First, in medical news, I’ve been getting allergy shots twice a week for a few months so I can build up a tolerance for allergens and finally breathe like those cocky guys on the Ricola commercials. Worked my way up all the way to bottle 7 of allergens, a very concentrated dose – the shot put me into anaphylactic shock when I got home from my appointment. I drove myself back to the clinic (while in shock) and was given epinephrine. And it WASN’T a giant needle to the chest like Nic Cage in The Rock, unfortunately. Recovered just fine, and got to miss a day of work. Hooray. Three days later, I went in for a routine dental checkup and ended up getting all four wisdom teeth removed! My mouth was a bloody mess for two days, but I never experienced any serious pain (Wolverine is my second uncle on my cousin’s side), recovered very quickly and all is well. Now I finally have a place to keep four peas with me at all times.

In the world of the Sad Ninja

Derek, Geoff and I did a two-day shoot for our three new comedy pieces – two spec commercials and a short. Moving Fast was a short starring Geoff and directed by myself, Five Second Rule was a Doritos Superbowl commercial starring me and directed by Geoff, and Theme Song Breakup stars me (and the lovely Jennifer Jalene) and was directed by Derek. Tons of photos from all three shoots are available on Geoff’s flickr. Some even taken by the talented and dashing Peet Guercio! Wait that’s me. But still! We’re in post-production right now, nearing the finish line. I’ll post them all on here as soon as they’re ready.

Funny business is booming thanks to my new standup video. Finally. I’m not allowed to film the vast majority of shows that I do (and thank god for that), but Jonny snuck his new Canon T2i into the Jon Lovitz Club and caught me onstage. Lots of new material, HD footage, and great sound. I put it on Digg and it got to the frontpage. Hit the top of the front page. Got into the top ten. Got to the number one spot on the whole site for a day and a half. 56,000 views on the first day, and thousands more the next day. Wow. I’m floored. Enjoy.

First up is all the news in the world of Sad Ninja. We produced and directed a webisode pilot for Comedy Central by way of Atom Films, written by two of the girls we cast in Why Weed Is Better Than Sex. The series is called 2 Girls 1 Cop, and the first episode has been a major success. We had a blast shooting it, and has over 300,000 views. Awesome!

Suck on that, Vegas.

Camping in Joshua Tree with Dan, Kevin, Shine and the Manhattan Beach Crew was excellent. Very windy and a bit cold, but we made the best of it. Dan and I lead everyone in songs around the campfire until 3am. Kubaya? F that s. Most of our jams were 90s alt rock and 2000s pop punk – the stuff we grew up on. Something Corporate, The Starting Line, Sublime… but we of course paid tribute to classics like Stand by Me. The only thing that kept us 15 guys and gals warm was the majesty of song, I tells ya.

Holy crap, it’s a brand-new g27!

I’ve been running this site for eight years – started in summer of 2001 – and all this time, I’ve done everything myself. I’ve used 4 different content management systems, made 5 different layouts, and posted 232 times. g27 was created before all this blogging business got out of hand. The kids these days with their blogspots and their tumblrs. In my day, all we had was HTML, and we had to code uphill both ways! I’m a visionary, I tells ya! A straight-up genius!

Let’s take a stroll down memory lane and take at look at the horribly-embarrassing layouts of yesteryear.

I started the site in 2001 using just HTML tables, and had little to no idea what I was doing. This is very apparent in the heavy usage of frames that, if being used now, would get me laughed off of the internet.

In 2003 I moved to News Pro, one of the first content management systems. I always liked the three-column layout and kept it for the next several years, mostly changing the header and styling of the site. What a terrible header image.

In 2005 I wised up a bit and made a semi-pretty header image. Still pretty lame. At least I had moved from News Pro to Greymatter.

2006 brought forth a new header that was very busy but at least had some style. Looks like a movie poster for an action B-movie. Recreated my layout in Wordpress and stuck with it.

I got sick of my dated content layout (only 5 years too late) and finally made a whole new theme. Finally, 2008 brings some design continuity! Makes my other layouts look downright amateur.

