Edged in Blue

Nita says, “I think you should write about how wonderful your wonderful wife to be is.”

By the time you read this, she will be starting her third day as my wife. We met through my standup comedy earlier this year, and tried to hook up for drinks. No agenda, just being social. Frankly, I wasn’t ready to date again, and even if I was, I didn’t want to commit to anyone for at least a year or two. My divorce, while amicable, was still hard to deal with. I wanted time to curl up in the fetal position and sulk.

However, the only day we could hook up for drinks was Valentine’s Day. Since we were both unattached, I asked Nita if she’d like a man to spoil her on Valentine’s Day. Just because.

By the end of the date, it was clear there’d be no sulky time for J.  Nor did I want any.  She is beautiful and incredible.

And now we’re married. She’s beautiful, funny, and very caring. And I can’t imagine my life without her.

I love you, Sweet Rose.

Graham Powell asks, “what have you been writing lately?”

Mostly my standup set, which evolves almost daily.

I am also working on novel with the working title “Monticello,” about a fictional Lake Erie city.  Road Rules is still making rounds, but Monticello is going to be going in a new direction for me.  In the meantime, I keep working here and there on a related novel called Holland Bay, which I descrive as 87th Precinct meets The Wire.

Gerald So says, “I’d like to know who your comedic influences are.”

Anyone who’s seen my first set will realize my act is very much a work in progress.  I don’t really have a “character” yet, and my style is still very much in flux.  The truth is it takes YEARS to develop all that.  I’ll list four comedic influences, two well known, two unknown.

First, there’s Ron White.  White is a bundle of drunken rage that laughs at himself while he’s losing it.  Like Ron White, I don’t suffer fools gladly, but I’ll sure make fun of them.

Dane Cook.  There’s a lot of complaining about Dane Cook, and I’ve noticed much of it comes from lesser comics.  There are two things I’ve picked up from Cook - a very physical presentation and inserting a short joke inside a longer one to get a laugh faster.

Those are the well-known comics.

Jeff Jena is a frequent commenter, a regional comic, and a name some people around here know.  I took a class from Jeff, who taught me how to write comedy. 

Rich Alcorn - Rich is an up-and-coming talent who is just now getting paying gigs.  Rich and I perform together frequently, and he pulled me aside one night to point out one thing about my current set.  I have too long of a setup for most of my jokes.  Long setups lose the audience.  So the focus of my writing has been to shorten the time I setup a joke before I get to the punchline.

Off-topic:  Four hours after this posts, I will have married Nita.

Patti Abbot asks “What five pieces of music will you play on your honeymoon?”

Well, given that this marriage is the culmination of a whirlwind romance, I have to pick five of the songs I put on a mix tape for Nita when we first started dating:

1.) “Tonight’s the Night,” by Rod Stewart
2.) “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” by The Police
3.) “Love Ain’t for Keeping,” by The Who
4.) “Little Rock n Roll*,” by The Rolling Stones
5.) “Clocks,” by Coldplay

*Yes, I know. It’s “Little T&A,” but that actually sounds wrong.

Next week, I’m off to make an honest woman of my girlfriend.  In the meantime, it’s your blog.  Leave a request in the comments section.

Next week, I begin my trek to scenic Gatlinburg, Tennessee, where I will dive once more into the murky waters of matrimonial bliss with the lovely Nita. To call it a whirlwind romance is an understatement.

We’ll be staying at a cabin in the woods that week with no Internet or cell phone access, my favorite kind of vacation. Which means you get to take over the blog. So send me your request on any topic by Friday, and I will time delay posts about the five best requests.

Back on the old Northcoast Exile, I would periodically do Reader Request Week, usually to get posts in the can to show up in weeks while I was away.

I liked that concept and have decided to bring it back, only on an on-going basis.  So if you have a topic you want my (totally unqualified) opinion about, use the comments section and have at.  When something strikes my fancy, I’ll post about it.

“Take down the blog” is not a valid request.  It is, however, grounds for IP banning.