In two months I will be heading to Las Vegas to attend the World Series of Comedy. I don't think I'll be performing in the Main Event portion of the World Series of Comedy but I will be attending some of the sessions about booking and comedy philosophy. I'll also be doing some networking with some of the top comedy bookers in the country. I'll probably also try and get on some open mics around Vegas as well. It'll be a cool three days that I'm really looking forward to. NOt only that but it's kind of a great way to kick off the new comedy season.
Comedy in this part of the country usually runs from about October to May. They are the best months because they are the coldest months. During the summer it's way to nice to be inside so comedy usually struggles. So heading to Vegas and learning about some comedy will be a good experience.
The other reason that it'll be a fun week is because I'll be going to Vegas with my Dad.
My Dad and I have talked about making a trip to Vegas since I was fifteen. He counted down the days until I was 21 so that we could head to Vegas together. Well, almost 15 years later we are finally making the trip.
As a kid we never really did family trips. The first big family trip that we did was when I was in High School and we went to Mount Rushmore. I had just gotten my driver's permit so at 15 I did about 65% of the driving. My Dad and sister would sleep as I drove 85 miles an hour down the highway.
We stopped at Wall Drug ironically to see how dumb it is. As we walked up to Wall Drug a family of 4, Mom; Dad; and two kids four and six, were walking out of Wall Drug. As we crossed paths the Dad said to his kids, "There are you fucking happy now?!"
I suggested we just head back to Wisconsin, but we kept going to Mount Rushmore.
One of my favorite trips that my Dad and I went on was when we went to Ohio to a couple of baseball games and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I paid for everything except gas, using the money that I had made doing comedy to pay for the trip. We saw some baseball games, learned about how players from different generations got concussions and did a little golfing as well.
The highlight of that trip is when we went to see the Brewers play against the Reds in Cincinnati. Aluminum bottles of Bud Light were only $4 outside of the stadium; a deal at any ball park. We found out that once we got in the stadium we could re-enter in order to take advantage of the beer deal. We did.
My Dad has the uncanny ability to talk to anyone. He started talking to the 75 year old lady who was the usher for a section that we weren't even sitting in. He found out that her husband was the usher at a section on the other side of the stadium and that she also is an usher for the Bengals games as well. I went to go get us more beer from outside of the stadium and when I got back, about 15 minutes later, he was still talking to this lady.
So as my Dad and I prepare for our trip to Las Vegas I have a feeling we won't be strangers with too many people and I'm sure we'll find ourselves some good adventures.