Saturday, April 01, 2006

hanging out at Lafflines

Rob Pue is headlining the club out in New Town. He really killed them last night. I believe, like many a successful comedian, he took his first road trip with me way back. A skinny kid then, he had finally given up on hockey, and to further dissappoint his father, gone into stand-up. He ran a room in The Chuk(Edmonton) for a while, and worked the independant scene. Then he went down to the States, where he won the San Francisco Comedy Competition. A big accomplishment, but in retrospect, being a Western Canadian comedian, it really was easy pickings. The only surprise is that the Yankee judges didn't rob him - like they so often do in these things. Then he landed a recurring role on Punk'd with Ashton Kutcher. But he's all growed up now, with a pretty girlfriend from Saskatoon(the main export of that town - Saskatoon is the Thailand of Canada - girls girls girls)and he's headlining. He is, of course, struggling like the rest of us who do this for a living, but it's great to have him around.

Friday, March 31, 2006

Back to Work

The month of March was a tough one, losing my father, turning 46 and all the rain. But its time to get back to Work. I have written and thought a lot about stand-up comedy. I was feeling that it was a juvenile and superficial thing to do.I guess hanging out with the young comics might have something to do with this feeling.The need for attention seems childish, and the rewards for the up and comers seems to out-stripe their efforts and value. I have to accept that this business rewards the cute and silly cimics with TV shows and such, even when they can barely do fifteen minutes in front of me. More and more I realised this is something that I can do, and so few others can - that I need to keep it going. I've had several friends talk to me about what a great thing it is to do, and how well I do it. My friend Cody told me when he was a little boy, he wanted to be an NHL hockey player or a stand-up comedian, and how envious he was that I got to be one. My friend Rogue told me that Dane Cook was a friend on his myspace.com site, and that he didn't think Dane's comedy was that great, but maybe because his standards were high because of me - who he considers to be one of the best. It reminded me of all the audience members who have told me to "NEVER EVER STOP". And so, with some time off to evaluate my life, I am happy to be back onstage tonight, and a lot this month, all leading up to my headline set at yukyuks at the end of the month. So instead of putting down stand-up - I am grateful to have to such a cool job, and happy to have the skill to do it well. Bringing the funny...

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

The photos return!

I am again back to posting my pictures. There has been some time off for me because of my father's passing. But I am back now. I took some cool photos out in Alberta, mostly of family, so I will post them, and move on to the next part of my life. This Picture is of Bree in Camrose, moments after my mother said, I hope people are taking pictures, so I started. My nephew Ryan will be setting up a website, and I promised him I would forward most of these photos from the week in Camrose.