Hard candy

Madonna posted a video of her vacuuming on You Tube... I assume she's cleaning up that abortion of a new album of hers.

11:45 PM - 8 Comments - 12 Kudos - Add Comment

Born To Be Wild

Bill Hayward, the associate producer of "Easy Rider" committed suicide this week.
I have to assume it was in response to seeing Peter Fonda host the informercial for the "Flower Power" CD collection from Time/Life.
Which... by the way, doesn’t look like a bad collection.
A little pricey though.

10:40 AM - 5 Comments - 9 Kudos - Add Comment

YEAR END LISTS

01/17
Happy New Year!!!
Here is a quick list of faves:

MOVIES
I thought these were great:
"Gone Baby Gone"
"Once"
"Michael Clayton"
"The Great Debaters"
"Away From Her"

and I wanted to punch these films in the face:
"Lions For Lambs"
"Margot At The Wedding"

MUSIC
Loved the following:
The Cinematics - A Strange Education
Scouting For Girls - S/T
Sixx A.M. - The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack
The Fratellis - Costello Music
The Bravery - The Sun And The Moon
Kaiser Chiefs - Yours Truly, Angry Mob
Dennis DeYoung - One Hundred Years From Now
Mika - Life In Cartoon Motion

CONCERTS
I saw a bunch of shows... but these were the standouts for one reason or another:
I think I saw The Police from 3 miles away at Dodger Stadium
Drove 2.5 hours to see Shaw/Blades
Was bored out of my mind at the Van Halen reunion
and like last year in regards to Roger Waters... here's another sentence I never thought I'd say":
went to see "Zappa Plays Zappa"... LOVED IT!

CHILDREN
Yes, I'm going to start ranking my kids from here on out!
1. Oliver

Talk Soon,
JP

11:43 PM - 4 Comments - 9 Kudos - Add Comment

Thumbs Up!

I was just in Chicago... and the Chicago Sun-Times ran a front page photo of Roger Ebert giving his patented "thumbs up" gesture to show how he feels following cancer surgery.
That means he gives surgery a better review than he gave "Catwoman".
Boom! Comedy! Snooze.

Yea, that's right... had to use "Catwoman" as the punch.
Sure, could have said Gigli or Glitter, but that would've been too easy.

9:46 AM - 3 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

I'm officially a grown up

Ok, so I'm going to be a Dad! We don't know the sex yet... and I know it sounds cliche, but I just hope it's healthy... and not a girl.

2:02 AM - 15 Comments - 28 Kudos - Add Comment

Living In A Box

So I got yelled at by a homeless guy today...
so what? I agree... but it leads me into something I forgot to write about my trip to London.
I guess I was surprised to see that the UK had a homeless problem, I though that was another thing the US could claim as it's own. Just like in the states, every hobo asks for money and because of the exchange rate, I have no idea what to give them. Seriously, I don't know if I gave the guy a nickel or made him a millionaire. A gave one guy some paper money and jumped around like I handed him the golden ticket to Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Jack Albertson jumped out of the bushes in his pajamas... it was quite exciting.
So exciting, I felt the need to write about it a month later.

11:34 AM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Eastbound and Down

I feel sorry for people that bought the P.T. Cruiser. It's the Ugg boots of automobiles.
So very "right then". You can take off boots.
Oh and if you live in a non-rural area and drive an Escalade... you're an asshole!
Of course, I'm a guy who owned a Fiero in 1985.

10:21 AM - 7 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

Tooth Hurty

Just returned from a week in London. Every joke you hear about Brits having bad teeth is true! So true that as soon as I arrived back in the colonies, I had to have a tooth extracted. Man, I wish I was kidding. The pain is horrible.

2:30 PM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Classic Rock

I'm in South Bend, Indiana... a city that hasn't been told that classic rock is dead. There are a least three stations here that play it.
The thing is, I'm not complaining. I know classic rock takes its fair share of beatings, but for me it's like looking through a shoe box full of memories.
Hearing any of this "crap" is like an instant smile tonic. Even songs I hated when they were popular seem to get me to grin and hum. Of course, I'm now legally obligated to say "You remember 'Grin and Hum', they opened for Foghat back in '82." Seriously, today I enjoyed "Cheap Sunglasses" by ZZ Top. Nobody ever says that. Why would they, it's a horrible song.
Anyhow, hearing this reminded me of living in Hometown, IL and while I was the proud owner of Kiss' "Rock And Roll Over" and Styx's "The Grand Illusion", I had to rely on my parent's record collection to listen to new things. Everybody goes through a "Doors phase", mine was when I was ten. I would stare at the "L.A. Woman" album cover for hours. It was burgandy with rounded corners, a die-cut transparent window with band photo, and yellow inner sleeve. I had no clue what any of the songs were about, but hearing the beginning of "Riders On The Storm" made me want to do nothing but listen to every album they owned. The downside... it was a bunch of jazz, Bette Midler, Chicago and Paul Williams. So there, I blame my crap taste on my parents! Gotta blame it on somethin'. Maybe I'll blame it on the rain.

