Curt Fletcher Blog

15 Years of Comedy: A Kidney Stone and a Wedding

2016-08-09T13:24:00.001-07:00

August 5, 2016, marked my 15th year as a comedian. Thinking back over the years, I've performed at some pretty unique/weird places (a ditch in Albuquerque, a barn that was turned into a bar in Hill City, SD, a campground in Northern Wisconsin, and Nebraska) some of the biggest comedy clubs (Comedy Works-Denver, Improv-Denver, Improv-Houston, Improv-Tempe, Funny Bone-Des Moines, Hyenas-Dallas, etc.), and I've even worked with some of the biggest names (Kyle Kinane, Jim Norton, Harland Williams, Brian Posehn, T.J. Miller) in the business.

In March, I received an email from some wedding planners asking if I would be available to perform at a wedding in Santa Fe in August. It took me a few hours to respond, unsure if I should take the gig or not. But, I'm a comedian, and rarely turn down gigs. It's how I make my living. So, I emailed back and said that I would be available. At first, I thought, it was probably someone I knew, so I asked who the couple was. They told me that it was a couple from California, and they saw my video online and really liked it. That made me even more nervous. Performing at someone's wedding, one of the biggest days of their lives, and not knowing anybody at all at the wedding, I was nervous as soon as I said yes to the gig. Luckily, I had several months to prepare.

From April-July, I talked on the phone with the bride, Emily, who was very friendly, and you could tell she had a great personality and a good sense of humor just communicating with her on the phone. She provided a lot of information about her and Alan, so I would have enough material to roast them before doing my set. So, I began the writing process.

July 21-23 I was scheduled to perform at Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle in Royal Oak, Michigan. I was supposed to be at Snickerz in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the week prior, but it shut down, so it screwed my routing up a bit. I drove all the way to Detroit from Albuquerque, giving myself a couple of days to get there, stopping in Oklahoma City and Memphis, to visit some friends and do some comedy along the way. I had a blast in both cities! I really like the comedy scene in OKC, everyone is so friendly there. And they have a lot of great comics. I also got to see my old friend, Stan Silliman, it's always nice running into him. In Memphis, I got to hang out with my friend, Hillary, who played my daughter in a movie we filmed in June, called Cloud Gamez: The Road to the Chronathalon. She played my daughter, even though, she's a couple years older than me. That's how great of an actor I am, folks.

I left Memphis pretty early on Thursday, luckily, I didn't realize that Detroit was in the Eastern Time Zone. It was about an 11 hour drive, but I got to drive through a bunch of places I had never been before. It made me realize how much shittier it is being a road comic living in the western part of the US. In those 11 hours I drove through Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati, Dayton, and Toledo. All cities with comedy clubs. The drive was very enjoyable, minus the road construction in Ohio.

There wasn't much time to get ready for my show, so I took a quick shower at the hotel and then headed down to the club. As soon as I got there, I met the manager, Bill, who was super friendly. And, of course, I got to see my old friend, Nathan Timmel, who was headlining. I've known Nathan for about a decade, we worked together at Laffs Comedy Club in Tucson several years ago, where he and Mike "Big Deal" Merryfield nicknamed me, Stabby McKillahoe, because I was reading "Catcher in the Rye," and watching tv shows about serial killers all weekend. It was nice knowing that I would be working with Nathan for the weekend. It was my first time ever working the club, and it's a little nerve-wracking working at a new club for the first time. That definitely helped ease the situation. Had a really fun show the first night, and Bill seemed to really like me a lot. The opener, Tonya Murray, a local, was super funny, too, and very friendly.

Friday morning, Nathan took me to lunch at Panera Bread, the first time I ever ate there was with him in Colorado Springs. During lunch I started getting a really sharp pain in my abdomen, and it wouldn't go away. I decided to leave and go back to my hotel to see if the pain would go away. It wasn't going away and I was nervous that it might have been appendicitis, so I decided to go to the ER. It was already 4:30 by the time they were checking my vitals, so I knew I was going to have to miss the show that night. Nathan was cool enough to talk to the club for me while I was in the ER and they found someone to fill in for me. I was at the hospital until almost midnight. Luckily, it wasn't appendicitis, it was a kidney stone. The doctor told me it was the size of a grain of sand. It's crazy how something that small can cause so much pain. Also, while I was waiting around in the hospital bed, I decided to google Jack Kevorkian, because I knew he was from Detroit (hence the name, Stabby McKillahoe), and it turns out that he died at the same hospital that I was at.

When I arrived at the club the next day, the staff was very friendly, everyone asked how I was and they really made me feel very comfortable. It quickly became one of my favorite clubs that I have ever worked at. They even paid me for the show I missed, I was contacted by them a few days after I had left, and they wanted to send me a check, I was blown away. Not many clubs would do that. I got to meet the owner, Mark, also, very nice guy. We had a couple of great shows on Saturday night. Nathan talked me in to driving to Iowa that night, he was heading home, he lives near Cedar Rapids, and I was heading to Ankeny to stay with my cousin, Devon, for a couple of days. I had a hard time staying awake and was still experiencing some pain, so I ended up sleeping in my car for a couple of hours. I got to Ankeny around noon on Sunday and slept while my cousin was at work. When I woke up I was going through some of my stuff and realized that I was missing a few things: my favorite Iowa Hawkeyes basketball shorts...and a joke notebook. The notebook had all of my roast jokes that I had written for the wedding, along with some new material that I had been working on. Luckily, all of my new jokes were saved on my phone, but the wedding stuff I hadn't copied down anywhere. I had to start over.

So, from that time, up until the wedding, I was freaking out a little bit. I wanted to be very prepared for this since it was such a big occasion. I woke up on August 6th, super nervous. I remember being pretty nervous when I got to open for Jim Norton, but definitely not as nervous as this. And then, of course, I had some abdominal pain to go along with the nervousness. I'm not sure if it had to do with my kidney stone or if was just me stressing myself out even more. I took some pain pills and that helped a little bit. I went and picked up my friend, Niki Mangin. She went to the wedding with me, she loves weddings. She was crying almost the whole time, then we got to the wedding. Haha, just kidding. She did cry a lot at the wedding though. We sat with some friends of Emily's at the wedding, and they were all very friendly. As soon we got to the venue, all of my nerves went away. It was such a beautiful ceremony, and it was a lot of fun. I could tell that the couple definitely had a great sense of humor during their wedding vows.

I took the mic at 9:30, they introduced me as the next "toaster." So, everyone just thought I was going to go up and give a quick toast. That's when I roasted Emily and Alan, or "Marjorie and Albert," as I called them. The crowd was very receptive to the roast portion of my set, I had no idea how it would go. Especially, not knowing anyone there, and roasting people who I had never met before. It was difficult, but I just went up there and had fun, and it went well. I roasted them for about 10 minutes before going into my material. I was so relieved when my set was done! I had such a great time, and several people talked to me afterwards and said that they really enjoyed it. And the wedding planners, Liz and Krissie, were great. They did an amazing job with the wedding.

Thanks to Alan and Emily, and I wish them and their new family many years of happiness and laughter. Thank you for an amazing experience.

UPCOMING GIGS
AUGUST 18 CAREFREE, ARIZONA
AUGUST 19-21 LAUGHLIN, NEVADA - EDGEWATER CASINO
AUGUST 22 PINETOP, ARIZONA - HONDAH CASINO
AUGUST 26 BURBANK, CALIFORNIA
AUGUST 29 BOULDER CITY, NEVADA - BACKDROP SPORTS PUB
SEPTEMBER 16-17 SHAKOPEE, MINNESOTA - DANGERFIELDS W/MARC YAFFEE
OCTOBER 5 COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO - LOONEES COMEDY CORNER
OCTOBER 6 DENVER, COLORADO - SUSHI HAI
OCTOBER 19 TAOS, NEW MEXICO - MESA BREWING
NOVEMBER 3-5 PLANO, TEXAS - HYENAS
NOVEMBER 10-12 FORT WORTH, TEXAS - HYENAS
NOVEMBER 17-19 DALLAS, TEXAS - HYENAS
DECEMBER 8-11 DENVER, COLORADO - IMPROV

14 Years of Comedy

2015-08-05T12:47:00.001-07:00

So today marks my 14th year of doing stand-up comedy! The dream started in 1984, when I was just four and I've always enjoyed making people laugh. I still remember making Katy Malloy spit milk out of her nose in kindergarten. When I was 21, that's when I decided to give it a shot. I was working at Pizza Hut on the westside of Albuquerque, where I met a lot of my closest friends. Nate Tramontina was the one who really pushed me into doing it. He was probably only 18 at the time and he said something like, "quit talking about it and actually do it." The night that I really got serious about it was when we had a big party at our house. I was living with Nate Guyre and Larry Campbell. Nate Tramontina's band, AnesthesiA, was playing and we had probably about 75 people at the house. It was pretty noisy, and the cops ended up showing up. Luckily no one got in trouble, but the band had to quit playing. Everyone ended up leaving, but about half hour later all of our closest friends ended up back at the house. Someone convinced me to hop up on the microphone and start telling some jokes.

I hadn't really started writing any material up to that point, and I was probably too hammered to remember it anyway, so I got up on the microphone and just started talking some shit. I don't remember anything I said, but I remember just roasting everyone basically and getting a lot of laughs. That's when I knew that I could give it a try. I did some research on the local comedy club, Laffs. They held their open mic the first Sunday of every month, so I picked August. I gave myself about four months to prepare five minutes of material. I talked to my good friend from Iowa, Matt Evans. Matt was and is one of the funniest people I've ever met in my life. I asked him if he had any ideas for jokes, I had no idea how to write a joke. So, Matt would send me joke ideas and some bits that he came up with. Most of them were kind of long, and I wasn't comfortable telling longer bits. When I wrote my own stuff it ended up being a lot of one-liners and shorter jokes. I did try some of Matt's jokes out, they were funny, but didn't really fit with the style that I wanted to do. I ended up using some of the funny lines and just shortening the bits. Matt finally got to see me perform a few years ago in Fort Dodge, Iowa. If it wasn't for him I would have had a really difficult time getting started.

My good friend, Dennis Verrall, was very helpful, too. He gave me some jokes that he had written, when I was first kinda starting out, too. I'm such a hack! I finally talked Dennis into doing stand up several years later. He only did a handful of shows, but I got him gigs in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and South Dakota. Not bad for someone who probably only performed like 10-15 times. I think if he really tried he would be really good at it. He's a talented sumbitch.

