I saw this sign the other day at the cash register at the Pep Boys not far from my house:
I almost hollered when I saw this... I didn't know Black folks used the word 'tool'
Guess they don’t think so highly of Kobe Bryant in this establishment.
Pep Boys on Marlboro Pike, Forestville, MD. Please shop there.
The end.
This weekend I traveled to New Brunswick, NJ to work at the Stress Factory Comedy Club. I was SUPER excited to finally get the chance to work this room since it’s literally 10 minutes from the house I grew up in. It’s a great club and they bring in top-notch talent. Not bad, New Brunswick… not bad at all…
My parents retired some years ago and moved south so I don’t have the opportunity/reason to visit very often. Downtown NB has grown so much since the last time I was home — 5 or 6 years ago. And I was looking forward to going to some of my favorite local spots (shout to the fine folks at Nicola’s, Filippo’s Famous, Old Bay and Delta’s — how I missed you so…) and catching up with old friends and fam — most of whom have never seen me perform live. So many folks came out to support — way too many for me to post all the photos. But here are a few just for fun’s sake ;)
Me with D'Ana
Me with Mr. and Mrs. Plummer
Les and J -- my two BFF's
The staff at the club like to make collages using photos of the comics’ faces on all kinds of different backgrounds. Saturday nite when we walked into the green room there was my face on the headliner’s body. Too funny We both signed it and now we’re a part of the album! ;)
We had some really great shows, so I’m hoping I’ll have the opportunity to go back and work there again. I had some fun with a couple bachelor/bachelorette parties at the Saturday late show. So if the tape didn’t cut off by then I’ll post it later on… Two days home and then off to Wisconsin!
Yay? ;)
So yesterday after we stopped by Eastern Market to pick up some peaches and nectarines and saw “The Taking of Pelham 123,” my friend Kojo and I went to Capital Q for lunch. If you’ve never been there, it’s pretty good barbecue. And well, then there’s the ambiance… The walls are papered with autographed 1-dollar bills that contain anything from the person’s name who left it there, to love notes, political slogans, etc.
When we ordered the guy behind the counter asked me if I wanted mild or hot sauce on my sandwich. I said ‘hot’ and he asked me if I was sure and then gave me one of those ‘you’re gonna regret it‘ looks. It wasn’t my first time there and the sauce is hot but it’s nothing a cup of water won’t fix. He kept giggling like I didn’t know what I was getting myself into but I assured him I wanted it hot. Then when I returned to the counter to ask for some more sauce for my sandwich (he was being stingy — or maybe he thought he was ‘protecting’ me), he proceeded to follow me back to my seat and watch me eat it. “I’m FINE!” I kept telling him. I was like “I don’t know what kind of punks you have coming in here, but this sauce is NOT that hot.” Kojo said he probably made the hot sauce that day and wanted to see how well he’d done.
Anyway I asked him his name, and then I asked him for a marker and some tape so that I could leave a dollar on the wall with a little message to him on it. His name was Max. And below is my contribution to the decor:
I told him where he could find the message and left. He was funny. I took a photo with it, just in case I’m ever in Chinatown and need a dollar. Imma go back for it. Please believe it. Tee hee and hee ;)
Just letting you know up front — this one’s an epic ;)
I just got home from Chicago and the inaugural TBS/Just For Laughs Chicago Comedy Festival. I wasn’t in town long enough to catch most of the shows I wanted to see, but from what I hear the shows were great. I went there and came home in less than 24 hours. Here’s a recap of what went down… :)
Patron and Grey Goose bottles just chilling on the dresser — the hotel they put us up in was way nicer than anywhere I should ever be staying. I did my best to ignore all the fancy liquor and yummy treats, but I did take full advantage of the fluffy robe! ;) Check out the thumbnail on the far right… TBS gave us a swag bag that contained — among other things — a bottle of Remy and a flask shaped like a cell phone. It even came with a cell phone carrying case. Perfect for sneaking alcohol into sporting events and concerts carrying small bits of water to the gym. BOY do they know comics!!!
Me with Wendy Liebman
The show taped at Zanies Comedy Club in Old Town Chicago. During our downtime, I got to spend some time with the hilarious Wendy Liebman. I’ve been a huge fan for years, and it was a pleasure to be working on the same show with her. When I first got into comedy I sent her an e-mail thru her website just introducing myself and telling her what a big fan I was and how excited I was about stand-up, and she wrote me the nicest e-mail back and was so encouraging. I’m relatively sure I printed it out and have it somewhere… I should try and dig it up!
