Grant Lyon's CD - Baby Steps

On June 25, 2009, Grant Lyon featured at the show I produce at the Morgan Hill Playhouse. It was also on this night that Grant recorded his debut CD. That CD is now available! I have listed to it a handful of times already and I think it turned out really well in terms of laughter and sound quality. Plus you can hear me at the very beginning! haha.


You too can own Grant Lyon's debut CD, available on iTunes, cdbaby.com, and amazon.com

The Bay Area Comedy Scene Loses Another Great Person.

Grace White, born Karen Grace White, and also known as "That Old Hippie Chick" passed away on December 3, 2009. She was 59 years old. Grace had accomplished a lot as a comedienne but what she accomplished off the stage was even more impressive.

Grace helped a lot of women in the comedy business. She did a lot of that by creating the Women Who Kick Comedy Butt (www.wwkcb.com) shows. I booked the WWKCB a couple years ago at the Morgan Hill Playhouse. This was shortly before I would find out the Grace was diagnosed with lung cancer.

Instead of giving up, Grace worked harder than ever and fought lung cancer longer than her doctors said she would. She helped spread the word. Comics from all over the Bay Area gave help where they could as Grace was without health insurance.

A definite inspiration to us all... her spirit will live on forever.



Grace White (1950-2009)

Sick Days

I sit here typing, muscles aching, and I can't seem to warm up. It seems as though I am sick. Fun times? Not really. Bad timing? Yes. I celebrated my birthday on Friday, November 13th(spooky!) with a group of friends. It was a fun night out in Downtown San Jose, but it seems I have yet to fully recover from all the partying that went down. I almost called in sick to my day job today but decided to fight it and go into the office. When I go to work, I found out that 2 of my co-workers had already called in sick. I guess it was a good thing I didn't call in sick otherwise I don't know what would have happened. I had to cancel myself out of doing a show in Santa Clara last night at C&J's Sports Bar last night since I was not feeling well. I thought it couldn't get any worse than that. As a booker/producer myself, I understand how frustrating it can be to have a comedian cancel the day of the show. The C&J's show is a newer show just getting its foot off the ground, but I was still looking forward to it. Not helping me feel any better, I received a phone call around 6pm saying a Host was needed for a show at the Crow's Nest in Santa Cruz for a show that was going to start in two hours. I was being offered the Hosting gig at the suggestion of one of the comedians who was on the bill. It would have been a paid gig too. Ironically, I had been looking into how to get myself booked at the Crow's Nest just a few days before. I knew what was best for me though, to stay home and rest... I also wouldn't want to subject illness to any of the other comedians. Earlier in the week, before my birthday, I had a couple shows I was in. On Tuesday, the 10th, I did a show at the Rockit Room in San Francisco. It took me some time but I finally found parking and got to the show on time. It was just a general open mic but I am hoping to make my way out to the SF area more often. On Wednesday, the 11th, I headed the other direction to a place called, Eddie's. On the outside, the place looked deserted. The front door looked like a loading dock. If there had not been a little pink sign on the door that said, "Comedy Night" then I probably would have left. I finally decided to ring the door bell for the "loading dock" to see if there was an answer. Finally, Eddie himself answered the door and wow, the inside of the place was beautiful. The place definitely has potential to be a great spot for comedy. Now, the show was in front of three people who were non-comics, but I loved it. I especially liked that they paid attention throughout and enjoyed the show.

Myself, Dave Salisbury, Danny Holzwart, and Rudy Martinez. As of now, my next show will be a week from today at Fibbar Magee's in Sunnyvale...

Fun times in Oakland

On Thursday, November 5th and Friday, November 6th, I had shows in Oakland. The first show was at Miss Pearl's Jam House near Jack London Square and the second show was at The Washington Inn... both shows together are referred to "Comedy off Broadway Oakland" as both places are located off of Broadway St. The shows are co-produced and co-hosted by comedians Joe Gleckler and Samson Kolektar.

The same comedians performed both nights. The other comedians performing were Jeff Reitman (an avid video gamer and comedian), Norm Hazzard, and Headliner Ross Turner. Fellow baseball fan and comedian, Dan St. Paul,made a special appearance at the Friday show.

