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11/25/10 Happy Thanksgiving!!!
11/21/10 I'm at the airport getting ready to fly back to LA. And guess what...I get to stay in town for more than 2 days! Yay! These past few weeks have been hectic but at the same time, exciting. I love working, I really do. As much as I seem to complain about it, I wouldn't want to do anything else. I guess we all complain about our lives even when our lives might seem perfect to those outside of it. Like I'm sure movie stars complain, and some might be legit: stalkers, expenses, people talking shit, etc. And I'm sure in thier world, it sucks. But to the other people in the world looking in, it probably seems like diva bitching. I dunno, I'm rambling now. Ooo, plane just got here, so let me get going. see ya in LA!
11/14/10 Well, what an amazing experience this week was. I got to meet some amazing comics and I made some great connections. And, I did get some work out of this. Looks like I'll be getting into the cruise ship market. :) I always had this idea that cruises were where comics go to retire. But you know, more and more younger comics are doing cruises now. I mean hell, why not? It's a free vacation, I get great money, and I can get some new Mexican hookers; I mean, I can get some souviners for my mom. Great news is that my buddy Saleem tied with Nate Bargatze for first place. They're both really great comics and deserved the win. Not that I didn't. :( Kidding. In all seriousness, I could not be happier with this festival. I've actually done quite a few festivals (some big, some small) but this is the only one where I actually got work from. Amazing. OK, I'm going to get ready to board the plane back to LA. See ya soon kids.
11/13/10 I'm really tired now, but I'll give you a quick wrap up. Bascially, I drew #4 spot (which was great) and after all was said and done, myself and 3 other comics really had stellar sets. It was basically anyone's game at that point. I wasn't picked, but I felt great about my set. It was truly the best I could've done and I don't regret the set I chose. Plus, as I've said many times, comedy is subjective. So competitions essentially are moot. But the great thing is that I made some great new friends and contacts. And I think I got some work from this as well. THAT is really the important things in festivals. OK, I'm tired. I'll give more details later. Night. LATER THAT NIGHT.... I've been sitting here in Dallas on my layover for a few hours now. Apparently my flight was stuck on the runway for 30 minutes because the flight that was supposed to leaving our gate hadn't gone yet. I don't know why. So they moved the gate. I was watching all of the passengers leaving and they looked pissed. Totally understand. I know airlines don't do these things on purpose (unlike hiking the rates, charging for bags, etc.) but man, I can't stand be delayed like that. Not even the delaying part; it's the being stuck on the plane thing. I've had that happen a few times, I think the longest was an hour or so; no more than two. But I read how some people were stuck for like 5-6 hours. What the fuck!? Apparently there's some kind of rule about that... Ooo, boarding first class now, which means I'm up in a few. I guess I was just trying to kill time, so time has been killed, slight venting done, I'm going home. But in conclusion...don't be such fuck wads airlines; if it's more than 2 hours...fuck it. Let us off the damn plane. ...the end.
11/11/10 What a birthday it was. First of all, I can't thank all of my facebook friends (and my friends on my second facebook page) for all of the wonderful birthday wishes. Seriously guys, it meant so much. But you guys want to know the big news...what happened at the festival? Well, I'll give you a hint...I'm not going to be able to take my trip to New York tomorrow. That's right...I WAS PUT ON THE NO FLY LIST!!! Kidding. I advanced! I'm going to be in the semi-finals on Friday at 8:00. I'm really excited. It was a pretty good set; but there were a lot of comics on the show who had good sets, so as confident as I was, I was still nervous. But when they said my name, I had a sigh of relief and then a surge of stress. Like I said yesterday, I was going to NY to visit friends and family. So now I was going to try and change my flight reservation, but with all the fees and whatnot, it was going to cost me more than my original flight did. So I just cancelled the trip, took the leftover credit and booked a new hotel for the next few days. Not that my present hotel isn't great (and the cookies are phenomonal...you can guess where I'm at now) but it's just too expensive. But I got all of that taken care of and I even got up after the festival to run my new set. I've got to do an 8 minute set of material I didn't do tonight. I think I've got it down, but I'd like to run it one more time. Luckily I think I can get another spot tomorrow. I'll tell you something, my Chilean Miners Joke killed! I closed on it and got a huge applause break; not very many comics got that. Nothing against them or their material, but that joke just builds so beautifully. Fuck, I hate when I write a killer topical joke. And I won't be able to follow that joke really. Like I said, the set that I want to do Friday is good, but the closer isn't as strong as the Miner joke, so it's a bit...uh...for lack of a better term, sucky. Ah, whatever. I'm just gonna do it. OK kids, I'm off to beddy bye. Again, much love for the birthday wishes...and start sending those good vibes for the semi's...and then the finals. :) Oh, and a very happy Veteran's Day to all our hero's around the world.