This was the show set
As far as the actual show and taping, Murphy’s Law was in full effect — as it often is on big days in my life… Continue reading →
So I was watching my daily hour of “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” this morning and each of the two episodes they showed had a different “Aunt Viv.” Now I LOVED this show. I actually cried during the final episode. Yeah, I know… But I was never really comfortable with Daphne Reid replacing the uber fabulous Janet Hubert — who left the show over contract/salary issues. Don’t get me wrong — I like Daphne Reid, it’s just that in my opinion she didn’t ooze bougie-Black-fab quite like the first Aunt Viv.
And that got me to thinking about other shows I liked who swapped out actors in the same role. And I thought about Lionel Jefferson from “The Jeffersons” and “All in the Family.” If like myself, you are a student of these shows (pats self of back ;) you’ll remember that the first Lionel left and was replaced by the second Lionel, and then returned a few seasons later. Crazy. I was always partial to the middle Lionel. I thought he was handsome ;) My mom went to high school with one of them, but I can never remember which one…
And how could I do a post like this without mentioning the two Becky’s on “Roseanne.” Becky 1.0 left the show to go to college — which of course you can’t hate on. But as much as I loved her on Scrubs, I never liked Sarah Chalke as Becky 2.0. Maybe it’s because I really loved that show and I’m averse to change. Maybe it’s because the second Becky was a little too pretty and polished for the Connor family… Who can say for sure? But I never quite bought it.
There’s really no point to this post other than to say that if you’re having contract disputes or actors have to leave your show because of personal issues, instead of replacing them, you should do what they did on “Family Matters” and write that character out of the script with no explanation.
Remember Judy Winslow?
When she left the show, they didn’t replace her. They didn’t create a storyline to explain why she vanished. They just acted like she never existed and made the rest of America wonder, “Are we crazy, or wasn’t there another kid on this show?” That’s the way you do it, Hollywood. Like when a character got whacked on “The Sopranos”…That’s just the end of that. Sure that dismissal probably had a lot to do with her turning to a career in adult films, but what are you gonna do?
I was going to write a conclusion sentence or two to this entry, but I’m drained and I’m sleepy so I’m just gonna take a nap instead. Because I can.
I was a little worried when she asked if I would be willing to "sign a body part" but when she stuck out her arm I thought, OK sure ;)
Tee hee hee ;) Freakin’ hilarious.
Everything is relative.
I just got off the phone with BFF Angi who has a 1-year old and finally got back into her skinny jeans! HOORAY for her!!! She’s always been athletic (In fact, she was named as one of the 50 Greatest ACC athletes of all time) and is back down to her fighting weight of 120 pounds. Gee An, I probably should have asked before I posted that, but I’m probably gonna add this to the act and talk about it in front of hundreds of strangers every nite anyway, so try not to be mad.
Funny thing is even when she told me what her heaviest weight was, it still sounded tiny to me because literally, she’s half my size… So I said to her,
“You know, if we were a cereal commercial, it would take 2 bowls of Angi to equal 1 bowl of EJ.”
It takes 4 bowls of Corn Flakes...
She immediately knew what I was talking about and we couldn’t stop laughing. Sh!t, I still can’t… It’s funny because it’s true. This is why I’m still going hard with GF’09. Wish me luck!
So I’m on a plane yesterday on my way to Ft. Wayne, IN and I notice this sign above my head:
And you know how you just see a word that just doesn’t look like it’s spelled right?
I stared at it for a good minute before I tapped the woman sitting next to me (a very friendly lady by the name of Karen) to ask her if the word “flotation” was spelled correctly. ‘Cause it just didn’t look right to me. I fly all the time but I never noticed this before. Seems like there should be an “a” after the first “o” like in the word ‘float’. doesn’t it? I don’t believe I’ve ever had the occasion to write or type the word, so it’s not like I’ve been going around spelling it wrong for years… like I did with ‘down pat‘ (I always thought it was ‘downpacked.’ Seriously. Until like 4 years ago. My mom called me out and teased me for days.) Or how I didn’t recognize the word ‘segue’ wasn’t spelled phonetically until I read it in context in a book. That one was kind of embarrassing but I figured it out on my own. I didn’t even have to tell you that…
Anyway, long story short, the plane we were on had WiFi, and Karen and I needed to know the answer right then and there, so I got on my iPod Touch and we found out that both “flotation” and “floatation” are acceptable spellings. Which is freakin’ dumb. But you know, whatever. Dilemma solved. But it still looks wrong.
What else is going on?…
No really, I'm this corny
Well that’s about it for now. I’m gonna take a nap before afternoon radio cause my allergies are kicking my butt out here. Have an awesome day!