Every now and then you meet another artist who inspires you. Even better if you, in turn, give them something to appreciate. I believe that's what happened last night. I worked this room Molly Bloom's in San Clemente for a booker/comic Doug James. They often have rock and roll there, but Wednesday's are about comedy. I love doing Doug's rooms because they're Irish Pubs, and I'm a wee bit ah dat me-self.
The headliner was Larry Omaha (www.larryomaha.com) and he was fantastic. A Native American comic-there aren'te too many of those-who started doing comedy about the same time I was born. Despite our seeming differences we had a lot in common.
We both agreed that in the entertainment/comedy business, there is one thing rising above all else in importance. Determination. Oh, and being cool with people. That cool kindness translates to the front row, as anyone who has sat in the front row of a comedy club and been disintegrated knows. It's refreshing when people are funny AND nice.
Caroline Rhea. Seinfeld. Michael Colyar.
Larry is a Native American and I am an American Mutt, but comedy blurs all those lines. Sometimes it makes them very clear, but in the end, what good comedy does and should always do is bring people together. Remind them that we are common to each other. We are the same. We are One.
Larry Omaha
The Acting Center
Well, I spend a lot of my time there, so I've got to give some props.
I've been studying at a fabulous new acting school in Los Angeles. It's called the The Acting Center, the new school for actors. And boy, oh boy isn't it.
It's changed the way I approach characters, scripts and even stand-up. And if you know me at all, you'll know I was already purty derned confident, well now, let's just say questions I've had for an eternity through hours and hours of scene study and directed takes and odd auditions have been entirely answered.
I can liken it to making apple pie (oh, how I love to bake!).
It's like a pie that people who eat pie like. Well-enough. They eat the concoction without too many questions.
Then one day in making more pies for these peeps, you figure out the perfect measurements and a few new ingredients that make your own taste buds dance a dirty (good dirty) dance. You've found something! Eureka.
Suddenly you're off to the county fair winning blue ribbons and taking photos with Nebraska's Giant Ball of String!!! Everyone is oh, so happy, and a la mode is possible.
Art and technique meet in a pie shop/acting class.
I've been studying at a fabulous new acting school in Los Angeles. It's called the The Acting Center, the new school for actors. And boy, oh boy isn't it.
It's changed the way I approach characters, scripts and even stand-up. And if you know me at all, you'll know I was already purty derned confident, well now, let's just say questions I've had for an eternity through hours and hours of scene study and directed takes and odd auditions have been entirely answered.
I can liken it to making apple pie (oh, how I love to bake!).
It's like a pie that people who eat pie like. Well-enough. They eat the concoction without too many questions.
Then one day in making more pies for these peeps, you figure out the perfect measurements and a few new ingredients that make your own taste buds dance a dirty (good dirty) dance. You've found something! Eureka.
Suddenly you're off to the county fair winning blue ribbons and taking photos with Nebraska's Giant Ball of String!!! Everyone is oh, so happy, and a la mode is possible.
Art and technique meet in a pie shop/acting class.
Funky LA
Los Angeles is such a funky place. Usually when one uses funky they mean cool, unique, hip. And yeah, on occasion El A may be all dat, but what I mean here and now is that I need GPS.
Cause the streets, avenues, roads, whatchamacallits are funky. And every time I think, "oh, I know the best route", and feel so very LA, before I can turn the next corner-I'm lost.
Of course, if I recall, the same thing used to happen to me in NYC. "Oh, I'm such a New Yorker, I'll just take the Express, but it's midnight and at midnight-oh-one, the Express can really screw you, no matter the color line.
So maybe, it's not the cities I choose, just my sense of direction...is that what you're saying to me?
Oh, and what is it about that song? I live my whole life and never hear it and the first six months of living in California, it plays on some radio station every day! What the?
Cause the streets, avenues, roads, whatchamacallits are funky. And every time I think, "oh, I know the best route", and feel so very LA, before I can turn the next corner-I'm lost.
Of course, if I recall, the same thing used to happen to me in NYC. "Oh, I'm such a New Yorker, I'll just take the Express, but it's midnight and at midnight-oh-one, the Express can really screw you, no matter the color line.
So maybe, it's not the cities I choose, just my sense of direction...is that what you're saying to me?
Oh, and what is it about that song? I live my whole life and never hear it and the first six months of living in California, it plays on some radio station every day! What the?
