Stay Cool

Stay Cool                                        4244  (204)

Friday, April 14, 2006-12:10 P.M.

Good afternoon from Knoxville, Tennessee, home of the Comedy Zone, one of my favorite clubs in the country.  I'm working this week with celebrity headliner Tim Wilson, who is very big here in the south, but to be honest, being from upstate New York, I never heard of him.  Still, he draws big crowds and they pay the money, so more power to him.  Our mc, Chad Riden, broke down on the way here from Nashville, so I had to do the mc/middle thing on Wednesday.  It went o.k., not great, and it was a weird little crowd, and even Tim, who indicated he was going to do an hour, bailed on them after 45 minutes.

The Econolodge where the Comedy Zone comics stay (although I don't think Tim is staying here) is right down the parking lot from the club, so it's very convenient.  Also, there's a supermarket really close to here, a post office, a library, and everything else a travelling comic could want.  There's even a Chinese Buffet across the street!  I don't think I've moved more than 2 miles from the hotel since I got here Wednesday afternoon.  I'm thinking about getting a haircut (the salon is next to the buffet) and today I'm getting my car's air conditioning recharged (it's butt-ass hot down here and having no AC is making me cranky)...the Toyota dealership is like 4 miles away.  It's perfect!

Yet again, the last two nights, as the entire month before, every show I've done, people have come up to me after the show and indicated that they're either from western New York or they have relatives that live there.  It's been a little erie, actually.  I sold a CD last night to a guy who was lamenting the loss of Wegmans and Nick Tahoes and Country Sweet Chicken and Ribs, all Rochester staples.  I came up with a funny line about southern cooking that I think is going to be a regular part of my act when I tour the south...I ad-libbed a bit and it got a big laugh, and I think it will do well in other southern markets, too...Greensboro, North Carolina in particular.

I did a little hotel-room cooking last night, franks 'n' beans done wok-style, courtesy of a late-night shopping trip to Food City.  I signed up for their value card and saved some decent cash on my foods, which is always a good thing.  With the gas up around 2.56 a gallon here in eastern Tennessee, every penny counts.

Don't forget that taxes are due on Monday....last chance to file an extension is today.  Have a great weekend!

Ralph Tetta

Rochester, NY