Funeral For A Friend

Funeral For A Friend                       2560

Sunday, December 10, 2005-3:12 A.M.

Great show tonight for the fine folks of the IUE-CWA union  http://www.iue-cwa.org/ .  I spent the better part of the day cooling out and getting ready for the show, and watched my daughter Harmony.  Pam had a craft show, and was gone most of the day.

After guiding Mark Wiedmann to my house (I gave him east-bound directions, and he was west-bound, sending him slightly off course), we made our way to the town of Pavillion, NY for the 8:30 comedy show.  Mark made a rookie mistake in trusting mapquest for his directions, and then handed me his handwritten copy of said directions.  I resisted the urge to ask him if he actually had a stroke before he wrote the directions down.

We headed west out of Rochester and toward Pavillion.  We made it to the town o.k., but finding the restaurant was a different matter.  After several missed turns and a couple of stops to ask for directions, we arrived at BW's Restaurant, and as soon as we pulled up in front of the place, I realized I had done a public show there before.  I didn't drive this time around, but I'm sure that daylight would have made me remember the gig a little.

We arrived on time for the show at 8:30, but they gave us a few minutes to catch our breath before we began.  Mark did a good 20-minute set, with only a couple of lines falling flat, and you could tell he was editing as he went along...we were asked to do a "clean" show, and of course, that always means something different, depending on who you ask.  It could mean language, it could mean topicality, but bottom line, if it's funny, there's usually forgiveness.

I took the stage around 9:00, and had a lot of fun on stage.  I was supposed to do 40 minutes, and went around 45, because I wasn't sure how close to the mark I was, and wanted to make sure they got what they paid for.  The group was comprised of union workers and a good number of retirees.  They were a great group, and I could have done at least another half hour, but several of them looked pooped.  One guy was laughing and yawning at the same time, and I think he crapped himself.  It was pretty funny from a performer's perspective.

I didn't wind up doing any political material, because there just wasn't enough time.  I did a good amount of my regular nightclub stuff, and it flew well enough, so I decided to just go for what I know.

Anyway, they bonused us, which was neat, and the younger folk who were still in a party mood wanted to buy us drinks and pal around, but I'm on too much prescription medication to drink, and Mark was driving, so he had one to be sociable, and we headed out.  Getting home was a lot easier than getting there, I'll tell you what.

I forgot to mention yesterday that I am volunteering my time to a cancer benefit show in April.  I'm happy to do it, because I lost two grandparents to cancer, and my father is a cancer survivor.  In addition, my wife's grandfather had cancer, and frankly, spending as much time in smoky nightclubs as I do, I'm probably a candidate for the "c" myself.  So I'm donating my time to the cause, and sharing the stage with some pretty heavy talent from around the country.  I'm actually billed as a co-headliner with "Chili" Challis from Chicago, which is quite an honor.  See more about the show here: 

http://www.johnface.com/relaypage.html   Richard Pryor died today.  He was about as big an influence on me as anyone when it comes to wanting to do standup comedy.  When I was in high schoo, I used to set my alarm for 3 o'clock in the morning to sneak down to the family room and watch his comedy specials on Cinemax.  This was 22 years ago, and I never got to see him live, but I learned by watching him how to swear and make money with it.  God bless you, Richard, and rest in peace.     Ralph Tetta Rochester, NY