A lot of people were surprised when I told them I was doing a couple shows in Oakland. My co-worker told me "Don't get shot"... and my co-worker is black. It is sad that Oakland has had a lot of homicides so it is looked at from people outside of Oakland as a scary place. I knew I couldn't let any of that talk get to me. A comedian who doesn't take risks, doesn't belong in the business.

The show Thursday night was actually their first show at Miss Pearl's Jam House (they had just finished up doing their Washington Inn show for 6 months and were successful so added this 2nd show) ... I connected well with the Oakland crowd as I discussed Barak Obama and talked about the Oakland A's and how they were planning on changing the name of the Coliseum. I got some handshakes after the show and a guy in the back said, "Keep doing your thing, man!" I was glad to be part of their first show there.

The second night at Washington Inn was also a good show. I stumbled a little during my set though as I made a comment about someone sitting in the front row. Everytime I said a joke he liked he would playfully drum a rimshot on his table. I thanked him for doing such during my set but then got thrown off on what I was going to discuss next. I ended up doing a bit about a past girlfriend but it took forever to set-up the punchline....after that I was able to get back on track though.

I'm looking forward to the shows I have the next couple nights... tomorrow night, the 10th, I will be at The Rockit Room in San Francisco and on Wednesday, the 11th, I will be at Eddie's Nightclub in Monterey. I'm trying to finish the year as strong and with as many shows as I can.

Overdue Blog!

Sorry readers, been falling a little behind a bit on this blog... Just wanted to post some pictures from the shows I produced last month at The Gaslighter in Gilroy and the Morgan Hill Playhouse in Morgan Hill. For info on upcoming shows, check out this site.

On Wednesday, September 23rd, Lindsay Blaz, Bob Johnston, and headliner Michael Slack all did really well at The Gaslighter. It was a fun show. It was a smaller crowd than normal, but that didn't slow down the comedians and keep them from doing a great job as usual.








With Sammy Meeker








With Bob Johnston








With Michael Slack



On Thursday, September 24th in Morgan Hill, Sammy Meeker replaced Lindsay Blaz on the bill. (Lindsay had her own show she produces in Santa Cruz) The Morgan Hill show was awesome and all three of them were received really well.

Looking forward to October's Monthly Shows in Gilroy and Morgan Hill... with Kellen Erskine, Dave Burleigh, and Andrew Norelli...also known as the 3 of Kind Comedy Tour!

Busy week comes to end

I had a total of six shows this past week. This was in addition to working six days at my day job. If it sounds exhausting, it sure was. But it was also eye opening as well. On Monday, I hit up the open mic at Britannia Arms in Downtown San Jose...first time I was there, I did really bad, so I wanted to redeem myself. I ended up having a pretty good set. Tuesday - night off.... On Wednesday I hosted my monthly show at The Gaslighter in Gilroy and the show featured Veronica Porras, Dan Wilson, and headliner Mike Guido. The headliner didn't seem to enjoy himself but the crowd enjoyed the show and that is all that matters. On Thursday I hosted the same monthly show with the same comedians at the Morgan Hill Playhouse. This show also went well. After the show, I took off for downtown San Jose and did a smaller show at South First Billiards. I did a 5 minute set to brush up some material which was done in front of mostly other comedians...but I still had fun. On Friday, I did an open mic at Paddy's Coffee House in Union City. This show turned out being a lot better than I thought it would. On Saturday, I ended the week doing a show with host Sean Sinha, Sammy Obeid, John Dekoven, and headliner Grant Lyon at Bunjo's Comedy Club in Dublin.

 Me at Bunjo's on 8/29/09

I missed my friend's housewarming party in San Jose because of it which I felt bad about, but this is my dream I am trying live out and I'm not going to accomplish it if I don't get out on the stage as much as I can. Sammy and Grant were amazing like always and their sets reminded me that I still have a long ways to go. These next few weeks I don't really have any shows booked right now (aside from September 2nd) so I'm hoping to focus more on writing. I really want to get to the point where I can quit my job and just live off doing shows.

