Bobby Lee is a Crazy Fun Dude

So a week after Opening for "Last Comic Standing" Winner Felipe Esparza and meeting Ralphie May I got to hang out with Bobby Lee. Ive been a longtime fan of him since Ive watched him on MadTV while I was still in High School/College. He's been in both the Harold and Kumar Movies and Pineapple Express. He was also part of "The Kims of Comedy" Special/DVD. A play off of "The Kings of Comedy" special with all Korean comedians. The comedians consisted of Bobby, Ken Jeong (From Hangover, Community on NBC), Steve Byrne and Kevin Shea. I was fortunate enough to open for Kevin at the Rivercenter Comedy Club last March.

I got to LOL Friday night where he was performing with Good Friend Jesse Pangelinan, and feature Sarah Tiana. Super funny and sweet southern belle from Georgia (Oh My). Bobby is an out there dude, before I could reach the showroom , the head bartender and my Roommate was telling me that Bobby wanted a hug from the manager (Who hates being hugged/touched by anyone) before any of the shows would start, or he wouldn't go on. This to me, is too hilarious. I start watching the show, and see Bobby walk in, I introduce myself and tell him that I'm a local comic, and immediately he replies with "No, You're, Not" in a silly dismissive tone. This too cracked me up, after that he shadowboxed my Buddy and fellow comic Blair Thompson. I had a blast watching the show, and again got called out for my unique and boisterous laugh.

After the show, Me, local comics Todd Larson, James Ponce, Clifton Simmons and some of the club staff met with Bobby Lee, Sarah and Jesse at ChaChos. ChaChos is a San Antonio, late night institution filled with drunks sobering up on humongous plates of nachos. We tell Bobby about the King Kong Nachos, and he orders it up just to see what it would entail. I was lucky enough to sit in front of him and listen to stories he was sharing with us. More people and food came, and the party was underway. We all had a great time, laughing our asses off while stuffing our faces with cheesy meaty mess that was covering tortilla chips. Towards the end of the night, he was offering Guest Spots for his shows for Saturday and Sunday. I was lucky enough to secure one for Sunday night. My Roommate Todd got one the night before.

Guest Spots at LOL are a touchy subject, Management doesn't like to do guest spots because it makes the shows run long. As a Comic, I think its bullshit. I think its important not just for younger more inexperienced comics like myself to hangout, learn and watch the headliners, but If they offer a guestie to a local the Management should oblige. Its the Headliners show. Plus Most of the Headliners (in my experience, that like to offer guest spots anyway) like to check out the local talent. Plus getting feedback on your set from a National Touring headliner is worth its weight in gold.

Sunday Night rolls along, and its pretty packed compared to a regular Sunday. I get to go up and do 5 mins. I decided to work on a new bit, about how losing my virginity will kill me. It kinda dragged in the middle, but I closed with fire. After Jesse, the host brought up the feature he told me he wanted to talk to me outside. Judging by his tone I though I was is trouble for going over my time. But instead gave me praise, and told me how he liked my set, and that it was one of the best sets he's seen me do. This to me, at least came out of nowhere. After getting a drink I went in to catch the rest of the show. Got a high five from Bobby, who told me that I had a good set too, but it dragged in the middle, I mentioned to him it was new material. Not as an excuse, but as an opportunity to work on it. I thanked him and Jesse for letting me do the guest spot. The show was great and good times were had by all.

Below is a pic of Bobby Lee and Myself in the "Prom Pose".

Meeting Ralphie May

If I get one comparison all the time , its that I look like Ralphie May. I don't mind, I know people aren't trying to be assholes, but Ralphie and I certainly share a "Look". I also get a lot of comparisons to John Pinnete as well, another Hilarious "Big Guy" comic. This past week Ralphie May and his Wife/ Opener Lahna Turner came by my home club at LOL here in San Antonio. I was helping out at the club, taking tickets and seating people. One thing that amazed me right away is Ralphie has Universal appeal, I've never seen a more diverse set of people for a show. There was old, young, couples, singles, groups, Black, White, Hispanic, you name they were there and ready to have a good time.

Ralphie and his wife walk in the club 10 mins before showtime. As he's passing through the Marketing Manager Michele chats him up to make sure everything is alright. As they get into the showroom, she introduces Ralpie to me. Ralphie wearing reflective aviators starts looking at me, almost sizing me up and tells me "Gimme your address, I got a bunch of clothes that will fit you". Continues to stare at me, then says out loud "It's like looking at Bizzaro ME". Then walks to the green room. I must have had a smile on my face for a good 20 minutes. What trip to hear that from a comic who I really admire. I was a trip to say the least.

Lana opened the show, sang some crazy songs and did jokes about her husband (Not revealing that it was Ralphie right away). My favorite was a duet between Hellen Keller and Anne Frank, too awesome. She did a solid 20 to get the crowd ready and good to go. She then Brings up Ralphie. Ralphie tells us that he's filming a new Comedy Central special this Saturday October 1st in Milwakee and wanted to the 2 hour show here that hes recording. AWESOME, he did well over 2 and half hours of new material. He absoloutely killed it, the time flew by. The show was one of the best comedic performances I've ever seen Live. Definitely top 3 in all that I've seen at LOL. It was the first true Standing Ovation I've seen a comic EARN at LOL since Richard Lewis was there the first week the club opened in November of '09. Ralphies' Comedy Central Special should air sometime in February 2012 under the Name "H.N.I.C." or "Too Big to Ignore".

Do yourself a favor and check him out if he's performing near you. I'm gonna email him later next week to see if he's for real in sending me some stuff, we will see how it goes and I will update this as soon as something happens.