And finally, the newest version of g27 has been brought to you by the very talented Dan Johnston. I found him through a fellow comic, hired him to design my new standup site, and worked closely with him from conception to launch day. Ladies and gentlemen, g27 has finally stepped into the 21st century. A site-wide art style, social network integration, modern media presentation, and optimization all around. We worked on it for months and I couldn’t be happier with how it came out.

Instead of g27 just being a blog with the occasional mention of a standup show or posting of a new video, those components are now integrated with the design and all of that information is accessible without searching through old archives. The lifestream automagically updates with my Twitter/Flickr/Facebook feeds and the videos page updates with anything that I upload to YouTube. AND you can even subscribe to any component’s RSS feed!

We’re living in the future, man! The future!

Major changes are coming to g27. I’m completely revamping the whole site, top to bottom. My blog as it exists now will remain consistent in its content, but it will only be one piece of the site. According to my calculations, it’s gonna be roughly 47 times better. So sit tight.

Sad Ninja has completed our music video for Why Weed Is Better Than Sex! It had 100,000 views after being on YouTube for only a week or so. We’re so proud of how it turned out!

Once that was finished, Geoff, Derek and I (Sad Ninja) were brought in to punch-up, produce, and direct a webseries pilot for Atom Films called 2 Girls 1 Cop. We shot the pilot over two days and are currently working on rough cuts. Do you like moving violations? Do you like hot girls covered in brownie frosting? Do you enjoy things that are of a comedic nature? Well then you’ll love 2 Girls 1 Cop. I’ll post a link to it as soon as it’s done.

I’m off work until the new year! I bet your break isn’t that epic. I love my new job! I did four standup shows in three days last week. I wish every week was that packed with standup!

Monday was a little show at a bar in Venice, Tuesday was the back of a pizza place in Granada Hills, and Wednesday was my first time at the J Spot Comedy Lounge in Inglewood. Ever heard of Inglewood? Yeah, Dr. Dre mentions it a lot… they’re the ones that are always up to no good. Geoff and I dropped by the club to see if we could get the show that night. We gave our standup credits to the host, and he signed us up on the booked show.

Geoff did ok. A couple laughs here and there, but it wasn’t exactly his crowd.
Why wasn’t it his crowd? Because it was 100% black. The audience, the host, the owner, the staff, everyone. I’ve done plenty of mixed crowds and different cultures, but never before have I done a show for one community exclusively.

I destroyed the place. After my set, the owner of the club got on stage and made a two minute speech about how he’s always telling the black comics that you can’t just do black comedy clubs and that it takes a real comedian to go into somebody else’s house and wreck shop. Everyone cheered and wanted to buy me a drink before I was approached by the owner and offered a regular spot there. I can’t wait to go back!

Jeff emails me and says a friend of his just told him about a job opportunity that he thinks I’d be perfect for.

What is it?

It’s the personal technology consultant to the founder of a major record label. To be in charge of all computer/home theater/techy things for him… not for his record label, for him.

Sounded interesting.

So I emailed his assistant about the job, went in and interviewed on a Wednesday, then was asked to come back that Friday and meet with him and his wife for a second interview. I was offered the job on the spot and took it the next day. I’ll be splitting my time between his small office and large home, as well as overseeing technology in his other homes around the US.

Work now starts at 10 rather than 8? Check.
Both work locations are within two miles of my house? Check.
A raise, and switching from hourly to salary? Check.

Finally, an excuse to buy a moped? Check and check.

I gave my two weeks at Make It Work, made a lot of my clients sad by telling them I was leaving, then turned in my Mini Cooper and got a >BMS v9 Evo Milan 150cc Scooter . I still have my Mazda 3, but I’ve always wanted a motorcycle or moped, and since my commute is so insanely short and gas is so expensive now, it’s the perfect time for two-wheeled adventures. I’ve been riding it for about a month and I am in love!

New job, and new car. What about funnier things?