I started to become a regular at Laffs pretty quickly. The owner of Laffs, Russ Rivas, was very helpful and took a lot of time working with me and helping me get better. As I got to know him more when I worked at the club, I realized that he never did that, so I appreciated it years later. I know there are a lot of people who don't like Russ, but he really took me under his wing and made me into the comedian that I am today, and I am very grateful.

Don Morgan was another guy who helped me out a lot. I met him in Denver just shortly before I moved back to Albuquerque a few years back. We kept in touch and I ended up living with him in Denver for a few months after my divorce. He was very helpful, he's a good friend. And he's super funny, I love traveling with him. We got to spend a few days in Iowa performing and hanging out with my family and had a blast! My family really enjoyed him, too. Especially since he made fun of uncle Melvin! I think Don will do some great things in comedy, too, he's very sharp and likable.

My good buddy and writing partner, Marc Shuter, has always been a huge inspiration throughout my career as well. I was pretty bummed when he quit doing stand up, he was always one of my favorites to watch. We started writing a script a couple of years ago and we're pretty happy with it right now, can't wait for everyone to see it! Marc's a talented fella and I think he has a bright future in writing.

The past 14 years have had so many ups and downs, but I really love the lifestyle. I have met so many people and I've had an opportunity to travel all over the country and see some really beautiful things. I have performed in 24 different states, in December I'm performing in Utah, that will put me at 25! I have done over 1,300 shows and I've performed at some of the best venues in the country. I've even got to share the stage with Jim Norton, Brian Poshen, Josh Blue, John Caponera, T.J. Miller, Theo Von, Dante, Jackie Kashian, Harland Williams, Dan Soder, Ben Kronberg, Steven Michael Quezada, Michael Malone, Robert Hawkins, Carl LaBove, Troy Baxley and Chad Daniels. I've made so many great friends in this business, too.

Unfortunately, I've lost some good friends along the way, too. My good friend, Dave Ashley, died earlier this year and that broke my heart. I find myself thinking about him a lot, he was a great guy. We hit it off right away when I met him in Tulsa. I feel so awful for his wife, Beth, who was one of the nicest comedy club managers I've ever met. Dave always wanted me to go visit them in Jacksonville and I never got the opportunity. Some other great comedian friends who have passed: Lori Callahan, Jimmy Wiggins, Scott Kennedy and Kelly Moran. I know there are definitely others, but those are the ones who came to mind right away. It's definitely a tough lifestyle being out on the road away from family, but it's what we do.

My first week as a professional comedian at Laffs in Albuquerque with Lonnie Bruhn and Jason Russell.

Marquee in McAllen, Texas - Cine El Rey Theater.

Me and Jack Bullard outside of Loonees in Colorado Springs.

Sold out show at The Box in Albuquerque. Maybe I should finish my DVD soon.

My first writing credit! The AVN Awards on Showtime.

TV promo for The After After Party.

The Des Moines Funny Bone with Johnny Beehner and Dwayne Perkins.

Me, Marc Shuter and Matt Peterson in Angelfire, NM.

Me, Theo Von and a fat trucker named, Chris, at the Loony Bin in Oklahoma City.

Brian Posehn show in Albuquerque at the Envy Nightclub!

Me, Robert Hawkins, Carey Cool Tripp, Butch Lord and Josh Blue at Hyenas in Fort Worth.

Me, Josh Blue and Adrian Lara at Hyenas in Dallas.

Me, Mark Poolos and Johnny Beehner in Atlanta.

I'm on TV! The Morning Brew with host Dan "I love to wear scarves" Mayfield.

Envy Nightclub in Albuquerque with Niki Mangin and Steven Michael Quezada.

Sarah Kennedy, me and Jim Norton at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque.

TV again! The Duke City Comedy League.

TV once more! The After After Party with Steven Michael Quezada.

Vinny Oshana, Matt Peterson and me at Loonees in Colorado Springs.

Dante, Jay Dee and me at the Tulsa Loony Bin.

My cousin, Devon Green, Don Morgan and me at Patty's Pub in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Where I've Been the Last 70 Days

2015-04-22T13:16:00.001-07:00

My last blog was in January about moving away from Albuquerque, this one is basically about me moving again, this time back to Albuquerque and to Los Angeles. On February 10th I packed up the moving van (hopped on a Greyhound with hardly any of my shit), and hit the road for Denver! My good friend and comic, Don Morgan, was super helpful with my move to Denver. I was only in Denver for a day before I hit the road with Dave Testroet. The first night of our Tribble Run was spent in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, checking out the Grand Tetons.

2/12 Idaho Falls, Idaho - The Peppertree Lounge (feature)
This was the first gig of the week, and I had done the show before. This place is pretty notorious for being a "shit gig" for comics, but I actually did pretty well my first time there five years prior. This show got started pretty late, but I did pretty well in the feature spot, it seems like it's always a little rougher for the headliner. People start to trickle in to the bar not realizing there is a comedy show going on and they just started talking louder and louder as the night goes on.

2/13 Billings, Idaho - The R-Club (feature)
I had a cold, so, of course, I lost the hearing in my left ear. I know it probably doesn't sound like a big deal, but when you're a comic you definitely need to be able to hear what these yokels are saying. Needless to say, it wasn't a fun gig for me, my timing was off, it was a strange show.

2/14 Miles City, Montana - The Trails Inn (feature)
Hey, good news, I could hear out of my left ear again! Bad news, couldn't hear out of my right ear. This show went a lot better than the Billings show, especially once they turned the microphone up. I really liked the people that I met at this show, a lot of cool folks in this town.

2/18 Denver, Colorado - Blush & Blu
Back in Denver and I had the pleasure of performing at Blush & Blu, a pretty cool little bar on Colfax. Had a nice little 10 minute set and then had to head over the Deer Pile for Too Much Fun.

2/18 Denver, Colorado - The Deer Pile (headline)

Showed up at the Deer Pile and the headliner couldn't make it, so they asked me to do it. Had a really fun set, great crowd, a lot of talented comics, too. It's always good to see Sam Tallent, Nathan Lund, Chris Charpentier and Bobby Crane. If any comics pass through Denver on Wednesday night, I would highly recommend trying to get on this show.

2/20 Boulder, Colorado - Amante Coffee (headline)

Got to headline at a little coffee shop in Boulder hosted by Jacob Rupp, who is super funny. It was another fun lineup, had a couple of comics from NY on the show as well. It was a tiny place, but it was pretty packed.

2/26 Indianapolis, Indiana - Morty's Comedy Joint

Flew in to Indianapolis a day early to catch Mike Merryfield at Morty's and ended up getting a guest spot. Unfortunately, it was a pretty light crowd for such a kick ass lineup. Michael Malone popped in for a guest spot, too, and the feature act, Raanan Hershberg was great. I didn't get to see Merryfield do his full show, but it was still fun to see him, he's one of my favorite comics, he also has one of the few podcasts I listen to.

2/27-2/28 Fort Wayne, Indiana - Snickerz Comedy Club (feature)

I had a really fun weekend featuring for Alex Ortiz at Snickerz in Fort Wayne. I hadn't been to the club in over 5 years, so it was nice to get back there. The crowds were really fun all weekend, and Alex was really nice to work with. I ended up getting snowed in and had some travel issues getting to Iowa. Someone tried to commit suicide at the Greyhound station in Indianapolis and then I got delayed in Chicago and had to sleep at the bus station.

3/4 Cedar Rapids, Iowa - Penguins Comedy Club

Don Morgan flew in to Iowa and we drove to Cedar Rapids and did the open mic night at Penguins Comedy Club. Had fun checking out Cedar Rapids, I hadn't been there since I was pretty young.

3/5 Cedar Rapids, Iowa - Club Basix

Did another open mic in Cedar Rapids, but spent most of the day in Iowa City walking around the campus, go Hawkeyes! Iowa City is one of my favorite places, it's a cool little college town. It was pretty damn cold that day though. I got to see the hospital where my mom was born, that was pretty rad, it's right across the street from Kinnick Stadium. Also got to have lunch with gay comedian, Nathan Timmel, one of my favorite gays on the planet. The open mic was pretty fun, it was a gay bar, was surprised to not see Timmel there making out with some guys. I did get to hang with Tom Garland a little bit, I met him last year in New Mexico while he was touring with Bill Blank. Super funny guy, check him out.

3/6 Fort Dodge, Iowa - Patty's Pub
Don and I got to Fort Dodge a day early and my cousin, Devon, was able to get me a spot on a show at Patty's Pub. A rockabilly band from Des Moines, Rumble Seat Riot. They were cool enough to let me tell some jokes and promote my show at the Laramar the following night. They were great guys and a lot of fun to watch!

3/7 Fort Dodge, Iowa - Laramar Ballroom (headline)

This was definitely one of the best nights of my life, sharing the stage with my good friend, Don, and getting to perform in front of tons of family and friends. It was a special night and it wouldn't have happened if it weren't for my cousin, Devon. He put in tons of time promoting the shit out of the show and setting up the room. It was cool to see people that I hadn't seen in almost 20 years.

3/10 Denver, Colorado - Comedy Works

Got back in to town and did New Talent Night at Comedy Works with a ton of great comics. I didn't have the best set, started off kind of slow and wasn't very prepared. I ran into a lot of comics I hadn't seen since the last time I was in Denver.

3/11 Denver, Colorado - Improv

I showed up at the club and saw Troy Baxley was there, one of my all time favorite comics! He was one of the first comics I ever opened for at Laffs back in 2003, so I've known Troy for quite awhile. I was excited knowing that Troy was on the show, until I saw the lineup and it had me "headlining" and following Troy. I was only expecting to do a five minute set somewhere on the show, but they had me do seven after Troy, but I had a solid set. It was a lot of fun working with Troy again, too. Also got to see Leslie Henning, who I worked with at Laffs a long time ago as well.

3/13-3/14 Tucson, Arizona - Laffs Comedy Club (feature)

Almost didn't make it to Tucson, but I'm glad I did. I got to work with Vince Morris, who I had never seen before. I saw him handle a heckler better than I've seen anyone handle a heckler, and it lasted for probably 25 minutes. It was pretty magical. The crowds were really amazing for all four shows, and I got to see some friends that I hadn't seen in awhile. Can't wait to go back! Laffs always feels like a home club when I'm there.

