GOOD DAYS AND BAD
It started at 8 a.m. The phone rang, it was Roz Kind. “Your joke got a huge laugh.” And then she goes on to tell me how the joke that I gave her for her act worked and how wonderful her gig in New York City is going and that she got rave reviews and that everyone has been so wonderful to her. And my response was, “it’s about time.” So that started the day off beautifully… was so happy for her. (And for me, love it when a joke I write gets a huge laugh.)
Later in the day I went to the mailbox and there were the contracts for my play. No fuss, no fighting, no long drawn out “the attorneys need to look a this”; just “I’ll send you the contracts and the check” …and it arrives. And while I’m making out the deposit slip… rule one in show business deposit the check immediately… while I’m filling out the deposit slip The Jon Lovitz Club calls me. “Steve would you…” and inside my fear and anxiety meter go through the roof. Me? You want me? You want me to do what, host? HOST? Be charming and introduce someone else? I don’t know how to do that. I’m too shy. I’m not charming enough. I’m charming challenged. But they were so nice and they seemed to think that I could do it…. So I said yes. Why? For the first time in my life a little voice in my head said, “What have you got to lose?” And I said, “Yes” I agreed to do something that has me petrified for decades, stand on stage as myself and let the world in. Because we all know that if they world sees the real me, they will not like me… old tapes…these tapes are so old they are 8 track. So I said yes!
What the hell is going on with me? Could this be change? Could this be a little self- confidence coming to the surface? I don’t know… all I know is that I, who never wanted to do stand up again, is now doing stand up on May 20th and May 22nd. 20th at the Jon Lovitz Comedy Club at Universal City and the 22nd at the Catalina Club for the birthday fund raiser for David Zimmerman. Wait… they’re not raising funds for David Zimmerman, he’s raising funds for a very worthy cause. And when I get there that night I will find out what that cause is.
Ok, so Roz called, the check arrived and I’m doing stand up again. I went to the gym and worked out. One of the trainers came up to me… “I went to your website. It’s gorgeous. The colors, the videos…it was like I was getting to meet you all over again.” And then she went on to say, “I remember you. I saw you in Vegas… I hung out at the Comedy Store. I wondered what happened to you.” And I said, “I was on the treadmill” She laughed and I said a little “thank you God” for putting Marilyn Johnson in my life. She single handedly directed the creation of the website. She and Bryant are bringing me into the computer age kicking and screaming. And I’m so glad they are because when that trainer said that to me, I felt a part of something I have not felt a part of in a long time.
Then John Fungelsang asked to be my friend on Facebook. I didn’t ask to be HIS friend…HE asked to be MY friend. Ya know, it’s days like this that make we wonder if tomorrow I’ll have that massive heart attack that will leave me pale and pasty and unable to walk the steps of my house. So far, so good… not even chest pains.
Yep, there are good days and bad days… today was one of the good ones. Kinda makes me feel that light at the end of the tunnel is NOT a train.
