Might have to get a new t-shirt…or make this customized one…

(Year IV, Issue 7)

I’m almost five years in to performing comedy and i’m still experiencing firsts….which I’m sure is more the rule than the exception.

I’m happy with the progressions I’ve made over the course of five years…but I know that I still have a long way to go.

There’s lots of room for improvement…and lots of ways to grow.

And lots of experiences I haven’t had yet.

So I’ll be experiencing firsts for a while yet.

This year the first is a second - and it’s the third of the new things I’ll be trying this year that I’m writing about in February.

In April I’ll be going back to the North Carolina Comedy Festival - the first time that I’ve done the same festival twice.

It’s funny that I’m writing about this this week - because it was almost exactly a year ago that I performed in Greensboro, North Carolina at the inaugural North Carolina Comedy Festival.

Here’s a link to what I wrote about then, before I went to the Carolinas…and this was my reaction to how the trip went.

I guess two quick housekeeping notes: this year the festival is being held in April…and unlike last year I don’t know that I’ll be seeing Kevin at all - either in Columbia or Greensboro.

But as I told you last year - I had a very good time in Greensboro. The festival was pretty big - but it felt very personable and for someone traveling in from out of town I felt well taken care of.

I had work to do so I wasn’t available to hang out during the day but there was something happening each day to occupy time and allow for people to make connections. (I did find time for one lunch and one hang out at an arcade. They were both good times.)

When the time came for applications again I encouraged people to go - it was that good of an experience. And then I thought, well, I would never recommend something I wouldn’t do…and I figured I might as well back up my words. So, I thought, if they’ll have me back maybe I’ll go again.

And they did have me back. And I will go again.

I can only swing a quick trip- I’ll be performing there the Monday and Tuesday of the stand-up week (the first week is dedicated to improv, with the second week featuring stand-up). I won’t be around for the headliners on the weekend - Todd Barry, Sean Patton, and Mia Jackson - but I feel good about doing my part to support a new festival that goes above and beyond to take care of its performers.

Last year I was proud to be a part of the first-ever North Carolina Comedy Festival.

Now I’m one of the few who will perform in the first two North Carolina Comedy Festivals.

Will I go back for a third? I’ve got time to decide that.

But I know I’m looking forward to enjoying my second.

Writing

*I have decided I’m reclaiming the office in the house. We have an office in the house, you ask? Well, you may be confused because for years (basically since kids) it has been turned into a ‘We’ll just throw stuff in here for now” room. But it’s gotten to the point where I’m doing enough work - and accumulating enough work-related stuff - that I need a dedicated space for my work. So I’m spending a little time clearing out the junk and planning how to use the space. I’d like to get going in there by March 1st or so. We’ll see how I progress. (There’s also a fine line I’m walking between creating a great workspace and preventing myself from getting anything productive done writing-wise right now while I’m creating that space. But I’m getting good and excited about it so there will be a really productive grace period when it’s ready for me doing good work in there.)

Comedy

*Slow week. As I told you, Kathy was away. But I spent some time writing in anticipation of doing some open mics this week and trying out some new material, so it wasn’t totally unproductive. I’m kind of excited to see how it plays. I have a couple of comedy-related images that I’ll throw down in the ‘Notes’ section. But first, since Kathy was away, I did watch some comedy-related TV, the first of which I’ll tell you about now in “What I’ve Been Enjoying”:

What I’ve Been Enjoying

*I told you last week that when Kathy goes away I tend to catch up on some television. This week that meant I finally watched the Ray Romano Netflix special, which I enjoyed very much. Parts of it seemed quite raw - like it was material he hadn’t completely worked his way through yet. But the material got stronger as the hour progressed…and the ending was pretty fantastic. I’m not going to get into details here and ruin it on you. I’d say watch it if you like Ray Romano.

I do want to say this, because I was thinking about it as I was anticipating watching the special: If you had asked me a few weeks ago, before I gave it so much thought, who my biggest comedic influence was, I’d have answered Jerry Seinfeld. It just seemed like that was the answer. And Seinfeld is certainly an influence. But the more I thought about it the more I realized 100% it is Ray Romano. The first distinct stand-up memory I have is of him doing a jangling keys-to-entertain-the-baby bit. And I’m aware we’re both from Queens and sound alike and kind of look alike - even in college when ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ was on I was told how much Ray Romano reminded people of me - and I think it’s mostly coincidence that many of my mannerisms are like him. But I would guess I’ve subconsciously modeled some of what I do on stage and probably in life off of him. I think I’ve developed my own voice on stage…but in many ways that voice has echoes of Romano in there.

I texted a lot of this to my friend Justin and then he recommended I listen to Ray Romano’s episode of the “Good One” podcast. And it is the perfect complement to the special. I’d say watch the special, then listen to the podcast if you’re interested in hearing him talk about it and his jokes. And - crazily - the podcast mentions the jangling the keys bit. Romano says he did it on Letterman, which makes total sense - I remember staying up to watch him on Letterman that night.

Notes

*Not much to update you on with the first two February ventures. I don’t think I played any cribbage at all this past week…and I know for a fact I haven’t done any yoga.

*If you Like the Facebook page or follow me on Twitter (and if you do neither, the links are right there so you can do both), you might have seen the image at left there, which I created on a whim (again, Kathy was away) and I kind of love. It also led me to make a very impulsive decision that I’ll be telling you about in just a few weeks.

*I do have one more February challenge to tell you about - that will come next week. This has really helped pace us through February - I’m feeling good about it being almost March already and down to the last February challenge, which I don’t want to make too big a deal out of…but might turn out to be THE GREATEST CHALLENGE OF MY LIFE!!!

*I should tell you that there’s another Framingham show coming up on April 6th, at Sofa Cafe, which was so great to me during Framingham Comedy Weekend this summer. (You may remember they stepped in to host the show when Depot Diner closed….and it turned into a great venue for a show.) I’m happy to do another show there and I’ll tell you more about it as it gets closer but tickets are available here and as you can read at the link it’s also for a good cause. (There will still be an Exhibit ‘A’ show the following week.) More details to come as it gets closer.

*But first (and lastly for this Sunday Paper), tickets are on sale for the March edition of Comedy Night at Exhibit ‘A’. They’ve all sold out so far, so I expect this one will too. It’s another great lineup. You can get tickets at this link. And here’s a look at this month’s poster: