This is my 2nd time dealing with a disaster on Easter Sunday. The first time was about 8 years ago in Traverse City, Michigan, when I got food poisoning between show-dates. Eager to get home after the last show, I swerved to avoid hitting a rabbit, hit a deer, and crashed my car into a pole on the way out of town.  I was stranded for 3 days, waiting for a part to come from the Ford plant in nearby Detroit for my once-trusted Thunderbird.  Ironically, a year or so later, after I handed the keys into a dealership for another car, the local Sheriff informed me that my car had been used in the commission of a crime. 

     I’m just coming back from a string of shows in Iowa, and it’s Easter Sunday, or Passover – depending on who you are. I was in Iowa since Wednesday, doing shows – and came back home yesterday to a leaking water heater. Nothing like busting your ass on the road, only to come home and give back everything you earned to an emergency plumber. I get it, we’re all connected on some level, and that’s how life works. Fortunately, I didn’t realize all this until I took a cold-bath after assuming the hot water was taking the day off. Had I discovered my utility closet was flooded first, I might not have taken the plunge.  Periodically, hot water decides when it needs a vacation, and cold’ll be your only option. A hot bath was all I was looking forward to after being on the road, so to be denied that was brutal. Comedy is no different than life, and that’s why I love it so much. I just finished up one of the most satisfying runs of my career in Iowa, with Friday night taking the cake.

     I was at a place called Gunderson’s in Lake Park, IA. It’s not that the audience was terrific, which they were. It’s not that the steak I had was cooked perfectly and delicious. The owners & staff set-up everything according to plan, and worked-hard to make sure there wasn’t one empty seat. That and the personal enjoyment of doing what now has turned into a solid 90 minute one man show. Of course, I had to wake-up early and drive 8 hours back to Chicago, and do a private party in Naperville – so I kept my canoodling afterwards to a minimum. Wednesdays & Thursdays nights shows were a lot of fun too, and I even caught a break from Iowa’s finest. This is now becoming a running gag for me, “Officer, I’m a comedian driving between shows.”

    The capper on the Yang-portion of the run, was Saturdays show in Naperville, for a Doctor’s wife, and 100 of their friends. I had to tell jokes to the crowd, while 20 % of them wanted nothing to do with comedy, and kept talking.  The birthday girl didn’t sit still either, so I’m guessing that maybe gave some people unspoken permission to be rude. They were a nice couple though – and it was their party, and I was grateful to be there regardless. 

I’ve got a lot of fun shows coming up, and I can’t wait to visit what has now turned out to be one of my favorite cities for food, Philadelphia, PA, in a few weeks. At last, something to look forward too ~