Tim Russert

I was very saddened to hear of Tim Russert's death last week. He was one of the precious few journalists with the integrity to nail politicians with tough questions and demand an answer. A huge loss for us as a country.

Last Christmas, I did a cartoon about Tim in collaboration with a comedy writer friend, also a fan of his, Andy Cowan. Days after it appeared, Tim's best friend wrote to me and asked if he could buy the original art and give it to him for Christmas. I agreed and sent the cartoon to him. A couple of days later, Tim's wife wrote and asked the same question. I told her who had bought it with the same intention and she was happy that Tim would get it, one way or the other. A couple of weeks later, Tim mentioned it briefly on Meet the Press, clearly flattered that he had made it to the funny papers. I have long since forgiven Tim for getting my first name wrong.



Sometimes it really seems only the good die young.

Triumph the Comic Insult Dog

I meant to post this ages ago, but this is the video that Robert Smigel did for our comedy show in New York benefitting Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary in May. The lineup included Janeane Garofolo, Louis CK, Gary Gulman, Dave Attell, Will Franken, and me as MC. It was a great show and a good time was had by all.

The human in the video is Doug Abel, the co-founder of Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary. He's also a successful film and TV editor, so he knows a lot of cool dudes like Shmigel, Attell and Louis CK. Here's a page about the show.

Comedy Show Santa Cruz

I'll be in Santa Cruz THIS FRIDAY NIGHT at a wham-kerbloom comedy show with my good buddies and dyn-o-mite performers, Johnny Steele and Will Durst. Also on the bill is a guy I don't know yet, but is said to be funnier than a rabid weasel in the president's pants, Richard Stockton. It's a big show, like two hours long, and you'll laugh every minute of it and like it!

Come see me, and if you tell me you found out about it on this blog, I'll kiss you. CLICK HERE for a DISCOUNT, just for being a GROOVEMONKEY!

Friday, May 9, 8pm, Rio Theater, Santa Cruz CA
Stand-up comedy with Piraro, Johnny Steele, Will Durst, Richard Stockton
Ticketweb.com 866-468-3399, Streetlight Records 831-421-9200

Rock Star Proximity

If you would like to know what it is to feel extra groovy, go see an Old 97s concert. I became a fan of theirs years ago and they're one of my perennial favorites.

The lead singer and main songwriter is Rhett Miller (right, with goofy cartoonist), who also has a solo recording career and regularly does solo/acoustic concerts at small venues in NYC and elsewhere. At one such show a few years ago, a friend of mine who'd met Rhett before introduced us and it turned out Rhett had been a fan of Bizarro since college. Since then, we have been drastically in love with each other. Our wives don't mind.

CHNW and I saw Rhett doing a solo show last Saturday night in NYC at the Hiro Ballroom, and hung out with him and his gang after the show (his wife is from Ohio and a big group of Buckeye's were in town for a birthday celebration.) We had a dandy time, indeed.

In addition to partying with the rock star, we met the infamous Barber Brothers, three guys from Ohio. The craziest Barber by far, is the one they call "Dave," seen at left between me and CNHW. (Note: None of us is as gay as we look in the pic. Not that there's anything wrong with that.) It was, in fact, Dave who sent these photos of the festivities. Thanks, Dave!

If you like music that is fun to listen to and does not suck, I recommend checking out Old 97s older stuff, and their new album, too. Rhett played a few songs from the new album last Saturday and they were the exact opposite of terrible.

My secret hope is that they'll let me join them on stage someday to sing lead vocals on one of their old standards. I used to be the front man for a band in the 80s and still sing songs in my comedy shows. I still haven't lost it – in fact, I'm a better singer than even Rhett. Ask anyone.

Pee Wee, CHNW, 'n' Me

A few months ago, CHNW and I were at a fundraiser party thing in Los Angeles (note the dopey nametags) and came across Paul Reubens in the crowd. I enjoy seeing celebrities as much as anyone, but I don't usually hound them for autographs or photos. However, I'm a HUGE fan of Pee-wee Herman, so I had to get my picture taken with him. It was a big day for me and I rushed home and emailed the pic to my two adult daughters, who were green with envy.

