedy Club in Chelsea and enjoyed a little pre-holiday madness in New York . The weather was the coldest it had ever been during a visit. But it’s New York so it’s still fun. Had a great time seeing friends and working with Alonzo Bodden. Shows were fun and it was a great way to start wrapping up the year.
Heading back to Michigan for the holidays. Always nice to be home despite the travel delays and lousy weather. Always have a good time.
The great thing about this trip was I got to stay in Michigan for NYE. I’ve worked every NYE for the last ten years. As a comic it’s my favorite night of the year to work because while most people are scrambling trying to figure out what to do and where to go, I’ve already got my plans and I’m getting paid to be out for NYE so that’s why I like it so much. Well over the summer I met a guy in Mansfield, OH named Costa. Costa is from Michigan and was producing a theater show with Ralphie May in mid July. Ever been to Mansfield? Don’t bother. So Costa drives down from Michigan to set up the theater show. I’m opening for Ralphie so we meet. Costa is a good guy. He lives in Saginaw , MI not too far from where my mom lives now. We do the show in Mansfield and have fun. Never see Costa again. It’s now September and I’m trying to line up a NYE gig. Everything is falling through. I thought I was doing a gig in Florida but it fell through. I wanted a NYE gig. Any gig. So I’m in Lake Tahoe for Thanksgiving weekend working the Improv. And I get a call from Costa. On my birthday no less. He says hey I’m going to produce a NYE show at a theater in Saginaw do you want to do it. I was so excited because not only did I now have a NYE gig, it was a theater, it was close to home and I didn’t have to fly somewhere after XMAS. I could stay in Michigan for a few extra days and enjoy time with my family. Do the show NYE and fly back to LA on Jan 1st which I was excited about since I left LA for the holidays mid December to be in New York . It’s like I said earlier, some days the phone rings with good news, bad news or doesn’t ring at all. This was a great birthday gift. And here was the great thing. Costa asked who I wanted to work with. A good buddy of mine from LA just moved back to Chicago. His name is Rocky Laporte. Solid comic. Very and just a truly great guy. I called him thinking he was booked. Well he had a gig fall through just a few days before my call so he was able to do it. Everything worked out great.
Had an amazing time and kept the streak of working NYE alive.
It’s 2011 and I’m excited for the year ahead. I am excited that my buddy Steve Mazan’s film Dying to Do Letterman (which I’m apart of) is done and will premiere this year. I’m excited to be doing warm up on some new shows including Lopez Tonight and Americas Got Talent. I’m heading on the road with AGT this spring to do warm up for their audition shows. VERY excited to be part of the Dave Koz cruise heading to Alaska this summer. Dave and I met last year when I was doing warm up on the Emeril Lagasse show in New York . Dave was the band leader for the show. Well he does a jazz cruise every year for his fans on Royal Caribbean and this year he asked me if I wanted to be the comic/host on this year’s cruise. It’s a seven day cruise through Alaska and I couldn’t have been more excited that he asked me. And here is the best part. My mom LOVES Dave Koz. I remember before my dad passed they use to listen to his music all the time. So when she found out I was working with Dave last year she freaked out. She went to see him perform last year in Detroit.
And when I was told I could bring someone I know I had to bring her. She has never been on a cruise and I’ve heard Alaska is the best cruise to take. She will absolutely love it. I think she is already packing. No joke. Can’t wait till August. I’m also excited about the autism benefit show Ralphie May is doing for my sister in February. And excited for hitting all the clubs this year and seeing what happens when the phone rings next. If it rings…
And BTW my nephew Grant is out of the hospital, done with Chemo and back in school. His first year of high school. He loves it. Give him some time. That will change.
posted by Gary Cannon at: 12:49 AM | 1 Comments
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