This past Thursday, at Hambones, there was a special show where Travis Walling “interrupted” your set. This led to an open dialogue format of comedy. My set was an interesting one, as I started doing a few of my religious bits that I wanted to bring back into rotation. Since this was an open format of Comedy, there one member of the audience who was puzzled by the story/joke I was telling. I answered his question in a comedic way, and then attacked myself too. I don’t think he liked that because as started to proceed with the joke he left. But the big lesson I learned here is when I’m in a show like that, where a lot of the material is off the cuff and conversational trying to my bits which are based on timing, wordplay and short stories, don’t work all too well. When the stream of consciousness is broken parts of the punchline and the set up go missing and fall flat. It was still a fun show, I hope it happens again! Thanks Travis!

Hello Friends,

I am excited to announce a little new format for something old. This week on Thursday, June 21, 2012, Travis Walling (#BigTravie) will be hosting the Open Mic at Hambones, but with a twist. The twist being he will have a second microphone on hand with him while the Comedians do their sets (#what!). Why you might ask? That is because Travis is will be interrupting each Comedian’s sets with some light banter, conversation and delightful Improv during their sets. I’m very excited to be on the roster for this show, because its something and unpredictable! This a major lesson is thinking quick on your, which Travis is a master of, and can also lead to developing new tags, bits, and jokes off the set you do. So come down to Hambones on Thursday, June 21, at 9pm to see a Complete Travis D with 13 to 15 of Pittsburgh’s fines Comedians go toe to toe with Travis Walling, master impersonator and interrupter!

My good friend and fellow Comedian, Ron Placone, has a One Man Show that he has been gearing up for past year or so. The premiere of this show is coming this Saturday, June 23rd at the Steel City Improv Theater. The show is a provocative multimedia one-man show on media criticism and comedy. Describing the show “as The Daily Show meets the BBC series How TV Ruined Your Life with an academic edge,” Ron takes the audience on a tour through a contemporary media landscape where advertisers, owners and special interest groups come first and the  general public comes dead last. Read more about it on Ron’s website (that was very recently rebranded, updated and spruced up by Venkat).

I am very excited because I had  the great opportunity to be in a few sketches that Ron filmed with Elliot Burns for the show. This includes the infamous sketch of Ron, Myself, Derek Minto and a few other fellow comedians skipping down the famous East Carson St. Being a part of this show was really cool, in that got to show of my acting shops and my skipping athleticism as well get to know Ron better. Ron also did a short premiere back in April at the LaRoche College Homecoming Kings of Comedy show.

So come down to the Steel City Improv Theater and check out the show on June 23, 2012 at 8pm for only $5, and enjoy some media criticism, comedy, music, sketches and tons more in this show!

Madness in the Message by Ron Placone

Greetings folks,

I am very happy to announce that I will be hosting the Corner Café Open Mic Comedy Showcase! This is usually hosted by Mike Wysocki, but he will be unavailable, doing Comedy for a Charity, and I am very honored to host the show! The doors open around 9 pm and the show starts around 9:30 pm and there is a $5 cover at the door. There will most likely be some really awesome Comedians telling really funny jokes, so all should come out and join us and have a good time. Check out the event on Facebook HERE. The Corner Café is located at 2500 South 18^th Street, Pittsburgh PA, 15203. See you all at the show!

This is the second show of the Noodlebowl Comedy Show for July! This show is Live at Peters Pub in Oakland of Pittsburgh PA. It will be featuring fantastic stand-up comedy from Elliot Burns, Michael Buzzeli, Tim Ross and Derek Minto. This is a show you don’t want to miss, and this is only $5! You can check out the event on Facebook HERE.

