Saturday, May 23, 2009

Can it be three whole weeks since my last post?

That's it. I'm fired!

Okay, not really.

So much has been going on, most of which is not blog fodder, so I must abstain. But here are a few things that are worth sharing.

First, I did several hours of yard work today and if I didn't know I did it, I wouldn't notice I did it. There are many parts of home ownership that suck. This is one of them.

While I was working on the yard, I applied some sunscreen so I could try to avoid premature death. I bought some sunscreen at the Greenfields Market that is all-natural, so it's not as bad for the environment or anything (because some of them are pretty bad). It was made with zinc oxide, so it made me sort of white and pasty (or should I say, "whiter and pastier"?) than normal. When I was finally done being outside, I went into the shower to return to my normal human state, and I could not wash that stuff off. It took a ton of soap and water and actual, factual scrubbing and carrying on, and the water was still beading up on my skin like I had been freshly waxed. It was like tar.

(Aside: Remember Actual Factual Bear?)

Part of what I did was clean up some leaves that were leftover from fall. I found a whole bunch of them in my brassierre when I took a shower. Awesome!

This week was the best week I've ever had at work, ever. I got nominated by my peers for an important and prestigious award - and then I won it. And all of this happened without anyone spilling the beans to me, so that when they announced it in front of everyone in my division (100 or so people), I was so surprsed that I instantly started weeping and walking around in a daze like Miss America.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking: Jennifer always cries. And it's partially true, but I really try to keep the out-loud-and-in-public weeping to the minimalest minimum at work. They don't smile kindly on ladies in career separates getting their weep on in earnest 'round about my corporatey-corporate workplace. But I did it. And it was on a teleconference too! I was pretty embarrassed. But afterwards, everyone was coming up and hugging me and congratulating me and it basically didn't matter at all. In fact, my old bossidy-boss came up to me later to tell me how touched he was that I was so surprised and happy about the award.

My crying brought people together! Even so, I'm going to try not to do that again.

In the bastard plantar fasciitis news, it went away for about a week, then came back again, but I'm confident I can get it to go away again. It's so frustrating. But I've been taking short walks and basically giving it a giant middle finger, so that helps. In a related story, I bought another pair of shoes in an effort to fit my foot and my orthotic into a shoe at the same time. Upon wearing the shoe for one work day, I discovered it doesn't actually fit me. Fucking yeah!

I had a membership to Planet Fitness. A few weeks ago, Scott helped me face the reality that I never go. Not just seldom. Never. So he drove me over there and I cancelled my membership easy-peasy. It was nothing. But I wouldn't have gone over there without his urging. And because he was there, I didn't get caught up in feeling like a loser for quitting the gym. Honestly, I couldn't stand it in there. It was a lowest-common-denominator playground, as far as I could tell. When I was going regularly for a while there, there was a series of nutso people basically parading around me the whole time. This one insane mother in particular screaming at her son for about a thousand hours while I was just trying to exercise for about 30 minutes set me into a bit of, oh, I don't know. If it weren't so goddamned funny, I might have had the panic. When did mothers start screaming at their kids like dogs in public? My mother always had the courtesy to whisper-shout at us through gritted teeth. If you weren't right next to her feeling the anger radiate off her like thermo-nuclear waves and experiencing her death grip sear your arm fat while her growly whisper-shout singed the extra-fine cilia in your inner ear, you might not even know she was angry. (I'm not sure I've adequately thanked her for keeping the public mortification to a minimum.) In any case, the number of people working out in their pajamas was basically stunning. Also, teenagers getting their pose on in earnest. It was madness is all I'm saying.

You might be thinking, "Jennifer, the common denominator in all this is you." And indeed you may be right. But no self-respecting establishment purporting to be a health and fitness gymnasium should have a weekly all-you-can-eat pizza night. Just sayin'.

This morning, my mother called my very popular radio program to put on Grandpa No-legs's Bass Boat. It was sold within a very short time, which gratified me to no end. In any event, there was a glorious moment while we were on the air when I asked my mother what the boat was made of, aluminum or fiberglass. She approximately replied, "Whatever Bass Boats are made of." I approximately said, "They can be made of either." I only know this because of the show that I host. We talk about these things. She approximately said, "People who know Bass Boats know what they're made of," like she was some kind of person who knew Bass Boats, which she couldn't be because she didn't know what it was made of. I approximately said, "Yes, of course, ma, either aluminum or fiberglass." I added "approximately" in there because I didn't record it. I only wish I had so I could get those quotes exactly and so I could listen to it in perpetuity and laugh and laugh. We raised the curtain on our relationship to the listening public. When it was over, my bossman at the station popped into the studio and said, "You've gotta have your mother call in more often." I said, "I wasn't sure if that was funny to outside people or not." He said, "Oh, it was."

It is a radio program on public air waves, so my mother can certainly call in whenever she wishes to do so.

I think we're all caught up now.

Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, October 20, 2008

Toilet paper's a luxury now!

I don't want to be the guy who just keeps posting links to videos other places, but I have to. I don't have a choice here.

Recently on Saturday Night Live (this season and last), they've been doing these pre-recorded fake MacGiver scenes called MacGruber. So hilarious are these scenes that I laugh myself sick every time. Margaret and I started shout-singing the MacGruber theme song (the "MacGruber!" part during the explosion) to each other for instant laughs.

Sometimes when I'm listening to NPR and the segment is brought to you by the Gruber Family Foundation, I can't stop myself from shout-singing "MacGruber!"

Will Forte is a genious.

Saturday night, poor MacGruber lost some money in the stock market. Oh, humanity! These three segments were interspersed among the sketches in Saturday night's show.



