Archive for the 'epic blog' Category

Homecoming and ‘headlining’

Published November 9, 2008 in New Jersey, epic blog, i heart it and my awesome buddies. 1 Comment

So I was in Jersey this past weekend working at the Catch a Rising Star comedy club in Princeton. Princeton is about 20 minutes away from where I grew up so it was amazing to be home. I get nostalgic for Jersey a lot because there’s stuff you can get there that you just can’t get south of the Mason-Dixon — like an authentic bagel shop bagel w/ cream cheese and lox in the morning, a good thin greasy pizzeria pie… and Puerto Ricans. I really miss those things. Puerto Ricans most of all ;)

I was closing the shows this weekend, which was exciting and scary at the same time. I hesitate to say that I was headlining, because until I really get the hang of the closing spot, I’m not a headliner. I’m just up last. I never feel prepared to close, but I also know that there’s no other way to figure out the art and pacing of closing a show other than to do it. There were 4 shows this weekend and I’d say that 2.5 of them went really well. It definitely helped that I was close to home and had a bunch of friends come out!

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Nothing makes you rethink your material like your former Sunday School teacher sitting in the front row ;) But I knew Mrs. Winfrey could handle it. She was like the “Scared Straight” version of a Sunday School teacher. Heart her forever.

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If it’s possible to have two sets of parents who you absolutely, positively love to pieces, then this is my second set — Charles and Ada Martin a.k.a. Jersey Ma & Pop. Through every mistake and triumph I’ve made in my entire life they’ve been there to support me. From sliding me money when I was broke and building me a computer when I couldn’t afford to buy one, to cheering on all my successes and helping to put my setbacks into perspective, I couldn’t ask for two better people in my life. I mean, other than the fact that they’re diehard Jets fans, I’d be hard pressed to come up with one negative thing about them ;) And even then, they still root for the Green & White ;) If you’re a fan of the martial arts — karate in particular — you might be familiar with Pop. He was featured in the martial arts documentary Fighting Black Kings and he is a Shuseki Shihan in Seido Karate — which is the highest honor a student can achieve. He’s in the Martial Arts Hall of Fame and he’s like a rock star in pretty much every country in the world. So don’t mess with him… Or me… cause he’s still got it ;) Continue reading ‘Homecoming and ‘headlining’’

These are a few of my [new] favorite things…

Published November 2, 2008 in DC arts scene, adventures at Eastern Market, awesome stuff, epic blog, i heart it and my awesome buddies. 2 Comments

No, I’m not channeling Oprah, and I know most of y’all don’t come here for my shopping advice ;) but I ran across a few things today that I really wanted to share with you… It’s Sunday again, and in addition to feeding my football habit, Sundays also mean my weekly trip to Eastern Market. I skipped the early games today, but I am planning to watch Dallas/NYG later… since I don’t have NFL Sunday Ticket and can’t see the Eagles game ;(

Is there anyway both of those teams could lose?… ‘Cause that would be ideal.

This week I took the fabulous DWJ with me. She’s not a regular market-goer, but I’m trying to ruin her and get her addicted ;) D runs an awesome blog about accessories called The Art of Accessories. If you haven’t already, please check her out! Her blog is perfect for girly-girls and fashionistas and even girly-girl wannabes like me! I’ve known D since sophomore or junior year at Howard. I think she initially saw me as a ‘project’ a’ la Tai in the movie Clueless. Ten years later, she’s finally begun to rub off on me ;) Tee hee ;)

One of the first stops we made was to this booth that had these amazing handbags made out of old book covers. Sounds funky, right? Well wait ’til you see ‘em! I immediately saw one that I thought would be perfect for D… and then right next to it, there was a bag made out of the cover of an old Bible and it was screaming my name. Please see below:

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Continue reading ‘These are a few of my [new] favorite things…’

Compromise vs. Acceptance

Published September 23, 2008 in epic blog, jus' venting, schizoprenia and they're not all gonna be funny. 2 Comments

I recently came across this quote by Chinua Achebe:

One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.”

And it really spoke to me. I’ve been struggling a lot lately with the direction I want to take my act in – not because I’m uncomfortable with my material or persona, but because my father has a huge problem with it.