Scot and Assad have been booking me on ComedyJuice about twice a month, which is fantastic. Typically, I’ll host the Hollywood Improv on a Wednesday, and the following Thursday, feature at the Ice House in Pasadena. It’s an absolute honor to be on ComedyJuice at all, much less be a regular performer and a member of the CJ family. I’ve been getting more and more friend/fan requests on Twitter/Facebook/MySpace/etc and people messaging me telling me how hard they were laughing at my standup. It feels amazing and I feel so lucky to have the ability to make people feel like that.

I’ve also joined up with my friends Geoff and Derek and joined their production company called Sad Ninja. Geoff, a regular mention on g27, is a very talented producer and director, and Derek is the most prolific writer I’ve ever met. We’re about to be done editing our last project entitled, “Why Weed is Better Than Sex”. Geoff and Derek wrote it, with my help, Geoff produced and directed, I associate produced, and am a lead extra. Jonny was the production designer and turned a boring living room into a total party palace. I’ll of course post the full film to g27 when it’s finished.

We have a lot of shorts in the works and I’ll be keeping you updated with their progress as the ideas become realities.

And now I’m off to visit the boys on the set of a short that they’re working on, then seeing Bruno Mars at Zanzibar in Santa Monica. Go check him out, he’s like if Michael Jackson and Mariah Carey had a threesome with a guitar.

My birthday was on the 22nd. I hit the big 2-5 and celebrated the end of the first sixth of my life. Do the math, kids. Do the math.

I’ve become a regular on ComedyJuice, and have now performed on all three of its venues; the Irvine and Hollywood Improv(s), and the Ice House in Pasadena. All three shows are completely different atmospheres and vibes, it’s really interesting to see just how much enviroment effects a show. Hollywood Improv is a big, flashy show; the bar area is brimming with celebrity comedians, the crowd has a lot of industry people in it, it’s snazzy. Irvine is mostly college kids, but the crowds there have very little energy or rowdiness, it’s odd. On my first show there, none of the comics really killed. We all did just fine, but no one could build up any kind of momentum. The Ice House, on the other hand, is as crazy and rowdy as it gets. Loud, energetic blue-collar young people cheering and laughing and heckling and having a great time. I LOVE the Ice House.

Assad and Scot, the managers of ComedyJuice, have been booking me a lot, and booked me on the Hollywood Improv on my birthday, opening for Doug Benson and Jamie Kennedy. Awesome! I’ll have a nice little birthday dinner with my closest friends, and then perform on a kickass show at one of the best venues in the country. And I adore Doug Benson! Such a lovable stoner, that one.

So the night comes, the show is going great, but who stops by to perform on it? Dov Davidoff and Dane Cook. Two of my favorite comics. I’m standing in the hallway next to two of my favorite comics, about to perform on the same show with them. Holy eff!

I’ve been a fan of Dane’s since I was 16. Back when he would AIM chat with me and send me signed headshots for free. Back when I made a fake ID to get into his tiny show at the Vernon Hills, IL Zanies. Back when his website was a white background with black text that he would update once a month withupcoming shows and a link to his favorite band, Disturbed. Well, I’ve kept in touch with him off and on over the years, and recently caught him on Facebook chat where we IMed briefly about comedy. I told him things had been going well and that I’d be performing with him soon enough.

Mission accomplished. I kicked ass on the show, held my own with four of the biggest names in standup, and held up my promise to Dane. Say what you will about him, that you hate his standup, his movies, whatever. I wouldn’t rank him as my #1 favorite comic, but he has been very influential in my comedy career and completely changed the standup game. It was an honor to perform with him and I know it wasn’t the last time.

That show led me to get booked on an industry showcase at the Hollywood Improv, which led me to get booked on a showcase for Comedy Central’s Live at Gotham. So, I just may have some TV-related news soon. Fingers crossed.

On the flipside, my dear sweet friend Anne passed away a few weeks ago. Diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma years ago, she had made a recovery in college and recently it resurfaced. I visited her in the hospital once every few days for a solid three weeks, and was there for her the day before she died. She was on a breathing mask, so weak she couldn’t lift her arms or even speak… just scribble on a whiteboard.

