Night-Night, Gunther Murphy's

So we all had our last night at Gunther Murphy's yesterday. For a somewhat sad occasion, everyone was in high spirits. Some good news was travelling around. Brendon McGowan hosted and did a cracker-jack job at introducing people. Here are my favorites of the night.



Paul Thomas blessed us with the sermon of the Cell-Phone Preacher.

Sam Fels gave an explanation of how a banquet of his exes would go.

"Mr." Kumail.

It was my first time seeing Sugar (Powdered? Covered? Coated? I cant remember) Doughnuts. Thank god for "Every Eminem Song Ever" live.



It was a musical night. "Mrs." Hannah and her keyboard.

Happy and surprised to see Flannery go up. I couldnt help remembering other comedian's recent impersonations of Sean, causing me to laugh harder when I saw the real thing...

Tony! Tony Sam!


Bobby Boosh. This man is photographed entirely too much.

Exactly what I was looking forward to the most...Mike and Duane are my heroes. I might go to the next Rent Party to see them and actually get to take pictures of Schadenfreude.


This killed me.


This is Brendon explaining why Krystle should never play games in a bar. He won. Cricket was the game? I really dont remember.

I think I know these people...
I've been editing photos and listening to Fleetwood Mac albums for the past two hours.
This is how it works.
That's all for today.

Look for Most Photogenic Comic Of The Week on Sunday.

Oh yeah, there's a new Blerds video up. Check it.

In The Name Of One Laugh.

This guy went up at the Mix last night. He might have been drunk (?). Or pretending to be...

He stumbled around the stage, heckled the audience, mentioning that everyone (the comedians) in the room was in a "clique." He yelled accusingly: "Are you ordering a drink!?" towards someone standing at the bar. Buscemi yelled back: "It's a BAR!"

Now, I'm not saying I thought this dude was funny but it makes me think...what certain comedians do for even one laugh. Even if it's nervous laughter. The imagination reels. A comedian in Toronto tells me that "this kind of comedy" isnt very appreciated. These kinds of comedians are definitely doing something for a point. You might not know what it is but you can sometimes be left thinking "What the hell was that?" which may be exactly what they're aiming at. Another problem with this is that not alot of people can do it very affectively. Most of the time you just end up annoyed and sickened.

It's hard for Americans to laugh at something they dont understand. Human drama and behavior is one of the funniest things on the planet but unfortunately it makes alot of people very uncomfortable. They'd rather laugh at poo jokes or a dude being kicked in the scrotums. Or even someone yelling.

This makes me think...I wonder what happened to "Joe The Comedian."

II

The Spectacular Show was surprising. I mentioned that already. It was well run and it seems the performers enjoyed it most of all.
I had never heard of or seen Cameron before but I liked her jokes.


Jeremy works at a Starbucks I sometimes go to as a "borrowed partner." Also, I liked what he did. Another surprise.
Fojas?! Another surprise! I was expecting a curly-haired dude.
Sam. I had a beer with this guy before the show. His roomate's little brother works with me at Starbucks and I had Thanksgiving dinner with said little brother and roomate tonight. Three times Starbucks was mentioned during the Spectacular Show.
I think I'm gonna' start a special weekly entry wherein I pick the most "photogenic" comic (for that week.)

Sometimes comics look real good. And they make great faces and hand-gestures and wear neat clothes. Sometimes they move around too much and wear alot of black or look like they didnt get too much sleep. I'd like to make an "unphotogenic" comic entry too, but I dont wanna' hurt feelings.

Photogenic comic of the week?

Dan P.!
Great shirt, Dan.

I did have a hard time shooting Jeb, last night. He moves around ALOT. Happy Thanksgiving.
Shit. I found out that (technically) the first Thanksgiving in North America was in Canada. Whoa. Wikipedia it, bitches. (Look under Thanksgiving in Canada.)

The Three Day Week I

Here's the thing.

I'm downright finished with the unprofessional level my computer is performing at.
I'm ready to work on all this photo stuff and it's difficult when you have limited cooperation from your electronics.

The memory is loading up because there's no way for me to burn anything onto disks, I keep getting an error message every time I try to burn and I've ruined about seven blank disks already. I've trouble-shot my way out of a cannon and I still got nothin.

Maybe it's me. Maybe I need to take one of those classes with old people to teach me how to use modern day things with buttons and lights.

That whole spectacle with my computer/Flickr provides me with nowhere to upload pictures and people at that company certainly dont know how to furnish excellent customer service; as I've read in the forums, a few people have had this problem and noone has been helped out.

I shouldnt complain too much. I'm lucky I have a computer at all.

On a happier note...Shows!
I went to the second to last show at Chicago Undergound Comedy and was delighted to see John Mulaney. I swear I've seen him somewhere before...He did look pretty darn familiar. He runs a room in Rafifi's with Nick Kroll, which sounds pretty frickin' sweet. He was Hi-larious.

