Tour Diary Part 3

Greetings from Snowy Montana! We're a few miles west of Missoula where we'll park for the day, then drive overnight to the other side of Montana and spend the day in Glendive, Montana. 2 full days with very little to do. I don't know what the temp is outside but it looks just plain bitter.

Last few days have been a real dream! Despite concerns about the late night sex party happening at the club after our Vancouver show, the night went great! Great sounding room, and the set and playing of the tunes really started to lock into place. The audience was so great and engaged and moved their bodies to the music... during the day, I didn't do very much except have some decent Pho for lunch and then some surprisingly bland Lebanese food for dinner. We all orderded it and marveled how un-salty everything. Not bad... but... not GOOD!

Kyle quickly endeared himself with everyone in the band and crew. More than just a really fun and funny guy to do bits with (the stuff we do on Office HOurs is pretty much how we communicate off the air...) But we also had some good chats about work and family. And his sets each night have been funnier than the last.

Sunday in Seattle was near perfect. The only stress I had was, I had gotten a last minute request from my agent to tape an audtion this weekend. It was something pretty cool and sort of a big deal and so i knew i'd have to figure out a way to carve out some time to learn some lines and find a space to film. Josh was really into the idea of helping me run lines and Michael is a damn good photographer so he was happy to assist in filming... I booked us an hour in a side room right after sound check.

But in the morning, Kyle Ellie and I headed to one of my favorite places in America: Pike Place Market. Kyle had never been, and I was excited to show him such a special place. First we dipped into the Crumpet Shop... truly a place that makes me very happy... and filled up... then I bought a nice chunk of smokes salmon for the bus from the fish throwing dudes. Again, if you haven't had the crumpet or the salmon from that market... there's just nothing quite like it. We walked outside, behind the market for a view of the great Puget Sound... It was a crisp and bright day, with no clouds and we soaked in the view great body of water shimmering and the snow capped mountains in the distance.... but not for too long, for The Philadelphia Eagles were set to play some football! We found a sports bar just across the street and parked ourselves in from of the big tv over the bar.

We watched the first half then took an uber back to the venue for soundcheck and I spent a little time with my lines for the audition, while watching the second half of the game on my phone... it was becoming a blowout. fun game but I felt bad for those Commanders. Fun young team....

After soundcheck, Josh Michael and me went off to film my audition which took several takes and after about 40 minutes I had enough to send. I was so grateful for their help! The show was a good one! Added a few things, strengthened a few moments... my bit of standup in the middle got much more confident... The audience was a wee bit more timid and reserved than the night before from our perspective. Still it seemed that everyone had a fine time! It was Kyle's last night with us, so I did a bit where we welcomed him back on stage in a very passivily aggresive way, stating we really didn't have time for this but we would try to squeeze it in to say goodbye to him, but again, we don't have a lot of time to focus on it... and then we presented him a gift... a microwave (i had spotted backstage minutes before showtime... jp, let's give him THAT as a going away present.) So JP walks out with a big fuckin microwave... and Kyle hilariously accepted, noting it would be a little challenging flying back with it to New York.

Kyle joined us for a night cap on the bus and we had our actual fond farewells. I was proud to know that he had himself a great time with us. I think he'll join us for the New York show!

Off to meet my sister and little nephew here in Missoula for lunch.

The great midwest awaits us! Minneapolis Wednesday!!!