My belated finale to my biggest attendance at Austin’s Moontower Comedy Fest, a favorite comedian of mine who I’ve followed since the early Nineties. This year he was given the Stateside Theater to host his own show, or as Dana jokingly called it, the Paramount Annex. I also was pretty stoked to see him because the MC/Opener was Blaine Capatch, you may recognize him from Nerd Poker and At Midnight. On the former he’s currently the DM and with the latter, he writes/appears. The other opener was a nice lady and I can’t remember her name rudely. She didn’t kill but I think she has great potential as I told her at the after party.
Before I got into the show, I managed to be first in line with the general admission via badge line. The new friend Jackie I made at Dr. Katz was present again, knock on wood she follows up, I think I found a comedy buddy; Somara’s sense of humor is very different than mine. While we were waiting, I spotted Blaine and called his name. He was startled briefly but came over. I had a donation for Nerd Poker addressed to his old character Blackie Green from Impavidus Goldfrapp plus a toy wand for Ken Daly’s wizard Houg Denning. Blaine said it was going to be fun getting through the airport since it had different flickering light settings.
As for the show, I loved Blaine’s opening. I was more familiar with his rapid-fire style from Nerd Poker and couldn’t wait for his “commercial break” jokes. The best was his new spin on the “eating the world’s largest marshmallow” schtick. I need to watch some more of At Midnight to hear more gags.
Dana took the stage and had an hour of new material. Stuff about primates, how he discovered that his birth was nine months and two days exactly after the JFK assassination and other “dark” material. He isn’t for everybody. I think he’s in the same camp as mine, we’re not necessarily depressed or unhappy people, we just find humor in the absurd, uncomfortable and “sacred.” The latter covering Bruce Jenner’s sex change (I have no idea what her new first name is) and getting chewed out by a crying little boy with two daddies.
After the show I managed to catch up with Dana at the lounge in the Stephen F. Austin. I finally gave him the Star Trek special he played Dr. McCoy in. Annoyingly, the DVD of it was missing (I have it now) so he just has the videotape. He gladly provided a mailing address I need to act on. Then thanks to my friend Chip, I presented him the rare Alamo Drafthouse Mondo poster from their Planet of the Apes marathon from 2012. Last time I checked, the thing goes for almost a grand. Thankfully, he didn’t have this in his collection. Best of all, I took a chance on making my birthday pitch. I asked him if I covered his hotel and airfare, would he come to a private screening of Planet of the Apes (the good 1968 version) and just do 5-10 minutes before the movie of whatever he wanted to talk about. I know he’s a huge expert so nobody will be bored. Dana appeared receptive and said let’s discuss it further because his girlfriend has never been to Austin. Fingers crossed!