Elliot is a young Comedian who cracks everyone up at all the Mics and Shows he’s on. He is a strong up and comer and I am excited to see him perform! Michael is another funny guy that I met during one of the Gilda’s Great Comic Search shows and recently found out he went to the same High School as me. He is also a writer of books, articles, including a weekly column for the observer reporter and plays. Tim and I have a very special relationship, in that we like to push the boundaries of our friendship by saying really strange things to each other, and I find it awesome! I always enjoy Tim’s sets and I had an opportunity to share the stage with Tim last month at showcase run by Mark McCall. He’s a very funny man and I’m exciting to be on that stage with him again.  And of course Derek Minto is on the show! Derek is the host of the Smiling Moose & Hambones Open Mic as well his own Podcast called Haters For Hire. I’ve had the pleasure of being on Derek’s podcast and I had a blast. Derek is a great storyteller and I always have very hilarious and fantastic conversations with him. You should all listen to his Podcast.

I’m also excited about performing at Peters Pub. The stage is fantastic and the room is very intimate. I enjoy those types of rooms. I think it makes the experience much more enjoyable for the Comedians and the audiences. Big thanks to Andy & the folks at Peters Pub to letting me put this show on there!

The Noodlebowl Comedy is show is back in action! This show will be Live at Howlers Coyote Café in Bloomfeild of Pittsburgh PA. It will be featuring the comedic stylings of Zach Funk, Mark McCall, Dan Jenniches and Jeff Konkle. All funny guys that you should definitely check out and only for $5! You can check out the event on Facebook HERE.

Zach, aka Funkytown, hails out of Lancaster, but he’s been on the Pittsburgh Comedy scene for a little while and really funny. I’m excited to get Zach on this show! Mark hosts his own shows at the Corner Café! Another really funny gent that just recently headlined at Club Café! Mark is also directing, writing and filming sketches with a few comedians around town. Dan has been around the Comedy scene for a while as well! I had the great pleasure of having him come down and perform at the LaRoche College Homecoming show back in April and he knocked it out of the park! Dan’s a big up and comer and I’m psyched to have him on the show. And last but not least, Jeff Konkle. This guys has been all over town and opened for everyone from Bill Burr to most recently Charlie Murphy. He’s a prolific writer on stage and on his website! I’m very excited to share the stage with him, finally!

I’m also very excited about the venue! Howlers is home to various rock acts and a few Comedy Shows here and there! I am very excited to be a part of that stage! Big thanks to Bengt & the folks there for allowing me to put this show on there! We’ll see you all at the show!

On June 22, 2012 I will be in at Diesel in the Southside with 12 of my good friends and competitors for the Laughing in the Face of Cancer event. This year there are 13 of Pittsburgh’s Finest Comedians that will be judged by Celebrity guests, the host as well as the audience. The night will be capped off by a performance from Bon Journey (#hellyes) as well as 50/50 raffle as well. The door will open 6 pm and the show will begin at 6:30 pm. There is a $10 cover at the door and will benefit the Gilda Club of Western PA. Come on down and support the Comedians, Gilda Club and of course Bon Journey. The night will be hosted by WDVE’s Randy Baumann and featuring local celebrity judges!

Here are the finalists for the show:

1. Vinny Fasline
2. James J. Hamilton
3. Myself
4. Matt Light
5. Robert X
6. Travis Walling
7. Justin Markuss
8. Michael Buzzelli
9. Alex Stypula
10. Tim Ross
11. Derrick Knopsnyder
12. Ray Zawodni
13. Carl Shimmel

I could not be more excited about the third and final round of Gilda’s Great Comic Search that was held last week! There were 17 fantastic Comedians and most of them were my friends, who I see and perform with every week! This brings me a lot of joy and excitement of the finals (*check future post*). Randy Baumann of the DVE Morning Show hosted and convinced Aimee Arnold to pick 5 (yes 5!) Comedians for the finals instead of 4! If this doesn’t prove the level of talent that is floating around this city then I don’t know what does (#watchoutNY). There were a ton of funny people that went up and performed! The 5 finalist that were chosen are: Tim Ross, Derrick Knopsnyder, Alex Stypula, Ray Zadwodni & Carl Shimmel. Congratulations to them all the other winners of the Comic Search. I’ll see you on stage at the Finals!

Poster by Venkat

As you may already know, I hosted the Open Mic Comedy night at Hambones this past Thursday! I was very honored when Derek Minto asked to host the show for him. I was excited to host this room. I usually go to Hambones almost every Thursday night, and enjoy that room every time! I went down there with my girlfriend, Carrie and hung out with a few comics while I waited for everyone to sign up. By the time we started the show as 25 Comedians deep. For the first half of the show we had a packed room that was ready to laugh. It definitely was a great show!