I said the word “bitch” on Comedy Central. I think it’s the second bit in the clip below:

After the show aired my father reamed me for cussing on TV. I told him that you can say “bitch” on the networks. But he wasn’t trying to hear me.

I see comedy nite in and nite out – all kinds of comics with varying styles. And I know that by comedy club/booker standards, I am not a dirty act. I say “bitch” in my act. I occasionally say “shit”. And when I’m referring to this particular incident (which is only of late) I use the ‘mother’ of all cuss words. But only because I’m repeating something I overheard someone else say. And I believe there’s a bigger point to it.

I grew up in a pretty religious household. Nothing fanatical. But my dad was superintendent of the Sunday School and a deacon at our church. So yeah I was at church every Sunday, but my folks weren’t strict and I was always a good girl. But I haven’t gone to church on even a semi-regular basis since I left home to come to DC for college. I honestly felt awful about it in the beginning — I remember the first Sunday I didn’t go to church I felt like there was this big gaping whole in my world. But that feeling began to fade the more and more I slept in. Of course I still believe in God. And with all the blessings I’ve received just these last 6 months in both my professional and personal life, I KNOW I need to be back in church. I joined one about a year ago and I even have a new bit about my trip to church this summer. But I’m out of the habit. And now after a late show on Saturday, its way hard for me to get up and go.

All that to say that while I believe in and thank my parents and extended family for the Christian principles upon which I was raised, I am my own person. And I don’t think it makes me a bad person if I say “bitch” on stage. But my dad is worried that all his friends and former colleagues who see me will be offended by what I say and it’ll reflect poorly upon him. 

Exhale. Continue reading ‘Compromise vs. Acceptance’

Erin & Ellen: An epic blog

Published September 17, 2008 in 5 things that made me smile, Ellen DeGeneres, awesome stuff, epic blog, i heart it, live your dream and watch me on tv. 3 Comments

OK guys, I’m gonna attempt to chronicle my entire trip so I’m warning you — this is gonna be an epic. Read some now, come back later for the finale. Really, don’t try to read it all in one sitting — your boss is already looking over your shoulder right now. OK well then the least you could do is open up an an Excel spreadsheet or a MS Word file for quick toggle access in case you get caught … Do I have to do everything around here? Sheesh :)

Here goes…

SUNDAY:

So when my flight got into LAX on Sunday, I headed down to baggage claim and who did I see but my soon-to-be fast friend Steve. He asked me if I wanted him to hold up the sign so I could take a photo, but I told him no worries ;)

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There was a really long wait between when we got to the carousel and when the bags were finally loaded so Steve and I spent some time getting to know each other. If you know me you know I like to get to know people and hear their stories — either that or I’m just way too nosey ;) Found out Steve grew up in Manhattan but had been in LA since he was 18. I told him I was from DC and he said that the last time he was in DC was for the March on Washington where Dr. King gave the “I Have A Dream” speech. Steve heard Martin Luther King, Jr. give the speech live. We talked about that some. Then we talked about Barack Obama. Steve was awesome. I wish he’d been the driver for the whole trip.

I stayed with good buddy Dawan Owens who moved out to LA about 2-and-a-half years ago to pursue his comedy and acting career. He’s done great out there and just bought the most adorable little house. The Ellen Show of course offered to put me up in a hotel, but I said “No thank you to that bridge to nowhere…” Oh wait… I mean, I said no thanks to the posh room in a fancy LA hotel. I’d rather kick D out of his bed and make him sleep on the couch ;) This is the part where I should probably insert a photo of this adorable house — but I didn’t take one. Boo for me ;(

After we watered the lawn (damn city condo living, I miss lawns… and being able to wash my car in my driveway) we went to the Hooters in Santa Monica where we had a waitress who totally could have been an SNL character. Think Molly Shannon on crack rock. But I digress… I turned in pretty early Sunday nite. Big day ahead. Continue reading ‘Erin & Ellen: An epic blog’

Great Americans, Pt. I

Published June 22, 2008 in Uncategorized, awesome stuff, epic blog and i heart it. 3 Comments

This week I was out in Norfolk, NE for The Great American Comedy Festival. The festival ran Tuesday thru Sunday and there was a comedy competition featuring 24 comics from all over the country, a youth comedy camp, and closing nite gala show where Dick Cavett received The Legend Award. There was also some big prize money up for grabs!

