At the start of the month I had an opportunity to take part in a 5-day intensive at The American Comedy Institute in NYC.  I'm actually working on an independent study for my Master's in tying together Creative Problem Solving and Humor . . . anyway, enough nerdery.  Here's video of me doing 5 minutes clean in a showcase at Gotham Comedy Club:

The first 2 jokes were actually something I improv'd right before going on stage, as the comic before me was an attractive lady who was talking about being a yoga teacher and getting attention from guys on the subway when she does her exercises there.  See how much funnier jokes are when I explain them?

Letterman Emmy-award winning writer Ted Greenberg headlined the show . . . words can not explain, check him out for yourself at TedGreenberg.com.  A very cool guy who was gracious enough to chat with me for a while after the show and gave me lots of advice - awesome guy.  Here are a few pics from me at Gotham (click on a picture to enlarge).

I also got to catch some ridiculously awesome comedy at NYC's Comedy Cellar on 2 different nights . . . freakin' ridiculous that you can see such awesome comedy in such a small room for only $10.  I was front row center stage one of the nights and Dave Attell told me he really appreciated my work directing Lord of the Rings, ha!  Here are some more pics: 1. w/Dave Attell, 2. w/a group of super hot ladies from Denmark that were surprisingly friendly with me after the show, 3. w/Godfrey. 4. w/Ardie Fuqua, 5. w/Colin Quinn, 6. w/Ben Bailey, 7. w/Mike Destefano, 8. me at a April Fools comedy show at t.b.d..  Click the pictures to enlarge.

Don't let Ben Bailey's clean image on "Cash Cab" fool you - he's got a mouth on him.  He completely DESTROYED a heckler . . . and by heckler, I mean someone that was talking during his set.  He completely snapped and it was awesome - he even said "I hope no one's taping this, I don't want to be the next Kramer on YouTube." - ha.  

In short, that was my NYC trip - excellent!  

I also got to see an awesome show last night at The Comedy Club in Rochester with Marianne Sierk and Kevin Meaney (that's not right!).  Before the show, I kicked ass in Jenga and won a free Labatt's shirt (see pics below).  After the show, Kevin got a standing-o, and well-deserved.  Marianne is a very funny lady as well and I'm actually off to open for her at Alfred University tonight.  That's all for now.  Make sure you check out the Mr. Bucket shenanigans below if you haven't already.

Do you ever reminisce about your childhood and think about how great something was as a kid?  With today's technology, we're able to revisit many of our childhood days by simply YouTube'ing a TV theme song, sports clip, or commercial.  Well, today I made that mistake.  For one reason or another, I remembered a toy I had - "Mr. Bucket" - and how catchy the damn jingle was for it on the TV commercial.  Looking to avoid my grad school paper, I YouTube'd it.  Just watch . . .

"The first to get their balls into Mr. Bucket wins, but look out, cause the balls will pop out of his mouth."  Wow.  Beyond quotes like that, I have another problem. 
Mr. Bucket teaches 2 things and implants them on a subconscious level for later in life:
     1. It teaches boys to put their balls in a Mr.'s mouth.
     2. It teaches girls to spit them out.
All funny-commercial-sayings aside, wouldn't it have made more sense to call it "Mrs. Bucket"?  Actually, no - once they're married the fellatio tends to stop.  How about Ms. Bucket?  I'm just saying.