Thanks, now please pass the Turkey.

Well it's happened again. I've been gone from my blog for too long but this time it was Thanksgivings fault! Erin and I hosted our friends Geoff and Kate and their dogs for a wonderful meal. Erin made the best turkey I've ever had (sorry Mom and Grandma). Here is a picture of it right after Geoff started to carve it.

Isn't that thing gorgeous? And it was oh so good!

Speaking of Thanksgiving I'm going to give thanks right here right now. Being a comedy magician one has to have a great support network. I am very lucky to have one. My family has always been super supportive of what I've wanted to do. Never once did they tell me to get "a real job." My father built some of the props that I still use today. My mother sewed costumes and my sister was my lovely assistant for a time. My parents did give me some very practical advice. My father relayed to me the old maxim, "Work smarter, not harder." My mother's advice was bit more family survival orientated. She said, "Don't do anything you will regret later." I think she was talking about pornography but she may have also meant crappy movies and magic shows dressed as Batman (ah as story for another time).

My Grandparents have also been a great support. I am very lucky to still have three living grandparents. My Grandma Cramer got me one of my first gigs when I performed for a dinner at her senior center. My Grandpap Fairman refurbished and antique card table for me that I still occasionally use. That is not to forget all my aunts and uncles. My Aunt Judy is one of my biggest fans and any show she attends she is easy to spot. She laughs so hard at anything I say she sometimes cries. My Aunt Regina is always slipping a few bucks into my pocket when I visit home, “for gas money” and my whole family has hired me more than once to perform at the family Christmas Party.

When you move 500 miles from your nearest family member the support network you relay on are you friends. I have to say (of course I am biased) that I have the best friends in the world! I know if I need anything they are always there to help. More than likely most of the people reading this blog are the very friends I am talking about. So, Thanks.

December is a very busy month for me with many corporate comedy magic shows packed into the first three weeks. Then I will be off to Pennsylvania to visit my family. So, I hope not to be gone too long again.

Seeing Friends Succeed

On August 24th when I performed at Notre Dame University's Opening Mass Picnic I had the pleasure of having dinner with my friend McKenna Pencak. She is the coordinator of International Student Activities at ND.

I got the change to ask her about her work at ND. It was so awesome to hear how excited she is about her new job. McKenna is one of my favorite people in the world and I am so happy to see her succeed.

Here is a pic of me and her being silly, enjoying some comedy magic and enjoying our eyebrows.

I look at my circle of friends and I see how blessed I am to be around so many talented and hard working people. None of us right now are millionaires or are house hold names but each of them is doing really exciting stuff.

My friend Geoff designs the web interface for one of the nation's biggest retailers. My Girlfriend Erin is making costumes for a nationally renowned theatre company. My friend Jason is directing all over Chicago for some of the leading edge theatre companies. Of course if any of my other friends are reading this and I haven't mentioned you it's only to keep this brief.

So I say, soldier on my friends. We will take over this place one gig at a time.

Namaste.

A big thanks,

I want to give a big thanks to everyone who worked on (and continues to work on) my new site: Karl Ziemer of Karfred Design, Amaris Granado of Amaris Granado Photography, Shawn Bowers, Gil Leora, and of course Erin Gallagher. Also the video that is linked on the site was shot by Malachi Leopold of Left Brain/Right Brain Productions. It's really great getting to work with talented people that you also like personally.

Erin and I have been talking a lot recently about who we would like to work on projects with, who we currently work with and who we have worked with in the past. As any business grows you will change clients. You will find new clients, old ones will move on, and most importantly you can move on from bad clients.

I used to work for an "agent" who would take 50% of the fee for the booking. She booked some the worst gigs, had the ugliest business cards and still did everything on paper. When I would complain to her about how much she took on each gig she would say that she spent over $2000 a month in advertising. I was flabbergasted. I spend a 1/10th of that. She had no idea that if she wasn't such a pain to work for she would keep good talent then she wouldn't have to spend so much to get new clients all the time. The only talent that continued to work for her were pretty awful. Anyone who was any good or had any sense of show business would move on as soon as possible. I was so happy the day I could tell her I wasn't available. I will say that it was great to get my foot in the door here in Chicago with her when I first moved here. But I quickly out grew her and was able to dump a bad client.

Erin and I have recently started working with some really awesome people. Of course they all know each other! I met Karl Ziemer of Karlfred Design (http://www.karlfred.net) via Erin's friend Erin Annarella (http://www.thesingingyogini.com/). We have also been working with Annie and Keith of Vaudezilla Productions (http://www.vaudezilla.com). Erin met Annie independently but then when we got to know them it turns out Keith works with my close friend Claire Wedemeyer (http://www.clairewedemeyer.com/).

This brings me to two points: 1. Good people are hard to find and work closely with each other and 2. don't tick anyone off because all of the other people will know about it. I used to work with an entertainer who was late for a few gigs and then didn't show up at one at all! Because what we do is so subjective the only concrete things a client has to judge you on is if you were on time and how much they paid. Everything else is just opinion. This entertainer had to work for a year or more for some agents and clients to hire her again. Other agents won't ever work with her ever again. Which is really too bad because she is super talented.

So, what am I trying to say? Pick who you work with carefully, be good to your clients, and don't work for clients (which include agents) that aren't good to you.

Big gigs everyone.