Vegas is an interesting bird for comedians. You get audiences of all different types of people from all different places with all different points of view and bases of reference. So it always makes for challenging shows. I did four shows on this run. The first in Vegas at the Rampart Casino and the other…
I usually spend a couple minutes each day cruising around the net to stay up on the zeitgeist. Sometimes I find something really intriguing, creative, or useful. More often I find things that are the equivalent of a song you hate and can’t get out of your head. The thing is, headline writing has become…
Here’s part 2 in the hopefully ongoing process of filming my new comedy special this fall. In this one I had a chance to check out a couple of venues. Plus a little clip of a new bit I’m working on for the special. One of the strange things about the entertainment business is the…
I haven’t done one of these posts in awhile. Plus I’m totally ensconced in mixing my new “Super Dan” single, so feeling way more technical minded than funny today. 🙂 But what follows in the first experience I had with that vaunted format of the comedy album and special. We use “ROFL” in a completely…
Years ago when I was working in grocery stores, they would torture us every Christmas with the worst versions of every Christmas carol ever. And those people doing those versions were getting paid every time it played. I vowed that one day I would write and record some Christmas music and get some of that…
I was at a concert recently and the restroom had one of those long trough urinals. The kind that make you go, “Oh, I guess we ARE cattle”. The kind that could only be more primitive if actual trees were planted in it for you to pee on. And, like they sometimes do, the urinal…
The World Series of Comedy is a super great event. Yes, it’s a comedy competition, which I generally don’t like. But this one ends up being kind of like summer camp for comedians. Besides the shows the public gets to see there are also workshops about the biz and fun stuff like a poker tournament…
I started working on a new song recently called “Super Dan” and I’m just getting down to recording it. Thought I’d do up a little acoustic version video for you to check out. Love to hear your feedback on it. This song is so new that I can’t yet play it and sing it at…
When I first started writing comedy music, there was one thing I swore I wasn’t going to do. Parodies. Why? Because so many of them are so terrible. As one friend put it, “Replace ‘heart’ with ‘fart’ and there’s your parody.” Not exactly high brow stuff, right? Besides, nobody does parody better than Weird Al…
I was talking with a young child about life the other day. I do things like that. Legit though. Not in a creepy Michael Jackson way. And the kid asked me “What is dying like?” I told him, “It’s terrible. The worst feeling you can imagine. There’s a big white light shining in your face…
Did you get your download of “If I Were A Girl” yet? Today is contest day! Answer 5 questions correctly and you can win these prizes! 1st Place: Phil Johnson and Roadside Attraction DVD 3-Pack – Including “What Color Is Your Laugh?”, “Raising A Rockus”, and “What Color Is Your Laugh?” A “Be Yourself…Unless You’re…
Beyonce, eat your heart out… Oh, boy… I’ve been working on this one for quite awhile. It was written a year ago and today it’s officially available for download! “If I Were A Girl” started off as an idea for a parody song based on Beyonce’s “If I Were A Boy”, which I find to…
I always find interesting the things that people decorate their cars with. You can tell a lot about a person by the way they decorate their vehicle. A little Fender sticker means their a guitar player. A Mickey Mouse antenna ball is a sign of a Disney fan. A Monster energy drink sticker lets you…
If there’s a vote for most awesome technology since the internet and the cell phone, I vote for Netflix streaming. I haven’t turned on a hotel TV in the last two years while I’m on the road. Plenty of good stuff in queue without resorting to reality TV. 🙂 Recently, I ran across a show…
115 Cardinals walk into the Vatican. The bartender (you know they have one) say, ‘Hey, we don’t serve Cardinals here.’ And the Cardinals say ‘Why? Are you a Mets fan?’ So the Cardinals are all holed up in the Sistine Chapel ready to vote on a new Pope. They’ve been debating for days and conclave…
If you haven’t read the first part of this story, check it out here. Long story short, about a month ago I started having chest pains right before a gig. Brilliantly, I decided to go on stage anyway and find out what it was after. I get to the ER at Sonora Regional Hospital and…
Yep, I’m out corrupting old ladies again… Though she didn’t need much help. You should have heard her “But we take our teeth out” comment during Dan Wilson’s set. This is Nann after my show at the Vintage Lounge in Turlock, CA. Just got a new shipment of “Be Yourself… Unless You’re An Idiot” t-shirts…
If you haven’t seen it yet, the Standup Shots page on Reddit is an amusing way to blow time when you should be doing something else. I like it because it’s a neutral playground for jokes. If the joke is good, it rises to the top. Of course, it’s best suited to a particular kind…
I just remembered that the apocalypse is coming this year. I had to look up the date because I couldn’t remember when it was. 12/21/12. How coincidentally symmetrical. I guess I should set a reminder on my phone. Wouldn’t want to be caught unawares when the day comes. What I mean by that is I’m…
Ok, I’ve got some geeky comedy and music thoughts on my mind today. I’ve been pondering the effects of “threes” in comedy and “fours” in music to try and figure out why those “threes” work. In comedy we have a type of joke called a “triple”. It’s a joke that sets you up with two…
There was a discussion the other day among my comedian friends about how to put up a website cheaply and easily. And it can be done just that way. This system I’ll tell you about in a second is just one of a zillion ways to get a website up. But I’ve found it to…
A friend of mine asked me to write a song for her new baby and baby shower. I asked if she remembered that I’m a comedian. Well, ya get what you ask for. And today is the release of my latest single, “Dodged A Bullet” (aka The Baby Song). Most people like to think about…
Ok, so I missed last week’s episode because I wasn’t prepared. In this week’s episode I talk about why that was, and then I look grim and scary during one song. And then I sing a song with a word in it that I’ve never heard before. You can watch and chat live every Monday…
In June I performed a week at Laughs Unlimited in Sacramento, CA and the audiences were great! So for my August release I’d like to share some of that with you. You can see from the cover photo why I decided to make this an audio release. 🙂 I’m calling this album “Live Behind A…