I got a bit of advice from Ron Placone about making sure my set wasn’t talking about a heavier subject such as race, religion, politics, etc. Not to say that you can’t, but I definitely didn’t want it to be the sole basis of the opening set. I took Ron’s advice and built a short narrative set about my girlfriend and transitioned into a bit or two about race. I think it set up the stage for anyone working on material that was relating back heavier topics! I was glad that the audience was with the material and came in ready to laugh. Hosting the show I was definitely paying attention to everyone’s sets a lot closer to make sure I could try and do a short joke relating to their set. The Comedians were fantastic!

Hosting this show gave me a bit of a different experience than hosting and running my own show. This was obviously a lot more fast paced than running a showcase. Not only that for the beginning of the show I had to make sure the audience members were still with the Comedians, still warmed up and didn’t need a reset. It’s relatively easy to keep things high energy and running during the beginning of the show till about 14th Comedian going up. Past that people were trickling out a bit and everyone had started to get tired. It was doubly hard when Carrie had to leave too, but she had to wake up in the morning to save children’s lives so I don’t fault her. I think towards to the end of the show I was starting to lose it a bit too, since I goofed up about 3 or 4 Comedians names. I apologize if you were one of those Comedians I didn’t mean to do it, I either couldn’t read the list or I was delusional. By the time I helped Jeff Holt clean up and put the Mic away and left, it was 12:30 am, and I was definitely ready to see my bed.

All in all, it was a great show and I had a lot of fun with the show! I gotta give a big big kudos to anyone hosting Open Mics and continue to do it every week. Big thanks again to Derek Minto for giving me the opportunity to host! I hope all is well with you, Derek!

This past weekend, I was invited by Mark McCall to perform at the Corner Cafe with Glenn Baroni, Tim Ross and special guest Kunal Arora. There was a packed house at the Corner Cafe which is always nice to see! This was another great audience that was very receptive to the show! Everyone had great set! This was the first time I had seen Glenn Baroni and he did a great 10 minutes! He had some great stories and interacted with the crowd very well. Tim as always had an awesome set! I always enjoy working with Tim when I can! Kunal was our surprise guest out of New York! I was a little nervous about having another brown person on the bill with me but he was very funny and I had an opportunity to talk Comedy, Life and everything in between with him. He was great and had very great material.

I had the opportunity to headline for the show did about 20 minutes and narrated about the women in my life and the way I look. Some of the material from the show you can hear on the album I recorded at LaRoche recently, Homecoming. I did a few older bits from years ago I hadn’t done in a while. Some of this went over really well others were didn’t hit the mark. Other than one or two older bits not getting the laugh, it was great show! I think this set was built better than my set on the day prior. I was very happy with this one. I hope to have shows like this down the road!

On a more serious note, you may know that Derek Minto was supposed to be on this. Unfortunately, Derek had a family emergency and wasn’t able to perform that night. I want to send my condolences to Derek and his family for their loss. I wish them all well and any offer them any support he and his family may need from me and the Pittsburgh Comedy community. We’re are here for you Derek.

I also want to congratulate Derek on making the house team at the Steel City Improv Theater.

So this past weekend I was at LaRoche College for the Homecoming Kings of Comedy show with Jamie Bono, Dan Jenniches and Ron Placone! We had a blast! It was a fun show, and everyone had really great sets! Jamie was here this weekend for not only this show but also Derek Minto‘s 4/2o Comedy Showcase. Jamie hosted the evening’s events and opened up with some great jokes, crowd work and as always smiling and having a great time! In the Green room (which was a small area of  this room that just happened to have a couch), Jamie and I were getting excited by practicing Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter moves. I always have a great time with Jamie. Dan was the feature for the show and went and had a great set! Dan showcased some his best bits and stories and got a great reaction from the audience! After Dan, Ron’s set went great! Ron co-headlined the show with me. He played off some tid bits from LaRoche and hooked the crowd in. Ron had a great set! At the end of his set he previewed short portion of his One Man show, Madness in the Message. The song was very funny and I am very excited to see the show, which is premiering on June 23 at the Steel City Improv Theatre! I was very excited to go back up on stage. I hadn’t been on that stage in 2 years and it felt great be up there. The show was new material mixed in with the old and I wanted to tell my story from High School to where I am today. I very much enjoyed the show! After the show I was able to hang out with some of my friends from LaRoche which was  great way to cap of the evening and totally worth the loss of my voice.