It was good to see Renee "L.A." Gauthier again.
I loved watching Kumail's seemingly improvised bit on the hibernation of holiday decorations.
In trying to tone down his strangeness, Ken read racist jokes from potato chips and regular jokes from newspaper comics.
TJ was there, too.

It was sad to see the ChUC banners gone, but thus is the life of a room.
Next week will hopefully bring in a good crowd.

After ChUC, I ventured out to Cork Lounge for all of three seconds.
It terrified me and it seemed to be a slow night...

I figured out how to turn my assist beam off so it's not flashing into comedians eyes.

Last night, K-rock and I ventured out to Bucktown (Wicker Park?) to see The Spectacular Show. It was a nice little surprise. I'm gonna' post pictures of that later.

Guess what? My Flickr uploader works. So. Somehow. Pictures are getting uploaded to kgemnich. This is freaking me out.
Ya'll have alot of picture viewing to do.
Whew.

My Scottish Aunt.

The good news? I have my computer back. It's practically brand new. They replaced the "shell" so it looks pretty. The bad news? I cant figure out where the hell my flickr account is or what my user name AND password are. I had it all automatically saved up in my computer brains so it signed me in whenever I was on. Now I have it back but I really dont know what the hell my login is. I guess that's what you get for signing up for something when you're shit-canned.

Errgh!

This month has definitely been an exercise in patience. I've had no internet access and have had to rely on the library for any sort of communication.

Alot happened.

It started the weekend my parents left. They took the laptop with them so mum could take it to the tech guy that hooked us up with the computer (in the first place). After they drove back to Michigan I went over to the Demon photo shoot to "document the documentation."

It was a challenge. I had no tripod and limited lighting
Towards the end of the shoot I had to use the bathroom, so I tried to push the door to get out but it wouldnt budge. We ended up getting locked in the attic for a good fifteen minutes. Terrifying. Appropriate for Halloween but terrifying.

The following Tuesday was the ChUC Halloween show, which you've all seen pictures of.

That Saturday I was busy with three photo shoots all within eight hours of each other. First, pictures of David Angelo with his surrogate dog for the weekend, Fudge.

It was sort of a different experience for me, as I'm not used to "directing" people. Usually I just like candid sorts of interactions. I'd prefer it if the subject didnt know I was even around.

After that shoot, I met up with K-Rock and we headed over to Rock Comedy for a little visit.
We headed out early and ran into Josh Cheney at the Belmont Bus stop. He was also on his way to Playground for A Demon Who Never Appeared. Kristy and I stopped at 1000 Liquors (or "10 ors" if you read the sign literallly) to pick up some magic and to be flattered by the clerks. When we arrived at Playground, I decided to sit by the door for aesthic purposes but felt lonely when I noticed everyone sitting on the opposite side of the room. I snuck over and perched next to Andy Ross and later delighted in his Angry-Law-Suit-Man character.

My favorite show in the city has become "Demon." I love Kumail, Jared and Andy's writing. You dont get to experience something like this very often. I feel lucky every time I see it.

The Monday after that, I managed a trip the Birds Nest Anniversary Show. It was actually the first time I've ever been to the Birds Nest. It was nice. Surprising. Delightful.
Not only are these kids hilarious, but they're quite intelligent and you can sense the cameradarie as soon as you step into the room. And it's cameradarie without pretension.
I tried not to get too frustrated with the black curtain and the single light for the stage.

My Mum and Dad came the weekend of the 11th and I finally got to take them to a Lodge show. It ended up being a pretty awesome time. They loved everyone.
Dad said he was annoyed that T.J. kept checking his notes and he thought that Pat was the most "professional" of them all.

T.J. came out with a giant stein of milk and a huge candy bar. The couple in the front row were eating nachos and drinking some beers and T.J. challenged them to a chugging contest. They of course took it up, accepted half the giant candy bar and the girl ended up throwing up. On her plate. Wretched.

Tomas called me up on stage to assist him. There was a height issue. A crack was made. It was expected.

And that's where the pictures end. I have to clear my cards so I can start all over again.
I'm glad to be this busy. I want to keep at it. I really dont want to stop. Got something for me? Throw it at me. I'll me more than willing to help you out.

I want more and more experience.

I decided I'm going to hire myself out as an "Improv Sketch Group Title Writer."
I like the name "Not On The Mouth."

That's it for tonight. I'm tired and I looked forward to this entry for too long. Now I'm at a loss of course. I have a shit-ton of pictures to work on, put onto disks and send to people. Uhh. Perhaps I'll post more favorites on Monday.

Tonight I went to Schadenfreude's Rent Party. Yet another one of the countless moments when I wish I had my camera.
Sigh.
Gnight.

Oh hey, if you like cars (or dont) check out my friend Alex's blog: www.angryaboutcars.blogspot.com
It's basically the angry rantings of an engineering student in the Motor City.

*Apologies if this entry lacks continuity...I'm sort of delirious...yawn.