Monday, September 6, 2010
End of Summer 2010
Summer 2010 is over. OVER!!! And after I finished my last BLOG I said you know I'm going to be more proactive. I'm going to write in my BLOG once a week. My fans demand it.
Play along.
Well all of a sudden one said comic, ME, gets hooked on vicodin and Judge Judy repeats and here we are in September. Luckily I had a few days of downtime before JJ and Dr Phil return with all NEW shows and then my fans, play along, won't hear a peep from me. So let's get this done STAT.
Long, busy summer. Right before Memorial Day I headed out to Arlington, TX to work the Improv with my buddy Mitch Fatel. This was the first time I was at this club. Brand new, so the owners and staff aren't quite yet jaded and it's easy to hit on the waitresses because they don't know how to avoid creepy comics. At this point I'm sure they have pepper spray on their belt loops. The club was great. Nice staff. And in tradition of most cities we visit, we hit a new ballpark. Checked out a Rangers baseball game. Nice park. Way too hot out for a baseball game. And this was May. Fun week. Fun ballgame.
I was about to fly home from Texas when I got a call Sunday night from my buddy Ralphie May. He was working a club Monday and Tuesday in Salt Lake City and asked if I wanted to do the shows with him. Definitely. I had never been to SLC and wanted to go. We stayed two nights at one of the best hotels in SLC and probably one of the best hotels I've stayed at working on the road, Grand America.
Here are some pics from the balcony of my room. The town had just gotten some snow in the morning. And this was May. So flying in and the view from my room was amazing.
I did get a chance to walk from the hotel to Temple Square. Also my first time here and got some pics. It was a beautiful spring day and walking around this area was very cool.
Ralphie and I did a great afternoon show in SLC with Mick and Allen. They do a show on KBER 101, and it's very popular. I always love doing radio when I'm on the road. It's a lot of fun. Especially if the DJs let you goof around and don't hijack the comedy. Some guys just want to talk over you and won't let you be funny. But a lot of shows get it and are a blast.
Shows at the Wiseguys club in SLC were great. Ralphie and I always have a great time on the road and this was a fun two days that just came up when I was working in Arlington. These are always the best gigs.
Back in LA and headed to the Irvine Improv to do a benefit show with Maz Jabroni. The show was for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society which holds a special place for me since my dad passed away in 2007 from this. And the night of this event was his b'day so it meant a lot to me.
From Irvine it was on to Las Vegas. May was a busy busy month. And as a comic you take all the work you can because you never know when you have a slow month/year coming up. It's always good to be working. So I headed to work at the South Point Casino with Ralphie May. I love the South Point because you're in Vegas but you're not in Vegas. South Point is about (15) minutes south of the strip. It's a great casino and a great place to perform. We had an amazing time except for Saturday night when Ralphie and I went out drinking. Both of us rarely drink and things got out of hand, and neither of us really remember how the night ended.
I do know it started with about six lemon drop shots as we played blackjack. We were only at the table for about an hour but when we stood up the shots really hit us. Like I said neither of us really drink. We then went to the showroom where our comedy show had been. We went to see an '80s cover band called the Spazmatics. These guys were great. I think. I remember leaving the show and making the long walk back to the room. Some people who worked at our comedy show saw me walking back to the hotel elevators and said things didn’t look good. Ralphie asked me the next day what happened. I told him I didn’t know. But that is the last time we will do a half dozen lemon drop shots. How old are we anyway, 16?
Back in LA for a few days off before heading to Nashville. I was working with Mitch in Nashville and the crazy thing is Ralphie and his family have a home in Nashville. Ralphie was out of town this week BUT his wife and kids were in town and I was able to hang out with them. Ralphie’s wife, Lahna Turner, is also a comic. So Lahna says, "Hey let’s go for a hike with the kids." They have two adorable young kids. We decided to hike at a great place called Percy Warner where I had hiked once before but last November when the weather was much much cooler.
This time it was 90 plus degrees in the shade. We decided we would each carry a kid on our back. I carried August and Lahna carried April. We hiked for easily four hours, with kids on our back and in the hot sun. It was an amazing workout but at the end Lahna and I were dead tired. And so were the kids. Funny, on the hike we passed Nicole Kidman. She lives in Nashville and was just out for a Sunday walk in the park. She gave us the courtesy hello and the nose twitch from Bewitched.
From Nashville it was back to LA. Still tired from the hike with Lahna and the kids. LOL. Spent a few days in LA before flying to Richmond, VA to work the Funnybone. It was my first time at this club and I had a great time. Great staff. Thanks to Buz (only one Z) for showing me the town and picking me up from the airport. Had a great time.