I do hope to come back to LaRoche to more gigs and shows, so I hope they have me back!

Side note: I do want to say that a very young Comedian, Elliot Burns, had an absolutely fantastic set that night and deserves a special mention or at least a Honorable Mention. Be sure to watch out for him because he is a very funny young man. 

Last month was the first show of the 4th Annual Gilda’s Great Comic Search. Much like the last 3 years I was very excited to be a part of this. I was very fortunate to be one of the winners again this year along side Vinny Fasline, Matt Light and James J. Hamilton. Well friends its come to that time of the month yet again to support the Gilda Club and the Pittsburgh Comedy Scene. On April 18, 2012 14 of the Pittsburgh’s finest Comedians will be taking the stage, including Elliot Burns, Robert X, Travis Walling, Ed Knizhnik, John Pridmore and more. Most the performers on that list are good friends of mine and are regulars at the variety of Pittsburgh Open Mics that you can find out more about HERE.

Come down to the Club Cafe on the SouthSide on April 18, 2012 at 7pm, pay the $5 at the door and support a good cause and enjoy comedy. This is a 21+ show. See you at the show!

Flyer designed by Venkat

After I got off stage everyone that was walking out was very nice and said I was funny, which always makes me feel good. It all feeds into my narcissism, but I was grateful all the same. I was greeted by someone who I hadn’t seen since High School, who came out to the show just to see me with her “posse”. That was a great feeling and I hope that continues to happen for the upcoming shows. I also met a lady who complimented on my material (I did a chunk of my thoughts on Race & Racism), and told me her background. She was half white, half black with an Indian father. This woman drew the short end of every stick! But she was very excited and pleased and complimentary and elated. I always like that. I enjoy talking to people after shows; especially ones that came specifically to see me and ones that are super excited about my material! That narcissism will never end will it? All the same thank you so much to all those that came out the supported the Pittsburgh Comedy scene.

Hello Friends

On April 28^th I am very happy to say that I will be performing at the Corner Café with Mark McCall, Tim Ross, Derek Minto and Glenn Baroni. This is going to Mark McCall’s birthday show and starts around 8:30. It’s $5 at the door.

I am very excited for this show, because I love performing with Tim, Derek and Mark, and look forward to performing with Glenn. I met Mark at one of TJ Amick’s Comedy Showcases. After which he asked me to perform at his Saturday night Showcase at the Corner. This was first time at the Corner and I loved it! That was also the first time I met James J. Hamilton, who was recently on the first Noodlebowl Comedy Show. I met Tim at the Beerhive a while back. This around the time I working on a bit about Fat people giving me advice, and Tim was able to work right off that set and we had a conversation after the Open Mic . He’s a very funny dude and very nice guy! Derek runs a podcast called Haters for Hire, which he was gracious enough to have on as a guest. I very much enjoy working with Derek. He’s a very lively Comedian who really doesn’t need a microphone. He’s runs 2 of the Open Mics in Pittsburgh; Tuesdays at the Smiling Moose and Thursday at Hambones. I’ve never met Glenn but I’m looking forward to seeing his Stand Up.

I’m also excited because I really enjoy performing at the Corner Café. Like I’ve said before I think this is one of the best rooms for Comedy. It’s a very intimate setting with a great small stage.  I’m very much looking forward to this show following the Laugh Out Loud in the Library in the Library show!

See you all at the show!