3/18-3/21 Colorado Springs, Colorado - Loonees Comedy Corner (feature)

Went up to Loonees a day early to check out the open mic night, they let me close the show so I worked on some new material, some of it went pretty well. The shows went really well, too, I worked with Vincent Oshana, who was a really cool guy and very funny, the crowds loved him. My good friend, Matt Peterson, from Albuquerque, was the mc for the week, too! I love working with Matty. This was also my second time celebrating my birthday at Loonees! Thanks to Erik and Loren and the staff, you guys rock!

3/28 Goodyear, Arizona - Austin's (headline)

Drove out to Phoenix for a show at Austin's, which is a cool sports bar in Goodyear. They block off one of the sides of the bar for the comedy show, which was really nice, it was a good set up for a show. The crowd was a little older, but I had a really good time. Also had a couple Albuquerque comics on the lineup, Mikey Mayes and Keith Breckenridge.

4/1 Mescalero, New Mexico - Inn of the Mountain Gods (feature)

This show was a lot of fun, I always enjoy going down to Mescalero, it's a nice little drive less than four hours away from Albuquerque. The hotel is gorgeous, too. The crowds are sometimes a little light, but we had a nice crowd for this show. Waylon Wilcox was doing his first comedy set and brought a lot of people. He hit me up on Facebook probably a month before the show and told me he was going to do his first set. It's always exciting to see comics do their first sets, it always reminds me of my first time ever going on stage. He did a nice job for his first time, had good stage presence. The headliner was Dom Pare from Canada, he's super funny and a really nice guy. He also has a cool mustache.

4/2 Bernalillo, New Mexico - The Stage (feature)

Here's another show I was looking forward to for quite awhile. It was nice being back in the Albuquerque area, I was able to get a lot of friends to the show. Matt Peterson opened the show, too, and killed it! It was my first time featuring at The Stage and it was a blast! Definitely my favorite show that I have done there. Dom Pare headlined the show and we got to hang out a lot afterwards, I hope to work with him again sometime. Thanks to everyone for coming out to the show! I did get some pretty terrible news after the show, I found out that a good friend of mine, Dave Ashley, died. I was hoping it was a bad April Fool's Joke, but sadly it wasn't. I'll miss you, buddy, you were one of the good ones and way too young. You'll always have a special place in my heart, Dave.

4/3 Albuquerque, New Mexico - Comedian's Power Hour

This show was pretty insane, it was a comedy/drinking contest against my ex-wife. We also got to team up with comics from LA, I was paired with Jeff May, and she was teamed up with Adam Tod Brown. I really liked both of those guys and hope to catch their shows sometime. I ended up losing in a sudden death round, but I had a lot of fun. The crowd was pretty insane! Genevieve Mueller and Drew Wayne run a damn fun show.

4/4 Albuquerque, New Mexico - Cool Water Fusion (headline)

I did the Potential Problems Podcast earlier in the day with John Cuellar, Allen Clark, Nick Sitterly and Lucas CorVatta. You can watch the episode here. The show at Cool Water was a lot of fun, I've always had fun sets there. The crowd was pretty small, but they were there to laugh, which was nice. Danger Varoz, Jessica Osbourne and Lucas CorVatta were also on the show.

4/10 Brewster, Minnesota - Brewster Legion Hall (headline)

I wasn't sure what to expect with this show, my friend, Roger Peterson, set the show up. It was in his hometown, so he brought in a good crowd. I think we had about 80 people at the show, not bad for a town of less than 500 people! I guess I should explain the picture of that guy in the bathroom. I walked off stage and went in to the bathroom and took a picture of him just after he got done taking a pee.

4/11 Anoka, Minnesota - Legion Hall (headline)

It was Roger's birthday, so he put this show together. It was kind of a strange crowd, but I had a blast. I got to see an old friend from high school and met her husband and her friend. They seemed to really enjoy the show. You know who didn't enjoy the show? The old man sitting in the front, the only time he cracked a little bit of a smile was when I told a racist joke. Jon Stambaugh opened the show for us, he was really funny and super nice. He was also a foot taller than me. Roger did his set as Rodney Dangerfield, which is always entertaining.

4/15 Denver, Colorado - Improv

I was fortunate enough to do another set at the Improv, this time it was a five minute set and I didn't have to follow Baxley. It was another great lineup, I really like this club. And they asked me to feature the two Saturday shows, too, so I decided to stay in town for a few extra nights.

4/16 Denver, Colorado - Sushi Hai

I was supposed to do this show on the 23rd, but Jon asked me to do this one since I was heading back to Albuquerque. I was pretty surprised how big the crowd was when I walked in, it didn't look like it was that big of a place, but when you walk in there's a lot of people. Chuck Roy headlined, too, I hadn't seen him in a few years.

4/18 Denver, Colorado - Improv (feature)
This night was a lot of fun, I got to work with Chuck Roy again, and the headliner was The Ragin Cajun, John Morgan, one of the nicest headliners I have ever met. Chuck is a great mc, too, I had never really talked to him before until that night. He gave me some great advice and it really helped from the first show to the later show. It's amazing how much you can still learn about comedy after so many years of doing it. Thanks to the Improv for having me on the shows! I got to see Ron Ferguson, too, I hadn't seen him in quite awhile.

So, after traveling over 12,000 miles, doing 40 shows in 70 days, being delayed 15 hours by Greyhound, and performing with comics like Mike Merryfield, Michael Malone, Alex Ortiz, Troy Baxley, Vince Morris, Vinny Oshana, Dom Pare, Chuck Roy, John Morgan, and several other fantastic comics, I find myself back in Albuquerque for a couple of months before the big move to Los Angeles! I probably won't be doing much comedy around Albuquerque, Marc Shuter and I are going to start working on a new script. We just found out that our other script, "The Consequences of a Feeble Mind," has been selected as a quarterfinalist in the Write Movies Contest, we made the top 60 out of 1,000 scripts! Thanks to everyone who let me crash at their place or gave me rides to bus stations, airports and gigs, especially, Don Morgan!

2015 - Leaving Albuquerque

2015-01-26T13:28:00.001-08:00

One month of 2015 is already almost in the books and I have only a couple of short weeks left in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Albuquerque will always hold a special place in my heart as it's the city that I truly "grew up" in (even though I'm still not fully grown up). I have a million memories here, I have family here, and some of the best friends I will ever know. If it weren't for some of my friends, I probably would have been to scared to ever step foot on stage at Laffs Comedy Club in 2001. Here's a blog about my first show.

So many great people in Albuquerque made a big impact on my life. My buddies from AnesthesiA were a huge influence and they offered me a lot of stage time early on in my comedy career. I would often tell jokes as they set up their equipment. Those guys have really come a long way since I first met them, they went from playing shows in my den, to opening for several of the top metal bands that came through town. They even snagged a record deal with Suburban Noize Records and their new cd will be released February 28th, so go to the show! Unfortunately, I will be out of town and won't be able to catch it. I got to perform at their first cd release party and their ten-year anniversary show.

In 2002, I met a new comic in Albuquerque, Marc Shuter. He was just 16 when he started coming to Laffs and doing stand-up. He had some really clever one liners, but he used a Steven Wright joke and I didn't like him at first. And a lot of jokes were about pooping and farting, so I wasn't a fan right away. He grew on me after awhile and we started hanging out and becoming writing partners. Marc was featuring in comedy clubs by the time he was 21 and his cd was being played on XM radio. He decided to quit doing stand-up, but got involved in screen writing. He wrote and starred in his first film, "The Bigfoot Election," which won best local feature at the Albuquerque Film Festival. It was also selected for the Hollywood Film Festival. You can watch it on iTunes or Amazon, it's super funny and well written! Marc and I teamed up to write, "The Consequences of a Feeble Mind," which took us just over a year with re-writes. We are hoping to film this year, we are both pretty excited about it. I think Marc has a great writing career ahead of him, and I have no problem riding his coattails. Just kidding.

It would probably take an entire month and a box of tissues (crying, not masturbating, perverts) to mention everyone in Albuquerque that has had an impact on my life in one way or another, so I just want to thank everyone for all the kind words, the stage time, and the advice. I'll do my best to make Albuquerque proud! Thank you everyone for being a huge part of my life.

And I suppose I will miss my family, too. My mom, Kyle, Chad, Amy and Dylan, Hunter, and Phoenix, the craziest nephews ever! I love you guys!

Thanks Albuquerque.

Potential Problems Podcast

2014-07-01T19:19:00.001-07:00

For the last couple of months I have been the third host of the Potential Problems Podcast with Allen Clark and John Cuellar. We have had some great guests so far, here are links to all the podcasts that I was on.

Cody Dove, Scotty Goff and Allen Clark

John Cuellar and Rusty Rutherford

9 w/Jacob Breckenridge

10 w/Ann Gora

11 w/Brynn Moody

13 w/Matt Mehne and Nicholas Munoz

14 w/Rusty Rutherford and James Morrow

19 w/Jason Green and Kallie Redhorse

20 w/Royal Wood

26 w/Will Bolt and Pablo Garcia

28 w/Tyler Delao

29 w/Danger K. Varoz and Keith Breckenridge

30 w/Cyrus Moses

32 w/Cody Dove and Scotty Goff

Life and Death

2014-05-05T19:19:00.001-07:00

I haven't blogged in quite awhile, probably this entire year. I have been pretty busy with school and really didn't feel like blogging too much. I have been doing mostly local gigs, including a short-lived show at JB'z Sports Bar, which I was hosting on Saturday nights. The restaurant closed down a couple of weeks ago, but we had some great lineups and the crowd was usually pretty solid. Thanks to everyone who performed and supported the show! I'm now 0 for 2 on promoting shows, the other place I did shows at closed down as well. I think I'll just stick to performing and let everyone else deal with promoting.

I've been a regular guest on the Potential Problems Podcast with Allen Clark and John Cuellar. I have been on there for a little over a month now and it's always fun. We have had some really cool guests on there. Check it out!

As far as shows go, I haven't done many road gigs while focusing on school. The semester ended last week and I did a gig in Angelfire with Matt Peterson and Keith Breckenridge, and then went to Hondah Casino with Freddy Charles. I'm trying to fill up my schedule for the next couple of months before getting a job and finishing my associate's degree!

