Author: Wil

What’s My Line? — Live On Stage! continues to get better and better, and I’m running out of ways to blog about how much fun I had on the stage, and how much the audience enjoyed the show . . . so I’m not even going to try this week. I’ll just settle on: IT WAS AWESOME. If you’re anywhere near Hollywood on a night that we’re doing the show, you simply must come out and see us.
Tonight, my friend Drew Curtis (who is responsible for Fark) and I will be in studio together on The David Lawrence Show from 8pm until 10pm PST. We’ll take phone calls and instant messages, and I can’t wait to see what happens when the worlds of Fark and WWdN collide on the radio. It’s going to be supermegaawesome. There are several different listening options at the show’s website.

I had a wonderful time at my signing in Huntington Beach last night. There were about forty people seated when I started, and by the time I was finished, another fifteen or so had joined us.
Over the years, I’ve developed a pretty good sense of how the audience is relating to me, and I felt like I connected with this audience immediately, and maintained the connection all the way through. It was awesome. The last few readings I’ve done have been a hardcore geek conferences, you see, and there’s been a very palpable “Okay, prove to us that you deserve to be here, jerk.” feeling from at least part of the audience, but last night, I didn’t feel any challenge or hostility from the people there, so I was able to relax and just do my thing.
Usually, I just thank people for coming, and get right into reading, but last night I tried something now: I gave a little bit of a “talk” about the internets, and the power of blogs. I talked about how blogs are a powerful communication tool, and how blogs can be used for very positive things, like helping our friend Kris when she had cancer. I also talked about this awesome auction I’m a part of to raise money and awareness for the Alzheimer’s Association of Los Angeles (that is going to be so cool, it gets its own entry in the near future.)
I’ve been thinking a lot about how my life has changed, and I know that none of this would be happening without the examination of my life that happened because of my blog and my books. I talked a little bit about that examination, and how I discovered this thing called “the quarter life crisis,” where we hit our mid-to-late twenties and freak out because we don’t know what we’re doing (or going to do with) our lives as we near thirty. At that time in my life, I recalled, I was struggling not only to be a successful actor, husband, and stepfather, but also to figure out who I was. My mom always told me “just be yourself, and you’ll be happy.” That’s great advice, but it’s tough to heed when you don’t know who “yourself” is.
Anyway, I talked about all those things as a lead-in to the writing of Just A Geek, and to set up where I was in my life when I experienced the events I wrote about in Chapter Nine of Just A Geek (pdf file), which is what I read last night.
The actual “reading” portion of the . . . uhm . . . reading . . . was great. I felt comfortable with the material, and it is always entertaining (to me, anyway) to edit out the naughty words on the fly when I read. It was extra fun last night because people were following along in their own books, and they’d giggle when I replace “shit” with “crap,” or something similar.
When my reading was done, I took a few questions, which gave me another opportunity to talk about how empowering the internet is, and how I used the internet to reassert control over my creative life. Then, I sat down and signed books for everyone there. The people who came out were all friendly and enthusiastic, and the whole experience was just wonderful. I was done about 8:45, and through the power of quantum physics, I made it up to ACME by 9:30 without ever exceeding the posted speed limit.
Shut up. I did.

I don’t remember how I found them, but I have two new favorite websites: Defamer and Stereogum. They touch my sense of humor in a way that, if Loretta touched Cleveland that way, he’d say, “Oh, Loretta, that tickles me.”
There will probably be light blogging for the next week or so. I think the problem with my neck, the cold that I’m barely holding at bay, and about two weeks of really restless sleep are symptoms of trying to do too goddamn much stuff all at once.

I missed the ACME show on Saturday night, because I hurt my neck so badly on Friday, I couldn’t even stand up Saturday morning. More on that later.
As if the pain in my neck and shoulders wasn’t bad enough, I’m trying my best not to get sick, now. I think it’s just the dry air from my heater and the weather the last few days, but my throat is sore and scratchy, and my sinuses are all dry and ouchy . . . so I’m just going to put up this quick reminder and get back into bed:

1. I’ll be reading and signing Just A Geek on Tuesday November 30th down in Huntington Beach, at Barnes & Noble. I have rehearsal that night, so the event will go from 7 until 8:30. Watch for me doing Warp 11 up the 405 to get back to Hollywood by 9!
2. What’s My Line? The show starts at 8. More details can be found at j.keith.net, including a two-for-one discount.
3. I’ll be at ACME this Saturday, December 4th, for a preview show of ACME Love Machine. The show starts at 8.

Details:

WHAT: Signing and Reading of Just A Geek
WHERE: Barnes & Noble Bookstore
7881 Edinger Avenue #110
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
(714) 897-6201
WHEN: Tuesday, November 30, 2004. 7 – 8:30 pm.
WHAT: What’s My Line? Live On Stage
WHERE: Acme Comedy Theatre
135 N. La Brea
Hollywood, CA 90036
(323) 525-0202
WHEN: Wednesday, December 1, 2004. 8 pm.
WHAT: ACME Love Machine Preview Show — tickets half price.
WHERE: Acme Comedy Theatre
135 N. La Brea
Hollywood, CA 90036
(323) 525-0202
WHEN: Saturday, December 4, 2004. 8 pm.

Last night at dinner, my dad’s cousin (who we all adore, but only get to see once a year, at Thanksgiving) asked us all to say one thing we’re thankful for.
Have you ever tried to do that? Come up with just one thing that you’re thankful for? It was really hard for me to do. I have so much to be thankful for, I didn’t know where to begin.
So I said, “I’m thankful that I’m able to be here with everyone tonight.”
In my mind, that encapsulated many things: I’m thankful that l live in a place that’s safe and comfortable. I’m thankful that I can afford to drive my car 100 miles to my great uncle’s house for dinner. I’m thankful that I love my family, and they love me, so I actually wanted to make the drive. I’m thankful that I’m having success in my creative work, from acting on stage to voice acting in games and on TV, to writing all the things I’m writing. I’m thankful for my wife and stepchildren, and my dogs and my cats, and my friends, and my blog and . . . .
See what I mean?
My cousin Dustin, who has overcome one of the biggest obstacles anyone could ever face, and has a lot to be thankful for himself, had simple but powerful insight. He said, “I’m thankful for my family. Because friends will come and go, but your family is there forever, no matter what.”
I know it’s not like that in all families, but it sure is in ours, and for that, well, I’m thankful.
I hope everyone gets to spend at least a little time this weekend with someone they love.