June 3rd

I don’t keep track of a lot of dates, but June 3rd sticks in my mind because in 1996 it was the day I moved to NYC, which means today marks 20 years since I took a flight from Chicago and a bus from LaGuardia to get to a 3-month sublet in Hell’s Kitchen. And though I didn’t do anything intentional to celebrate the occasion I spent the day finishing up a packet of songs and sketches for a potential gig, recording my own music in my studio, and discovering that my YouTube channel (which I obviously didn’t have in 1996) just hit 20 million views. Not bad.

In these 20 years I met a lot of wonderful people through the performing world and had a lot of great experiences, not the least of which are:

• Opening a dozen shows for George Carlin
• Opening for Lily Tomlin at the MGM in Las Vegas
• Doing a 2 week tour in Afghanistan performing for members of the armed services at military bases
• Completing my goal of spending at least one day in every state
• Appearing on Comedy Central
• Making the Dr. Demento Funny Five and Funny 25
• Putting out 4 albums of music
• Having a performance piece about my distaste for a certain Baroque piece of music go viral and lead to so many fun and interesting encounters and opportunities
• Being in a concert film

Shoot, I could go on and on. And though I’m not a household name, nor rich, I feel I’ve gotten better and better at mixing comedy, music, and performance in a way that’s true to who I am and what I believe. Last year I wrote a musical which I hope you all will see and hear someday and I still thoroughly enjoy making people laugh with jokes, music and lyrics.

Thank you to everyone who’s been part of this experience, my good friends in and out of comedy, my family—both immediate and extended—and everyone who’s come to shows, watched online, and enjoyed what I do.

Yours in rock,
RobP