I've lost a handful of friends in the past half-year also, which has been extremely shitty. In December, two of my friends died. Gabby was a former co-worker at the comedy club, she left behind a young child, which breaks my heart. My friend, Jimmy, from Iowa, also died. He was a good friend of the family.

Earlier this year I learned that Lori Callahan, a comic from Denver, had died. I met Lori probably around 2005, I was doing a guest spot at Laffs in Albuquerque and she was headlining. When I got off stage she came up and complimented me on my joke writing and gave me some pointers, she said, "you know you said 'fuck' 17 times?" That was in a five minute set, I had no idea that I had, so I made it a point to completely cut it out of my act, and I rarely say it onstage now because of her. When I moved to Denver in 2009 she was great to me. She took me on some gigs with her to Douglas, Wyoming, and Hill City, South Dakota. She never made me pay any gas, either, which is super cool of a comic to do. Lori actually talked to Wende Curtis, the owner of Comedy Works about getting me a guest spot. I didn't ask her to do it, she did it because that's how Lori was. I never did get the guest spot, but a very cool gesture by Lori. You will be missed!

Last week, I also found out that my biggest fan, Shawn Chamberlain, passed away. My first time featuring at Laffs in Tucson, Shawn was there to see headliner, Dave Ashley, and he really enjoyed my show. Every time I came to Tucson he bought merch, came to all the shows, and even took me out to eat, knowing that I wasn't making much money, he was willing to help out a little bit. I've kept in touch with his family over the years as his health declined. His family was always great to me and very welcoming.

What's Been Going On

2013-09-18T17:30:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged since the 48 Hour Film Festival, so I thought I would fill my five followers in on what's going on in my life, even though, you probably already know, or you really don't give a shit. My buddy, Marc Shuter, and I, finished up our feature length script that we titled, "The Consequences of a Feeble Mind," Marc actually came up with the title. We started writing on March 24th and finished the first draft in early June. A couple weekends ago we finished the re-writes! It's definitely something that we are pretty proud of and can't wait to get it made. The script was entered in to the Creative World Awards' Screenwriting Competition with the first draft we made it to the preliminary round, not bad. We will find out soon if we make the quarterfinals of the Final Draft Big Break Contest!

On a side note, Marc's pilot for a sitcom he wrote for "Law Show," is kicking some major ass! Not only did he make the top 10 in the Script Pipeline Contest, he also made the semifinals of the CWA TV writing contest, and the NexTV Writing and Pitch contest. He's such a great writer, he's going to big things, and I'm honored to be writing with him. We are starting our next project soon.

As far as comedy goes, I haven't been doing much, I went to El Paso for a week at The Comic Strip with Billy D. Washington, had a great time working with him. I have done some other local stuff here and there, but really focusing on school right now. I do have some great gigs coming up though. I will be headlining the Speakeasy Comedy Lounge in Scottsdale in October, which should be super fun!

This past Sunday I had the pleasure of taping my fourth episode of "The After After Party" with Steven Michael Quezada, who you might recognize as Gomez from "Breaking Bad." (R.I.P. Gomie) I love the crew at TAAP, everyone is super friendly and they work their butts off to put on a great show! And they just announced that they signed a deal with DirecTV, which means the show is going national! So every single person that's been on there and will be on there could be seen by up to 50 million viewers! Not a bad deal, congrats to the cast and crew! You guys deserve it.

Colorado Tour and Pinetop, AZ

2013-05-15T13:40:00.001-07:00

MAY 2-4 COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO: LOONEES COMEDY CORNER W/MATT PETERSON AND LANDRY

Had a fun week at Loonees in Colorado Springs! Matt Peterson was our opening act for the week. It was nice getting him some stage time at a comedy club, he did a great job! Had fun with him. Landry was the headliner for the week, I had met him before in Las Vegas and Atlanta at a couple comedy festivals. He won the World Series of Comedy, super funny guy and really nice, too. It was nice hanging out with the Loonees crew.

MAY 3 DENVER, COLORADO: COMIC CENTS RADIO W/JESSE CARTER, JODEE CHAMPTION, JOHN T. WREN AND ANDREW ORVEDAHL

Friday I cruised up to Denver for an hour on Comic Cents Radio, you can check it out here. It was fun shooting the shit with Jesse and Jodee, Andrew Orvedahl popped in a little late.

MAY 6 FORT COLLINS, COLORADO: EAST COAST BAR W/BRETT CRANDALL, BEN ADAMS, STEVE YOUNG

Had a show at the East Coast Bar in Fort Collins! Steve Young headlined, it was nice seeing Steve again, he was always one of my favorite guys in the Denver scene, super nice guy and funny. I had never seen Ben Adams before, but he was hilarious! Brett was a great host, too, another super nice guy as well. They had some burlesque dancers on the show as well, which is always pretty rad. Met some cool people up there. Had a solid 10 minute set!

MAY 8 DENVER, COLORADO: DEER PILE W/CHRISTIE BUCHELE, BOBBY CRANE, NATHAN LUND, DR. KEVIN FITZGERALD, SAM TALLENT, A.J. FINNEY AND CHRIS CHARPENTIER

Wednesday night I went to Comedy Works downtown to see Troy Baxley headline, he's one of my favorites! It was an awesome show, got to see Stephanie McHugh, Phil Palisoul and George McClure also.

Afterwards, I walked over to the Deer Pile for the show with the Fine Gentlemen's Club show, Too Much Fun. Christie Buchele, Bobby Crane, Nathan Lund, Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald, Sam Tallent, A.J. Finney and Chris Charpentier were all on the show, too! Holy shit, what a great lineup. Had a fun set, a little edgier than normal! Tried some new shit that did great, too.

MAY 9 DENVER, COLORADO: VOODOO COMEDY PLAYHOUSE W/AMBER HOTT, CHRIS CARLTON, BRENDAN BIRCH AND ULTRA SEX LASERS

This was another fantastic show at a little improv theatre in Denver. Fun crowd, really enjoyed the show, and the band, Ultra Sex Lasers were really cool! Got to see some old friends, too.

MAY 10-11 GREELEY, COLORADO: THE DOWN UNDER COMEDY CLUB W/JASON "MUTT" RODGERS, J-SIN NOVAK, AND DON MORGAN

The Down Under in Greeley is a super cool little comedy club in Northern Colorado. I loved both of the shows there! First night we had about 25, but the crowd was solid. Saturday we had over 50 and they were great! Such a fun weekend, and Don Morgan rocked it! It was nice to see him do a feature set. Love that dude.

MAY 13 PINETOP, ARIZONA: HONDAH CASINO W/KEITH ELLIS

I drove out to Pinetop for the show at Hondah. Keith Ellis was the feature act, funny guy from Phoenix! Had a fun time out there.

R.I.P. Scott Kennedy

2013-03-15T08:13:00.000-07:00

As a comic you'll often times run into bitter headliners that think they should have "made it" big, or younger headliners who know they're going to "make it" big. Every time Scott Kennedy came to Laffs he was one of the nicest comics, and one of the funniest. He had a Comedy Central Presents, and numerous other tv credits. Over 50 trips overseas performing for the troops, and never acted like he was better than everyone else. One week he was headlining and Mark Poolos was featuring. The mc for the week was awful! The club owner was going to fire him, but Scott and Mark talked him into not firing him and worked with him on his act the next couple of days and he did a lot better. I thought that was super cool of both of them to do that. How many other comics would have taken the time to help out a struggling mc like that?

I was sitting at the Frontier restaurant a couple weeks ago and one of Scott's jokes popped into my head. It's hard to believe that I will never get to see him again, he died in his sleep yesterday. I have a video somewhere of a prank I pulled on him at Laffs while he was on stage. If I can find it I will make sure to put it up here. Thank you for all that you did Scott, all the shows overseas, and just being a great person. You'll be greatly missed.

If you never got to see Scott perform, check out his performance on the Craig Ferguson.

Matt Peterson

2013-03-02T08:30:00.001-08:00

Today is the birthday of my good friend, Matt Peterson, an Albuquerque comic. I've known Matt since before his comedy days when we worked together at Poppi's Pizza (I miss that place!) Matt was always a super cool guy to work with, in fact, on my final delivery there when my car broke down, Matt came and picked me up and took me on the delivery. It was like something out of a movie. An extremely gay movie, but still, a movie. I got to see Matt perform his first few shows over at Laffs Comedy Club, and I knew he was going to be good. He had a great stage presence, and never seemed nervous. I could usually always tell who the new comics were, mostly because I'd have to clean up their puke in the bathroom at the club. With Matt you could never tell if he was nervous.

Over the years Matt's act has gotten so much better. He's a great bit writer and he's an awesome performer, too. I love watching him get pissed off, his rants are the hilarious! I saw him one night at Howie's rip into some people, not going to mention their names, but holy shit! That was one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life.

I've taken Matt on the road a couple of times, and in May we are going to Loonees Comedy Corner in Colorado Springs! I love working with Matt on the road, he's so laid back. Some comics are hard to work with, but not Matt. Last time I took him up there was my birthday week, we got pretty hammered. We worked with Matt Baetz, who is hilarious. Had great shows all weekend, and had fun watching March Madness.

Happy birthday Matt Peterson! Love ya buddy.

To see Matt perform, he's at the Damn Bar in Rio Rancho ever Friday at 8 pm. Also, a big show at the Guild Theater March 15th. He's also one of my opening acts for my dvd taping, so get out and see Matt perform! He's on at the Box tonight at 10:30

Live DVD taping at the Box!

2013-02-13T18:00:00.000-08:00

I have nailed down a venue for my live dvd taping, it will be Friday May 24th at 10:30 p.m. at the Box in downtown Albuquerque! Tickets are only $10 and they will go on sale next week. Get tickets soon though, it's a small venue. Since the show is 100 days away from tomorrow, I am going to countdown my favorite 100 comics starting tomorrow until the day of the show. So everyday on my little bloggy I will post a different comic.

Heard some sad news yesterday, one of my favorite clubs, Wits End, in Westminster, CO, will be closing down this weekend. I was scheduled to perform there in May, but sadly won't get to now. I do have a few dates lined up in Colorado though, but I will miss that place. I worked there doing telemarketing when I lived a couple blocks from the club. John, the owner, is a super cool guy, wish it could have worked out better for him, but he did all that he could.

