Last night I had the honor and privilege of providing the opening 15 minutes of comedy at a fantastic show put on by Steve Simeone and Pauly Shore. Yes, that Pauly Shore. I would like to put it on the record that Steve Simeone ripped the room in half for twenty-five straight minutes with his hilariously retold stories of his childhood growing up in the 80's and 90's (when Pauly Shore was famous.)

I would also like to put it on the record that Pauly Shore was two hundred times funnier than I thought he would be. Also, afterwards he was actually very gracious and cool to the hundreds of folks that waited after the show to take pictures with him.

But I wanted to focus this blog entry on how last night defined for me how I realized that I had "finally made it in comedy."

Afterwards, the line of people to get autographs from the Weeeaaazuul was pretty long. The Clarion Hotel wasn't perfectly equipped to handle the "Paulasteria" that broke out after the show. Never fear, Comedian Marty Simpson is here! As chaos was breaking lose in the building, I decided it would make sense to have one central person taking photographs. I offered this to Mr. Shore at the beginning of the madness and he just looked at me like I was a leper who wasn't buying a T-Shirt and he brushed me off. Then I think Steve Simeone whispered to him, "He's our opener from tonight... he's okay..." To which Mr. Shore promptly responded, "Hey, opener dude, yeah, you, the tall bald dude, you take the pictures."

The Weasel with his megaphone.

Then the Weasel shouted into the megaphone, which was mysteriously at his table, for everyone to form a line and give their cameras to "Opener Dude" so he could take their pictures. I have never been more honored to serve my community than last night when I got to do it alongside the pride of 1992, Pauly Shore.

I am guessing this women wished she had paid closer attention while her picture was being taken.

It was a pleasure meeting the talented, Steve Simeone. I would say it was an honor to meet Mr. Shore, but technically I never got a chance to meet him. I did, however, take a few hundred pictures of him with other people's phones! I also earned the nick-name, "Opener dude," which everyone started calling me.

And that's when you know you've made it in comedy! When you are the guy who the headliner trusts enough to take the pictures of his fans you know you have officially made it in comedy. I am happy to finally realize my dream.