This was also a big day for CHNW, who was not only a big fan of Reubens but grew up in Sarasota just as Paul had, though a couple of decades later. In her excitement (and CNHW can get very excited) she immediately mentioned that a girl she grew up with was the daughter of a good friend of Reubens at Sarasota High School. As the words escaped her mouth, we all remembered that Sarasota was also where he was arrested, and all in attendance were flooded with feelings of weirdness. I'm sure Paul is over it by now, but it remains for me a dark period in history, as one of the most brilliant comic characters in entertainment came to an end. Paul is still acting, of course, and doing a fine job. But I'd kill to hear that Pee-wee laugh again.

Meeting celebrities is often a double-edged sword. If the celeb isn't nice, it can ruin your perception of them forever, thus rendering certain movies, TV shows, music, etc. too irritating to enjoy. (That happened to me with Jimi Hendrix. I saw him once while hallucinating during a high fever and he was gratuitously unkind. I cannot listen to Purple Haze now without tearing up.) Paul Reubens was not rude, however. He was friendly and put up with our photos like a champ, but as soon as he walked away and I had a chance to look at the photo, I realized that Pee-wee Herman is taller and has more hair than I do.

Will these random challenges to my self-esteem never end?

Me and Bill Maher

As you can see from the picture, Bill Maher and I are close. Really close. Less than two feet away. If you're jealous, I don't blame you. Being BFF with Bill is a dream come true for so many Americans and I just feel so darned fortunate to be the one he chose. Can life get any better?

Maybe, but it could also get a lot worse. Like if Bill Maher saw this post and demanded I remove it because I lied about being his BFF. That would be worse.

So I'll come clean. My Crazy Half-Nekked Wife and I were at the annual Humane Society's Genesis Awards last weekend in Beverly Hills and sat next to Maher at our banquet table. It was just as exciting as you might imagine, but without the excitement.

We're big fans of his, but in a situation like this, in order to be cool you have to act like you're not. Even saying "big fan, Bill" seems kind of cheesy. Like something a Rush Limbaugh listener from Topeka would do if he met that pumpkin-headed, lying blowhard just before he raised his shirt up and asked him to sign his beer gut. So you try to make casual conversation and pretend to be interested in other people at the table, too. Our table was actually pretty cool, (thanks to Karen Dawn, author of the soon-to-be-published "Thanking the Monkey") so it was easy to do, but I didn't find a way to gracefully tell him I think his show is genius. And I didn't find a casual way to explain that I think his imput is essential to political awareness in America. And I wasn't able to mention that I'd let him spend the weekend with my Crazy Half-Nekked Wife if he'd invite me to be a guest on his show. And what a terrific guest I'd make, don't you agree?

I'm far above asking my friends and readers to write in to Real Time With Bill Maher (http://www.hbo.com/corpinfo/faq.shtml)and ask them to consider me as a guest, but if they did, boy, that would be a special thing that I would remember for as long as I could.

Lots of cool celebs are animal rights folks and many were in attendance that night, as they are every year. Among those I've met at Genesis Awards shows are Alicia Silverstone, Daryl Hannah, James Cromwell, Persia White("Girlfriends"), Debra Skelton (Debra Wilson of "Mad TV"), Loretta Swit, Alec Baldwin, Ed Asner, Ed Begley Jr., Elayne Boosler, Tippi Hedren, Rue McClanahan, Mary Tyler Moore, Ally Sheedy, Heather Mills, Linda Blair, Emil Deschanel ("Bones"), Steve Valentine ("Crossing Jordan"), Rory Freedman (author of "Skinny Bitch," good friend of mine and CHNWife, and total babe!), Kyle MacLachlan, Ben Stein, Nellie McKay, Carol Leifer, Hayden Panettiere ("Heroes") and some others I can't remember right now. It's a great party every year! Here's more info if you care: http://www.hsus.org/about_us/offices_and_affiliates/hsus_hollywood_office/the_genesis_awards/22nd-genesis-awards/


King of the after-party dancefloor busts a move with Rory Freedman. (I told you she's a babe!)