After Richmond I took a 6 a.m. flight on Monday to New York. I was participating in a golf outing for Autism. My 12 year old niece has autism, and I’ve been involved with Autism fundraising for years. My very first event was years ago when I hosted a benefit show with Dennis Miller. And this was my second time participating in this celebrity golf outing at an amazing course called Winged Foot. Now the problem is I don’t play. I’m a horrible golfer but I love doing these type of events, primarily since the food is so good. But it was a great event and I apologize to the four investment bankers that paid a lot of money to golf Winged Foot with a celebrity and I showed up to their group. Sorry guys. Some other group got Boomer Esiason.
July was super busy. I spent 4th of July in the upper peninsula of Michigan at a cabin on the lake. Had an amazing time before a busy three weeks of week set in starting off in West Palm Beach Florida with Mitch Fatel. I had just been to this club in May with Darrell Hammond. I love this club. Great staff, great owner. This week was a blast.
From West Palm Beach I was flying to Dayton in the first of a four city, two week tour with Ralphie May. On my way to Dayton I stopped in Charlotte. My flight from Charlotte to Dayton was cancelled due to bad weather. So now I'm stuck in Charlotte for the night and the fine folks of US Air won't pay for the hotel since the flight was cancelled due to weather and not aircraft maintenance. Luckily I didn't have a show that night so it worked out. Got to Dayton the next day and did two shows with Ralphie at the Dayton Funnybone. When Ralphie and I were in Dayton I went with Ralphie to do afternoon radio. He went to a sports show hosted by a former Detroit Tiger. Now I grew up in Michigan and am a big Tigers fan so when Ralphie said the host use to play for the Tigers I was like I definitely want to come. Mark Schlemmer played for the Tigers in the late 70s and early 80s and now hosts a great show on WONE in Dayton. Ralphie and I spent three days on Mark's show because it was so much fun. Doing radio is fun and I knew Ralphie liked Mark and his show because I've never seen him do a show three days in a row.
From Dayton we went to Columbus. The Funnybone in Columbus is one of my favorite clubs. Great crowds. Fun staff. And our buddy Mark Schlemmer from Dayton came up and spent the day with us. Great guy. Ralphie and I had some fun shows and enjoyed Bar Louie every night. Love their tater tots. Why don't more restaurants serve this fine delicacy?
So from Columbus we headed to Mansfield, Ohio. Mansfield is known as the city where they filmed one of my favorite movies ever, the Shawshank Redemption. Loved this film. Here is the problem. We got to Mansfield on Monday night. Our show wasn't until Wednesday night. This was easily the longest 48 hours I’ve ever spent in any city. Wow. I've been to some cities where you say, "Wow there is nothing to do here." Shreveport. Chattanooga. But when I say there is nothing to do here I mean nothing. If I only had one year to live I would move to Mansfield. Time stands still. The show, however, was a blast. It was at a beautiful theater and it was sold out. 1,500 plus people. Ralphie and I had no idea where these people came from but they came out and were awesome. Thanks Mansfield for a great show.
Ralphie made a decision after the show which made me very happy. We decided to leave Mansfield and our Holiday Inn and drive to Cleveland. Ahhhhh, so happy. I was willing to pay for a speeding ticket if we were pulled over on the drive out of town. Got to Cleveland in under two hours. Had a great hotel right in the heart of downtown. Went to bed with a big smile on my face.
So I had played Cleveland before but at the Improv. Cleveland has two clubs, the Improv and a club called Hilarities. The Improv is fun BUT it’s in a seedy area of Cleveland called the flats which I guess was the hot spot of Cleveland years ago but now it’s gone downhill. I like the Improv but not the area. So this was my first time at this club. I’ve heard great things about Hilarities. Here is the thing about being a comic. You just want the club owner to care. Many owners don’t give a shit about the comics. They care about selling burgers, fries and chicken strips. So when you find an owner that really wants to give the audience a great show, they realize the comics are important to the show, they care if the bathroom is trashed and make sure it’s clean. When you find that club, every comic wants to work it.
Well that's Hilarities. The owner Nick is amazing. Always asking what he can do for you. The manager Scott is great. Bending over backwards to make sure the show runs smooth, the audience is happy, the comics are happy. The club is in a great area downtown. Not only is it a comedy club, it's also a restaurant and a wine bar with great food and drinks. Usually comics have to find a nearby restaurant after a show because the club food is lousy. But not Hilarities. The food is great. And my sister and her husband came down from Michigan to watch the show and meet Ralphie, and Nick took amazing care of them too. As a comic you can appreciate a club like this. I had always heard good things about Hilarities but after playing it I can honestly say it is one of my top favorite clubs along with Tempe and Ft Lauderdale. Thanks to Nick and Scott for an amazing weekend. We only did three nights in Cleveland. I wished we had been there longer BUT it was a great place to end the Ohio tour and almost a month away from home.