2:03 PM - 7 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

2006 is gone!

Well, Happy New Year.
What did I learn in 2006? I hated the idea of blogging even more than I thought I would. I can't stand it. The idea that anybody thinks other people want to hear about their drive to the doctor is beyond me.

That said, I have this page on my website and it seems weird to not use it every now and then, so what were my highlights of 2006?

MY podcast "Never Not Funny" was named one of iTunes best of 2006.
I'm having a ball doing it and the listener numbers continue to grow every week. It's been really neat to meet fans of the podcast at stand-up shows around the country. The fact that they stumbled upon the 'cast and have become faithful listeners is really gratifying!
Thanks to Matt Belknap for talking me into doing it and to Mike Schmidt for helping make it so successful!

Celebrated my 2nd wedding anniversary.

The UCB Theatre is the best thing to happen to the Los Angeles comedy scene since Budd Friedman opened The Improv 300 years ago. Whether it's hosting both "Running Your Trap" and "The Match Game Live", performing on "Comedy Death Ray" or any of the other shows I'm invited to be on, I look forward to the drive there every time. Hey, maybe it turns out people may care about drives after all!

A lowlight was getting cut out of the movie "Dreamgirls". Since hosting TV stuff has been the focus of my career of the last few years, I don't do as much acting as in the past. Oh, who am I kidding, I only seemed to get one acting gig a year anyway... Now, I just don't try as often.
Anyway, getting cast in a major motion picture was really exciting!
The idea of people going to see this dramatic, big budget musical with a Motown vibe and leaving saying "Was that Jimmy Pardo?" had me laughing. Well, maybe my scene will make the DVD. I don't see why it would, but maybe they are REALLY short on extras.

2006 LISTS:

MOVIES:
I thought these were great:
"United 93"
"Dreamgirls"
"Little Children"
and I wanted to punch these films in the face:
"Crank"
"Stranger Than Fiction"

TV SHOWS:
I thought "30 Rock" was going to blow and it turns out to be the show I look forward to the most each week.
Still digging "The Office" and while this season's "Survivor" had me thinking it would be my last; after it was half over, it turned out to be the best season in years.

MUSIC/CONCERTS:
I bought Paul Stanley's "Live To Win" only because I refuse to let my fascination with KISS die. I had no expectations, in fact I thought it was going to suck. Well... other than a couple songs, this thing is great!

I loved the Wolfmother, Elefant, Gino Vannelli, Ellis Paul among a few others.

This year also marks the first time a CHICAGO album doesn't make the cut.
(CHICAGO XXX)
For years, out of some crazy loyalty that even I don't understand, I would HAVE to include them. Well, while I will always love the history... it's time to move on from this band's new stuff. Not every song was bad, but for the most part it was a disappointment. I only say that because they band was so Hell bent on "doing what they want and stop selling out" that when that didn't happen, I was let down. Maybe I should cut some more slack considering half the band are over sixty years old.

Speaking of guys over sixty.
As you know, I'm on my "I have to see them before they stop touring Tour". That said...
The Rolling Stones concert was outstanding!
The Barbara Streisand show was a better idea on paper.
The Guns And Roses show included the top one WORST guitar solo I've ever heard. I've been to thousands of concerts and was in High School battle of the bands, so that says a lot!

Here's a sentence I never thought I say: "I went to see Roger Waters in concert". I spent too much time as a youth bragging about how I didn't want my music to "have a message" and then put on .38 Special. ugh!
This Roger Waters show was the best show of the year and without a doubt in the top five of all time! I then spent months buying Pink Floyd CDs I should have owned thirty years ago!

The Paul Stanley solo show was also a highlight!

That's it, now... let's see how long it is before I post again on this thing!

1:41 AM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment