miketsirklin.com

We lost a comedy legend George Carlin. Before I even thought about doing stand-up comedy(11 years old), George Carlin was one of my heros along with Richard Pryor who died a few years back. Carlin helped change stand-up comedy into the art form we see today. Before him most(Not Lenny Bruce) comics told joke jokes(Let me explain) and wore suits and tuxedos. For instance “Take my wife, please!” Henny Youngman(This is a joke, joke). This is also funny but Carlin helped change all this. Carlin brought stand-up comedy into the modern era, every stand-up comic working today was influenced by Carlin, if they admit to it or not. The man was a true master of his craft. When I finally started doing stand-up comedy, I realized how great Carlin truly was. I watched his HBO specials and listened to his cd’s.
“This is America, and you could do anything. You can pronounce your name Wojohowitz and spell it S-M-I-T-H” George Carlin.
George Carlin thank you for everything!!

It’s been almost 6 months since I was in Ny and next Friday(6/20) i’ll be coming home. Things are going well, i got a regular paid hosting gig Monday nights. I host the “15 minutes of fame contest”, it’s mostly for musicians and rappers. And the winner gets to open for a national artist and wins $1000. This Saturday I’m hosting an art show all night.

January 1998 Tasha joined the Tsirklin clan after being rescued from the pound by my sister Rachael. Rachael said she picked Tasha because she reminded her so much of our dog Gem that passed in summer of 1997. Tasha had a very hard act to follow in Gem. Gem was one cool dog and he really was my dad’s best friend, my dad took Gem everywhere he could. I’ve only seen my dad cry a few times in my life(He’s old school) and one of those times was after Gem died. My little puppy girl(Tasha) had to work hard to win the family over. I was even guilty of comparing Tasha to Gem but soon realized they were both different dogs with their own unique personality. After a little while I fell in love with Tasha.
What made my little puppy girl so special was she never thought she was a dog. Tasha go fetch this stick. Tasha “Please, do you think I’m some kind of dog?”
Tasha even learned how to open the gate in my parent’s backyard. She never went anywhere; she would just sit on the other side of the fence. She was almost saying look would I could do. Tasha’s life was almost cut short about seven years ago when she got hit by a car crossing the street to play with the neighbor’s dog. She broke her little paw, which caused her gain weight. (Which was a problem for the rest of her life.) People would call her “meatball”(Thanks for the nickname Neil), I remember a young Tasha that would run over 4 miles happily with me.
The next major event in Tasha’s life came when her best friend George (He’s the brown boy behind Tasha) moved in with her. At first Tasha didn’t like her new roommate because she was a princess and wanted all the attention. She learned to accept George and they became best friends. If you fucked with Tasha, then you fucked with George and he could be a stone cold killer. Tasha and George were best friends and shared some good times and great food(Those 2 dogs love to eat).
This past August Tasha got sick. (Her kidneys began to fail.) Her regular Vet only gave her a few weeks to live but Rachael didn’t accept this diagnosis and brought her to a holistic Vet. The new Vet changed her diet and gave her new treatments that made her better. Then about a month ago she began to get worse. My little puppy girl fought the good fight and was put to sleep on June 4, 2008. Tasha is survived by; Rachael, Naum, George, Eva, Yan, Mark, and Me.

