WE'RE BACK! A recap of the world's biggest comedy festival, a bizarre hospital stay and my upcoming trip home...

Hey everyone, 
Sorry i missed a couple weeks here on what's supposed to be a Daily Koz blog. Life gets in the way sometimes, though. 

First off, i was in Montreal July 27-31 for the Just For Laughs comedy festival, which is the world's biggest such event. Dozens if not hundreds of the world's greatest comics go there each year to perform at huge theatre events as well as small underground-style rooms, as well as talk on panels or host live-audience editions of their podcasts. 

You can see photos from the fest, and from Radio Titans' show "Koz Effect"'s appearance at the epic politics and comedy fest called Politicon in June, at our Instagram by clicking the icon for Instagram at our site, www.radiotitans.com. Lots of great stuff to look at! 

Anyway, Montreal is always a shot in the arm for me as a comedy fan, and someone who wants to be in the business. I'm in the midst of a real creative explosion as i have lost 60 pounds since late March and this year, being at the fest really inspired me to come back as an artist, producer or both by next year's event. 

Sound preposterous? The message expressed time and again, particularly from Kevin Hart at JFL and Jay Pharaoh in a personal conversation at Politicon, is : it's never too late. If you apply yourself hard enough and have any talent at all, you will attain a level of success. 

And so, i'm determined to show that i've got that in spades and am going to unveil lots of things in the coming weeks and months. 

I'd have to say the greatest events at the fest were the Goddamn  Comedy Jam and the Comedy Central tapings of "Roast Battle." GCJ is a wildly successful show in LA, run on Monday nights by a highly energetic comic named Josh Adam Meyers who came up with the great idea of having star comics perform sets of fresh material before diving into singing a favorite rock song with a live backing band, completely unrehearsed. 

In Montreal, the Jam was held for four nights in a space called Le Balcon, which you could enter only after walking quietly through a giant church sanctuary in a Cathedral-sized Protestant church. Since the shows were at 10:30 at night and had  slightly blasphemous name, it was definitely kinda creepy walking through , but the payoff was worth it once you entered the actual performance space. 

There were indeed balconies surrounding the room on three sides, but no one was allowed to sit in them. Instead, everyone was seated cabaret-style on the main floor, while the live band and the comics strutted their stuff on an elevated stage. On Thursday night when i went, Judd Apatow, Iliza Schlesinger, and Matt Braunger were performing, with Apatow a particularly fun person to watch as he ripped through Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now," one of my all time favorite songs. Iliza did a fantastic job on Stevie Nicks' "Edge of Seventeen," while Braunger was kinda creepy doing Danzig's "Mother" - though, to be fair, anything by Danzig is MEANT to be creepy. 

Afterwards, I managed to pose for a couple of shots with Apatow, so scratch that off my bucket list! And find them on the Instagram. He let me into the green room, while one of his daughters (who both acted in his movie "This Is 40") took over the camera and made one of this guy's dreams come true. 

"Roast Battle" was an even wilder animal, a series of free tapings that supposedly were "sold out" way before. It's the next hot thing for Comedy Central, and will no doubt be a massive hit. Created by an LA-based comic named Brian Moses when he challenged two comics who were about to punch each other out behind the Comedy Store to instead settle their beef with  roast battle onstage, the show has grown into a midnight sensation that only recently ended a year-plus run in the club's Belly Room on Tuesday nights. 

Comedy Central has bought the concept, and brought in the ultimate celebrity roaster, Jeffrey Ross, to host the show, while an impressive array of famous judges - the night i went featured Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Rogen as the men who decided the battlers' fates. There were four battles in the hourlong show we saw, in which two comics each time faced off and delivered a series of devastating yet funny insults. Over the course of the following two nights, a lone champion would be decided. 

It was amazing - the crowd was wild, the mood was like a humorous version of "Gladiator" or "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome," and the jokes mostly slayed. We weren't able to take photos or videos, especially after sneaking in like Ninjas, but check the show out on Comedy Central and you will NOT be disappointed. 

Another month, another hospital

Now, i've been literally working my ass off since March 22 to lose weight and regain control of my life and health after 15 years of battling sleep apnea and a decade of fighting off a recurring leg infection (which doesn't affect anyone else!) I'm down about 60 pounds and intend to go all the way to "full Kiedis" over a couple years - meaning, to get as buff as the most insanely buff dude in entertainment, Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. 

But I wound up in the hospital again last week, even though there were big signs of progress: i was in for 2 1/2 days this time rather than 5 or even 12 days; my diabetes is GONE; and my blood pressure is damn near normal all the time now. When i got out and sang karaoke Friday night, a 28 year old woman thought i was 36! (I'm somewhat older, but i'll take 36, so leave it at that.) 

I've been taking notes on my odd experiences in hospitals for awhile now, as i'm working on a book and a solo storytelling show about my experiences with strange situations, medications, doctors and "roommates." Most of the time, i get a private room at the Southern California Hospital of Culver City, but this time a guy named Joey was rolled into the other half of the room at 5 p.m. Tuesday, nearly 18 hours after i got there. 

There's a lot to tell with this story, and I'll have it in the book and the story show. But the important gist of it was that I at first rolled my eyes and scoffed to myself over this guy who was physically much bigger than me, was brought in in order to save his toes from neglect over diabetes, and was moping loudly to himself about how scared he was and how to get out of the hospital. 

I finally decided to calm him down by telling him it was a great place and that the doctors were better than anywhere in LA in my opinion (truth).  And then he started telling me how he's written children's books, and doesnt' know how to get them out into the world. I was thinking "Oh brother," but after awhile i invited him to recite them and they were stunningly GREAT. Well-written, engaging, funny, beyond clever. The guy is more than a little rough around the edges, but I know people in the book industry and Christian media (which could be a slam dunk since this was clean stuff) and i have a feeling that this guy is someone worth putting the time into and has a lot to share with the world. 

So, try not to jump to conclusions or judgments about people. You may never know what a great heart or mind might lie under the surface of even the seemingly oddest person. There is a great story about to unfold here, i can feel it. And i will continue to share it as it happens. I might have found the next Dr. Seuss. No kidding. 

HOMEWARD BOUND

Can't wait to go home! Flying home tomorrow to Little Rock, Arkansas, for first time since Oct. 2014. Been since Dec 2013 since i talked to my dad in person, but thats a whole crazy story that's now part of my standup act. :P
Going to be roadtripping with one brother to see Nashville, my sister and her five kids (familiar to all who know my standup :P) in Johnny Depp's hometown of Owensboro, KY, then driving with THEM to Indianapolis, and coming back to Little Rock through Memphis so i can see my other brother and his kid. 
This better result in another movie or TV idea :P. Three iconic American cities and way too much family in five days. :P