Being a stand-up comedian makes it possible to meet all types of people, whether it be other comedians, audience members or others in general. When meeting some people I get the overpowering urge to run away or throw my coffee in their face. I never do it, but I wonder what would happen if I did. Before you become offended, notice I said: “some people” and: “urge to throw”. So far, thought crimes are still only prosecutable in Orwellian literature and the Minority Report, so calm down. Many find it difficult to believe that I have a tough time making small talk with strangers or just being around people after a show since you can’t shut me up on stage. To someone who hasn’t hung around me for an extended period of time, they may not know that I battle with what doctors refer to as Bi-Polar I with rapid mood cycling. I know it sounds exciting and wonderfully exotic, but it’s not really much fun unless I’m in the manic stage. Then it’s really only fun for me because that’s the rare occurrence where I get loads of energy suddenly and I need no sleep for days. When this happens I clean the house, manicure the lawn, write jokes and songs, watch movies, and chart out a detailed success map of making all my fantastical ideas come to fruition. Then I come down and throw the map away because it was stupid and I hate being successful. Anyone who knows anything about this kind of mental torture understands that making small talk with strangers is comparable to things done with hot pokers. I still try really, really hard to be as nice as my brain will allow me to be.

Some people say I smoke too much weed, but to me it’s medicine. It is my instant attitude adjuster and helps me keep a more consistent disposition. Many comedians suffer from different forms of depression and emotional turmoils, some argue that that is what gives them their weird and funny view of the world. I don’t really know if that’s true because I’ve always been hilarious.

In March 2016 I was set to host the weekend at Jokers Comedy Club in Richland, Washington. They have one show per night, Thursday thru Saturday. I was sitting in the green room Thursday night when the feature comic came in with a big smile and a positive disposition that made me weary of what her angle might be. She introduced herself as Lang Parker. She and I started talking and I didn’t want to run away. She wanted to do and see everything. She had already made plans to hike Badger Mountain (1,593 ft) the next morning with her dog Bennie. I could think of no plausible reason why a sane person would hike, but it wasn’t, my business. About 40 minutes before showtime a tall man with long dreadlocks came sauntering in. He had a suit covered with dry clean plastic tossed over his shoulder and glazed eyes, a look that I knew all too well. His name was Ngaio Bealum and he was mellow and relaxed but seemed to find another gear when on stage. I could go into excruciating details of that weekend, but I won’t. I summarized the weekend in an article found on our website 52jokers.org, under the tab COMEDY HAD ME MEET…

I only mention this weekend specifically for one reason. Picked to be our first comedian podcast guest is none other than Lang Parker. She’s a great comedian, a caring person, an animal lover with a fantastic smile to match her cheery disposition. There are so many wonderful comedians that are just as fantastic, but I felt Lang would interview very well. Plus, the others will come soon enough. She did disappoint… Episode 001: Lang in La La Land