Boom! That's the Sound of Gratuitous Name Dropping!

Richard Belzer's weekend was great with Paul Shaffer making a surprise guest appearance at the early show. In the audience and hanging out backstage were Taylor Negron, Richard Klein, Gilbert Gottfried, Diane Neal and a few other Law & Order cast members. Richard and his friends were a treat, and I hope he comes back to Comix again soon.

I mentioned to Taylor that we both have written for FreshYarn.com (though he has contributed tons more than I ever have or will), and we had a chat about the complex nature of telling personal, painful stories. He is doing the opposite of me by staging his one man show first then possibly writing a book. I plan on publishing my book first then staging a theatrical production of it, selling movie rights and what not. I've already started envisioning where I would produce it, who would direct it, etc. Though that is FAR into the future, it's fun to dream and aim high.

Oh, and did I tell you Janeane Garofalo gave me a quote? So did Cooper Lawrence & Bob Powers and some other fine folks. I've included them in my proposal and created an endorsements page. Apparently having these quotes can increase an advance substantially. Who knew? Not me, but now I'm glad I got them!

--Kambri
Back to the writing desk.

Stage and Screen

I sat behind Michael Kors center stage 7 or so rows back to watch my pal Baron Vaughn in Damn Yankees!. He was great and afterwards we had a lovely dinner at Maison, a place I usually only dine at for brunch when I drag Paquita in to the city since they have a huge outdoor dining area. It's usually packed with tourists but is still a nice place to grab a bite al fresco. Anyway, back to the show. It was loads of fun; Sean Hayes and Jane Krakowski were terrific as were the costumes. Catch it now before the limited run ends at City Center.

By the time I got home, I was spent. I had been up since 6:00 AM doing a radio tour with God's Pottery from this season of Last Comic Standing. They are truly delightful even after two and a half hours of hearing them answer the same questions. Check them out at http://www.godspottery.com/ and look for them on the finale of LCS in Vegas.

I didn't get to bed till after 3:00 this morning so -- if you're counting -- that's 21 hours of non-stop awesomeness, so I slept in till 11:00 today. I especially needed to sleep in since Richard Belzer is headlining two shows tomorrow at Comix and the night will be pretty crazy. There are two bands, lots of celebs expected and it's his first time at the club so we want it to go perfectly. Throw in the amazing MTV tapings of "Man & Wife", this has been a pretty dazzling week.

Random side note, Gretchen Bonaduce emailed me about her new show and requested help in spreading the word/video. So here's that: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ETtR5yXcUUg.

--Kambri
Christian sold out shows at the Ft. Lauderdale Improv this weekend! Yay! He goes to Pittsburgh and Chicago soon so stay tuned if you live in those cities. http://www.christianfinnegan.com/.

The Lil Engine That Did

Our favorite restaurant started out as Lil Bistro 33 in a space that only sat 15 people (no exaggeration) -- moved to a nicer/bigger spot, dropped the "Lil" to become simply Bistro 33, and is now about to blow the hell up because it is being used as a location for a scene in the upcoming season of Ugly Betty. They sent an email announcing the good news because it means they'll be closed for business a day or two for filming. I'm so happy for them because they are a truly amazing dining experience treat. If you ever find yourself in Astoria, you really should drop in for a bite.

--Kambri
Thanking the good lord Chef Gary remember us from the Lil days and knows we refer every person in the universe to this favorite spot of ours, so maybe he'll save us a seat when the lines are out the door.