The Englander

Last night, August 22nd, I did a show at The Englander Sports Pub & Restaurant. I had known about the comedy shows they did at The Englander for a while, but never had gotten the opportunity to perform there. Before yesterday, they only put on one show a month, featuring two or three comedians. Now they have added a new monthly show which features both professionals and amateurs, so I took part in the first such show last night. The comedy show itself takes place in a separate room from the main bar/restaurant. The showroom has a long stage, lighting, and a mini-bar. The mini-bar wasn't open last night, so a waitress was running back and forth from the bar to the showroom to take care of all the audience members. She did a good job too. The crowd turned out to be quite a good size, which was really cool considering it was the first such show.

I'm looking forward to going back to this place again and definitely suggest this place for any sports fan. When I walked into the bar, they had televisions on showing the Niners-Raiders preseason game, the A's-Tigers games, the Giants-Rockies game, and the Phillies-and "whatever team they played" game.... in addition, they have like 80 beers on tap!

So I will definitely be going back to this place one way or another, whether it is to do another comedy show or not.

Now I must go and get ready for my Fantasy Football Draft.

Three Nights

On July 28, 2009, I booked a special one night only show in conjunction with Capital T. Productions at the Historic Hoover Theater. I had never performed at the Historic Hoover Theater, so I decided to take a few pictures of the place.

                                     Looking at the stage of the Historic Hoover Theatre.

                                                Looking at the audience from the stage.

I was impressed with the theatre, which hold almost 200 people. We ended up drawing about 40 people, not bad for a Tuesday night and a show that was promoted mostly by word of mouth. The comedians I selected to be in the show were Sammy Meeker, Brian Salwasser, Candy Churilla, Richgail Enriquez, Dan Wilson, Michael Slack, and Kurt Weitzmann. I was emcee for the show and Weitzmann was the headliner. All the comedians were received well and comedians even walked away with a little money. Richgail is a co-worker of mine and just started doing stand-up comedy about 4 months ago... she was really nervous, but did really well. Candy Churilla has since moved on to the finals of California's Funniest Female Competition. All in all, it was a fantastic night. On July 29th and 30th, I did my monthly shows at The Gaslighter in Gilroy and the Morgan Hill Playhouse (in Morgan Hill, duh)... I was the emcee like always for the shows and the comedians were Jason Lane, Rebecca Arthur, and James P. Connolly. Sometimes booking and running these shows seems like a lot of work and I question whether all the work put into it is worth it... but whenever the show is complete and generates the laughs like these shows do, it is totally worth it.

Myself with Rebecca Arthur at the Morgan Hill Playhouse. She won California's Funniest Female Competition in 2004 and demonstrated to the crowd why she was the winner.

                               With headliner James P. Connolly at the Morgan Hill Playhouse.

 I had never met James P. Connolly prior to these shows, but I am glad that he made the trip from Los Angeles to be in these shows. He was a great hit. Check out his comedy on his website. AND NOW, it is time to get to work on August! New shows to be posted to the schedule soon, so keep looking!

Congratulations, Rickey Henderson

Yesterday, July 26, 2009, Major League Baseball enshrined three former players into the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame. Those three players are the late Joe Gordon, Jim Rice, and Rickey Henderson.

When I grow older and talk younger kids about baseball, whether they happen to be my own or not, Rickey Henderson is sure to be mentioned. I was born in 1981, two years after Rickey Henderson made his Major League Debut with the Oakand A's. I will never forget all the wonderful games I saw in Oakland and on TV where Rickey Henderson stole the show. He had a swagger about him and while some might think he was full of himself, there simply was nobody better at doing what he did than Rickey Henderson.

When Rickey Henderson reached first bases whether by base hit or walk, everyone in the ballpark knew the pitcher was in for a tough time. Rickey would dance off the first base bag, hands dangling low near the dirt, relaxed...and once he got a read off the pitcher, Rickey was off for 2nd base. Eventually, Rickey Henderson earned the nickname, "Man of Steal."

I will never forget the day when I got to meet Rickey for a brief moment at an Oakland A's event at Jack London Square. I got his autograph and shook his hand. One thing that was absolutely genuine about Rickey is that he cares about the fans. He knows that without the fans support he would not be where he is today. Rickey showed time after time how grateful he was. He loves the game of baseball, played for 25 years, and still wants to play today if someone would let him.

He played for 9 Major League teams in his career, but enters the Hall of Fame wearing an A's cap, the team that drafted him and the team where he spent most of his career. On Saturday, August 1st, Rickey Henderson will have his jersey number retired in Oakland, and I will be there to see it.

