The Jokes Go Down So The Bass Goes Up

I figured I go different this blog. Ill tell a story.

When I was back in college at fsu during the fall of 2005 I had serious aspirations of doing standup comedy. There is a club at FSU called club down under that played some awesome indy music shows (bright eyes, sea and cake, of montreal etc..) but most importantly every few weeks they had an open mic competition for people wanting to try standup comedy. And at some of the shows they actually had a real comic there and a group of college kids opening. Zach Galifinakas was there once, Patton Oswald, and most importantly, Mitch Hedberg. I had the tremendous experience of performing that night in addition to watching a totally sold out show after I was done. Mitch was totally out of it that night. He was forgetting jokes, the audience had to finish several of them for him , he was slurring his words, and most horrifically at the end he actually collapsed off the stage. Everyone honestly thought he died. He got up, told some more jokes, then left. My roommate and I ran to the exit after the show to meet mitch and his wife Lynn. It was raining, but the two of them were awesome. Mitch signed a baseball, two cd's and a picture for me. He told me eventually he'd probably write a joke about the ball one day. He invited us to hangout at his hotel after the show but I declined. Instantly regretting that I went back to the hotel about an hour later, left him a note at the front desk with my cell phone number and left. The next morning I got a phone call at 9 am on a Saturday. I didn't pick up the call, but it was him. My idol was calling me and I didn't pick up the damn phone. That's probably going to bother me the rest of my life. The guy was a genius and I cant think of a sadder moment during my college experience than finding out Mitch passed away due to a drug overdose in 2006. I hadn't felt that upset about a celebrity passing since Kurt Cobain. Mitch comedically will always be a hero to me and I am beyond thankful I had the opportunity to tell him in person that he was the reason I had the balls to do stand up comedy. Remember "When the jokes go down, the bass goes up" Mahalo J


Me on stage at FSU

Myself with Mitch after the show.