12/28/23 Austin, Texas

I locked down an April date with a venue in South Dakota. I’ve never been to South Dakota. I don’t know anyone in South Dakota. I don’t know if there are people in South Dakota. But I’m going to find out. As I got word of the show in Sioux Falls I also got confirmation on a show in Rapid City, South Dakota. Far east and far west of the state. There are atleast two people in South Dakota.

It’s been a real tough slow season with comedy and side work. I’m lucky to have my girlfriend and all of her help both mentally and financially. It’s hard to keep hope alive when you have tunnel vision and you’re focused on your current situation. I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but I wear glasses and have an issue reading depth.

I worked a moving gig today, I booked it yesterday. Actually, two moving jobs today. $225 later and my back hurts but my bank hurts a little less. Rent is due in 3 days and I can relax a little bit going into the new year knowing I’ll have a place I get to continue to make a home and I have shows on the road waiting. I’m getting better at booking on the road. I’m not fulltime yet but it’s getting there. Whatever is between full time and part time - Most time? Most of the time? I’m a comic most of the time?

12/1/23 Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Checked out and ready to hit the road. Last night’s show was disheartening. The audience was difficult. At one point I had them chanting “polo!” and the lights got cut off on me. The staff said some drunk guy was messing with cables at the sound board. I think I was getting played off.

I made the mistake of chatting up a couple at the bar before the show. I made too good of friends with them that I got on stage they were plastered and wanted to talk to their new buddy. I gave them too much attention during my set and the only time I ever got any momentum was from having the audience shout “polio!” Lesson learned.

*Road Tip - Even if the room is comped, bring a card with at least $75 on it for the down payment. It’ll be reimbursed. You don’t want to start your show off with not being able to get into your reservation.

(I paid rent before getting to that hotel.)

11/30/23 Houston, Texas

Today is gloomy, rainy, and we are driving 7 hours to Baton Rouge to do a one nighter. The last time I was on the road I was gone for 8 days. Today is just 1. Sam moved in and it’s very comforting knowing she’s at home waiting for me.

I’ve struggled to feel healthy lately. I desperately need to change my diet. Last night I spent three hours thinking I was going to pass out or throw up. Sam thinks it might be appendicitis. I’m only gone for one day and it feels like I’m falling apart.

11/2/23 Eads, Colorado

Driving south through Colorado. The mountains are long gone but they were appreciated. Makes me realized I need to be closer to them. I’m really coming around the the High Plains/Rocky Mountain region. I’m trying to dissect what I love about Illinois and the Midwest and what about Oklahoma. Colorado felt like Wisconsin villages. There’s something about the vast lands of nothing that feels welcoming. They’re untouched from when we rode wagons through them. Traveling this way makes me feel like a real drifter, a cowboy, a bandit. I’m triangulating the future plot for the homestead.

10/31/23 Fort Collins, Colorado

Today is an off day and also Halloween. Tomorrow we have a show in Wellington, CO. At this point I’m very tired and nearly over comedy. I haven’t had a moment of personal time in 3 or 4 days. The home we’re staying at has cats and I’m so doped up on Benadryl that I can’t think straight. I’m unable to focus, I’m drowsy, I’m weak. The only thing I’ve enjoyed since we got here is the view. We are at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. I feel the same way I do now as I did looking at the Smokies in Sevierville, Tennessee; Emotional and at ease. Looking at the mountains washes away human problems. I know I can run off to the mountains and be lost and be okay with it. It may not be a long survival, but it’d be mine. I’m drained from being in Austin and exhausted from trying to fit in. The land has nothing to offer mem it only takes from me. Unlike the mountains. I hate having a laptop, a phone.

I’ll probably end up staying in tonight. There aren’t any shows in Fort Collins or Denver on Tuesdays. There is a mic at Comedy Works downtown, but that’s a 70 minute drive south and I’d be signing up for standby. Nothing guaranteed and not enough of a pay off to justify nearly 2 and a half hours round trip and consuming gas that needs to get us home. So I might end up handing out candy with people I do not know.

(That’s exactly what happened.)

10/30/23 Limon, Colorado

Now that I’m past Duncan I no longer have a safety net. The money I have in my pocket now from last night’s show and the money from the next show in two days needs to get me home. This meal at a TA truck stop isn’t just $12.47, it’s 3 gallons of gas. It hasn’t been this real since living in my car. I wonder if a serial killer has ever sat where I’m sitting at in this truck stop? I think Ted Bundy used to live and work around here.

10/30/23 Duncan, Oklahoma

Finishing up a weekend in Oklahoma. What was supposed to be a good weekend of shows ended up being a tough stint on the road. Majority of the country has been getting hammered with hurricane rain and Southern Oklahoma has been teetering the line of freezing temperatures. Friday we were in Broken Arrow and did a movie theater to 7 people. Taylor Swift’s movie was playing across the hall and it was so quiet in our room that you could hear it playing the entire show. We ended up losing our asses on the door deal and the two local comics forfeit their pay and gave it to us. Overhearing that conversation does not leave you with a good feeling.

Saturday we had a show lined up at an arcade in Wichita Falls, TX and it fell through about 2 weeks ago. Sunday (last night) we did a show at a tattoo parlor in Lawton, OK that my buddy owns and has turned into a weekend comedy club, Comedy Avenue. That Sunday show stoked the fires of hope after being cut down from a bad show and an almost bad show that never got to be a bad show. As Roderick said to another comic in reference to the Broken Arrow show, “I can’t kill myself, I have to get Cody back home.” He’s lucky I don’t have a car anymore. Off to Colorado in the morning.

3/28/23 Austin, Texas

Last night I did a show at a violin shop across from the Planet Fitness parking lot I used to sleep in. I remember looking at the shop almost every night thinking "I should learn to play the violin." But that's for nerds.

Viva La Comedy