11/10/10 So what am I doing for my bday?...I'm sitting in the lobby of my hotel writing a blog and working on my set for the Boston Comedy Festival tonight. I actually don't mind. I know this sounds weird, but I think I'm to the point where my birthday isn't the exciting day it used to be. I mean as a kid it was exciting because I'd get presents, go to Chuck-e-Cheese or roller skating, or something fun. Maybe even stay home from school. Now, since I can buy myself my own presents, or I can just go to a fun place on my own, and since I don't have school, it's just a day where I'm a year older. Wait, that's kinda sad. You know what, I take that back. Today is still fun, I just don't celebrate it the same way. Tonight I'm going to be performing and then I'll go out with some comics, get drunk and just have fun. Maybe we could do that at Chuck-e-cheese!? I also think my birthday is falling during a stressful time. I'm still in the middle of a hectic tour schedule and now there might be a change in my plans. If I advance tonight (and let's be positive here, WHEN I advance tonight) I'll have to stay for a semi-final round which will either be tomorrow or Friday. But I had planned on going to NY tomorrow for 2 days and flying back on Saturday for the finals. Well, "when" I go to the semi's, I'll either have to cancel my NY trip altogether or try to fly there for one day before or after the finals. I really want to see my family there, so I want this to work out. Although, until I know for sure, I'm a bit on edge. I've become very anal about things as I've gotten older. See, I'm very much a person who likes things organized and straight. If there's something that needs to be done, I have to do it right away. Whereas a lot of other people I know (including Ally) are more "Eh, whatever happens, happens and I'll deal with it then." I wish I could be like that. I'm just too anal and couldn't stand it. Some say it's a blessing, I say it's both a blessing a curse. I just wish I didn't over think things so much sometimes. ...just the way I'm over thinking the way I over think right now. My point is, thank you to everyone who have been wishing me birthday wishes. There's over 350 facebook posts wishing me happy birthday; that's so cool. I want to leave my hotel now, but I'm going to wait another hour and then just go to the venue, get a bite and get in my head with my set. I think my set is going to do well...but that has to do with my position in the line up. Each comic picks a number (1-12) and that decides when they go up in the show. Last night both crowds were very tight and it wasn't until the 6th-7th comic before they started to loosen up. So I'm just praying that I get a number after 6 but not 12...basically 7-11. Or as they call it, the "Clerk's" number. Get it? 7-11...Clerk...7-11 clerk!? ...maybe I won't open with that. Well kids, I'm off. Thanks again for the love...I can't believe I'm already 22. :)
11/6/10 This week has been so much fun. It's my first time in Tahoe and Ally came with me, so it's been extra great. I'm in the middle of my whirlwind tour. Monday is going to a rushed day indeed. We leave Reno at 3:00, get into LAX at 4:30 then (thanks to the lovely April Macie) we are getting a ride back to the valley where I'll have no time to shower and get to my first class at the Act Now studios. THEN, I fly out of Burbank at 6:50 am the next day and go to Boston. Fuuuuuck me. Oh, I ended up booking 6 schools at the APCA convention; much love to those schools. And to the ones who didn't book me, well...I guess there's nothing to say other than "fuck you". :) j/k OK, gotta cut this short. I've gotta get back to the hotel and get ready for the first show tonight. Love ya guys. OH...4 DAYS UNTIL MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
11/2/10 How sad is that that I feel that way? This country was founded on the idea of democracy; a country for the people. Yet the people that "we" elect end up doing things for thier own purposes or the purposes of special interest groups. How great would it be if the ghosts of Washington and Jefferson just appeared and took all of those politicians and ghostly raped them. :) So I'm at the airport in Syracuse getting ready to fly back to LA where I'll have a few hours to do laundry and rest before me and Ally fly out to Lake Tahoe tomorrow. Fun, fun, fun. Much love to APCA for a fun time. I booked a few schools for next year which is good. The show was a bit off. I can't really tell why. The audience (no offense to those in attendance) was kinda tight. And I was hosting so that made it more awkward, ya know? It felt like I was performing to a wall. Luckily, since I was hosting, I got to go back on stage in between acts and I pretty much fucked with the stage crew guy. That worked for me since I was making it up on the spot. That always works in my favor. But even that didn't hit as hard as it usually does. I also got some "advice" from another comic. This comic has been around for a long time; I'm actually a fan. And he had a few good points, but for the most part, he was telling me that I was doing everything wrong. Now, again, this guy is really a great comic and I have to give him his props. But I disagree with what he was saying, only because, IMHO, there is no "right way" to do this. Comedy is subjective both as a comedian who performs it and as an audience member who observes it. The way he does comedy works well for him, but for me, I prefer to do it my own style. Plus, and as a comedian he should be aware of this, you can't judge a comedian's entire repertoire based on one show. A show that had an audience that didn't quite get it. And again, no offense to the audience this week. Whatever. I guess the point is that sometimes you don't hit the way you usually do. I think another factor is that the room we were performing in was so wrong for comedy. It was big, cavernous and awkward. the laughs get lost in the space, the comedian's words and performance are lost on a big stage with high ceilings. Now I know some of you are saying, "Hey Flip, haven't you performed in huge theaters for thousands of people and KILLED?? Why is that different from the show you just did and are bitching about?" Glad you asked. Because a theater is designed for performing. Whether it's a singer, band or comedian. Even though the ceilings are high, they are usually angled so that laughter (or any response) is being sent to the stage. And where people are usually angled toward the stage so they can only see the performance. The stage we had to perform on was a riser type stage where the audience is at the level of your feet. Where you can't connect with most of the crowd. And again, it was a huge room, but no real enclosure. Imagine a big gym, ok? At the front of the gym (say under a basketball net) is the stage and the audience was sitting from the front of the stage back about 200-300 feet. Beyond the people (on the rest of the gym floor) were booths where the agents set up to meet the audience afterwards. But essentially it was just open space. Space for my words to get lost in, space for the sound to get muffled. Just space. Just very un-connecting. Now, there was another showcase in a much smaller room with low ceilings and a more intimate setting. I watched a friend do a show in that room and she killed it. Yes she is funny, but she had the added advantage of performing in a space more suitable for performing. I know, I'm bitching about something that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but this is my blog and this is what's on my mind, so >:^P Again, I am grateful for the schools that booked me and I did have a fun time. OK, bitching session over, flying about to begin. Going to get ready to board now. Happy November. Oh yeah, 8 days until my birthday!!!
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