I picked up Melissa and Neil at Lax airport on Saturday (4/19/08) in the rented mini-van and we were ready for our tour of the Pacific Northwest. I had four shows in 4 cities over 5 days. The 1st show was on Tuesday in Ellensburg Washington, we had two days to get there so 1st stop was Portland Oregon.
Neil and I drove through the night and we were in Portland at 9am Sunday morning. Neil and Melissa wanted to spend Sunday and Monday in Portland but after spending a few hours there we decided that one night was fine. I was excited to go to Portland because I had never been there. Nothing special going on in Portland the city is all spread out; the beer (The local brew has double the alcohol content of regular beer, be careful.) was really good and the food excellent. Monday we were off to Seattle, Washington.
It was my first time In Seattle and I didn’t see much of the city except for some bars and restaurants. The beer and food were excellent in Seattle too. If you are in Seattle, then eat the oysters at Etta’s. I slept in while Melissa and Neil explored the city. After they got back it was off to Ellensburg for the 1st stop on the comedy tour.
Ellensburg is a small college town 100 miles east of Seattle. The 1st show was the worst show. The show started with 6 people and 2 of those people were Melissa and Neil. I was pissed over 1000 miles of driving for 4 people. I was paid but I didn’t do this tour for money (After expenses I’m lucky if I broke even.) More people came during my set but I never got into a rhythm and I gave my set a suck minus. I was so angry with myself that I didn’t dance with this girl that tried to dance with me. If I was going to have a shitty set I’m glad it was there because nobody saw it. Next morning it was off to Lewiston Idaho for the second show. (I couldn’t wait for the next show to wash the taste of the 1st show out of my mouth)
Not much to see in Lewiston. The show was in a big sports bar and was packed with over a hundred people. My set was ok (Much better then the night before). Smoking inside is ok in Idaho (You the ho!), which made my mouth and eyes dry. My set was hard work because the people in the back of the bar kept talking and I had to fight to get the audience attention back. It wasn’t a great set but much better then the night before. I went out with a group of people after the show, the people were cool and they kept buying me beer. After Lewiston it was off to Bozeman Montana (My favorite place in the northwest). I was off Thursday night.
Since I was off and it was Melissa and Neil’s last night we had a great time in Bozeman. Neil and I ate mushrooms that I was saving since May for a special occasion and this was it. We walked around town for hours going in and out of bars. It was a great last night with my traveling buddies. Early in the morning I drove Melissa and Neil to the airport it was sad seeing them go. The last two shows I would be by myself. This was my second time in Bozeman I was there in early December and had a great set. I got to the club and the room was full. My set was great and I killed (Best set of the tour). After the show I was hanging with a group of people and after they left I started making out a girl. Things were going cool and I asked her to come back to my room.
Girl “ I don’t do the one night stand thing. And you probably do this all the time (I don’t but I do try).” Me “We don’t have to have sex”. Girl “If I go back to your room we’ll have sex. (Then lets go!)” We continued to make out at the bar. Me “Well can you give me a ride to my hotel (Get her there she’ll change her mind)” Girl “Sure”. In the parking lot of the hotel, Me “ Do you want to come in?” Girl “No”. We started to make out again. Me “Do you want to see my room?(I’m trying everything)” Girl “I’m sorry no” . One last kiss goodnight and that was it. I had to get up early the next day it was a 7 hour drive to the next gig, I got a ride with the other comic.
The last gig was Saturday night in Scobey Montana in northeast Montana 14 miles from Canada. It’s a very small farm town and the best way to describe the place is imagine the hickist place you’ve been to and multiply that by 10. The show was good and the people were cool buying me lots of beer. We left early the next mornig to get back to Bozeman were I left my car. We were back in Bozeman at 2pm. I was in the rent a car and on the road heading to La at 2:30pm(Mt time). I stopped to sleep at Erik’s condo for a few hours and lost $80 playing craps at Whiskey Pete’s(Last casino in Nevada before California). I was in Los Angeles at 12pm(Pacific time)I drove my ass off.

Since I moved into my new place, I have no internet. I would like to write on the site more often but I get online about 2 hours a week. So bad news until I get a new computer, posts will be very infrequent. The new place is working out very nice, it’s good to move out of Hollywood. I still live in La but I’m out of Hollywood, I was a block away from the Chineese theater, it was like living in Times square in NYC. If you have chance go see Harold and Kumar 2. It comes out on the 25th and it was better than the first, I didn’t stop laughing once. My good friend Tarun Shetty took me to see it at a screening and he even said “I wanted to hate the movie but I liked it”. Now if you know Tarun that’s a ringing endorsment. I will try and fix my internet situation asap.

It’s been far too long since my last blog (I hate that word but why fight it) post. Things are finally settling down and I’ve got some time to write. (And I don’t want to write if I’ve got nothing to say) First, I want to say my heart and sympathy go out to my friend Mark, his brother Erik died in a tragic motorcycle accident.
I was looking for a new place and found one. I’m moving this weekend and my new roommate seems cool. I haven’t moved in yet and have 3 jokes about him. My new roommate is gay and black (That’s how I’ll always refer to him). “That’s comedy gold Jerry” I’m going back on the road next month, 4 cities in 5 nights. (Ellensburg, WA, Lewiston, ID, Bozeman, MT and Scobey, MT) My good friend Dave was here last weekend, we stayed in the Post show (I’m house sitting their in NY) estate; watching basketball, smoking weed and making fires.
Adam Sandler came to my show on Sunday night at O Brien’s (Not the first big celebrity to come to a show, Jason Biggs came to a show there a year ago). He didn’t stay for my set his nephew does stand-up comedy and he left after his set. I was supposed to go before his nephew but as soon as the Mc saw Sandler was there he said, “You (Sandler’s nephew) go next, we won’t make Sandler wait”. I guess Sandler will just to wait to see my stand-up.

If you like this you can see all the episodes on youtube, son.