Buster lives, People!
Sadly, I have to start this missive marking the passing of a fellow comic and unique human. Brody Stevens passed away last week. He was a one of kind person. An authentic, charismatic, funny oddball. He exuded an intense engaging energy that could blow right through you and it was all uniquely him. He battled hard with depression. He was very open about it. It was an ongoing narrative with him publicly and personally. You could SEE him fighting it. He made many people happy and was loved by the entire comedy community. Last week he lost his battle with depression and took his own life and it was devasting. It's like a necessary turbine driving the Comedy Store machinery has been turned off forever and the place will have to adapt and run without it. Brody will be missed. RIP.
Some good news now. I haven’t written in a week (and last week’s shows were done ahead of time so I could only speculate) but Buster Kitten is seriously on the mend. I don’t want to say cured because I won’t really know until I bring him to the vet for tests this week but I’m pretty grateful. I brought him home from the hospital and he was the sweetest cat I’ve ever seen. Totally affectionate and cute. Very not Buster but I thought it was good. I quarantined him in a room and gave him his IV fluid daily. He seemed to know he needed them. I fed him the special diet kidney food and gave him all the love I am capable of giving, i.e. slightly more than I am able to do with humans but still a little tempered.
For the four days I had him isolated and recuperating, he remained the sweetest cat in the world. Then I let him out into the general population. Because he was home for a few days he didn’t smell alien to the oldies, Monkey and LaFonda. They didn’t hiss at him. Everyone was sort of minding their own business for a day. Things were weird. The oldies didn’t quite know what was happening. I always think when a cat returns, the other cats think he came back from the dead. They had grieved and accepted his passing. So, when he comes back, it’s a bit jarring. They had also had a pleasant reprieve from being bullied and beat up by the little fucker. When that wasn’t happening, I thought Buster was a changed cat, docile, resigned. Then day two, in general, happened.
I heard the panicked scrambling of LaFonda's little feet on the wood floor and then her hissing. Later that day I heard Monkey squealing and running. Buster is back, baby. I felt bad for the oldies for a few minutes but then I saw Monkey baiting Buster and I thought, Oh, shit. He knows he can’t win but he’s having a good time. LaFonda packs a pretty good punch so he eventually lays of her a bit. I think everyone here is actually happy the little fucker is back to his old self. It was nice to spend some time with him when he was needy and affectionate but hey, who can stay in that zone? I gotta let Buster be Buster.
I’ll let you know how the tests go.
Don’t forget to send any questions you have for our 1000th episode. Anything you want to know about past episodes, past guests, things from my life, things from life in general. Send your questions to wtfpod@gmail.com and put 1000th Episode Question in the subject.
Today on the show I talk to the savagely funny Andrea Savage. Love her. Her show ‘I’m Sorry’ is great. On Thursday I talk to Gary Clark, Jr. about, you know, guitar. Great talks!
Enjoy!
Boomer lives!
Love,
Maron