I know, the words above don’t really make sense, but then neither does comedy.  I went to see some friends of mine perform last night at Genghis Cohen.  Great show, only five bucks and no drink or food minimum.  My kinda place.  My lovely and talented friend Abbey Londer puts the show up.  Great comedians, many who I’ve seen before, yet some didn’t kill it like they usually do.  It was odd, the audience took a while to warm up and some of the comedians were literally berating the audience for their lack of participation.  Always fun.  But within the mess of it all, some jokes really landed, which just goes to show you, comedy is subjective and subject to environment.  I’ve seen these jokes performed before and they’ve gotten huge laughs, but because it was a Tuesday night and people weren’t drinking heavily, thinking about getting to work the next day, they didn’t laugh.  Many left.  But those who stuck around got to see a great headliner and of course the glorious Miss Abbey Londer.

What am I trying to say with this rant?  Next time you go out to a comedy club, go out wanting to laugh.  Don’t go out hoping to hate the comedians.  And don’t let your friend drag you there.  If you do you won’t have fun and your money will go wasted.  But if you go in looking to relax, laugh and drink, then you’re sure to have a good time.

Did I mention I’m performing tonight at the Comedy Store’s Belly Room?

Been covering for a friend of mine at Warner Bros. on “The Middle.”  He’s off celebrating being a new dad and I in turn have taken over the role of writer’s assistant.  I dreaded it a bit at first.  Not for the whole stepping back part, but just nervous that I still had it in me to work the hours and type like the wind.  Turns out I did.  After a short first day the rest of the week turned into the usual workload of a single camera show.  It’s a tight ship over there with a great cast, crew and nicest writing staff you could hope for.

I discovered something that I’ve been missing out on for the last year and a half.  The camaraderie you get working that many hours with the same people.  It’s like you’re in the trenches and you have to make fast friends.  Everyone just trusts each other until someone does something stupid.  In this case, no stupid.  Just funny, smart and a reminder of how to write a laugh out loud, emotionally connecting script.  Thanks, gang.

It’s one of those days that makes you wonder if it’s ever going to happen.  You did the work, you sold a pitch and now the lawyers and agents are hashing it out, but something’s got my spidey sense tingling and thinking there’s a chance it could all fall apart.  I’m really hoping not.  It’s nice to know there’s something down the line, no matter how long the line is.

So, in the meantime, I’m chugging along, pitching other stuff and hoping to set up more pitches.  Sell, sell, sell, said the car lot manager.

Well the long winter hiatus is finally over, the a.d.d. brains of everyone in Hollywood who couldn’t wait to hop a flight to Hawaii are now possibly hung-over, possibly rested but most of all ready to get things moving.  The end of the year saw some interesting things in town.  The box office was up.  Comcast was buying a share of NBC/Uni and the cable networks continued to up their ratings and quality of shows.  The good news of this of course is now that he holidays are over, the shift toward whatever landscape we’re moving to is now back in effect after suffering the proverbial flat tire of the holidays.

That said, I got some things done over the break.  I finished a feature, wrote some new jokes, got some more eyes on my book and even got together with an old director friend to talk shop.  Productive all around with lots of possibilities.  This week, got round two of a pitch with XD.  Really like the guys over there.  Smart, attentive and welcoming to develop fun, quality content.

Also up for another gig, which I can’t tell you about.  Shhhhh.

And of course the best part of the new year beginning is now the deal at CN can start moving forward again and hopefully in a couple of months I’ll be writing the outline.

But for now, I’m gonna sit back, write some more jokes for my upcoming stand up gig, and do a re-write on the feature and get it ready to hand over to the managers to try and sell.  Oh, that and work on whatever else comes along in the meantime that pays.  Shhhh.