I've been a bit ill for the past few days....with a fever and aching bones. Overall, it's been a pain in the ass, but there were a few "silver linings" to the cloud.
The first one was that it gave me an opportunity to watch three movies that I had been wanting to see:
The first was George Carlin's last filmed stand up show before his death. It is titled, "It's Bad For Ya", and it was a great show. George Carlin is a comedy god. He has a very unique style and an ability to find humor in very "unfunny" (my words) topics. Check this show out if you have the time.
The next movie was "Heckler". It's a documentary of sorts that attempts to flush out why people heckle and heckling's effects on its targets. This movie scared the sh*t out of me. I don't know why I watched this movie a few weeks before my first attempt at stand up. While the movie was a bit one sided (for the performer's side), it did help point out just how disruptive and disrespectful heckling can be to performers. It also made me realize that the audience can turn on you at any time and that as a performer, you need to be ready to take control of the situation immediately. In comedy that often manifests itself through a quick insult directed back at the heckler. So I now need to think a bit about how I would handle hecklers at my show.
The final movie was Bill Maher's, "Religulous". I liked it although, it was very, very one sided. I expected this from Bill as I have followed his "Politically Incorrect" show for a while and have heard some of his old comedy bits.
Outside of watching three movies back-to-back-to-back in a fevered state, I did get started on a new book that I picked up at Powell's last weekend. The book is "The Art of Happiness" by Howard Cutler and The Dalai Lama. I'm only 30 pages in so I don't have a strong opinion about the book yet...but from what I have read I can say that I'd like to know more about The Dalai Lama and his life.
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