Folks!
I’m sitting in a hotel room in Kansan City dealing with a post-BBQ malaise. I went to Arthur Bryant's which I know will cause some of you to get upset because this is a city where loyalties are deep and lines are drawn around smoked meat and sauce. It was good. I liked going there. I feel good about it mentally. Physically, not so much but that is par for the course.
These shows in the Midwest have been amazing. I was really anxious about doing them because I hadn’t been doing the long shows for about six months, but they were great. I am writing this before my Kansas City show so let me rephrase that: Iowa City and Lincoln were great. I will let you know how KC goes on Thursday.
Just as I expected I really opened it up during the first show out in Iowa City. I did almost two hours. I improvised a lot and it was amazing. It was a show that couldn’t be repeated AND I recorded it like a responsible comedian because I tried a lot of new shit and found some things while riffing. Now I just have to sit down with the recording, which may or may not happen. I tightened it up for Lincoln. I did about an hour and fifteen. I did a nice mix of newer stuff and some not so new stuff, not old, but not completely new and it was a great show.
My old friend Ross, who I was avoiding, showed up at the show. It was great to see him. After the show I met him and his friends at a bar. It had been a long time since I was surrounded by very drunk people who were on their way to becoming very, very drunk people. Also, I don’t think I have ever had a loud, intense conversation with a drunken holocaust- and-global-warming-denying, anti-Israel, 9/11 conspiracist who is farmer before, but that is what my old friend has become. Fortunately, his emotional and mental instability is still charming and he’s pretty funny. I’m not sure it’s always on purpose but does that really matter. We go back, so on some level it was good to see him. He had invited me to the farm but I didn’t go. He wants me to come out for a couple of weeks but I am concerned for my mental well-being if I do so. Apparently he’s out there with his wife creating a solution to the worlds problem through agriculture and hopefully not some new take on the Final Solution, but I don’t really know. He has chickens, pigs and cures his own bacon and makes kimchi. That’s what I know, plenty of eggs and fragility out there on the farm. Oh, and he sold his goats.
Today I talk to Nikki Glaser, who I love. We had a pretty candid talk about eating disorders, which is something we share. It helped me, maybe it will help you. On Thursday I talk to David Simon, the genius behind The Wire. It was an enlightening and relevant talk with a guy who came to show business through journalism and brings his values and moral righteousness to everything he does. Good guy, too. Great talk.
Enjoy!
Boomer lives!
Love,
Maron