Scott took video of me laughing so hard I was sick from it. Alas, who knows how to get video off a camera? If you see him around, ask him to show you.

Labels: ,

Monday, August 4, 2008

Conversation

After a discussion about the bastard plantar fasciitis and my enormous man feet...

Grandmother (looking at my feet): To me, your feet don't look that big.

Cousin Paul: Grandma, the bottoms of her shoes look like tires!

Everyone: Laughter.

And scene!

Labels: , ,

Friday, May 16, 2008

It's time for everyone's favorite show!

Girls! Girls! Girls! is Saturday night and you're invited!

You know who else is invited? The ladies who are performing: Ann and me, Andrea Henry, Ellen Moschetto and Maria Ciampa. How about that?

The show is at 8 p.m. at PACE.

If you've seen me perform comedy before, I've got lots of new material, including a bit about my asshole, so maybe it's time to see me again for the first time.

Ellen and Maria are first-time Girls! Girls! Girls! performers. Andrea, who has been featured on actual and factual television, hasn't been on the Girls! Girls! Girls! stage in more than a year.

Fresh, steaming-hot comedy is yours for the taking Saturday night.

Labels: , , ,

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Not cigarette-y enough

Just now we were driving home from comedy down Dwight Street. We were stopped at the light at 7eleven when I peered over to the car next to me all casual-like.

There was a guy alone in a car and he was smoking. He was smoking one of those cigarettes that looks like a cigar, but is way too skinny to be a cigar, but is too big to be a cigarette. You know, the kind that old men smoke. It was the kind my cousins' other grandpa (not No-legs) smoked.

The thing is, this guy was maybe 21. And he wasn't smoking it like a person who smokes cigarettes generally does. It was just hanging out of his mouth all James Dean like, except it was too long and too not cigarette-y to be anything like James Dean.

Also, he was driving some kind of crappy car James Dean wouldn't be caught dead in.

I couldn't take the incongruity. I started laughing so hard that I cried at the wheel. I don't think he knew I was laughing at him, but Scott suspects he knew because he took off like a bat out of hell as soon as the light turned green.

Even after we parked the car and came in the house I was laughing. In fact, I'm still laughing now.

Labels: , , ,

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Jennifer Myszkowski bombs on Cambridge stage

Because I'm worried that this blog will soon turn into the Jennifer-Myszkowski-is-having-a-nervous-breakdown-about-the-house Blog, let's turn our attention to comedy.

I bombed tonight at the Studio. Everyone did, though in the audience's defense, some of them actually sucked. One fellow actually made some people leave. Scott and I laughed pretty hard when the show was over about how bad it was. I actually thought, "What the hell am I doing here?"

I can bomb at a crap club around here, no problem. I don't need to drive two hours for the pleasure of bombing on a famous stage. I was a little disappointed, I can't lie.

The good news is that I tried some new material about buying a house and it mostly worked for the people who were paying attention. I got a DVD of my set so I will be able to look at it and pick apart what I did wrong and do it better next time.

Having a crappy time at the Studio is such a foreign idea. It took me completely by surprise.

Labels: , ,

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Lend me a hand

I was talking with my comedy pal Dan the Librarian about the Valley of Laughter Comedy Festival. One thing about me that you may not know is that I don't like competitions, so I don't want to be in the festival. We were talking about this, and I asked him if they're doing any showcases that aren't part of the competition that maybe I could horn in on.

Turns out they were thinking of a women's show, blahblahblah, Dan asked me if I was interested in running it, blahblahblah, I put in a call to PACE, but they're booked for the night it needs to be.

So, I'm wondering if you live around here and you know a venue that can fit about 100 people (or more) that has chairs, a little stage and a microphone and is available on Saturday, April 26.

If you know such a place, would you forward me the information about who to call and all that. And if you actually know the person, would you place an introductory call on my behalf so I'm not calling cold?

I would ideally like to make a split-the-door arrangement, so that I can at least give comics who drive in from Boston gas money and stuff. Also, this show would be promoted along with the rest of the festival.

Tell me what you know:
jennifer at jennifer myszkowski dot com

Labels: ,

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Mark your calendar: Girls! Girls! Girls!

Oh, hello. Nice to see you.

The next Girls! Girls! Girls! is on Feb. 23 at PACE and features Bethany Van Delft, Arielle Goldman, Erin Judge, Kim “Boney” Deshields, and, of course, Ann and me. Show starts at 8 p.m.; tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door.

Also, I've already booked another Girls! Girls! Girls! for May 17, which will feature Andrea Henry, Chrissy Kelleher, Maria Ciampa, Ellen Moschetto, and, of course, Ann and me.

I was talking with debl a few months back. She didn't realize that I have lots of shows all over the place because I only ever talk about Girls!3. And it's true, I do talk a lot about Girls!3 around here. What it all comes down to, for those of you who like to be in the know, is that I produce these myself. I alone am responsible for promoting the hell out of them so that people come. Promotion of all the other shows is someone else's responsibility. I let you know about them over on the right-hand side of the page (a change that I made as a direct result of my conversation with debl) and I hope you come to them all, but if you're going to come to any, Girls! Girls! Girls! shows are the ones I hope you pick.

Fantastic. Mark all this down in your book.

Labels: , ,

Monday, February 4, 2008

XLII

This Super Bowl commercial for Coca-Cola made me cry.

Crying over a commercial is no reason to purchase a poisonous product.

This commercial for Bud Light made Scott and me laugh out loud. Let's face it: we can't get enough Will Ferrell.

Labels: ,