more of the same

Despite continued rejection on the job front, I feel pretty good. A little worried about bills, sure, but not bad considering a lack of income. Writing's been going well. I had my iO orientation last night, it made me realize that shit's getting real. I can't wait to start, it's gonna be fun. iO producer and co-founder Charna Halpern addressed all the new students, and the whole thing was very encouraging, a good speech, if well-rehearsed. She was funny, gave us some history, and dropped science about the do's and don'ts. 

After the address there was a show, The Armando Diaz Experience. Improvised monologues, then improvised scenes based on the monologue. I recognized after a bit that one of the performers, one of the funniest, was/is in those Sonic commercials. The ones with two dudes in a car, talking about their recently recieved Sonic meals? Yep. He was way funnier than those commercials belie. Did I get is autograph? No, no I did not.

After the show I had another experience. An experience of a different kind, a far more horrible experience. On the Red Line I sat down behind a homeless dude. Nothing new. It was immediately apparent that he was your typical crazy homeless dude. Chattering nonsense non-stop, snapping his fingers, at times screaming and howling, chomping from a bag of nuts, and generally smelling like pee. He stood up and made this sound like sort of a motorboat, lips vibrating, expelling air and noise. He kept it up after sitting down, in between chewing his nut snack. He turned to me, I was looking out the window. He made the sound, and chunks of nut spewed forth, landing on my coat. Gross. I shook 'em off and moved on with my life. 

Standup times coming soon. Gotta do it.

This blog brought to you by Jay-Z's Blueprint 3.  And nut chunks, I guess.

Number Ten

Here I am, midweek. No job, and no interviews lined up. It's a grind, it's a grind grind it's a grind. 

I did sign up for funny school, at the iO theater in Wrigleyville. It is right next door to Wrigley Field. I saw some improv there about a month ago, some of it was really, really good. Ginger Snaps, a two-person team composed of a a redheaded, freckled chubby guy and a redheaded, freckled skinny girl were a standout. I begin the Improv program in two weeks, and the Writing program in about a month. This is what I'm here for, and although it would be lovely to have some income coming in at the moment, it's nice to get started with this bizness.

Speaking of funny, I saw Patton Oswalt perform last Friday. The opening comedian was really good, but Oswalt killed. He's even shorter than you'd think, but certainly not short on talent. (!) Highlights include the line, "I want all the ham", a bit about watching Transformers 2 and peeing in a bottle, and of course, the now-famous "Uncle Touchy's Naked Puzzle Basement". 

I also saw David Cross's show this weekend, on Sunday. This was preceded by a book signing at Borders on Saturday wherein I got my copy of I Drink For A Reason signed ("J.B.-I love you a lot?") and got a picture snapped with the man, and Keaton:

The man does not look happy. I blame Keaton. And a long line of prattling strangers, and the umpteenth picture of the day. But mostly Keaton.

But the show on Sunday was staggering. Oswalt killed, but not like David Cross. Describing a comedy show is a pointless exercise, I can't remember all the jokes and even if i could, it wouldn't be that funny. But I'm here to tell you that it was great. Ninety plus minutes, all new material, he opened with a preteen in a bald cap who was announced as David Cross, the kid told off-color jokes for a few minutes. Other highlights included a musical number, an interaction with a deaf ASL interpreter, an interaction with someone liveblogging the performance, countless religious/political/racial insensitivities, and the encore was five minutes of a new show David Cross wrote and starred in overseas, for Channel 4 and probably won't air here. It was called The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret. It has a lot of promise and I look forward to catching it on DVD down the road, or maybe Adult Swim. Will Arnett and Spike Jonze co-star. Yep, I laughed my ass off the whole night. I was in the second row, and got a crappy picture of the man on stage:

 

Dynamic!

Also, Zombieland was good twice. See it. 

Visit me. Send money. 

good news all around

Thank you so much to Kari for making my new masthead, here.  You are a blog genius. It is perfect.

Also, thanks to my nerd diligence, I managed to get two tickets to Zombieland for tomorrow night, downtown at a nice theater. Free!  I think it's free. Either way, I get to see it a day early.

Patton Oswalt and David Cross will both be in Chicago tellin' funnies this weekend. I will see both.

Cheers for entertainment!

Jeers to unemployment, ennui and this rusty tailgate.