i did stand-up for the first time twenty-three years ago tonight, november 6, 1985, at charm city comedy club in baltimore. i had just turned 20 that september. i was on the road within six months, i dropped out of college and quit my job at the listening booth.

then it was tuesdays at garvins in washington, d.c. and wednesdays at charm city in baltimore and thursdays at the comedy cafe in washington and thursdays at the comedy cafe in baltimore and wednesdays at the comedy works in philadelphia and and tuesdays in virginia at the richmond comedy club and mondays at catch a rising a star in princeton and horrible, terrible one-nighters at hotels and airports and living rooms and frat basements and church pulpits and chairs in the middle of the room and howard johnsons in youngstown and playhouses in the erie woods and american legion halls and kiwanis lunches and joke-offs every week for years.

when i was 7, i moved to san francisco, where i played coffee shops and laundromats and festivals and poetry slams and homeless shelters and youth hostels and sketch shows in marin churches and houseboats and comedy competitions.

i moved to los angeles when i was ten. there i did art installation openings and more coffee shops and record release parties and new years’ eve variety shows and baggy-pants burlesque and musicals and played in bands and open mikes and political rallies and did crowd warm-up and wrote television shows and b-movie screenplays and internet radio and hosted game shows and bollywood revues and puppet shows and mexican wrestling and roller derbies. sometimes i even got paid!

to celebrate, i’ll be blowin’ it out at a series of shakey’s throughout the southland. and by “it” i mean “my brains”. kids love shakey’s!