Starting the Holiday Weekend Off Right

I was looking for clips from America's Got Talent on YouTube (for my Pop Culture Junkies column) and I found what has to be the biggest laugh-out-loud moment on TV I have ever seen. I have seen this so many times and it makes me cry - it is that funny. Now, laugh, cry and enjoy...





If you don't know, that's Ryan Stiles and that's improv. Hope this clears the whole stand-up vs. improv thing once and for all!

It's Amazing What You Find When You Clean Out Your Closets...

Things I Want

Ah, the summer blahs. 2 months to vacation, hubby out of town, friends incommunicado, move date up in the air and to top it off, a severe case of right-brain atrophy (as in my creativity is lagging, big time!) So, here's a list of some miscellaneous (mostly non-tangible) things I want.

- A TiVo (ok, that's a tangible one). I have a lot of the other high tech goodies (iPod, Razr phone, digital camera) but somehow, the TiVo has escaped my grasp. I initially didn't want one, as I feared it would render me a useless couch potato. If I had a TiVo, instead of a VCR that we never have seemed to be able to program correctly, I could record and watch all of what I dub my "unemployment greatest hits" - the daytime judge shows I love (Judge Mathis is my favorite, but I also like Judge Milian from The People's Court, Judge Joe and, of course, Judge Judy) and watch them when I got home from work - while recording the evening shows for later viewing - thus causing a never-ending cycle of TV watching...not good. But I think I may obtain a TiVo soon for the following reasons:

First of all, I have so many VHS tapes laying around that it's ridiculous. When "House" used to be on the same time as "My Name is Earl" and "The Office" (my 3 favorite shows) we obviously had to tape something; and now that I'm doing recaps for two shows over at Pop Culture Junkies, I also need to tape those. Mount VHS is growing at an alarming pace.

Secondly, TiVo would come in handy when there's nothing else on TV - which is quite often. We have gone through just about every "On Demand" movie and show, and it would be nice to take some time off from channel surfing (husband is a master of this.) So that's enough about this. Now on to the intangibles...

- I want more people to read my blog - all of them. I want people to realize that I'm a pretty decent writer.

- I want to do some cool celebrity interviews for Pop Culture Junkies. Not the typical Brad/Angelina/Vince/Tom (Hanks or Cruise) ones, but some people that I've always wanted to talk to - like Chris Atkins and anyone from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. I'd also love to talk to Gina Gershon, Henry Rollins, Janeane Garofolo and Margaret Cho. Of course, I think it's been pretty well established that the ultimate would be the one and only Peter Frampton!

- I want a nice new house with a big kitchen (with pantry and island) and a community pool. I want to be in a neighborhood where they have get-togethers and such. I want to live somewhere where there are not NASCAR stickers on the back of every car and truck. (Ok, another tangible, sorry...)

- I want to be a full-time writer - maybe an arts critic/columnist for a newspaper (I couldn't be a restaurant critic - I'd be as big as a house!)

I want to stay at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego just once - as that was where they filmed my all-time favorite movie "Some Like it Hot".

- And the last one for now...I want Peter Frampton to play at my 40th birthday party. I fully intend for this to be a reality. Don't know how, but I'm going to do everything in my power to make it happen!

That's all I can think of for now...

On-Whee! (Say it out loud...)

Oh my God. I am so bored. I can't even come up with something interesting to write about for any of my blogs (at least I have my show recaps at PCJ for the next few days.) I am sick of surfing the 'net - I know way too much about Lindsey, Paris and the gang. I am slightly ashamed and feel slightly dirty. I have made a few "celebrity connections" since I started writing for PCJ. Got an email from Doug Benson from "Last Comic Standing" and even cooler, Harrison Page (from "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" and "Sledgehammer!") emailed me today - I am hoping to do an interview with him sometime soon. I am trying to hone my journalism skills, as I am really enjoying the writing thing, and may be able to parlay all of this blogging into a real career. It would be awesome if the hubby and I were both doing something we enjoyed!

I am really at a loss. I need some sort of right brain jolt or something. I've been reading other blogs to get some sort of inspiration, but it's not helping. Since I'll be a single gal for the next few weeks, maybe I can (gasp) actually work on my book concept for a while! Kick me (figuratively - I'm not into the kinky stuff!), I need it!

Movin' On Up to the East Side

Great news for your friend Sugar. We have officially put our Hooterville estate on the market! I am beyond excited. With this excitement comes stress (of course!) as we now have to kick the packing thing into high gear! Our real estate agent, Barry, came over last night and told us what to do to make the house more sellable. We know we have to fix the obvious, like the laundry room Boo trashed during that "let's see how she does without her crate" period (a complete disaster) and the chunk of stucco I took out on the side of the garage with my car (no, I was not drunk. I was headed for the gym. Who knew?) When Barry got to our bedroom, he took one look in my closet and said "oh no."