Doctor Ross came into her room and told us (Anne, her mom, and me) that they were going to perform a tracheotomy (that’s the one where they put a tube down your throat) as soon as possible. It’s a pretty serious procedure, so while Anne’s mom was on the phone, crying behind me, and Anne began to tear up, I told her that they were going to put her through a very risky surgery in which they were going to transplant Doctor Ross’s super slick movie-star-perfect hair onto Anne’s head. She laughed through her oxygen mask and touched my face. It was the first time she had laughed in weeks. She died the next day. I’ll miss her always.

The last month or so has been an important point of progress in my comedy career. Vargus Mason, producer of the Nappy Fro Show (that I have now performed on nine times), invited me to come perform on a special event show he was organizing. This show, while on the usual Main Stage at the Comedy Store, would be a chance to show off for an assistant talent coordinator of the Montreal Just For Laughs Festival. If you know anything about standup, you know that Montreal is where careers can be made or broken. This show wasn’t an audition for the festival, but rather a chance to be noticed by a representative of the festival in hopes for a future spot. The fact that I even get the chance to perform for a rep from the festival in my short time as a comic is incredible.

The comics on the show were all very good – a refreshing change from the usual mediocre to bad comics that usually perform on it – and I believe I had the fewest notable credits of anyone there. “This next girl has been on BET’s ComicView, she toured Iraq making the troops laugh… Tiffany Haddish!”. I have nothing like that under my belt… everyone else has 5+ years of experience, I’m just over 2. Nevertheless, I kicked ass at the show. I improv-ed a lot, my material killed, and I was very comfortable the whole time. Every time a show goes that well, it reinforces to me that yes, comedy is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

A few days later, I performed at the Irvine Improv on a show called ComedyJuice. ComedyJuice is done at the Hollywood and Irvine Improvs, and the Ice House in Pasadena. It’s arguably the best show on the west coast, and one of the best shows in the country. Anne and I have gone to the show at the Hollywood Improv a dozen times and seen comics like Dane Cook, Dave Attell, Dov Davidov, Dave Chappelle, and many other huge names. The fact that I was on a ComedyJuice show is an honor. I checked the website over and over for the week prior to the show to see who I’d be performing with. Finally the list went up – Dan Levy, Adam Hunter, and Iliza Schlesinger. Winner of Last Comic Standing Iliza Schlesinger. Saw her a year ago when I moved to LA in a tiny tiny upstairs room at the Westwood BrewCo and developed a comedy crush on her Iliza Schlesinger. Said my parents, “We saw her on Last Comic Standing – she’s like a female you!” Iliza Schlesinger. And now I’ll be sharing a stage with her! F yeah!

I performed on ComedyJuice (feeling like a professional comedian after the show director asked me what song I’d like to go onstage to, how awesome is that? Nothing Is Real by Bottom Line, in case you’re wondering), and I did really well. Tons of laughs. Immediately afterwards, Iliza approached me, introduced herself to me, and said she thought I was great and asked me to come perform on her Comedy Store show next month. We’ve been emailing back and forth and now I’m booked for April 6th. Hopefully I’ll have a new video for you soon after.
What I’ve been hearing from friends, acting coaches, and other comics a lot lately is that I need to stop doing my day job (Make It Work) so much and go out on auditions for TV pilots and commercials. I really want to do that, but the financial insecurity that comes with hoping to maybe get booked on a Snuggie ad is a little scary considering the stabilty that I’ve found with Make It Work. My boss and the COO of the company have started having meetings with another tech (whom I trained) and I every month to discuss what ideas we have for making the company run better. Pretty cool. It doesn’t come with any extra money, but I may be able to work out a deal with them that I only work 3 days a week or something like that.

On that note, I just paused in writing this post and sent a long email to a commercial agent asking what work schedule would be appropriate to go out on auditions.

I need to start making the transition. Fingers crossed.

Finally, g27 is running on a reliable server!

I’ve gone through several webhosts in the past, and my last one was Midphase – the hosting was ok, but my site would go down for a few hours at least once a month (that I noticed), and more and more their mail servers were being flagged as spam so I couldn’t even email some of my friends.  Lame.

So hellooooo GoDaddy!  It was tricky but I got my whole Wordpress installation over here, jumpstudio, the g27 photo gallery, my email address, everything.  Sketchy webhosts begone.  Viva GoDaddy.  Viva.