Curt Fletcher Live DVD Taping
May 24, 2013 10:30 p.m.
$10 tickets
www.funnyfletcher.com

2012

2013-01-04T19:14:00.000-08:00

Well 2012 is over, went by pretty fast. A lot of stuff happened in 2012, I'm looking forward to 2013. I'll be getting my Associates Degree in Computer Information Systems in December, which is exciting! 2012 was pretty eventful, had some great shows, worked with some great comics. A lot of venues came and went, I even ran my own show for a couple of months at 405 Lounge downtown. Didn't go so well haha. I'll stick to performing and writing. I was voted as a finalist for Best Comedian in Albuquerque in the Weekly Alibi and Albuquerque the Magazine, too! I'll break down my year by month.

JANUARY
4 Hollywood, CA-M Bar This was a preliminary show for the Laughing Skull Festival, I didn't advance from this show, but found out a few weeks later that I made it from my submission tape! This was a great show, so many funny comics. Chris Mata and Tom Clark performed, they weren't part of the competition. Jason Keyes, Mark Agee, Alex Hooper, Ali Breen, Jen Murphy and some other awesome comics were on that night!

20-21 Angelfire, NM Performed three shows in Angelfire with Russ Rivas. Big Benny and Erika Viking from 102.5 were there hanging out, too.

Started school again at CNM, so not many road gigs this year.

FEBRUARY
4 Taos, NM-Casa De Las Cordovas Headlined this show with Anthony "Animal" Garcia, Eddie Tafoya and Joe Quesada. This was an amazing crowd! Even Eddie had a killer set.

MARCH
6 Albuquerque, NM-The After After Party Taping Did my third taping for the show, had a lot of fun, met some great people, Jeramy Reynolds from Joy Junction, Rebilt was on the show, too, cool local band!

14 Towaoc, CO-Ute Mountain Casino Headlined with Matt Peterson as my feature, had less than 20 people at the show, but we had a blast.

24 Durango, CO-Strater Theater Worked with Dave Testroet, kind of a small crowd, but it was a lot of fun. Snuck our puppy into the hotel, too. Take that Strater Hotel!

28-31 Atlanta, GA-Laughing Skull Festival This week was a blast! Shared a room with Mark Agee, Alex Hooper and Grant Lyon, a lot of talent in one room. I got to perform at the Laughing Skull Lounge, Midtown Hotel and Relapse Theater. I didn't advance in the competition, but with that much talent, I was honored just to be part of it. Also, got to hang out with my old friend, Justin Clutter, which was super cool! Also hung out with some of my favorite comics, Gabe Rutledge, Mark Poolos and Johnny Beehner. Went to the nastiest strip club I've ever seen in my life, too.

APRIL
28 Albuquerque, NM-Hotel Andaluz This show was put together my 93.3 KOB-FM, awesome crowd. This one of the better crowds in Albuquerque all year for comedy and a great lineup.

MAY
5 Albuquerque, NM-Reptilian Lounge Got to perform at the Reptilian Lounge! I don't think the theatre people enjoyed my set much, but I had a blast.

6 Albuquerque, NM-The Box Joe Quesada Roast Had a roast for Joe Quesada who moved to LA, then months later moved back. Got to talk shit about a lot of comics!

23-26 Little Rock, AR-Loony Bin Worked with Skip Clark, kind of light crowds at the club that week. That's always a tough week to bring people in, but it wasn't bad. Had fun hanging with Skip and the mc, Steven Baucom.

30-June 2 Tulsa, OK-Loony Bin Worked with Testroet again and Dan Fritschie, had a great week! I love the Tulsa club, the people there are a lot of fun.

JUNE
3 Albuquerque, NM-Route 66 Casino Bryan Cranston was at the show! Steven Michael Quezada headlined, Niki Mangin was the host and mc and did a great job! Check my earlier blog for the story about the dead body.

11 Pinetop, AZ-Hondah Casino Headlined at the Hondah Casino, not much to report.

29-30 Tucson, AZ-Laffs Comedy Club Worked with Sean Kent, who I got to hang with a little in Atlanta. Had a great weekend, I love Tucson!

JULY
6 Las Vegas, NM-New Mexico Highlands Performed again with SMQ, had a fun show at New Mexico Highlands. It was a beautiful stage, crowd was pretty good.

14 Albuquerque, NM-Filling Station This was a lot of fun, great crowd at the Filling Station, sofacats!

26 Albuquerque, NM-405 Lounge Had Ron Ferguson come down from Denver to perform at the venue I was booking. Had a rough turn-out, which was disappointing, but it was cool working with Ron again. He's touring a lot with Pablo Francisco.

AUGUST
16-18 Colorado Springs, CO-Loonees Comedy Corner Worked with Adam Cayton-Holland, if you haven't seen him check him out, very funny! And a big baseball fan, which makes him even cooler. Had a fun weekend.

SEPTEMBER
21 Albuquerque, NM-Tech Love Black Lab Got to perform at Blackout Theater's Black Lab, which was super cool! Lots of improv and music, fun night.

OCTOBER
13 Albuquerque, NM-Moose Lodge Family Center This was an amazing show with SMQ! I did over an hour at the show as the feature act, I forgot my watch, so I felt kind of bad, but the promoter was super cool about it. We had about 200 people there!

19-20 Tucson, AZ-Laffs Comedy Club Emceed at a club for the first time in quite awhile, but I wanted to work with Jake Sharon and SMQ. Had a blast that weekend!

22 Pinetop, AZ-Hondah Casino Cruised up to the casino with Jake and opened the show for him and Keith Breckenridge.

27 TV The After After Party I was on TV!

NOVEMBER
3 Albuquerque, NM-The Box Comedian Origins, one of the coolest shows I've done. We did our first five minutes of material we every performed and our most recent five!

9 Albuquerque, NM-Uptown Sports Bar and Grill Great show, got to raise money for the New Mexico Wolfpack so they could go play in a bowl game!

DECEMBER
7 Rio Rancho, NM-The Damn Bar Got to perform on a show with my wife, Caitlin! She had such a great set, took command of the stage and rocked it. She was so happy. I didn't do that well, but felt great for her.

14-15 Ft. Worth, TX-Hyenas James Morrow and I took a road trip out to Texas and had a blast. Ben Creed was the headliner for the weekend, he's one of the best. I hadn't worked with him in years! Still funny as hell. New club was fun.

20-22 Dallas, TX-Hyenas Had a fun time working with Aaron Aryanpur, who had just won the Funniest Comic in Texas contest. Paul Varghese came in for guest sets, too, great lineups.

31 Albuquerque, NM-Artbar This was the first year I wasn't booked for a NYE gig since like 2007. I was at the show hanging out enjoying the entertainment and one of the comics couldn't make it, so I filled in. I was pretty wasted, and it wasn't the best set up for stand-up comedy, but it was fun. The Red Light Cameras were awesome, too!

Performing at Laughing Skull Festival

Cait and I at Lisa Frank factory

Niki, Me, SMQ and a couple peeps from Route 66

Performing at UNM

Hammered at the ArtBar

Dallas/Ft. Worth Shows

2012-12-27T15:18:00.000-08:00

I hadn't been to Hyenas in Dallas or Ft. Worth since I started school, so I decided to take a trip out there after the Fall semester this year. (I got all A's in five classes, just to brag a little bit!) Both Hyena's clubs are among my favorites that I've worked at, crowds are always great, and I love the cities. And I always get to hang out with Jason Russell while I'm out there, he's a good buddy of mine that I met back in 2002 when I did a guest set while he headlined at Laffs here in Albuquerque. (RIP) Jason was also headlining the first time I ever emceed a week at Laffs.

I was excited to work with Ben Creed again, I have done shows with him in Tucson and Colorado Springs, he's one of my favorite headliners to work with, super cool guy and hilarious. My buddy, James Morrow and I drove in to Fort Worth on Thursday to catch the open mic at the club. I hadn't been to the new location, so it was a little different than I was expecting. We got there just in time to sign up, there weren't many comics there. I did run into Kyle Reade, who I've known for years, he just moved to Dallas from Tucson. They're treating him like a new guy out there which kind of sucks, Kyle's been doing it for quite awhile and he's good. Hopefully he'll catch a break and get some solid stage time at the clubs. I wasn't too impressed with the open mic, but it was cool for James to get some stage time out of town.

The new club was a lot different than the previous one, it is located in the Lonestar club downtown. It was a great location, but just didn't have the feel of the old club. The first night's shows weren't too bad, I had to shake some rust off, I hadn't featured at a club in several months. The opening act was Clint Werth, a local guy who's been doing stand-up a couple of years. He had some great stuff and got the crowd going right away which was nice. My best shows of the week were definitely the Saturday shows though. Late show Saturday there was a man in the front row who looked like the Gorton's Fisherman, minus the raincoat. I made fun of him quite a bit in my set and he loved it. It was fun watching Ben, he destroyed every show!

The following weekend I was in Dallas performing with headliner Aaron Aryanpur. I had never heard of him, but I had heard that he just won the Funniest Comic in Texas competition at the Improv, which is pretty big. The opening act for the weekend was Chris Corlea, who's also pretty new to stand-up, but he has some solid material. I think he's going to be really good when he gets more comfortable on stage and writes more. I wasn't sure what to expect of Aaron since I had never seen him or heard of him, but he did just win that competition, so I knew he had to be pretty solid, and he was. A lot of jokes about his family and marriage, he's a little older than me, and has been doing stand-up for about as long as well. He was great to work with, very humble, very friendly and funny. I think he'll do some great things in comedy. Very likable. On Friday and Saturday Paul Varghese did guest sets, I'm not gonna lie, I was a little nervous to follow him, even though I had never seen him before. I had heard of him, and I am friends with him on Facebook. Every time I'm in Dallas I hear his name from the local comics, a lot of guys look up to him, and I can see why now that I got to see him perform. He was great, I would love to see him do a full headlining set. Very cleverly written material, crowd loved it. And he was super cool as well, he told me he does mostly college gigs which is great way to make money in this business. The crowds were good all weekend long, a little strange at times and kind of had trouble with some of the more clever material. But, overall, I was happy with my performances. It was nice to get out on the road for a couple of weeks during Christmas break.

I have a weekend coming in Tucson and after that nothing until Spring semester is over, I'll be in Colorado for three weeks in May! Looking forward to that. Until then, I'm going to keep writing and hopefully be able to come up with some great material. Happy New Year everyone!