A look at Rickey's career and numbers:

From 1979 to 1984 with the Oakland A's: Rickey Henderson stole 100 bases in 1980, a record 130 bases in 1982, and 108 bases in 1983. He drew 117 walks in 1980, 116 walks in 1982, and 103 walks in 1983. He was an All-Star in 1980, 1981,1982, 1983, and 1984. He won the Gold Glove Award in 1981 and also the Silver Slugger Award the same year.

From 1985 - Mid 1989 with the New York Yankees: Rickey Henderson scored 146 runs in 1985 and scored 130 runs in 1986. He stole 80 bases in 1985, stole 87 bases in 1986, and stole 93 bases in 1988. He was an All-Star in 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1988.

From mid-1989 - mid-1993 with the Oakland A's: The Oakland A's won the World Series in 1989 in large part due to the return of Rickey Henderson. Rickey Henderson then went on to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award in 1990. He also won a Silver Slugger Award in 1990. He was named an All-Star in 1990 and 1991. In 1990, the year the A's were favorite to win the World Series again but got swept by the Cincinnati Reds (I was at game 4), Rickey batted .325, scored 119 times, and hit 28 home runs.

Mid 1993 to the end of season with the Toronto Blue Jays: Rickey spent 44 games with the the Blue Jays after a trade sent Rickey to Toronto. In those 44 games, Rickey Henderson stole 22 bases. The Blue Jays would go on to win the World Series in 1993.

From 1994-1995 with the Oakland A's: Rickey again returned to his hometown with the Oakland A's. He stole 22 bases in 1994 and 32 more in 1995. These were down years for the A's, but Rickey continued to play the way only Rickey knew how.

1996 to mid-1997 with the San Diego Padres: In 148 games in 1996, Rickey Henderson scored 110 runs and had 38 Stolen Bases. He also walked 125 times. Oh yeah, he did all of this at the age of 37. In his 88 games with the Padres in 1997, Rickey stole 29 bases.

Mid 1997 - end of 1997 season with the Anaheim Angels: In just a 32 game stint with the Anaheim Angels, Rickey Henderson drew 26 walks and had 16 stolen bases. His batting average was only .183, but his on base percentage was still .343

In 1998 with the Oakland A's: At age 39, with his final stint with the Oakland A's, Rickey proved he still had plenty to offer. He drew 118 walks and led the league with 66 stolen bases. He also scored 101 runs.

From 1999-Mid 2000 with the New York Mets: In 152 total games with the Mets, Rickey compiled 107 walks, 42 stolen bases, and had 105 runs.

In 2000 with the Seattle Mariners: After just 31 games with the Mets in 2000, Rickey came over to the Mariners to play the remainder of the season. In 92 games, Rickey had 63 walks and 31 stolen bases.

In 2001 with the San Diego Padres: Rickey Henderson returned to San Diego for his second stint and while he was there he set the career record for runs scored. (hence the photo of him holding up the home plate plaque) In 123 games with the Padres, Rickey drew 81 walks, had 25 stolen bases, and scored 70 runs. His last hit of the season, would be his 3,000th in his career.

In 2002 with the Boston Red Sox: At age 43 in 72 games, Rickey had 38 walks, 8 stolen bases, and most impressive to me, 40 runs. That is 40 runs scored with just 40 hits all season. It shows you again the many ways Rickey was able to produce runs.

After the 2002 season, Rickey Henderson was a free agent. In 2003, He was 44 years old now and nobody showed any interest in signing him to a deal. Rickey felt like he could still play though. Rickey ended up signing with an Independent Minor League team, The Newark Bears. Newark loved Rickey Henderson as he helped boost their attendance. Here people could watch a future Hall of Famer for less money than the Major League price. In 56 games in 2003, Rickey had a .339 Batting Average.

In 2003 with the Los Angeles Dodgers: The Dodgers took notice of Rickey Henderson's play in his 56 games with Newark so they signed him to a deal. Rickey joined the Dodgers, in need of offensive help, and served mainly as a reserve player. In 30 games with the Dodgers, Rickey had 11 walks, 15 hits, 3 stolen bases, and hit 2 home runs. The Dodgers would be his 9th Major League team in 25 seasons.