Where was Crazy Half-Nekked Wife while I was booty shaking with Rory? Dirty dancing with Bob Zmuda, of Andy Kaufman fame. Not all vegans are buzzkills, my peeps.

Phony Wedding, Real Marriage

I’ve been away from the blogometer for quite a while and for good reason. The Crazy Half-Nekked Wife and I journeyed across the continent of our birth to the West Coast where comedy, chaos and cocktails ensued.

First stop, San Francisco. My comedy shows at the Purple Onion were both sellouts -–ticket-wise, not content-wise– and Johnny Steele was brilliant. Only an idiot would follow that guy on stage but I was up to the task.

Did another show the next night at a vegan medical conference up in Santa Rosa and met some terrific folks. It’s always fun to chat with people who don’t have shreds of dead animal carcasses dangling from their teeth. (insert smiley face with wink here)

I also signed books at WonderCon, a comics convention in SF that same weekend. Here is a shot of me with Stormtrooper Elvis, a foreshadowing of things to come later in this blog. Just like a Bergman film.



After such a far out weekend of grooviness, we unwound by hiking in Marin County with a group of friends and followed it with some hot tubbing and a massage. Go here for a short video of our friend Anne and me enjoying our hike.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4OEm5k7Om4

It was an extremely pleasurable day with the exception of the hot tub. Anne's boyfriend, Nemo, for reasons yet to be determined by local law enforcement officals, assaulted our eyes with a tiny, black, shiny strip of fabric stretched across his reproductive organ. He called it a bathing suit. We called it the recurring centerpiece of future nightmares.

While in SF, we also went to the studio of my good friend and eminent Rock & Roll photographer, Pat Johnson, for some new publicity shots. He’s the coolest daddio who ever stroked a goatee and we always have fun at his place. Here’s one of the shots he took. In my mind, I’m BB King.



From SF, we flew like naked apes strapped inside a metal tube to Las Vegas for a reenactment of our wedding of six years ago, when I surprised Ashley and a few of her family members with a wedding by an Elvis impersonator. (Yes, I am a classy dude.) Since so few friends or family were at the original shindig, we decided to throw the whole dang thing again. Here’s the pic the chapel provides for only a huge amount of money. Incidentally, there is something funky about the color here. In real life, Ashley's hair is approximately 100% less red than this.



Simultaneously hysterical and touching, the wedding etched its image in the minds of all in attendance for who knows how long. At least until they got wasted at the after party.

Vegas is one of those places that you can’t believe exists outside of the Old Testament, just moments before God obliterates it with a flaming tower of vengeance. But that’s not why I like it. Even though I don’t gamble, it’s one of the last places on earth where you can walk around with a cocktail in your hand and smoke cigars indoors. It’s the little things in life that make me smile.

Here is a shot of me and my good friend, Lance hanging out in a casino. He’s a porn star or something, I think.



Here is a shot of my wife, Ashley, and her bevy of hot babe friends. I'm never too busy for a trip to the beach with her and her gal pals.



I hope you enjoyed this tour of my memory of the last two weeks. Another installment in a week or so.
Smooches.

Refugees Unite!

Badly designed, impossible to navigate, ugly, loud, depressing, reeking of death. How did this beast that is eating the fabric of our civilization and puking it up on the shoes of our future achieve such popularity? I might be talking about the Bush War, but in this case I'm referring to MySpace.

I had a blog on MySpace for a while and it made my colon throb. And not in a good way. So, at the helpful advice of many of you, my readers, I abandoned it like the religion I was raised in and moved over to Blogger. I pray to the multitude of gods I no longer believe in (proud atheist) that it treats me – and you – well.

The groovy photo below is of me the night I met Dennis Kucinich and his wife, Elizabeth. I am a fan of his philosophies and politics and was thrilled to discover he has been a fan of my cartoons. (We're both ethical vegans) He's very charming and affable and I gave him one of my new books. I always pull a wagon full of books behind me in case I meet someone I admire.

More in a week or so. Hope you like the new blog and please tell your friends, family, and enemies all about it!
Smooches,
Dan