What's Been Going On and Shit

2012-11-16T19:13:00.000-08:00

Well, since the new semester started in August I haven't been on the road much. I feature at Loonees Comedy Corner in Colorado Springs the week before school started with Adam Cayton-Holland, if you haven't seen him, check him out, very funny dude from Denver. And he's a huge baseball fan, which makes him cooler. Had a pretty fun week, shows weren't packed or anything, but always a good time.

In October, I opened at Laffs Comedy Club in Tucson. The feature was my former roommate, Jake Sharon, and the headliner was Steven Michael Quezada. Steven wanted to work with me, so I decided I would take an mc week and go have fun for a weekend in Tucson. The shows were great! It was awesome seeing Jake again, too. Steven took a lot pics with fans after the shows, that was cool. He's had a lot of success being on "Breaking Bad!"

November 3 we had a really cool show in Albuquerque at The Box. Five comics each did ten minutes, the first five minutes were the first five minutes they had ever written and the final five were their newest five. It went pretty well. I hadn't told those jokes in years, it was kind of find to tell those shitty jokes in front of an audience again.

My wife, Caitlin, had her first comedy gig November 10th at The Box as the guest comic for Comedy?'s Variety show! She was so nervous, but she did great, and she did it with no notes! She also got to do a little improv with them, which was really cool. They let me do an improv game with them when I performed for them in September, but I did horrible. Caitlin has an improv show on the 30th at Tech Love, which I'm excited about!

Next month will be fun, I get to perform at Hyenas in Dallas and Fort Worth with one of my favorite comics, Ben Creed! I haven't been out there in over a year, so I'm pretty excited to get out there. It'll be a nice little break from school, too. And as far as school goes, so far I have 4 A's and a B right now, so hopefully I can keep that up until the end of the semester.

Ron Ferguson headlines 405 Lounge Wednesday July 25 at 830

2012-07-22T14:50:00.001-07:00

With Laffs Comedy Club closing down a few years ago, not many nationally touring comics have stopped through the Duke City. But this week, we are lucky enough to have one of my favorite comics and good friend, Ron Ferguson in town. He will be headlining at the 405 Lounge downtown at 830 on Wednesday night, tickets are only 5 bucks at the door. Part of the proceeds will go to children who lost their parent or parents in the Aurora shooting this past weekend, which is where Ron is from.

Ron is a regular at the world famous Comedy Works in Denver, and has shared the stage with such heavyweights as Bill Burr, Dave Chappelle and Chelsea Handler. He currently tours with Pablo Francisco, but is taking a week off to come hang out in Albuquerque. Check out Ron's website also, you can catch a video or two of his on youtube if you want, but live comedy is the way to go, so get your asses to the show.

Also joining Ferguson on stage will be local comics Ariel Holmes, Sarah Mowrey, Rusty Rutherford, and Curt Fletcher (me!)

Walt White and the dead body

2012-06-06T00:17:00.001-07:00

Sunday afternoon I flew back into town after a great two weeks at the Loony Bins in Little Rock and Tulsa, respectively. Like I mentioned in my last post, I worked with some great comics, and had some pretty solid crowds. Made a lot of new fans in Tulsa, especially, love that place!

I had a few hours to unpack and everything before my show at Route 66 Casino's Envy Nightclub with Steven Michael Quezada, who plays Gomez on "Breaking Bad." Ever heard of it? He's also the host of a local tv talk show, "The After After Party" which he's invited me to do three times! It's been great exposure, and it's always a blast. The crew, and The James Douglas Show are all amazing!

I got to the venue around 7:45, talked to the mc, Nikki Mangin, and talked to Steven briefly before the show started. It was a nice turn out for a Sunday night, not to mention they were having the service for Johnny Tapia at the Pit, too. I was pretty happy with the turn out. About 15 minutes before I was going to hit the stage, I was standing over near the stage entrance and decided I needed some more water. I looked over at the bar and saw a well dressed bald man standing and taking pictures with people, even though his back was turned I knew it was Bryan Cranston.

Having been in the business for ten plus years, I rarely get nervous before a show, but seeing Walt fucking White at the show, I got pretty damn nervous. Luckily, I had just done two straight weeks(and one gay, hahaha) on the road and had my set down pretty solid. I took the stage and did a pretty solid job, not a big crowd for laughter, but everyone was enjoying themselves. There was one guy that was laughing every time I looked at him, and that was Bryan Cranston! I thought that was pretty damn cool!

Nikki and Steven both rocked as usual, too. I also met Double J, from 106.3 in the mornings, and he invited me to go on his show Monday morning. I almost declined because it was so early, but couldn't turn down the exposure!

So, after the show at the casino, I was walking out of the building and there were some cops and an ambulance or two, I don't really remember. There was a little fenced off area with some sheets wrapped around, but it was kind of windy and I happened to glance over and saw a body laying on the ground with a sheet trying to cover it up. Not sure what the hell happened, but it kinda freaked me the fuck out. So, a pretty solid night, Bryan Cranston laughed at my jokes, and I saw a dead body. And Nikki and Steven were bad ass, always fun working with them!

Now, I get to relax and hang with the wifey for a few days! She's starting her new improv class this Saturday, she's super excited!! I'll make sure to post when her next show is.

And I am starting my new open mic show tonight at the 405 Lounge on Central! Never ran my own show before, pretty excited to have comedy downtown!

Being on the road

2012-06-02T13:57:00.001-07:00

Since starting school in January, I haven't really hit the road much this year. The only times I've been out are for the Laughing Skull Festival in Hollywood and Atlanta. Last week was my first week on the road for 2012, I was in Little Rock, Arkansas, at the Loony Bin. I hadn't been there in about four years, and actually kind of struggled when I emceed there. It was a pretty slow week because of the local Riverfest going on, but the crowds were great, had a lot of fun. A lot better than when I was an opener there. Our opener for the week was Steven Baucom from Tulsa, really funny kid, has some great writing. I think he's gonna do pretty well in the business. The headliner was Skip Clark, who I had never met before. He's only been doing stand up for seven years and already headlining, pretty solid! Both guys were super cool to work with. This week I've been in Tulsa, which is one of my favorite places to be. Got to hang out with my good buddy, Jason Brown, and play some strat-o-matic baseball, or as Dave Ashley calls it, nerd baseball. I played strato growing up, and thought it was cool that Jason did, too. So, every time we get together we draft some teams and play a series or two, it's a blast! The shows in Tulsa have been a lot of fun so far, too. Dave Testroet, is the headliner, he's a great guy, I've worked with him a ton. The opener is a local guy, Dan Fritschie, very funny guy! Friday morning we did a radio interview on 106.9, the dj's were super cool, had a fun time there making fun of Dave. It's good to get back on the road, I miss the shit out of it! Tomorrow I'm doing a show at the Route 66 Casino in Albuquerque with Steven Michael Quezada, should be a lot of fun. R.I.P. Johnny Tapia

Rise Against Show/My Upcoming Shows

2012-05-01T10:48:00.000-07:00

I haven't been to many concerts in the last couple of years, I used to go quite a bit when I was younger. I guess I have other stuff to spend money on, and I'd rather be on stage if I can be. Last Monday, my step dad hooked me and Caitlin up with free tickets to see Rise Against at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho. We got out of our math class early and headed down there. We got to sit up in one of the suites, which was pretty cool, had a nice view of the stage. The first band was Title Fight, never heard of them, we caught a few of their last songs, they weren't bad. Second, was A Day to Remember. I had just heard them on the radio earlier that day, and they sounded pretty decent. I was pretty impressed with their live show, it's amazing how creative a band can get when they've got a little bit of money. They put on a really good show, I don't know if I'd go out and buy their album, but it was a lot of fun to watch. Rise Against headlined the show, and they put on an amazing live show. Had really cool lighting and some awesome videos playing on stage. Singer, Tim McIlrath, also did a few acoustic songs, those were the first Rise Against songs I had ever heard, so that was pretty cool! It was a lot of fun. On Saturday the 28th I did a show at Hotel Andaluz for 93.3 KOB FM to raise money for YDI. This is one the best shows I've seen here in Albuquerque for awhile, we had Todd Badolato, Sarah Kennedy, Dan Rascon, Matt Peterson, Rusty Rutherford and me. They packed a lot of people into the room, the lighting was great, too. Everybody killed it, very successful night! Here are some of my upcoming shows May 5: Albuquerque, NM-Reptilian Lounge 10:30 pm This show is put on by Tricklock Theatre Co May 23-26: Little Rock, AR-Loony Bin May 30-June 2: Tulsa, OK-Loony Bin June 3: Albuquerque, NM-Route 66 Casino w/Steven Michael Quezada