In 2004 - Rickey Henderson was a free agent again and again no team signed him. Rickey expressed his interest in coming back to the Oakland A's, but Billy Beane was not interested, even if it was to just play one game and retire as an Oakland Athletic. So Rickey decided to rejoin the Newark Bears in 2004 and play some more. And play he did. In 91 games in 2004 with the Bears, Rickey drew 96 walks, stole 37 bases, and scored 70 times. Yet no Major League team signed him.

In 2005 with the San Diego Surf Dawgs: At age 46 and still unsigned by a Major League team, Rickey joined the recently formed independent Golden Baseball League as a member of the San Diego Surf Dawgs. In 73 games, he drew 73 walks and stole 16 bases, scoring 52 runs.

After 2005, Rickey, still wanting to play, realized that his playing days appeared to have come to an end. He had showed people that he could still play the game of baseball and loved the game of baseball, but younger players were now getting the call for most teams. It was time for Rickey to let the next generation of ballplayers have their turn.

In his 25 season Major League Career, Rickey Henderson played in 3,081 games, obtained a record 2,295 runs scored, amassed 3,055 hits, 510 doubles, 297 home runs (including a record 81 home runs to start a game), a record 1,406 stolen bases, and a record 2,190 unintentional walks.

Yesterday, Rickey Henderson (with Jim Rice on the right) joined the Cooperstown Hall of Fame. Congratulations Rickey Henderson. Your career showed what it means to have hope, love, fun, and never take anything for granted.

Bay Area Laugh Leader Competition, Bunjo's, and more...

On Wednesday, July 15th, I participated in the first round of the SfStandup.com Bay Area Laugh Leader Comedy Competition at The Purple Onion in San Francisco. 12 comedians performed in all on Wednesday, with the top three advancing. Each comedian had 5 minutes to perform. Voting was done party by the audience and partly by judges. I did not advance. What does this mean? It means I don't go to the next round. To me, that is all it means. I know what my skill level is right now in the stand-up comedy world, so I'm not going to let a competition in which I didn't advance in get me down at all. I was just happy to be performing at a historic place like The Purple Onion. And I couldn't be happier for the three that advanced on the night I performed. You can keep track of the competition here. On Saturday, July 18th, I performed as a feature at Bunjo's Comedy Club in Dublin, CA. Hosted by John DeKoven, guest set by Bryce Jones, and featuring Marvin Deloatch Jr, Richard Kiss, and myself. Sheng Wang was the headliner. We performed in front of a nice intimate crowd of about 40 to 50 people. I was the last feature to go on before Sheng.

I thought my set went really well and I also did a couple new jokes that got good responses. I think getting good responses for new jokes is one of the best feelings ever as a comedian. Overall, the show was a blast with a lot of laughs.

L to R: Sheng Wang, Richard Kiss, John DeKoven, and me.

This week, I do not have any shows scheduled, but next week I have four of them. Hope you can come on out to a show. Check out the schedule!

Welcome July...

My first show of July was at Tommy T's in Pleasanton on July 1st. The lineup for this show was put together by Kabeezy and Sammy Obeid who were both tagged as headliners for the weekend's worth of shows. Instead of filling up the whole two hour slot themselves, Kabeezy and Sammy booked some of their comedian friends to come and work the stage as well. I was fortunate enough to be one of those comedians. They asked me to go up first, right after the emcee. Most comedians hate going up first, I actually enjoy the challenge. I usually have no problems bringing energy to the stage whether I'm at the beginning, middle, or end of the show. I felt I rushed my set a little bit on Wednesday night though. I could also hear a group a people on the left side of the stage that were talking nonstop during my set. I wanted to yell "shut up," but I proceeded on.

It was an interesting and fun night. Tommy Scott had a great set, you'll want to check out this kid if you get a chance. Check him out right here on youtube.

Recent Gilroy and Morgan Hill Shows

The monthly shows I produce in Gilroy at the Gaslighter and in Morgan Hill at The Playhouse were this past week on June 24th and June 25th. I feel that both the shows went well. On Wednesday, Tim Babb was the feature along with the headliner, Adam Norwest. I feel the shows in Gilroy are still coming around. I'm hoping it eventually builds up like the show in Morgan Hill. Then again, the Morgan Hill show took time too as I have been producing that show for about three years now. The Gilroy show just started in January.