Hello friends,

I am very excited to let you all know that I will be performing along side Tom Musial, Ty Mac, Matt Wohlfarth, Linda Duty, John Pridmore and Magician Al Mazing for a benefit show for the Shaler Library in the North Hills. The show will be at the Shaler Area middle to accommodate the audience that is already expected to show up. The show is organized by Ing Kalchthaler who I met at last year’s Gilda’s Great Comic Search. The show is $5 and starts at 7 pm. All the proceeds will be going to the Library. This is the event here on Facebook!

Its been about a year since I performed with Tom Musial. He and I met at the 2nd Gilda’s Laughing in the Face of Cancer event. Tom and I were also in last year’s finals and both of us got an honorary mention from Jimmy Krenn for the event. That was really great for me, and I’m sure Tom was elated as well. Tom is a very funny comic and performs all over town. Tom has 6 kids, but don’t worry he’s Catholic.

Ty Mac and I met way back when I was 18 and in the first Gilda’s Great Comic Search. Ty Mac has always been nice to me and has taken my email down about 5 times. I am very excited to perform with Ty, he’s a very funny man and great story teller.

I won’t go on about John Pridmore, because I already have and I don’t want to over do it here. Linda is a great and always comes out for the Gilda’s shows. There seems to be a trend here with the Gilda. I’m starting to sound like a broken record, eh? But back to this show, I haven’t performed with Matt or Al yet, so I am looking forward to that as well.

This is for a good cause and will help children to read more and maybe stay of their iPhones. So come on out guys, its $5 and helps the good cause of reading!

Poster by Venkat (http://wearevenkat.com)

We have slight change on the show coming up at LaRoche College. Due to a few complications with his schedule Jeff Konkle won’t be on the show. We’ve rebooked the show with Jamie Bono, who will be hosting the event, and Dan Jenniches who will be the feature in the show with myself and Ron Placone closing out the show. David Day booked the Bold Union Room for us that night. This is a great room and has been one of my favorite rooms to perform in. I’ve had many really great sets in that room, including a LaRoche Talent Show set in 2008 and The Grillz & Gazebos show in 2010.

Jamie and I have performed together a few times in the past. The first show was one of TJ Amick’s Papa J’s Showcases. After that, both of us were on Ron Placone’s NORML showcase last July. That was really fun show to be on with both those guys, so I’m really excited to be working with these guys again. Jamie is currently Buffalo working and heading up the Comedy scene up there. His sunny disposition and clever satiric Comedy stylings is will be great addition to the show. He hosts his own podcast called the To-Do List.

Dan and I met on the Pittsburgh Comedy scene about 1 year ago. Dan’s a great Comedian and worked with several Comedians around town and has been featured at several showcases around town. He recently opened for Jim Krenn and his return to Comedy at the Corner Cafe. He is currently a Pharmacy Student at Duquesne and has many great stories to tell. I am very excited to be performing with him for this show!

See you at the Show!

This past Friday was a part of the Comedy Showcase and Open Mic at the Corner Cafe, much I am most weeks. This is a weekly Open Mic hosted by Mike Wysocki but sometimes it’s some guest hosts. This week it was Ron Placone, and I had a pleasure of helping him out with the show. We had 16 comics as semi packed room and a great show! The Comedians were all great, everyone’s set was very well. Big thanks to everyone that came out last night!  I’ve been working on a few things for some upcoming shows and last night’s set needed work. Some of it was older material and some it was more recent. There are some portions that need to tweaked and trimmed. Which is great, because I’m very excited about working on this set!

My first experience with the Corner Cafe was when I was asked to perform there by Mark McCall on his Saturday night Comedy Showcases. I had a great time with the folks in the room and my set! From then on, I remember it being one of the best rooms in the city for Comedy! Whenever I can I enjoy performing along side the great Comedians in this city on a small intimate stage!

Ron and I have been performing together on shows and mics since I met at the Royal Place about 2 years ago. Ron was one of the many Comedians that talked to me and was encouraging about coming out to Open Mics when I didn’t know where there were. Ron and I have performed together on a several shows and will be on a few other shows this year! He is also working on a One-man show called Madness in the Message opening in June!

The Corner Cafe has Open Mic Comedy every Friday night at 9 pm for only $5. Drop by and get your laugh on!