Because I had been gone for over a month and couldn't wait to get home, I caught the 6 a.m. flight out of Cleveland. Those first flights out always sound good on paper till your alarm goes off at 4 a.m. and then you hate your life. But I was home in LA by 10 a.m. and was so happy when that plane landed!!!
So after getting back to LA I got a call to asking if I could work at a new gameshow for GSN hosted by Jerry Springer. You mean I can get paid to work with Jerry Springer? Hell YES I will be there. The show is called Baggage and if you haven't seen it, watch it. It’s a dating show, and the premise is everyone brings baggage into a relationship. Why not find out now what that baggage is before the dating process even begins? The show is funny, and Jerry Springer is the perfect fit for the show. I did the audience warm up on the show for a couple of days. And I can now say I've crossed off bucket list item #72... meeting the king of the white trash talk show. He was very nice. With any luck Steve Wilkos will be hosting a gameshow in the near future and I will get called to work on it.
So after having about ten days off, I was heading to Virginia for two back to back weeks with Ralphie May. I was doing Virginia Beach first and Richmond second. I was just in Richmond earlier this summer with Mitch Fatel. Last time I did VB was with Mitch last year, so I was looking forward to doing that club again. As a comic, your life is never dull. Some days are awesome. Some days not so awesome. Some days the phone rings non-stop. Other days you're staring at the phone thinking T-Mobile is having technical issues and when they resolve them, your phone will light up like a Christmas tree. No such luck. But despite the ups and downs, it's always different. So I'm flying to Virginia and my first flight is LAX to Denver, then Denver to Virginia. I leave at 6 a.m. Get to Denver and have a few hours of layover before leaving to Virginia. I am just about to board my flight when I get a call from Ralphie. He said the club messed up and double booked the opening act. So Ralphie only does a two person show, me and him, or whoever and him. Well, somehow the club didn't know Ralphie was bringing me, and the other comic was on his way from North Carolina. So I decided that I would let the other guy have the two back to back weeks in Virginia. I ended up switching my flight from Denver back to LA. I was home for dinner. The great news was I still got paid for the two weeks, so that was awesome. I got back into LA with the mindset of having two paid weeks off. Just then, the phone rings. My sister calls to say my 14 year old nephew Grant is in the hospital and it's serious. They don't know what it is, but it doesn't look good. I immediately get on a plane to Michigan. My nephew is at Children's Hospital in Detroit. One of the best places a kid can be. After a bunch of tests, it was determined Grant had Lymphoma. It wasn't the news we wanted BUT of all the things it could have been, this was the best situation. They said Grant must get chemo for six months. Five days on, 21 days off. The good thing is, I was at the hospital when the doctors gave us the diagnosis. I was able to be with my mom and sisters. I was also able to spend a ton of time with Grant making jokes and goofing around with him. He is a great kid with a great spirit and he will pull through this. I spent a week in Michigan with my family. It reminded me of 2007 when my dad was really sick and in/out of the hospital. Because I have such a weird schedule, I was able to spend a ton of time with my dad before he passed, and I was able to get back to Michigan and spend time with Grant as he was going through his first round of chemo. I would have never been able to do that if I had a conventional job. The time with Grant was so valuable. As it was with my dad before he passed away. Grant is at home for now recovering but will be back in the hospital soon for his second round of chemo. We are all pulling for him and know he is going to come out of this a much stronger, healthier kid. I love you, Grant.
Almost forgot. Grant's grandparents have a home in Vegas so he has visited them over the years. During his visits, he always saw billboards for Carrot Top which lead Grant to watch a bunch of CT clips on Youtube. He became a fan and always wanted to see him but was too young. I managed to get in touch with someone who is friends with Carrot Top and one thing lead to the next and Carrot Top actually called Grant to say hello. Grant was so excited. Carrot Top even invited Grant to see his show in Vegas next time he was there. WOW. Just a real class act. Thanks Carrot Top. I know Grant can't wait to come see your show. Grant never wants to see me but Carrot Top, YES.
Summer has come and gone with a lot of interesting things over these four months. Baseball games, great shows, cancer, Jerry Springer, cancelled gigs when you're in Denver, good shows, bad shows BUT one thing has never let me down. This blue and red sweatshirt from the GAP that's in almost every photo I've taken this summer. I have decided as of Labor Day I can no longer wear this hoodie and have officially worn it for the last time.
posted by Gary Cannon at: 1:40 AM 
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