Iceman

Iceman                               6997  (215)

Sunday, February 24, 2007-4:30 P.M.

Well, there's only one more show left to do here at Absolute Comedy before I get heading back home, which I understand is getting their fair share of snow due to a winter storm.  The shows this week have been great and I've been flourishing in the MC spot in the Canadian system.  I was worried about "fitting in" with what the crowds expected, but it's been going great and there's been minimal backlash against me being an American....if anything, I've been treated as some sort of an oddity and a commodity and been getting comments about my "accent," which I think is hilarious.  The crowds like me and the staff has been awesome.

I've been sort of a homebody this week because it's been hellacious cold, and I'm not scared of the cold, but there's nothing I really need that isn't within walking distance of the condo.  There's a dynamite little deli around the corner called Di Rienzo's that makes excellent sandwiches and has all the groceries you could need, and one trip there has pretty much taken care of me for the week.  Also, the condo is outfitted with wireless internet, so it's been a little too easy to just veg out and troll the internet as a substitute for actual real-life experiences.  The one thing that has been a hassle is staying in touch with Pam back home because the cell phone roaming charges to Canada are ridiculous.  We've been using the phone here and the house phone back home because we have a really good long distance plan, but that's not as portable as cell phones and Pam has her hands full with Harmony, so instead of three calls a day, we've been making do with two calls every three days.  Needless to say, I'm as homesick as I could be.

I've been sharing quarters with Kevin Gasior, whose name I've been pronouncing more French as the week goes on, and even though he's from Montreal, he's actually Polish.  Kevin's a full-time working comic and a good guy, and we've been having a great time talking business, comparing and contrasting the Canadian (specifically, Montreal where he's from) and American systems.  The headliner, Rick Currie, is from Ottawa, so he hasn't been around meaning neither Kevin nor I had to suffer the indignities of the pull-out couch in the living room.  Rick's been great to work with and he's a really clean, clever comic, and earlier in the week, Jason, the owner of the club, informed me that he likes to book a variety of comics on his bill, and it was my place to be the "dirty" guy.  Well, I'm fine with that, but it was a little funny to me because nobody's ever quite said it to me that way before.  Tony in Niagara Falls told me that part of my appeal in his opinion was that my act is so unexpected because upon first seeing me, you don't imagine that the shocking things that I say will come out of my mouth.  I prefer to think that any sort of smut that I do is playful enough, and I've been toning it back a notch to fit in with the show.  I'm still the dirty guy, but I'm not hitting them over the head with it.

I'm looking forward to tonight's show, but it will be bittersweet because I've had such a good time here in Ottawa that I won't want to leave the company of the crew that's been so nice to me, but I'm only going to have a couple of days at home before I have to leave again for Tennessee, so I'm going to have to get heading as soon as I can.  I've got about 4 1/2 hours home tonight, depending on the weather, and the show gets over about 9:30, so I should be on the road by 10:00 and home around 3 A.M.  It's actually nice being this close to home for a change, I don't think I'm going to have that luxury again for a little while.

Please be safe wherever you are, and talk to you later.

Ralph Tetta

Rochester, NY