Hey folks,

What’s on your agenda Friday night? I’ll tell you! Its a Comedy Showcase at the Corner Cafe, hosted by none other than my good friend, Ron Placone! This show will feature a variety of great comedians, from myself to Dan Jenniches, Robert X, Alex Stypula, James J. Hamilton, John Pridmore, Elliot Burns and much much more! For $5 come down and great comedy in a great room with great drink specials. The Corner Cafe is on the South Side Slopes on S. 18th St. Check out the Facebook event HERE. Dreams will come true, only at the Corner Cafe, hosted by Ron Placone.

Hey there,

I am very excited to say that I will be going back to LaRoche to be provide Comedic entertainment to alumni, friends, faculty, nun, ghosts of nuns and students with my good friends Jeff Konkle and Ron Placone on April 21, 2012. We will be filling the 2 hour block with hilarious jokes about a variety of subjects. This is part of the LaRoche College Homecoming weekend, which will have a whole day of food, sport, excitement, college knowledge and now Comedy! Check out the Facebook event HERE.

We are all very excited about this show. For me this is a great place to come back to do a show. LaRoche was the first place that I really started grow as a Comedian and work on my material. And this is also where I got perform on one my favorite (not like I have not mentioned this before), Grillz & Gazebos. I am also looking forward to performing with Ron & Jeff. I’ve performed on a few shows with Ron (the Noodlebowl Comedy Show & the NORML Show), and this is going to the first I’m going to be performance with Jeff since the 2nd Gilda’s: Laughing in the Face of Cancer. I’d love to all you guys, especially at the LaRoche students, to come out and enjoy this free show.

See you at the show!

This past week was the 4th Annual Gilda’s Great Comic Search, which benefits the Gilda Club of Western PA. This is always been a really fun show to do. These shows mean a lot to me not only because it’s a great cause for a great organization but also because the first show that I did was my first time at the Improv. It was a great opportunity that I enjoyed thanks to Aimee Arnold and I very am glad to help her out with these events!

This year the show went really well and had a great audience. I had great conversations with some great comedians, like Vinny Fasline, Shane Dolan, New York Nick, James J. Hamilton and more! The sets went well for everyone. There was a lot of energy in the room and the audience was highly receptive. I went up right after James, who killed the room. My set went ok. I used some of my newer material that I had been working on for s while. As i got off the stage, I felt confident but knew those bits had to be tweaked and were a long way from being great bits. The rest show was a lot of fun watching all the other comedians taking the stage. At the end of the show, as usual I felt like I wasn’t going to make it. First up to advance was Vinny Fasline, then Matt Light. Then my name was called and I had to do the dumb comics run up to the stage, waving to the audience, because I’m awkward. The final name called was James J. Hamilton. He truely deserved it, he killed it that night! Congrats to all the comedians that won!

After the show I had a very meaningful conversation with Aaron Kleiber. I was talking to him about my set and a few issues I had been facing about my material, much like the conversation I had with Carrie. He told how to better my sets and work up to my goals of producing my next hour. He basically told me that I should work on my best 10 minutes I have and build my way up to the hour. I’ve had an idea of some of the material I would like to use, but I have to keep working at them and making them better. He also said that I should bring back some of my older material from the Grillz & Gazebos show and revive it and make them even better. There are definitely bits I want to bring back out and build to be some of the best bits. I’m still writing new material but I’ll be rolling those out a little slower.

I had met Aaron at one of the Improv open mics that Aimee put me on to, he was one of the only comedians that talked to me after my set. Aaron is currently touring with Jim Breuer and runs a few open mics around town.

I want to thank everyone that came out, Randy Baumann for hosting, Aimee Arnold for organizing the event, Aaron for the fantastic advice and (calling back to the previous post) my girlfriend for pushing me to be better.

Fellow Winner Vinny Fasline, Aimee Arnold, Dana Kuskie, Comedian & Actor Aaron Kleiber and myself

We want to send out a message from our friend, Ron Placone! Check it out!

