"Great Danes! No yeah, it's a dog, but like . . . the BIGGEST dog!"

Said Bo Burnham on Thursday, as he made fun of our school mascot, the great Dane.

I gotta say, he's not wrong.

But yes, a little background: Bo Burnham, only a few years back, was a teenager much like myself. Then he taught himself how to play instruments, wrote hilarious, witty and offensive material, and then to the scattered winds of Youtube they flew. And he was a hit.

Thursday, he came to our university to perform as a benefit for the Relay For Life, a cancer research benefit, to which he ironically said, "You guys got ME for a cancer benefit?"

Also, that same Thursday, myself and some members of the Sketchy Characters, the comedy group I am part of, go the chance to open for Bo.

It was fan-frickin'-tastic. We got there early, and got a chance to say hey to Bo, nice guy, tall sonofagun. But nice enough, if a bit quiet. We warmed up, got ready, as more and more workers kept coming back telling us things like, "Filling up quick in there," and, "Yeah, we just opened the back section."

By the time I was in the wings, about to take the stage, the main guy goes, "Hey, there's almost 700 people here tonight . . . have fun!"

Eep.

But I took the stage, and began to MC, bringing small laughs and then getting us all started on improv. We did a few games of improv and my guys brought their A+ game that night. I was so goddamn proud of them all. Still am, actually. They did amazing. The crowd was responsive, laughed with us, I even got off a couple of good laughs. Then after improv, my pal Dustin came on a did some stand up and he brought down the house, the crowd loved him. We had our share of hecklers, but we dealt with them.

But Bo dealt with them even worse.

After out set, before he went on, he asked my friend Lauren, (who is so in love with him, she was positively glowing with joy that night), if there were hecklers out there at us. She told him yeah, but it was no big deal.

Bo took a sip of his water and said, and I quote, "Yeah . . . I'm going to teach those fucking bastards a lesson." And did he ever. He, a relatively famous and well-known comedian, stood up for us, a band of sketchy characters who as my friend Dustin said to Bo later, "Dude, we would perform for you for a slice of pizza and water."

So, I don't know if he'll ever read this, but thanks Bo. It was real classy of you to help us, sincerely.

And then Bo put on an amazing show, full of songs, haikus, small skits, more songs, misdirection, one hit zingers, audience participation, and more ripping on the guy who heckled us.

It was a great freaking show, and thanks again Bo.

Meet and greet after the show was awesome and I was perfectly content. We got to open for a great comedian, who actually talked to us a bit and stood up for us against arrogant asshats. Not only that, but we put on a great show, the Sketchys, for an audience who may not have known us.

Great show, great friends, great night.

More updates on personal life to come soon.

Heart Beat

Hello my frolicking denizens of the internet, and how are we doing?

I know it's been a while, but I've learned to stop feeling bad about it all, I'm a busy and as they say, important man. Because being busy must mean you're important, as important people are very busy. Ah good old circular logic, I missed you!

Things are quiet on the home front, a lot less, I suppose the word is, unstressed, from last time. I've come to grips with most things, lost hold on others, and still whirling around some other things, but all in all, that's what life is usually, so I feel rather normal.

Writing is going well, working on a couple of new projects, and just submitted a show proposal to a company downtown, for their annual playwriting contest. Here's hoping, right? I'm doing a final final draft of Fallen, which goes up in less then a month, and working on a new one act play for my playwriting class, which I'll tell you, is titled, "Schrodinger's Coffin." (Copyright).

You'll see . . .

Work goes well, and steady. Classes are all really awesome, and residential life work is good for the most part. I am gaining better reflexes, as Mikela feels the need to turn the office into a war zone from time to time. I know not many people will throw rubber ducks at me in this life, but for the moment, I am skilled in dodging them. Fear me.

I'm still applying to be an RA next semester and I'm excited for it. Will it be busy and hectic with my schedule the way it is? Oh fuck yea! But will it be worth it? I sure hope so!

And I suppose that's it-- wait, it's what day?

Hmmmm, well I suppose I'll touch on this briefly . . .

It's right now 18 minutes into Valentine's Day. My thoughts you may be wondering?

Well, this is my third Valentine's day that I have been single. Does it suck? Yes. Is it heart-crushingly depressing? Eh, not really. Do I regret not having a special someone to buy roses and a pony for? No.

Because it'll happen when it happens. I don't see February 14th come up on the calender, and run out to the Girlfriend Store, just so I can be not lonely. Besides, the Girlfriend Store is expensive . . . And also because, I'm NOT lonely.

WHAT?! On this the day of loving a special someone, just ONE someone, and you don't have ANYONE to spend money on at all and you DON'T CARE?!

Uh, yea . . . because Valentine's Day is not just the, "buy stuff for your girlfriend only," day. It's the, "show everyone you love how much you care day, and if you happen to have a girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, husband, lover, it's preferable you show them the most appreciation," kind of day.

So naysayers of the world, they who live by the label hallmark and brand the price of eternal love at $2.99, I will say this: Valentine's Day is to show the love for all, not just one, and especially not on who can spend the most. In fact, how bout a challenge? Take the time this year, to show your Valentine how much you care for them, WITHOUT money. Try that out.

So a Happy Valentine's Day to my parents, my brothers, Bema, Papa, my sister Jesse and to all my friends at home, school and abroad. And to Matt Leonard, cause you can't spell bromance, without bro!

Please enjoy this exclusive interview with Cupid by my friend Mike Russell.

Happy V-Day folks.

Watch FRP - Mike Russell - Valentines Day in Comedy | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

What rhymes with Mess?

STRESS IS THE ANSWER!

Hey.

I've been a tad stressed.

Over improv-reslife-should-I-be-an-RA-classes-monologues-writing-plays-for-school-women-publishers-not-wanting-my-stories-blaaaaaaaaaaaargh . . .

K, I'm done with that, but now I clarify.

I'm debating on whether to be an RA next year or not. I want to be, I think I'd be good at it, and I want to definitely try it out before I leave college. And I DO think I'd be good at it. Yeah, maybe I need to work on being more assertive, and organized, but I think if I am really on top of shit, I can do this. The time commitment for next year works out the same either way as an RA or SA. So let's try it. Maybe =p

And yeah, I got a rejection letter from a publisher today, not going to tell you which. Yes, I know it happens and I got to stick with it and one day I'm going to look back and laugh. But right now?

IT SUCKS.

But it's okay. It sucked for about 7 minutes, but right now it's okay. I just have to try harder, and better at what I do and what I love to do.

And that's all for now I suppose.

Weekend's going to be exciting though, Brendan is coming on up. SO THAT'S GOING TO BE AWESOME! We're going to hang out and he's going to hit on girls and we're going to be awesome!

Update ya then my web goblins!