Laughing Skull Festival and new cd recording

2012-04-28T12:43:00.002-07:00

I haven't had much time to blog, or really do anything since I got home from Atlanta. Finishing up my first semester at Central New Mexico Community College, my last day is Monday! So relieved to have this first semester out of the way. Well, the Laughing Skull Festival in Atlanta was quite an experience. I was amazed at the amount of talent in the competition. There were a lot of great headliners in the competition. I knew I had no chance of winning up against some of these guys, but it was an honor to be a part of it. I got to hang out with a lot of my favorite comics that I hadn't seen in awhile, too, like Gabe Rutledge, Mark Poolos, and Johnny Beehner. I shared a hotel with three guys from LA, Alex Hooper, Grant Lyon, and Mark Agee. I had only met them all once, but they were all cool guys. And as a comic I always live with people I've never met before, so it's not a huge deal at all, we had a good time. Those guys are extremely funny, too! My portion of the competition was the first show of the week at the Laughing Skull Lounge. I didn't get a chance to catch everyone's set from backstage, but listened to pretty much everyone, definitely a lot of talent. I had a pretty solid set, but didn't advance. My feelings weren't hurt though, any of the comics could have advanced from that show. My buddy, Justin Clutter, who's been one of my best friends since 4th grade was at the show. He lives a couple hours north of Atlanta, so he came down to the show. The last time I saw him was a week after the Colts beat the Bears in the Super Bowl and we hung out with Dallas Clark's dad, Doug. Funny dude! Thursday night I got to perform a couple shows at the Hotel Midtown which is where we stayed. The shows were pretty fun, got to try some stuff that I didn't do in the competition round. We went to the Clermont Lounge afterwards, holy shit! I kind of had a feeling of what we were getting in to, but the first thing I saw when I walked in was Blondie, nasty chick with nasty boobs. She wasn't even the nastiest one either, there was a 65-year-old stripper! Finally, there was one decent looking stripper, I was thinking, "how the hell did she end up here?" Then she lit her nipples on fire. Pretty interesting night. Friday, I had the night off, so I decided to chill at the hotel, watched the shows there then hung out with Mark Poolos. And I ate almost an entire pizza by myself. I felt good. Saturday was the night of the semifinals and finals in the competition. I watched part of the semifinals at the hotel, then grabbed a cab over to the Relapse Theater to see if I could get on stage since some of the comics made the finals. I was able to get a 5 minute set, which was awesome! The Relapse is a really cool improv theater in the basement of an old church. I got to see Sean Kent perform, too, I hadn't seen him in a few years since he was at Laffs. Dude is fuckin hilarious! I had a pretty solid set at the Relapse, it was fun. I met a lot of cool people in Atlanta, lots of great comics and industry people. I definitely want to try to get in the festival again next year, Steve Hofstetter and Marshall Chiles were both super cool! It was a good motivation for me being out there with all of that talent. I've been kind of lazy with the comedy the last year or so. Not good. When I got back from Albuquerque, I had a gig at Malarkey's. Had a kick ass headline set, had a lot of fun there. Felt good about my set, wasn't sure how I'd do after traveling all day. On April 20th, I decided to record for my live cd, "Fletcher in the Rye" (take that jd salinger) Had a fun night at the Guild Theater in Albuquerque, very kick ass lineup! We've got a lot of great comics here in Albuquerque. Tonight is gonna be an awesome show at Hotel Andaluz, doing a show to help raise money for YDI. Looking forward to the show.

Curt Fletcher Update

2012-03-13T21:22:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in over a month, been super busy, but it's spring break and I've had a couple days off!! Very excited about that. Here's a run down on some shows I've done and some other stuff that's been going on and what's going to go on!

February 4-Taos, NM-Casa de los Cordovas

I headlined a show in Taos for my buddy, Anthony "Animal" Garcia. The show was at his uncle's restaurant, who also happens to be the mayor of Taos. The place was packed! Anthony kicked off the show, followed by Joe Quesada, Eddie Tafoya and myself. Everybody kicked ass, the crowd was amazing. I have never done a show in a restaurant that had a crowd like that, it had a comedy club feel to it, it was great. I wish you could have been there, but you weren't, so get over it. Fun night!

February 25-Albuquerque, NM-The Press Room

Headlined a show at the Press Room, which used to be Jokers Pub. We used to have an open mic at Jokers several years ago. It was a pretty trashy biker bar back then. When I walked in I was pretty shocked at the transformation. They had knocked down the walls and made it one big room. They also got rid of the pool tables, which can ruin a comedy show. The place was standing room only for the UFC fights, but we had probably about 50 stick around for the comedy show. The fights ran pretty long, so it was a long night. I hit the stage at about 1 am, which is fine with me as long as people are still having a good time, and they were! Todd Badolato put the show together and hosted, he did a great job! I got to see a new comic I hadn't seen yet, Smitty, he was very funny. I think he's got a lot of potential. Also got to see Ann Gora, Andrew Harms and Keith Breckenridge tear it up! It was a fun night.

March 3-Albuquerque, NM-The Box

Headlined a show at The Box downtown, one of favorite spots in town. We went to the improv show before the comedy show. Lots of talented people in that show, it was fun to watch. I've been getting into improv a lot lately since my wife if taking a class through Blackout Theatre. She has her first show March 23 at Tech Love, be there! The comedy show at the Box was fun, got to perform with the Sarahs, (Mowery and Kennedy), John Cuellar, and Patrick Gozur, who was also in the improv show, funny kid! I didn't have the best set, I was fighting a cold and didn't have any energy, but I did the best I could and had fun!

March 5-Albuquerque, NM-Talking Fountain

My buddies from Denver,Sam Tallent, Chris Charpentier, Nathan Lund, and Bobby Crane, were passing through town on their 2 week tour and invited me to do a set at the Talking Fountain. Once again, I wasn't feeling well, so I just popped in and did a quick 5 minute set. Sam, Chris, Nathan and Bobby were always fun to watch when I lived in Denver. It was fun to see them performing here in Albuquerque. Those are some talented fellas. After the show we went to Mike Long's place and hung out. When everyone decided to pass out we went over to Rusty Rutherford's place. We were planning on just taking a quick shot and heading out, but that's not what happened. We hung out and joked around quite a bit. Joe Quesada ended up lighting himself on fire about four times and Rusty decided to shave his head at 230 in the morning, not the best idea since he lives above the Holocaust museum. I asked him if he had ever shaved his head with a razor, so we did that. Pretty funny times.

March 6-Albuquerque, NM-Wool Warehouse "The After After Party" taping

I was invited back for my third performance on "The After After Party" with Steven Michael Quezada. I was a little nervous because I had used a bulk of my best material on the first two performances, but I put together some clean jokes that I liked and went out and did my set. Got a pretty nice response, even had a few people say that was my best performance on the show thus far, which was pretty cool. I also got to meet some really cool people! The band Music is the Enemy was super cool and rocked when they were on the show. I had never heard of them before, can't wait to check out a show! On my episode was the band, Reblit, who I had actually seen before, and if anyone's ever been to the Sunshine Theatre they have probably seen their drummer there. Those guys were really cool, too, really down to earth. The band on the third episode of the night was Gonzalo. I only caught a bit of their set, but Gonzalo was super cool and pretty humorous. I just heard today that the AAP was picked up by NBC here in New Mexico and will air on Saturday nights after SNL, which is awesome!! They're also going to be worldwide on www.askmilton.tv And like always, The James Douglas Show kicked a ton of ass, if you haven't seen them yet, do yourself a favor and see a show!

The other day there was a bit of a ruckus in Albuquerque with the traffic. The main roads were all blocked off which made it a tough day for people to get to work on time, it didn't have an effect on me at all. A few people had told me that someone had stolen a school bus and I didn't think much of it, what a crazy lunatic right? I was sitting in my kitchen and my sister came in and gave me an update on the stolen bus, she said the guy's name was Nathaniel Shipman. As soon as I heard the name I kind of freaked out a bit. About ten years ago I worked with Nate Shipman at Pizza Hut and Papa John's, he was just a young high school kid back then. He was a good kid, just trying to fit in. He would always come over to our house parties and shit, I always liked him. Apparently, the past few years have been pretty rough on him, he's been homeless, been on drugs and he's lost a lot of weight. I didn't even recognize his picture from the news, didn't even look like the old Nate that I knew. Maybe some time in jail will straighten the dude out, I always liked him, but shit happens. His mom was on the news feeling bad for people who could have potentially harmed, but she might be a little to blame on this one. I guess I don't really know their situation, but Nate was always a good kid, and she kind of abandoned him when she got re-married.

In a couple of weeks, I get to go to Atlanta to perform at the Laughing Skull Festival. I'm pretty excited, I haven't spent much time in Atlanta, just at the airport. And in those brief minutes I did meet Doug Stanhope, kind of. I was running late for a flight and I saw him so I ran up to him and yelled, "Hey! Doug Stanhope!" Then I shook his hand and ran off, missed my flight, but there was another one heading to Denver not long after that, so I eventually got home. Fun story. And for some reason my links button isn't working on here, so that kind of sucks.

Open Letter to Stephen HA(ck) HA(ck) Hunt

2012-02-01T22:04:00.000-08:00

Here's the letter which will explain why my name will be slandered all over town starting as soon as Stephen reads this.
I received a couple of text messages from Stephen Hunt today that read:
-So ur doing a show sat for 7 bucks with Todd douchbag alatoe? That kind of kills my ability to sell tickets to see u on a thur for ten bucks doesn't it?
-Funny every time I have asked about a sat show u have to close. Have fun with the fags.

Stephen,

First of all I want to let you know that I am doing YOU a favor by doing your show. I am a professional and I do not have to put up with harassment from a booker. Yes, I am doing a show for Todd Badolato; I trust that he advertised for his show and put together a professional production unlike your garden variety shows. The only reasons I take your gigs is because a.) I want stage time in Albuquerque, and b.) I feel sorry for you. As a booker, if that’s what you want to call yourself, it isn’t a very good idea to defame comics. I saw what you said about Todd for him merely improvising a little bit. It was wrong and I’m not going to get caught up in your nonsense. I don’t really care about your ability to sell tickets. Not my problem. You are asking too much anyway, who do you think you are? The comedy club didn’t even charge that much. Yes I do have to close Saturday nights pretty frequently. My schedule doesn’t revolve around your shows; it is more like if I happen to be off I will do it. I have to make a living, and it’s not going to be doing mediocre shows for ten people.

It is an abomination that you teach a comedy class. Maybe you should write a few punch lines for your hack premises. Maybe lose the dumb hats and the 2x4. You should be arrested for fraud, for teaching innocent people how to perform stand-up. Are you trying to scam people out of their money? And you have the nerve to criticize your own students. What is really sad, Stephen is some of your students on their first try were funnier than you are after doing it how long? Maybe your class really does work. And you have the nerve to talk shit about every comedian. You probably even talk about me behind my back. Maybe if you were a decent person some of the best talent in town would work for you. Instead you think you are better than everyone, when in reality you know nothing about the business. I am proud to say there is such camaraderie in the Albuquerque comedy scene; you are the only dividing factor. I am boycotting your shows and negativity. You give comedy in this town a bad name. Well I guess you get the idea, I will not be performing tomorrow night, I’m done. I don't work for you, I work for myself. Lose my number and contact info, you won't be needing it.

Curt Fletcher

Vagtastic Weekend in Angelfire, NM

2012-01-22T14:02:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I was in Angelfire, New Mexico, a nice little ski town in Northern New Mexico. Russ Rivas asked me if I would open for him for a few shows at the resort up there for the weekend. I had performed in Angelfire twice before, actually in Black Lake, at the Ritchie-Slater Winery. My good friend, Marc Shuter grew up there and set up some shows there. I'll get back to him in a minute.