PATRONAGE: Like all other small-capacity theater projects, funding is and continues to be an issue. Launching something like this takes a reasonable amount of capital, and although I have a small and dedicated team who is working pretty much for free and doesn’t complain about it, there are still plenty of other expenses that sprout up. Funding has been tough to come by, especially as I am not a non-profit but an independent artist. A few people have suggested that I launch a Kickstarter campaign, but I decided against it. For those of you unfamiliar people give money through the website and then they get something in return, and the artist has to reach a certain goal and if that goal is not reached then they do not get the money and donors get their money back. I do not want to put myself or any of you in a situation where I may need to overly solicit you in an attempt to reach a particular bench-mark. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with Kickstarter campaigns, I have plenty of friends and colleagues that have used them, I’ve given to a few and I may even have one in the future, I just decided for this particular project it’s not the way to go. However, most projects like this have some type of patronage program, so I decided I would have my own, that way there’s no pressure on your end or mine, and I’m giving you what I perceive to be a good value. So, here it goes:

 If you were to give $25 you get the following: Free admission to a Madness in the Message theater show of your choice (let me know in advance which date), a Madness in the Message T-shirt, exclusive behind-the-scenes footage from the show prior to launch date including vlogs about the progress and out-takes from the sketches that will not be available to the public, access to stand-up clips from yours truly that aren’t available to the public, a hand-bill signed by myself and the Madness team with a thank-you, a complimentary hug (optional), and knowing that you supported the arts and have a boatload of my gratitude forever!

 For $50 you get: 2 Free Admissions to a Madness in the Message theater show, again let me know which date you want in advance, a Madness in the Message t-shirt AND a regular Ron Placone comedy t-shirt (I will have both), exclusive behind-the-scenes footage from the show prior to launch date including vlogs about the progress and out-takes from the sketches that will not be available to the public, access to stand-up clips from yours truly that aren’t available to the public, a hand-bill signed by myself and the Madness team with a thank-you, a complimentary hug (optional), and knowing that you supported the arts and have a boatload of my gratitude forever!

 If you give more than $50: That is incredibly kind and generous. I will give you all of the above as well as a personal thank you on the webpage, which is optional (I know some people are shy about those sort of things), also, if the amount is significantly higher than the $50 mark, a complimentary stand-up show featuring myself and a few other locals, or even a complimentary Madness show are all things I’d love to offer to higher-end patrons. We can work something out.

 I can accept PayPal or a check. If you want to be a part of this just message me and we’ll take it from there. I appreciate it very, very much.

Help out this really great show to get some really great stuff in return!

One my good friends and great Comedian Ron Placone is developing his one-man show called Madness in the Message. Here is a bit about the show, which you can find on the Madness in the Message: Start Talking facebook page.

Madness in the Message is a provocative multimedia one-man show on media criticism and comedy. The show will be running once a month from June through September 2012 at the Steel City Improv Theater on Pittsburgh’s Northside.

Describing the show “as The Daily Show meets the BBC series How TV Ruined Your Life with an academic edge,” Ron promises a tour through a contemporary media landscape where advertisers, owners and special interest groups come first and the general public comes dead last. The show includes case-studies, spoken-word, interviews, video-sketches, and even a little music.

After its initial theater-run Ron hopes to take the show to campuses and organizations nationally and internationally.

I’ve been honored to be a part of some sketches for the show. Ron is a prolific, satiric, and politically charged Comedian, Writer and Speaker & can be seen at a variety of shows and venues across the US and Canada. Check out his schedule and updates on his website. The branding for the show was done Venkat.

If anyone out there reading is in Florida, you should go see Pittsburgh Comedian & Actor, Aaron Kleiber who is on tour with SNL’s Jim Breuer. He’s been in Florida since March 1, 2012 and will be in Marcos Island, Miami Improv & West Palm Improv till March 11, 2012.

Aaron is fantastic Comedian and Improv actor. He hosts two open mics in Pittsburgh; Monday nights at the Pleasure Bar & Wednesday nights at the Beerhive. He is currently featured in 2 Pittsburgh Power Commercials, and is currently in the movie “Help Me, Help you”. Check out more from Aaron at his website!