WEDNESDAY

      I was in Portland again tonight, and did a show at a pizza place. The guy who ran the show (Marcus) was nice enough to put me on last minute just thanks to Ario’s say-so, which was very cool. It was kind of a big room, and kind of a small audience. And my set went very poorly at first. Jokes that I know are good, that have worked over and over and over,  just not working. That’s always the most frustrating thing in stand-up- when you are doing stuff you know SHOULD be working, but it’s not. You know it’s not the jokes. And it can never be the audience (what never?) (no never) (what never?) (well, hardly ever.) (he’s hardly ever sick at sea!). So what is it? It’s me. What do I do? Slow down. Connect. And it worked. The set got immeasurably better.  Then, at the end of my set, when I was gonna go out with the good stuff, The Chocolate-Thunder-Flying, Robinzine-Crying, Teeth-Shaking, Glass-Breaking, Rump-Roasting, Bun-Toasting, Wham-Bam, Glass-Breaker-I-Am-Jam, I did something I’d never done before, in almost twenty years (ulp) of doing standup. I was trying to adjust the mic stand and the mic IN the stand and I punched myself in the mouth, drawing blood. For some reason this put the whole experience over the top for me. I was delighted. It really made me happy. Not sure why.  And then the pizza was not bad.

      By the way, also never ever sick at sea?  Gus Avrakotos. RIP PSH.

      Anyway, good time. Stay weird, Portland. You can do it.