On Thursday night, Adam Norwest was back as headliner and Grant Lyon was the feature. Grant Lyon had asked me months before if he could record a comedy CD at the Morgan Hill Playhouse. I thought that was a great idea, so I arrived to the Playhouse earlier to help prepare for the recording. Grant's set went well and I am looking forward to hear the CD when it has been completed.

I had never met Adam Norwest before Wednesday. I was impressed with his stuff. He started comedy when he was 13 years old and is now a young 22 years of age. He currently resides in Los Angeles.

If you would like to know more about the monthly shows I produce in Gilroy and Morgan Hill then you can check out www.gilroycomedy.com or www.morganhillcomedy.com

The Main Event Comedy Show

The Main Event Comedy Show took place in Carmichael, California, last night. Carmichael is near Sacramento for those of you who did not know. It was a great chance for some of my family to see me that had never seen my comedy before. I had nine people come see me perform last night and that is always an awesome thing. Apparently, I am a "Bay Area Favorite" too... at least, that's what the flyer says:

My Uncle Rodger had fun referring to me as the Bay Area Favorite as he walked in the door. The room and audience turned out to be nicer than I expected. My only complaint is that the place was too hot and at times uncomfortable. A lot of my family felt the same way. I feel that my set went well though I may have rushed a little bit at times. Dave Burleigh told me that my delivery gets better every time. That was nice to hear from a comedian as experienced as Dave. Check him out on YouTube if you haven't seen him before. My next scheduled show is at the Gaslighter in Gilory on June 24th with Tim Babb and Adam Norwest.

The Autism Walk

As promised, here I am updating my blog. On Saturday, May 30th, I participated in the Walk Now for Autism Bay Area with my friends Katie and Sean(they are actually a couple, how cute). I have donated money to charities before, but this time I felt like actually participating and it was a great feeling. I raised $50 towards the cause myself, but overall $220,000 was raised! Awesome.

L to R: Me, Sean, Katie, and then other people on the Westwood Wildcats team. The walk was fun and there were a lot of sponsors there to help out. Sean and I actually ended up getting Toys R'Us Reward Cards from the Toys R' Us booth. Geoffery the Giraffe was there and so was Gigante from the San Jose Giants.

Haha, I think it is funny that Sean, Katie, and myself are the only ones wearing hats. I was glad to be a part of the walk and would definitely do it again and recommend it to everyone. I don't know of anyone with Autism personally, but like the great Jackie Robinson said, "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives."

My laptop is back...

My laptop was in the shop getting the LCD screen repaired for the past couple weeks and I just got it back today... I will be posting some new blogs within the next few days. Stay tuned.

Your joke is in the mail

On Monday, 5/18, I received a magazine in the mail. Now, this is not a magazine that I subscribe to, but it was addressed to me. It is Parents Magazine. I got a good chuckle out of it and found it to be interesting that it arrived in my mailbox 4 days after my girlfriend broke up with me. Was there something she didn't tell me?... I joked. The came Tuesday, and again, there was another Parents Magazine waiting for me in the mailbox. Already the next issue!

Is someone playing a joke on me, I thought. Two days in a row, really? Did I get really drunk again? Is this because they know I just got a new four-door 2008 Honda Civic and that means that I am looking to start a family? (look at the magazine on the left "Best Car Bargains for Families").... And ya know what? I still haven't thrown them away. Maybe I can get a MILF this way! Hey, there is a 20% coupon to Gymboree inside. I can't let that go to waste, can I? Okay, yes I can. I went to the bank today and my roommate waited in the car. I didn't even roll down the window for him... maybe I should look more at these magazines.

A fellow comedian says goodbye

The Bay Area Comedy world lost a good friend today. Known as "Crazy Boy" to many of us, Marvin Rodriguez was a comedian with a huge heart, passion, and energy.

I performed with Marvin at various open mic nights and he was always a fun guy. He suffered two heart attacks and survived them both. Today, I learned he passed away from Cancer.

Back when I ran an open mic/showcase at the El Patron Restaurant in East San Jose, Marvin asked if he could come and headline the show. I told him to stop on by. His material ended up killing that night and had everyone in the place laughing. He would come by again and it was always good to see him. He gave me the opportunity to perform at his CD Recording Show at the Quarter Note in Sunnyvale. I accepted the offer. The Quarter Note was packed that night. Nobody can ever say that Marvin did not promote his shows. He promoted the hell out of them and you couldn't ask for anything more as a booker and as a fellow comedian.