So we had three shows, two of which were pg and one extreme show that Russ likes to do. I like it, too, I get to be a little dirtier than usual! The pg shows were held at the Legends Grill at the resort, we had standing room only crowds, admission was free. Everyone that worked at the resort was super nice, we got treated like rock stars up there! The crowd, however, did not treat us like rock stars, they treated us like fat Axl Rose. There was a lot of talking and way too much noise in the room. Not the best set up for a comedy show. Friday night show, Erica Viking from Coyote 102.5 brought me up on stage. She forgot my name, but in her defense, I think she had a few drinks and had no idea she was going to be starting the show. She did invite me to come on the morning show with her and Big Benny sometime though, very cool!

Friday after the show we were hanging with some of the people that were at the show. Including this crazy drunk girl, who apparently worked at the hotel. My lady asked her, "we travel the country with Russ and we screen the girls he hangs out with, he pays a yearly salary. The question for the night is, what's the grooming situation downstairs?" And she wasn't shy, "I shave on Tuesday and Wednesday, those are my days off." My lady replies, "that's great, but what's the situation tonight?" I'm sitting there just trying not to laugh, then the girl undoes her pants and pulls them down a little bit, revealing her stubbly vag. I looked around the restaurant, which was still pretty packed, and not one single person was looking! We had a pretty good laugh. We told Erica the story that night, she seemed to enjoy it. My lady was star struck, too, she couldn't believe she met Erica Viking, what a nerd! Haha, jk.

So, on Saturday, we were planning on eating at Willies, a local bbq joint, but on our way in to town on Friday we noticed that Willies wasn't around. I called Shuter to see what the hell happened to Willies! He didn't answer, cuz he's a pretty busy dude. We ate at the Pizza Stop near the resort, the pizza was pretty good. I was impressed. After we ate, I decided I was going to quit drinking soda, or at least cut down to one per week.

After lunch, I called Marc Shuter back on the mobile phone. We chatted for about an hour. He told me that he sold his movie! I'm so fuckin excited for him! I've seen the movie twice and I loved it. Very funny and well written. "The Bigfoot Election," check out the website link, and click here for a youtube clip of the trailer. We talked a little bit about school and stuff and we decided we needed to start writing together soon. We used to meet up all the time and write back in the day when he was still doing stand-up. He's the only other person I've ever been able to write with for some reason.

Saturday night we had two shows, one of the pg variety. The first one was a lot better than Friday night's show, but still had a hard time with the noise and people not paying attention. The extreme show was at 9 pm in a different room that could have easily held 250 people. There were about 70-80 for the show. Big Benny from Coyote got the crowd going with a few minutes of jokes, which was nice, it's always shitty to go up to a cold crowd. Actually, quite a few of the people were at the first show, so I planned an entire different set. It was cool to see Benny again, it had been a few years since I had seen him.

Since it was an extreme show, I decided to start off with some extreme jokes about child rapist, Jerry Sandusky. A lady got up out of her seat and started walking out, apparently she was offended, whoops. I asked her if she realized it was an extreme show, then the crowd started getting on to her about leaving. She then flipped everybody off and yelled, "Fuck you." She was also black, and the only black person at the show, so I all of my racist jokes right then. Had a pretty solid set, felt good about myself. Even got an email from one of the guys in the crowd today, here's some things he told me in the email: "Just letting you know we enjoyed you Saturday night. You were the only saving grace. You, I also youtubed and we found that you were a funny mother fucker still." I chopped it up a bit.

So, overall, it was a great weekend, saw a stubbly vag, Erica Viking, talked to Marc Shuter and offended a black lady on a child rape joke and no racist jokes. And for fun, here's a clip of Shuter on Art's Talk, I found it while getting the link for the movie trailer, enjoy.

It was nice to get away for the weekend, haven't had much free time since starting school. And my boss is a douchey cock smootch who always asks me to come in early just so he can sit on his lazy ass.

Here's a list of upcoming shows
2/2-Albuquerque, NM-Sandia Bowl (Headlining)
2/4-Taos, NM-Casa de los Cordovas (Headlining)
2/25-Albuquerque, NM-The Press Room (Headlining)

institutionalized re write

2012-01-11T22:45:00.001-08:00

This is the assignment I'm turning in, song would sound a lot different like this

Institutionalized-Suicidal Tendencies
Sitting and staring at the walls in my domicile thinking about everything and nothing, my mother enters my space. Unbeknownst to me she was there; she startled me when she called my name, “Mike, Mike!” “Yes mother, what is the matter” She replies, “what’s the matter with my son?” “Mother, be assured there is nothing wrong with your son.” “Do not tell me a fallacy; I fear that you are under the influence of an unknown narcotic” “no mother, narcotics? No, I’m just merely pondering. Would you kindly get me a soft drink?” She yells, “No, I fear that you are under the influence of an unknown narcotic! Civilized human beings do not act the way that you are currently presenting yourself.” “mother, please get me a soft drink, all that is wanted right now is a soft drink!” She refused to retrieve my beverage, all I craved was a soft drink, just one soft drink, and she wouldn’t budge, just one soft drink!

The attire selected is a plain white shirt with long sleeves tied around your back as if you’ve been incarcerated for burglary. You’re induced with narcotics due to the lethargy of the staff. The staff finds it too tiresome to assist the mentally unstable.

First Writing Assignment

2012-01-11T21:59:00.000-08:00

So, today in my English class our assignment was to pick a song, take about four stanza's and change the lyrics. We are working on our "Academic Voice." So we are taking the lyrics out, such as I, and you, says, said, saying, etc. So we have to re-write the lyrics, they don't have to rhyme or go with the song at all. I selected a song by the Bloodhound Gang, but there's no way I'm turning it in. Plus, I did use "you" a couple of times, here are the lyrics for "The Ballad of Chasey Lain."

Dear Chasey Lain
I wrote to explain
I'm your biggest fan
I just wanted to ask
Could I eat your ass?
Write back as soon as you can

You've had a lotta dick
Had a lotta dick
I've had a lotta time
Had a lotta time
You've had a lotta dick Chasey
But you ain't had mine

Dear Chasey Lain
I wrote to complain
Ya never wrote me back
How could I ever eat
Your ass when ya treat
Your biggest fan like that?

You've had a lotta dick
Had a lotta dick
I've had a lotta time
Had a lotta time
You've had a lotta dick Chasey
But you ain't had mine

Dear Chasey Lain
I wrote to constrain
This letter is my last
As your biggest fan
I must demand
You let me eat your ass

You've had a lotta dick
Had a lotta dick
I've had a lotta time
Had a lotta time
You've had a lotta dick Chasey
But you ain't had mine

P.S.
Mom and Dad this is Chasey
Chasey this is my mom and dad
Now show 'em them titties
Now show 'em them titties
P.S.
Mom and Dad this is Chasey
Chasey this is my mom and dad
Now show 'em them titties
Now show 'em them titties

Would ya fuck me for blow?

Here's my updated version

Dear Chasey Lain, this letter is from your biggest fan, as a request that you allow me to perform cunnilingus on your anal cavity. Please reply at your earliest convenience.

You've experienced an absurd amount of penis, unfortunately, none of those belonged to me.

Dear Chasey Lain, this letter is a complaint about the treatment of your biggest fan. A reply was never received about the question in which was asked in the first letter.

Dear Chasey Lain, in this letter you will note that I demand that you allow me to perform cunnilingus on your anus; this is your biggest fan.

Is it possible that we could enjoy sexual intercourse in exchange for narcotics?

There it is! The song I'm doing for class is "Institutionalized" by Suicidal Tendencies.

2011 Recap

2012-01-09T21:51:00.000-08:00

Now that 2011 is over and 2012 is upon us, I've decided to do a little recap of 2011. My wife and I moved back to Albuquerque in December 2010 and we've been living with my sister and my nephew. We were crammed into an apartment for the first part of the year, but now we're renting a house on the Westside of Albuquerque.

I didn't do as much stand-up as I have done in 2009-2010, I decided to get a job and make some money and get caught with bills and wanted to go back to school. Caitlin and I just started at CNM, our first day was today!! It was crazy getting back in the classroom after ten years.

I performed at some of my favorite comedy clubs Hyenas-Dallas and Fort Worth, Loonees-Colorado Springs, Wits End-Westminster, CO, Laffs Comedy Club-Tucson, and even worked a new club Fat Daddy's Comedy Club in Sioux Falls, SD. I even headlined my first club, MinneHaHa Comedy Club in Shakopee, MN. I co-headlined Hyenas Dallas with Jake Sharon on January 1, too!

It's tough living in Albuquerque since there's no comedy club here and I don't get to see comics that I have known for years anymore. I really miss hanging out after the shows. I met some new comics I had never worked with before; Theo Von, Charlie Weiner, Mike Smith, Bil Dwyer, James P. Connolly, Rocky Whatule, Chris Porter, Claude Stuart and Spanky to name a few.

In May I filmed a set for "The After After Party" a late night talk show filmed here in Albuquerque with host Steven Michael Quezada, from "Breaking Bad." The episode I filmed also starred, The James Douglas Show and R.J. Mitte, also from "Breaking Bad." R.J. was really cool to hang out with before and after the taping, really down to earth.

In June some buddies and I drove out to Hollywood, I was part of a live dvd taping at Jon Lovitz Comedy Club, thanks to my buddy, Dante! He was filming six different shows for dvd's he's putting together called, "Dante Presents." They will be done sometime early this year, can't wait to see them! Had a blast on that trip and Jay Leno was there filming, too.

In September I participated in the World Series of Comedy in Las Vegas, a huge comedy festival, about 150 comics were there that week. Saw a lot of people I hadn't seen in awhile and met some bookers. Didn't have the best show while I was there, but still had a blast.

In October I found out that I made it into the first round of the Laughing Skull Festival as well. I have been accepting for every festival that I've auditioned for which makes me feel pretty good! I did a corporate gig in October that didn't make me feel very good. I almost got my balls chopped off by a dumb redneck read about it here.

Spent the last couple months getting ready for school and not doing many shows at all. I've been trying to write new material for next year, I really need to make some changes in my comedy if I want to make it to the "next level." I think if I work a little harder I can do it! 2012 I won't be doing as many shows either, but I'm trying to fill my calendar for the summer while I take a few months off of school. So if you know anyone that needs a comic this summer hit me up! My dates are on my website www.funnyfletcher.com

Hope everyone has a great 2012! My resolution is to cut out all the filler from my act and my life and just be solid! I think going to school will really help my stand-up act.