And now, onto the news.

First, and perhaps most importantly, I have a new standup video for you!  I had another killer show at the Comedy Store Belly Room, but the video was no good, but I was immediately invited back to perform on the Main Stage a few weeks later.  Thanks to Geoff, The results are as follows, my complete set, uncut and unedited:

It feels incredible to finally post new material for everyone to see.  All of my friends have been asking for months about when I’m finally gonna post a new one, and it took way longer than I would’ve liked, but I’m glad to finally have it out there regardless.  I’m not completely happy with any one single joke in there, but the set as a whole was good enough to share.

I’ve been hanging with Geoff and Jon a lot more these days.  Sometimes Geoff’s brother Zandy comes out with us, but not as much as he’d like to.  It feels great to be developing some close friends out here on the Left Coast.  In high school I had Ed and Colin, in college I had Alden, Paul, and Jake, after college I had Erik, and now that I’ve settled, I’ve found Geoff and Jon.  I still talk to my non-local friends, but it’s far more difficult to maintain a real relationship with them when they’re 1000+ miles away.  Paul has been romanticing the idea of moving out west for a while, and it’s only a matter of time until Erik gets the hell out of Colorado and joins me in SoCal to destroy some standup stages together.

“What about Dan, Kevin, and Shine?  Your roommates! Aren’t you close with them?  That Christmas card last year was epic!  Here’s a bunch of cash in a duffel bag!”

Ok ok relax.  I have one last piece of news for you.

I get better at my Make It Work job every day.  Going into strangers’ homes and befriending them while solving all of their 1001 computer problems is only getting more and more comfortable the more I do it.  I’m really beginning to develop relationships with my regular clients that go past client-employee.
Desiree at the Make It Work office gets a call from a new client saying they would like someone to come out and redo their wireless network.  It’s in Beverly Hills and they said I can come over, scope out what they need, and then order whatever it is, money isn’t a big issue.  I get to their house, they’re really cool, silly people, and we end up ordering them all new wireless routers, repeaters, and a new iMac.  I come back about a week later to set everything up.  Tom (the man of the house) got his new iMac in the mail, and I set it up.  In the meantime, Leslie (his wife) dropped her laptop and bought a MacBook Air, so I set that up too.  Tom wanted a new laptop too so he bought a MacBook Pro.  I’m there for 11 hours one day, 8 hours the next, and I leave at 11pm on the second day and come back at 8am the third day.

“Peet, you’re here so much you might as well move into the guest house behind the pool!  Ha ha ha”

So. I. Did.

I am now living in my own little house in Beverly Hills, 90210.  My rent is the same as it was in my 4 bedroom Santa Monica townhouse, it’s about the same size, but now I’m down 3 roommates.  I adore Tom and Leslie; they’re both really fun and silly and hip and sharp as hell.  I’m not on call for computer stuff 24/7 like you’d imagine – I think I’ve helped them out 2-3 times in the last month of living here.  She’s a screenwriter and he’s a  writer/producer/director.  I’ll post pictures of my new place as soon as I’ve unpacked all the way and decorated a bit more.

Not bad, huh?

I. Finally. Went. Skydiving.

I’ve wanted to go as long as I can remember, and my friend Haley texted me one day and said “Hey, wanna go skydiving this weekend?”

No planning, no big group, no working out schedules, we just… went. Like two days after she thought of doing it. It was exactly what I expected it to be. No fear, no nervousness, just pure fun. I highly recommend that you do it, if you think you’ll enjoy it. I’m not looking to cause any heart failure here at g27.

In other news, I’ve been performing as much as I can, including a great show at the Irvine Improv, opening for Bret Ernst (you may know him from Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Tour), and, I completely bombed on the Comedy Store Main Stage:

I was psyched to be invited back to the Comedy Store, it’s a crazy famous venue and I feel lucky to even have the chance to SEE comics perform there, much less BE one. I’d done a few sets there, and they had gone really well, I brought a ton of friends, family, and Make It Work clients to come see me, and everyone loved it. I killed to a room of 350 and held my own when I performed in between the two producers of the show.