Norfolk was the childhood home of Johnny Carson and he was apparently very kind to the town and all its people throughout his life. The majority of the shows took place in the beautiful, state-of-the-art Johnny Carson Theatre. The theatre seats 1,234 and I don’t think there was one show the whole week where there weren’t at least 700 - 800 people in attendance. Turnout was great.

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The whole festival was put together by a crew of volunteers in Nebraska in coordination with Eddie Brill, the booker for Letterman — who hand picked all the comics participating in the contest portion of the festival. I’m going to attempt to list the names of all the comics that were there: Tapan Trevedi, Chuck Bartell, Dan Boulger, Matt Braunger, Chris Coccia, Joe Derosa, Deacon Gray, ME, Jesse Joyce, Myq Kaplan, Joe Klocek, Darryl Lenox, Jamie Lissow, Robert Mac, Vince Maranto, Shane Mauss, Jim McDonald, David Powell, Micah Sherman, Marianne Sierk, James Smith, Paul Varghese, Drake Witham, and Roy Wood, Jr. Also performing/hosting were Jeff Caldwell, Nick Griffin and Eddie Brill.

Think I got everyone…

All 24 of the comics flew into Omaha on Tuesday. And once all the flights were in, we hopped a bus to Norfolk, The first nite most of us just settled in and watched the Celtics kick Laker butt. On Wednesday morning, we had a field trip to the Johnny Carson Museum. On Thursday there was a trip to this place where you could see fossils and stuff — I didn’t go on that trip but I heard it was cool. And on Friday we had a trip to a ranch where we ate well, bottle fed calves and took a hayride through fields where marijuana grew in stalks… Word.

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Because the purpose of the festival was to honor the legacy of Johnny Carson all material had to be TV clean and “family-friendly.“ Really cuts down on the material that you have to choose from. It was definitely a challenge. There were four semifinal rounds with six comics each. Two from each semi advanced to the finals. And the top three finishers earned cash prizes. My semifinal was on Thursday. I had a pretty good 8-minute set and advanced to the finals.

The finals on Friday were judged by Robert Klein, Dick Cavett, and Wende Curtis (owner of Denver’s Comedy Works) and hosted by Eddie Brill. It was pretty nerve racking being brought out by the guy who books Letterman only to see Robert Klein and Dick Cavett in the front row with judging sheets in front of them. But I had another good set and felt pretty good about it when I got off stage. When the winners were announced later that evening, I ended up taking second place — HOORAY!!!

Continue reading ‘Great Americans, Pt. I’

Live at Gotham and I almost tripped Ann Coulter at Union Station

Published March 8, 2008 in awesome stuff, epic blog, i heart it, live your dream and random thought. 0 Comments

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This past Wednesday I went back up to NYC for my Live at Gotham taping. Woo-hoo!!! We had to get in town the day before the taping just to make sure we were there and there were no problems. An extra free nite in a funky little NYC hotel? No complaints outta me. They put us up at the Maritime hotel. See below:

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The hotel was in Chelsea and it was really cute. The rooms were a little small, but the space was gorgeous and they really went all the way with the cruise ship theme. Note the windows. I wish I had taken photos of my cabin/room and the shower. Then you’d really see what I meant.

Anyway, on Wednesday nite, the best friend Michelle who works in the city came by the hotel to evaluate outfit choices before we headed out to dinner. She picked the same outfit everyone else (including the wardrobe manager at Comedy Central) did. Of course it was my second choice, but ended up working well in the end. Then we went out to this Thai Restaurant a couple blocks away from the hotel. It was yummy. Good choice us! When were done eating, Mich had to hop the bus back to Hackensack and I had a show to get to.

My management had a benefit show going on that nite at Stand-Up NY, so me and the two other guys from the agency that were taping the show on Thursday –Nate Bargatze and Mike Vecchione — were on the show as a warm-up. Also on the show were Todd Barry, Rich Vos, Kevin Brennan and Jeff Ross. I was almost scared to talk to Jeff because I’ve seen him rip so many people to shreds at roasts, in my head I’m assuming he’s gonna start busting on me as soon as I introduce myself… Of course he didn’t and seemed like a really cool guy. Oh how I love NY. Continue reading ‘Live at Gotham and I almost tripped Ann Coulter at Union Station’

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