You will be missed Crazy Boy, rest in peace.

The April Gilroy and Morgan Hill Shows

The monthly comedy shows that I produce and host were this week at The Gaslighter in Gilroy on Wednesday, April 29th, and Morgan Hill Playhouse on Thursday, April 30th. Both shows went great. The comedians I had on the bill with me for April were Jim Panetta, Beth Schumann, and headliner Kenny Kane.

Both shows went really well. Kenny Kane even got a standing ovation at the end of the show on Wednesday. It was well deserved.

I have known Jim Panetta for a while now. We both started our comedy careers around the same time and performed many shows together at The Gaslighter that used to be in Campbell. He was only 16 years old then and now he is still just 21. It is always cool to see people get early starts in stand-up. It will definitely prove to be in his favor. I appreciate Jim's comedy greatly. Having worked with him before, I understand his comedy and where he is coming from. A lot of people are shocked by the edgy material that comes from his mouth, but this is a guy who has lost his father and has a mother who has been to rehab on more than one occasion... oh, and he also dropped out of high school. Jim's set is based on truth and his motto his "The Truth is Said in Jest." He has always been one of my favorites to work with and watch him grow.

Beth Schumann and I go a ways back as well. I met her while I was doing my courses at the San Francisco Comedy College and have performed with her at other bay area venues along the way. She is a quirky personality that I always enjoy watching perform and definitely high on the list of my favorite female comics.

As for Kenny Kane... I cannot say enough good things about him. The man is a huge ball of energy. Think along the lines of Robin Williams type energy with some of the crazy antics of Jim Carrey. The man knows how to get the audience involved. I met Kenny for the first time a couple years ago when he did the Morgan Hill show and rocked it then. Go check out Kenny Kane perform sometime if you get the chance and you will know exactly what I mean.

Kenny Kane and me in Morgan Hill

In May, we will have another great show. Mickey Joseph will be the headliner. Come on and check it out if you can. Just be sure to get there early as the shows have a good chance of selling out! Visit www.gilroycomedy.com or www.morganhilcomedy.com for more info!

New Website is Live!

Thanks to Lisa at dotlaunch.com and her help re-designing the website, www.weshofmann.com is now live! Don't worry, you can still access the page by going to www.wesjoke.com as well!

There are only a few minor tweaks that still need to be made, but I am very pleased with the outcome of the new site. What do you think?

I have to admit, I am extremely tired right now, but I wanted to let you know about last night's show at Katie Bloom's in Campbell. The show (an open mic that is pre-booked) was supposed to start at 9pm. However, the San Jose Sharks playoff game was on last night so we waited until the game was over before we started the show.

I was asked by the people at Clownshoe Entertainment - who put together the show - if I would be interested in being the host/emcee for the night. I said no problem.

Well, the show ended up having something like 16 comedians performing and I didn't get out of there until 12:30 this morning. But I looked in the crowd and I noticed that some of them had been there the entire time and so I was going to stick around with them.

It is a bar setting and those are always tough especially for the host, but I feel I was able to capture their attention at the beginning. One comic even told me after I opened the show that I commanded their attention like Barak Obama! Haha, nice! I also made an NCAA Tournament Bracket like Obama.... we are so brothers.

The Sharks lost their playoff game so they are done for the year. A lot of people there in the crowd were sad, but comedians had a fun time messing with them anyway. I simply said, "Don't worry about it, we're not in Canada."

Anyway, it is back out again tomorrow night at The Gaslighter in Gilroy and then on Thursday night at the Morgan Hill Playhouse. I am looking forward to it. Kenny Kane is headlining both nights. Beth Schumann and Jim Panetta will also be performing.

Come on out if you can!

Newly Re-designed WESJOKE.COM on its way!

Hey everyone,
Wes Hofmann here. I just wanted to let you know that the newly re-designed WESJOKE.COM is on its way. So be sure to check back here and I will let you know when it has gone live. Speaking of live, I will be live tonight at Katie Bloom's tonight in Campbell. Free show for AGES 21 and over. Come check out some live comedy!