This last time I performed, none of my friends were available to come see me; everyone was out of town or had something to go to weeks in advance. I had a whopping two people at the show to see me perform, one of my Make It Work clients and her boyfriend. I hadn’t packed the place, and therefore I got what I deserved (?), the worst spot in the lineup of seventeen comedians… seventeenth.

I was dead last.
In a show of seventeen comics.
This was bad news.

So, sixteen comics have performed, and it’s 10:45pm. The producer of the show, Vargus Mason, hurries up to me and says “Dude, Peet, our headliner Tommy Davidson has to be on stage in the Original Room in fifteen minutes. I’m so sorry to bump you, but can he please go before you?”

“Sure, whatever. Yeah, he can.”

We were already two and a half hours into the show, nobody was doing well, and I wanted to be nice to Vargus who has been nice to me. So Tommy Davidson goes, and when he’s done, most of what little crowd remains gets up and starts heading for the door, assuming that they just saw the end of the show.

“And coming up next, Peet Guercio everybody!”

I hit the stage with most of the crowd walking out the door. They wanted to leave an hour ago. I completely bombed, got a few laughs off an improv talking to some rowdy guys in the second row, offended a very cute girl in the front row, and got the hell out of there. But! I didn’t half-ass any of my jokes, I didn’t cut my set short and run off, and I didn’t give up. I did my jokes as though the crowd was semi-interested in the show (which they weren’t) and there were at least 100 people in the audience (which there weren’t). I was proud of myself for not giving up, but it still sucked bigtime. Can’t win ‘em all…

I hate not giving the kind of attention I’d like to over here at g27, but I’ve only gotten busier recently. Maybe I should do smaller, more frequent posts. I dunno… I feel like most blogs out there are too little, too often.

“Today I had chicken at lunch! I’m wearing blue socks OMG!”

Awesome. I don’t care.

The show in Florida with Erik was underwhelming, but hanging with Becky and him for the weekend was awesome. We got paid, we did a nice little show for the kids at Lynn who weren’t cool/douche-y enough to be out getting irresponsibly drunk for St. Patty’s day, we enjoyed the beach (which is not as good as the Santa Monica beach… SoCal represent), and we got two hotel suites with two rooms each. Very baller. During the day, we went through the dorms at Lynn and knocked on doors, handing out free tickets to the show that night. As pointless as that was because everyone was going to be off-campus and sloppy drunk by 4pm, it was still a lot of fun. I love Erik, I can’t wait til he moves out here and joins the LAPD SWAT team. How many cops do you know that are brilliant standup comics? That’s what I thought. And he’s a ladykiller. Watch out.

Make It Work still consumes a lot more of my life than I’d like it to, but there isn’t much I can do about that. I’m working my ass off, making as much money as there is to be made, keeping all of my customers happy, and being promoted soon.

Speaking of customers, I’ve become good friends with a little lady named Anne… she was one of my Make It Work customers. After fixing her computer/router a few times, we started hanging out and now we’ve got a very cool brother/sister duo thing going on. She’s a lawyer and a general smartiepants and has been introducing me to managers and agents and stuff; coming to my shows, bringing friends, she’s beyond awesome. I’ve taken meetings with Sovereign Talent and ICM thus far. Just talking to people about possibly signing me for standup is an absolutely amazing feeling and I definitely didn’t expect anything like that to happen within my first year and a half of standup.

Vargus Mason has been booking me regularly on his Comedy Store Main Room show; one of the most famous and important stages on the planet. I had a huge show there a few weeks ago, my parents were in town for Passover, my sister Anna came up from Irvine, and about 20 of my friends all came to laugh with me. The show couldn’t have gone better, it was an absolute blast. I would do a big standup show every night of my life if I could. As much as I’m still very new to the sport, I’m getting more and more comfortable on stage with each performance I do. I’m keeping a running list of all the big name comics I’ve seen, and it’s getting pretty impressive… the other night I had a long talk with Nick Swardson about comedy and possibly opening for him on his next tour. But that’s a huge maybe.

Oh, and I got new license plates. Spiffy, no?