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Jan 23, 2008 - WHat
I’m making my first appearance on the Bob & Tom Radio Show this Friday, Jan 25th. It's a nationally syndicated show, so go to www.bobandtom.com to see if you can listen to the show in your area. My last blog entry was in September- so I wanted to get everyone caught up, here’s some highlights since I wrote last:
Sept. 27, 2007-I made my 3rd appearance on “The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson”!
Most of the time, comedians spend months and years working on a five minute set for National TV. You go through a series of showcases and make lots of changes to your jokes, making sure every word counts. That’s what I went through when I got my first network TV spot last year on “The Late, Late Show.” Your taping is scheduled days in advance, and you can’t sleep the nights leading up to it. From talking to my comedian friends, that’s how it usually happens.
But sometimes, you get a call like this:“Can you be at CBS studios in two hours?”
That’s how Thursday, September 27th got really exciting.
Apparently one of the scheduled guests- Jenny McCarthy canceled, so the people at “The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson” made a call to me in the bullpen. I always have material ready, but I didn’t get a chance to run through my set a few times at clubs the nights leading up to the taping like I usually do.
So this was going to be a great experience- it reminded me a lot of my TV News days. I was a TV Sports Anchor and Reporter at a small ABC station and every night I was on live TV. I wore a suit and tie, looked professional- but in five years, there was never a night that everything went right.
Over the years, I’ve taken a few different Improvisation Classes, (Chicago City Limits, Groundling) but none was better training than being on live TV when the wrong sports highlights are shown or worse- when the screen is just blank for ten seconds. Figuring out how to transition all the mistakes made by the cameraman, tape roller, sound guy was a daily learning experience and great training for my future career as a comedian.
So even though this appearance on “The Late, Late Show” was last minute- I think it went extremely well under those circumstances, and I actually think it was my best appearance so far. Here’s a few highlights from the day at CBS:
-I had the same dressing room as Jennifer Love Hewitt.
-The highlight of the day for my wife, was when Oliver Hudson smiled at her.
-The producers and head writer tracked me down in the hallway to thank me after the show and tell me how much they enjoyed my performance.
-I was feeling so good about the show on the limo ride home, and that I had made my 3rd TV appearance- just when I thought things couldn't get any better- I heard a lot *POP*!
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The limo got a flat tire. We were only a quarter mile from home at the point, so I walked the rest of the way home. The walk humbled me.
In October I got to do a few outdoor theater shows for huge crowds and also celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary in Santa Barbara.
In November, my first film “The Relationship Expert” screened at the Two River Film Festival in Red Bank, NJ. I wasn’t in the film myself, but I wrote and produced it, so it was huge thrill for me. Eddie Pepitone is incredibly talented and funny, along with the rest of the cast: Melinda Hill, Jen Kirkman and Matt Knudsen. And Danny Jelinek did a great job shooting and editing it. I’ll let you know when/where you will be able to see it . I also got a chance to be on the Ron & Fex Show on XM Radio. I’ve been listening to this show since 2000. I used to drive from Owego to New York City every Monday to do a show at the Comic Strip Live, and I would listen to their radio show on the 3 and a half hour drive back to keep me awake. I promoted my film at the Two River Film Festival and also my shows at the Stress Factory with Patrice O’Neal that weekend. It was a blast and the crowds were great. It was a pretty incredible weekend for my career. Then it was back on the road to Headline clubs in Toronto and Vancouver, Canada |
I don’t have a lot of pictures from my trip to the east coast, so here’s a few pictures I thought were a little disturbing. First, there’s a picture of me looking exactly like Marci from the “Peanuts” comic strip. And then there’s a picture of the NBA’s Carmelo Anthony looking a little too much like Juwanna Mann. Coincidence?
 
December is usually a relaxing month for me, but this December- I performed more shows than any month in my career. I performed two, sometimes three shows a day at the Comedy & Magic Club in Hermosa Beach. Most of these shows were corporate Christmas parties and private events. Along those shows- I headlined Laffs Comedy Club in Tucson, AZ, McCurdy’s Comedy Theater in Sarasota,FL, and rang in the New Year at one of my favorite clubs- The DC Improv with Jeff Caldwell. The icing on the cake was that CBS re-aired my 2nd appearance from “The Late, Late Show” on Dec. 26. So you are officially caught up on all my travels. I’m getting tired just thinking about all those shows. Time for a nap.
Take care,
Paul Morrissey
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