Hole In The Sky

Hole In The Sky                                               1907

Wednesday, October 5, 2005-7:54 P.M.

Good Evening from the North Coast of America.  I did something today that I thought I'd never do...I cancelled a week of comedy work.

The week was the "Indiana Tour" for the Funny Business Agency...it consists of a Wednesday night in Decatur, Illinois, Thursday night in Terre Haute, Indiana, Friday off, and Saturday in Bloomington, Illinois.  With the gas running near three dollars a gallon and having a night off to dip into my pocket for a hotel room, I was looking at a red-ink weekend, and politely asked the booking agency to be replaced.  I'm not going to try to rebook the week, and instead, will catch up on some home improvements before the snow starts flying.  We have a couple of makeshift squirrel ingresses in our attic that we don't want anymore, because the squirrels have a tendency to chew on things made of paper in our attic that we want to keep.  I need to pour some cement in those areas so the squirrels can't chew through them again, plus, when I see the squirrels in the yard with chipped teeth, I'll know which ones to shoot.

Yesterday, I shot my third ever commercial spot.  It was for Novus Auto Glass, and represented my second ever glass company spot.  The gag was this; the spot starts out with me waxing a red 2004 Mustang convertible.  I would never own such a vehicle; I don't like the wind mussing up my hair...most Italians don't.  So I'm waxing the car, and the director's eight-month old son John, who is playing my son, gets attracted by the sun gleaming off the antennae of the car, and he pulls a small trampoline over, jumps up and grabs the antennae.  I see him hanging from the antennae, rush over and grab him, and wrestle the antennae out of his hands, which causes it to whip down into the windshield, cracking it.  At that point, Alison Roberts, another Rochester actor, who is playing my wife, comes out and says "Don't worry, I've called Novus Auto Glass."  We shot two spots, a 10-second ad and a 30-second ad.  It was good money, too.

When I got home, I realized that every muscle south of my belly button hurt to high heaven.  There was a lot of standing, running, pivoting and jumping to be done, on a hard concrete driveway all day long, with no place to really sit down between takes.  Even today, a day later, I'm still feeling a little sore.

Tomorrow it's the big drive to Fishersville, VA and the Comedy Zone's new room in that town.  I then make a turn northward and play the Zone's room in Harrisburg, PA, one of my favorite rooms to play.  For tonight, it's a little rest and relaxation with my wife and daughter.

Ralph Tetta

Rochester, NY