And here's a few pictures from The Comedy Club this past weekend...

Yup.  That's about it for now.  And if you haven't seen the video from my Valentines Day, check out the video from the last blog below.
Chet

I BIG THANKS to the handful of comics and audience members who made it out to the club show followed by the showcase show last night in Rochester... it was SNOWY!  I decided not to risk driving back to Buffalo and snagged a hotel in Rochester.  Unfortunately, the hotel snowplow plowed my car in this morning.  Luckily, I found this guy to help me out.

Lastly, as you may have read in previous blogage last year, I've been working with a couple of friends from Arizona and LA on putting together a comedy tour entitled The Cheeseburgers of Comedy Tour  The WHAT you may ask?  Visit the newly launched website, it should answer all your questions.  There's a cool video there as well -  www.CheeseburgersOfComedy.com. 

February's been a pretty busy month thus far, I've gotten to work weekends in Rochester at The Comedy Club with Jamie Lissow and Randy Lubas (see pictures below), and did some college shows over the extended President's Day Weekend opening for Jordan Carlos (aka "My Black Friend Alan" from The Colbert Report) at Buffalo State and Tim Young at Alfred State.  All of the comics I just mentioned are really great people, if you're looking to kill some time check out their websites: www.JamieLissow.com, www.RandyLubas.com, www.JordanCarlos.com, www.TimYoungLive.com. 

I'm pretty excited about the end of this month, as I'll be hosting another showcase and also opening 5 shows for Dom Irrera.... the showcase is free!  Hope to catch you at a show soon.

-CW

How sweet would it be if Letterman had Conan on as a guest the first night Leno returns to 11:35 in March?  I don't know if that's possible, but one can hope.  I'm with COCO!

I have 8 shows in the Buffalo area over the next two weeks, so take a look at my calendar and come catch some live and local comedy, including a sketch and improv show next Wednesday evening with all money going to the Costner family as well as another great lineup for a Rust Belt Comedy showcase at The Blue Wall in South Buffalo (see poster below).   

Lastly, many have asked about how they can help the Costner family following the tragedy that occurred at Merge this past weekend.  There will be a benefit this Monday at Towne Ballroom: here's the facebook event link.  As previously mentioned, there will be a sketch/improv show at Merge on Wednesday 1/27 with all money collected at the door going to the Costner family and open mic comedy night will return at 10pm on Wednesday, February 3rd.... catch ya there!

I had the pleasure of riding out with Jamie Lissow for a private charity gig in Oswego, NY this past Friday.  I got to do 30 minutes opening in front of a sold-out house of 320 people.  The stage (which had a projector and video of the stage enlarged behind us), lighting, sound, audience, everything - all awesome!  They even set us up with a greenroom (see picture above)... it was an attic with a bomb-shelter-worthy supply of booze, canned goods, and pretzel sticks...weird. 

The real fun part, however, comes on the ride home from the gig.  Jamie and I were pulled over.  Multiple cop cars, some time spent in the back of a police car, and a sobriety test later... well - Lissow tells it best on The Wease Show.  Click HERE and select "Jamie Gets Pulled Over By Cops" under January 19, 2010.  It's a fantastic story.

I also opened for Early David Reed at 'The Comedy Club' in Rochester on Thursday and Saturday.  The Saturday crowds were especially awesome, thanks to everyone who came out.  And if you haven't seen Early David Reed, you missed out!

For those comics interested in participating in February's edition of "Chet Wild's Comedy Showcase" - submissions are due tomorrow (Wednesday, January 20th).  Visit the Open Mic & Showcase page for more info.

On a much more serious note, a tragic incident took place at Merge Restaurant in Buffalo this past Saturday morning.  For those of you unfamiliar, I co-host an open mic comedy night on Wednesdays with Rust Belt Comedy at Merge.  The owners and staff have always created a very supporting and welcoming environment providing performance space for the local arts.  Sadly, a dishwasher opened gunfire on the staff Saturday morning resulting in the injury of manager Rick Costner and the fatality of his son, sous chef, Ricky Costner Jr.

Merge has set up an account for donations to the Costner family on their website at MergeBuffalo.com.  We will not be having comedy night this week, but I know that many comics, including myself,  look forward to the opportunity to continue performing at Merge in the very near future.  The restaurant is owned and staffed by some of the nicest people you'll ever meet.  My thoughts and deepest sympathies are with everyone at Merge and the Costner family. 

There are a few things you should know about me. 
1- I perform stand-up.
2 - I love ribs, wings, and any combo thereof. 
3 - Conan O'Brien is the shit.  Well, #3 isn't really about me, but it's just as true as #1-2. 

For those of you that don't know - NBC has axed "The Jay Leno Show" at 10pm and are moving him to 11:35pm.  They've given Conan the option of hosting the tonight show at 12:05am (which would actually make it the 'tomorrow' show) OR telling him to get lost.  IE, a big "fuck you" to Conan. 

Besides the obviousness of how shitty it is to ink a deal with Conan years in advance for this show, have him uproot his family/crew/staff from NY to LA, shit on him, etc, here are my thoughts....

What I would like to see happen, even though it seems unlikely, is for Conan to stay at the 11:35 timeslot with NBC.  As sweet as the thought of Conan being on another network like Fox may be (I mean, let's face it, NBC has watered down the Conan we all love to be more safe and less edgy for the 11:35 audience, Fox would let Conan be more edgy, and sidenote: Conan wrote my favorite episode of The Simpsons ever - "Monorail"), here's the reality.  3 late night shows at 11:35 is just too much and will hurt everyone all-around (not to mention you also have Colbert at 11:30 on Comedy Central and Kimmel on ABC at midnight).  Plus, taking Conan off TV for several months (if not longer) while he re-tools his show for another network wouldn't be good.  That being said, I can not reiterate how impressed I was by the statement Conan released today . . . impressed even by Conan standards.  Here's the statement:

What a truly classy response.  CoCo for Time Magazine's Person of the Year . . . I mean, I know we have 11.5 months to go, but come on!

Conan's also addressed these rumors and whatnot in his monologues during the past Friday and Monday shows.  His jabs at NBC are incredibly clever, back to the Conan of "Late Night" with edgy one-liners against the cluster-fuck that is NBC right now.  Kudos, Conan!

Following the "Doin' Time Xmas Comedy Show" I walked out to my car, covered lightly in snow.  As I went to brush the snow off, I found the most happiest of holiday gifts on my windshield... a parking ticket.  HAPPY HOLIDAYS! 

But what could this ticket be for?  I was parked in a legal spot and it was after parking meter hours, my inspection is within date, my car is in check...

I got a $30 ticket for "parking more than 12 inches from the curb"... are you SHITTING ME?!?  Look at the picture above... LOOK AT IT!!!  I drew a white arrow to highlight the area of concern.  Has Buffalo become sooo desperate for ticket money that they now have cops going about with rulers, like an anal-retentive OCD high school English teacher checking margins on a paper?  I didn't have a ruler so I can't tell you exactly how car away I was from the curb, but if this was an NFL game, the refs would be calling for the chains. 

Unreal.