My closet is a disaster. I blame the fact that the only dresser I have to speak of looks like it belongs in the Barbie Dream House. It's small, but then so was my apartment in Atlanta, where I bought the thing. So now comes the painful reality of having to get rid of a lot of stuff in a short amount of time. This could be a good thing, as I'll have little time for sentimentality and quiet reflection on things that really need to go, like my extensive collection of "stripper shoes" (5" heels in a variety of patent leather colors.) I never go anywhere that would call for stripper shoes, so I will ace those (but save one pair for "special occasions" - hubba, hubba!) I also need to cut down my extremely huge t-shirt collection. All the shirts that have been relegated to the drawers under my bed I believe will soon be the latest in Goodwill fashions (except for any of my Frampton tour shirts, for obvious reasons.) I can at least get rid of my business suits, because who really wears them anymore; but I am not parting with my Madonna "Desperately Seeking Susan" boots that I've had since high school, because I can't. Period.

More moving adventures coming soon! In the meantime, if you know of anyone looking for a house in Hooterville, let me know!

Sugar - Broadway Impresario?

I'm posting this here, 'cause it might be a little too obscure for Pop Culture Junkies. I was thinking, since Jersey Boys, a musical featuring the songs of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, did quite well at this year's Tony Awards, why not revive the music of some other bands that may have lost a bit of their luster over the years? Here are some suggestions...

"I Wanna Sex You Up" - The Color Me Badd Experience


"Brandy and Other Fine Girls" - A Look Back at Looking Glass


"Shambala Boys" - The Music of Three Dog Night


"Flint Guyz" - The Songs of Grand Funk Railroad


"Saturday Night Scots" - A Musical Revue Spotlighting the Music of the Bay City Rollers


"Afternoon Delights" - A Musical Tribute to the Starland Vocal Band


and...wait for it...


"Do You Feel Like He Do?" - The Peter Frampton Story (Oh please, oh please!!!)

I thnk these are all viable properties, don't you? I mean, look how long Cats was on the Great White Way? Just a thought...

That's My Time...Tip Your Waitress...

Since my other site is down right now, I thought I'd return to my home blog - and write about something that's been on my nerves for a while. Those who know me know that I have a pretty extensive background in Improv comedy. I honed my skills at FSU, when I was in the Moving Company, the school's children's theater troupe (yes, Miss "No Kids" did children's theater!) You have to think on your toes to keep 3rd and 4th graders amused, and I must say we did pretty well (I also got to rap in the show we did, so I immediately endeared myself to the young'uns.) My Improv background also helped out immeasurably during my stints as a tour guide (both at Universal and CNN.) We had a script for the godawful tram tour at USF, but as you are carting a load of tourists around closed, empty soundstages for 15 minutes, you have to come up with something, and boy, did I (we also would do the tours in different accents, to liven things up.) CNN was another story. Fortunately I had worked in television production before I got there and could riff endlessly about the neat-o things that went on in the newsroom and studio (which came in especially handy on the VIP tours, where people paid a lot of dough for the occasional face-to-face with a Headline News anchor (Chuck Roberts, my friend (and twin sister at the time) Toria Tolley, and the late, great Don Harrison) and the chance to watch (former) CNN anchor Lou Watters incessantly spray his hair (my parents got to witness that, and they still talk about it.) I could write a book about CNN, probably will someday...

So why the walk down "memory lane"? What does this have to do with anything? I was talking about Improv. I did some in Atlanta and had a really good time doing it. Unfortunately, the 2 troupes I was in there broke up (little ego-clashing problems and the like) and I haven't found another outlet here in Florida, so I haven't had much practice as of late. But what really steams my buns is that whenever people hear I did Improv, they instantly say "Tell us a joke!" (a few of my co-workers are guilty of this - in fact it happened again last week, which prompted this entry.) I don't know how many times I have to say it, Improv-ers and Stand-Ups are 2 totally separate groups. I have nothing against Stand-ups, in fact I dated one for a while. It's hard work. It's just different. I met Jeff Foxworthy (shameless name dropping) at a charity event (which a friend and I snuck into, but that's a story for another time) and told him I did Improv. He said, and I'll never forget it, "I could never do that!" I thought that was awesome. Improv is hard too, especially because more people hate it, so that's another battle we need to fight. I love going to see stand-up comics (like Jim Gaffigan, who is my favorite, Margaret Cho, Lewis Black, Dave Atell, the aforementioned Jeff Foxworthy, and so on...) but I also had a blast seeing Wayne Brady and Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood do improv live. We can all live together in harmony, doing our own thing. Kumbaya.

So, in summary, if you ever run into me, please don't ask me to tell you a joke!