A PHILOSOPHICAL MOMENT FROM A GUY WHO WRITES A LOT OF TOILET HUMOR

The road stretched out a head of me, dissolving into the blackness on the edges of the light thrown by my car. Dark Illinois farmland was all around me with only the lonely lights of distant farms keeping me company. From my radio "Hot Lips" Page shouted and trumpeted at me and Buddy Johnson stomped at the Savoy in the heart of 40's Harlem, slipping in and out of static the further I got from the city. My mind was still buzzing from the pair of evenings I had just had and the lingering taste of late night pub food hung in my mouth. I was serene, at peace and despite the icy air whipping past my car outside, the ride felt like a warm, soft, well-deserved pillow.

If you ever ask me why I work so hard with Gag Reflex, this is what I would attempt to explain to you. I am never more calm or at peace than I am after a good show. And they're nearly all good. The only other times I ever felt like this was when I was younger and I was driving home after a night with someone I was falling in love with. Hovering somewhere between the afterglow and the anticipation.

So, yeah, the opening weekend of BROKEBACK STEAKHOUSE went great. The audiences loved it and laughed and applauded to let us know. The best part was that I got to stand on stage and act goofy with my best friends in the whole world. Sure, we fight and bicker and have our feelings hurt in the lead up to any show, that's probably because we're more like siblings than anything (and I was never the greatest brother, honestly). But in the end it seems that a lot of that washes away and the audience can feel that we loving doing what we do and love doing it together. And they respond to that as much the writing and the performance. You can have the tightest, funniest material in the world and the best performers saying the words... if there's no chemistry - it will never do as well as it could. You want to know why audiences always loved it when the cast of Carol Burnett cracked each other up? Because the got to look into that love. You can see that Conway and Korman were best friends. I'm not saying go out there and deliberately crack other cast members up and break character all the time... (I'm looking at YOU Jimmy Fallon!!) you CAN'T force that. That's just sloppy. So don't try. But when it happens, organically and for real... enjoy it with the audience. It's the only time you're all laughing at the same thing.

So anyway, what I'm trying to say is, I get to fall in love again next weekend. Twice. And that's pretty cool.