Saturday, Feb 22nd - Vu Lounge in Newhall

Thank you to the Vu Lounge in Newhall for giving us an awesome crowd this past Saturday. What a great place to play.  We should be back this April.

I don't have time to write about how fun it was, but the show definitely exceeded our expectations for performing in Newhall. The crowd was great!

Spotlight Comedy Club Reunion Show!

When you're a stand up comedian you always want to have a "home base." A place that will give you  regular shows and where you always feel welcome. And if your a new comedian in Los Angeles, its harder to become a regular at high profile clubs like the "Improv" "Comedy Store" or  "Laugh Factory".  You need to find the spot where you fit in.

That's where the Spotlight Comedy Club came in for me.  Last night the "Spotlight Comedy Club" reunion show was at Hamburger Mary's in West Hollywood.  Comedian Eric Hahn put it together, and managed to get almost all of the "Spotlight" regulars together from "back in the day" for a reunion show.
It was a blast.  It lasted about 3 hours and had the vibe of a "roast," It was filled with inside jokes and killer performances by all.

Before the show, the comedians get ready. 

Originally called "Club Aura" the Spotlight was an Armenian Nightclub on Ventura Blvd. in Studio City. 12215 Ventura Blvd. to be exact. I'll always remember that address because its engraved in my brain from the dozens of useless flyers I've made promoting my shows there.

This was not one of them.

 Most of these shows  were called "bringers" where if you got booked, you were required to bring a certain amount of people out to watch the show.  I would hang flyers up and down Ventura Blvd. hoping that my name would bring in some "foot traffic," and those people would be my required amount of guests to perform.

Yeah, that didn't really work.  The promoter T.K. would tell me I was wasting my time. But I still had the romantic notion that hanging up flyers works, due to my love of 80's hair bands that used to plaster their flyers all over the Sunset Strip.

I would work the door, run the music and go up first. Usually going up first doesn't have that much pressure, but it meant I would always have to follow Rick Kunkler, who is one of the best comedy hosts in the country. A seasoned comic,we never knew why Rick wasn't out headlining across the world or on Comedy Central, but their loss was our gain. He would absolutely crush and have the audience eating out of the palm of his hand. His hosting was phenomenal, and then I would have to follow, doing my "Simpsons" impressions and jokes about Sears. I had many an awkward night on that stage, and Rick would come on after and say to the crowd "Well that was a trainwreck" and immediately get the them back. It sucked at the time, but it was tough love and I wouldn't have had it any other way. Looking back at it now its fucking hilarious.

Me and Rick at the reunion show.
He always dressed like Pee Wee Herman.

The promoter T.K., was another guy who always killed on stage. He ran the club and was the guy responsible for giving me my first comedy opportunities. Most comics can recite T.K's  act like the lords prayer. He is a notorious on the L.A. comedy scene and has given a ton of talent their first start.
"Bringer" shows can get a bad reputation, but unless you're extremely funny, or a super hot chick, you have to do them to get decent stage time early in your career.

T.K. still runs great shows at the Formosa Cafe and the Federal Bar in North Hollywood.

Rick welcomes T.K. to the stage.

Unfortunately the Spotlight Comedy club went out of business about 3 years ago.  T.K. did everything he could to keep it going, but the owners of the club decided to close the doors. I guess it was some sort of "Money Pit." One of the last shows we did there was a huge roast of Rick because he surprised us again by deciding he was going to leave L.A. and move back to his native Seattle.

Thank god I'm not the only one who has such fond memories of this place. When Eric put the reunion show together people jumped at the chance to perform. About 20 comics went up, and it was a true honor to be one of them. T.K, Rick Kunkler, Dan Frederickson, Teddy Tutson, Dimo, Justine Marino, Cruz Kim, Sam Comroe, Connor Maguire and more.  It was really cool to see how far everyone has come with their acts and it was a great show overall.

Teddy put it best when he said
 "Only the Spotlight would have a reunion show at a different place"

Abducted by Bigfoot - Some ladies story

Here is an interesting video.  A woman's account of being abducted by a Sasquatch and living with a group of them for three weeks.

Upcoming Stand Up comedy shows.

Tuesday, February 11th - Hamburger Mary's - Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood - 8pm

Saturday, February 15th - Three of Clubs - Hollywood - 8pm

Monday, February 17th - Brennans in Marina Del Rey - 8pm  (on Lincoln Blvd)

Friday, February 21st - Flappers Yoo Hoo Room in Burbank- 8pm w Jerry Rocha

Saturday, February 22nd - The Vu Bar & Lounge - Newhall, CA

Come to this! Tuesday, Feb 4th.

*UPDATE: This is the new flyer since the show moved to Tuesday, 2/4. 

Hollywood Improv - That Metal Show - Comedy Show & Podcast / Bobbie Brown / Sebastian Bach!

I love 80's rock. So when my friend comedian Dean Delray invited me to the Improv for a joint podcast he was doing with "That Metal Show's" Jim Florentine, we couldn't miss it.
Before the podcast, there was a stand up comedy show.  Dean performed and did fantastic.  He has a ton of hilarious rock n roll comedy material and he absolutely crushed. It was great to see him up there killing it in front of the metalhead audience.

Check out Dean on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/deandelray

I ran into actress/model/author Bobbie Brown as well. Which is a great coincidence since I had just got her new book "Dirty Rocker Boys" for Christmas.  The book is a great read and I finished it in 1 day. It has a ton of cool stories from the glory days of debauchery on the Sunset Strip.

Most people know Bobbie as the girl in Warrants "Cherry Pie" video as well as her show "Ex Wives of Rock" on the Fuse network. Make sure to buy her book, you wont be disappointed.

As you can see in the photo below, I'm starting to get the "crazy eyes" which I get when I get excited around people from the "Hair band" era of rock.

Bobbie Brown

Below is Warrants "Cherry Pie" music video.

It was super rad to see Sebastian Bach who was on the podcast talking about his new album and telling some hilarious stories from his life in music.

Myself,  Minnie Gupta and the one and only Sebastian Bach.

Here is Sebastian killing it in one of the best songs of all time.

Chicago Cold

I lived in Chicago from 2000 to 2003. I was mostly broke, hanging out, working for the Bulls and White Sox.  Me and my roommates would get behind on our bills, so the power company would turn the heat off. As you can see by the picture below, it is not fun.  We would have no hot water and no heat, so I would have to take morning showers at the UIC campus.  We finally found a way to trick the power company by changing the address on the meters,  so when the guy would come to turn off the heat he would turn off the neighbors instead of ours.  We win!