The Red Eye

For this blog entry, I decided to go back into the awkward vaults and share a story that happened to me a about three years ago. This story occurred to me because I've been traveling and flying pretty frequently lately, kind of like George Clooney from "Up In The Air." Except I'm not as cool and I don't hook up with hot random married women. (No jealousy at all.) Anyway,  I can't believe I never shared this story given it made me chuckle when I recalled all the events that happened.   

So I was in LA at the time(my first tour) and flying to my friend's wedding in Miami. It's not the most convenient flight given there aren't many direct flights to Miami. So I ended up taking the red eye around 11pm and was arriving at 7am. This was actually my first red eye flight I had ever taken, so it was going to be a bit of an adjustment for little Jonno. In addition, I'm not a person who sleeps on planes very easily given my brain moves like a hamster wheel.  I was seated in an aisle seat next to this friendly, older southern couple probably in late 60's early 70's. In order to not be a mess the whole trip and get some shut eye, I popped two benadryl before the flight.

About two hours into the flight I finally fell asleep. As I was sleeping, I kind of had this feeling that there was something around me. I wasn't sure what, but I knew it was something. So as I open my eyes, I look over and there is this bald, albino, gentleman probably in his mid 30's hovering over me with his eyes closed. He practically looked like a zombie ready to eat my head off. And I was like holy friggin sh*t! I didn't know what the heck was going on. Out of all the people that could be sleepwalking, how come this guy had to be a bald albino scary looking zombie?  I mean why couldn't the person have been a nun or an accountant or any other type of a human being? Just not a zombie looking dude!

(Rise and shine Jonno!)

                  











As I am face to face with the bald albino sleepwalker zombie, I realize he is about fall on top of me. So in order to not get smashed by him I lightly pushed him away. As I pushed him he felt like the weight of a feather because he was asleep. So he flings backward and falls on the back of his head and into the aisle. Because of the fall everybody on the plane woke up from their slumber and that's when the mayhem started. The Southern older couple who I thought were sweet people at first, quickly turned on me. It's true you really do learn who your real friends are in stressful situations. The husband of the couple turned to me and yelled, "What are you doing? Get up and get some help!" So let me get this straight... Because I was sleeping and an bald albino sleepwalking zombie decided to fall on top of me, this was somehow my fault?

I was a bit groggy from my sleep, but being the true hero I am I managed to get out of my seat and seek help. I went to the front of the plane and there were no stewardesses to be seen. When I turned around I saw that there were two stewardesses from the back of the plane attending to the bald albino zombie. The albino ended up fortunately being fine, but I still got the stink eye from every single passenger for the rest of the flight. The plane was overwhelmingly pro-zombie and anti-Jonno. To make it even crazier, I later saw where the zombie was sitting and it was towards the back of the plane. I was sitting in the 5th row, which means he had to pass about 20 rows before he decided I was the lucky chosen one to fall on.

God, that George Clooney is a lucky bastard! (Again, not jealous)

I'm Out!

Memoirs of the Invisible Jonno

Two recent instances have made me wonder if I am truly invisible. Before your brain gets flooded with confusion, please let me explain myself. A few Saturdays ago, I was waddling down the street getting ready to head into CVS. As I made a sharp right turn (walking) I saw a young hipster doofus standing in front of the store smoking a cigarette. As I glanced up, the young doofus proceeded to hock a slimy loogie into the air. It was as if the projectile loogie hesitated and winked at me mid-air. My facial expression quickly turned to "OH NOOOOOOOOOO!" I knew at this point there was no turning back. Unfortunately, this loogie had a destination and it was aimed at our little, innocent, and precious Jonno. The loogie smothered me like a tsunami and drenched my shirt and shorts. Fortunately, it was not my Gucci wardrobe day (that usually occurs on Wednesdays, if you’re scoring at home).

I turned to the hipster doofus and asked him, "What the hell is your problem?" In a very non-apologetic tone he replied, "What? I didn't see you." That was his response?!!!! What has this world come to? He was almost as if he thought it was my fault that I walked into his spit! If I had accidentally spit on somebody, I’d get down on my hands and knees and beg forgiveness. Being the “mensch” that I am, I’d probably even offer to pay for their dry cleaning. If I hadn’t been such a friggin’ wuss, I would've slammed the hipster doofus’ head against a wall. The thing I still can't understand is who the heck hocks a loogie without any type of control in a heavy traffic area? If I do happen to spit, which I rarely do, it's usually directed at the ground (away from any humans, animals, or living organisms). I'm not a vengeful person, but I if I ever see this young hipster doofus again, I'm most definitely going to spit on him. The only issue is that I tend to dribble a bit when I spit. I guess I'll have to practice in my free time.
       
As we continue along the invisible theme...

Earlier this morning, I decided to hit the gym to maintain my stunning physique. After getting a sip of water from the water fountain, this gentleman was not paying attention to where he was walking and almost knocked right into me. In order to avoid the collision, I did a ninja reflex move, but he still grazed my groin area (settle down ladies, your time will come). The gentleman said, "sorry, excuse me" which was a valid apology given the circumstances. I felt we had reached an understanding. I decided to work off some of my fat kid's gorging from the previous night and do some crunches. As I struggled to do some, I noticed the same gentleman who had grazed my groin area approach me. He says to me, "Did you just push me?"  I looked at him like he had 8 heads because I had no idea what he was talking about. He then goes on to say "I just wanted to make sure I wasn't disrespected."  At this point, I was like what the hell is this guy talking about?  I'm not saying I'm the strongest man in the world, but I think somebody would know if I pushed them. So I practically laughed at him and said, "I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about."  Maybe it was more of a nervous laugh, but nonetheless it was a laugh. The gentleman than says before he walks away, "I hope so. Because I don't want to be disrespected!"  If anything, I was the person that was disrespected, given that he bumped into me and grazed my special area. And how is it that people keep on not noticing me?  I'm practically 6'3 and 195 pounds. It's not like I'm Mini Me walking around and getting stepped on. It's almost like I'm re-living the movie "The Sixth Sense" and I'm some type of ghost.

I see awkward people!

                                                    
Time for everybody's favorite part(Or maybe just mine)... The McNuggets!!!

-I gotta pick a beef with facebook here... I'm really not a fan of anytime I leave a comment on somebody's thread, I then get e-mailed everybody else's comment. It's nothing against the other people, but I unfortunately don't care what they have to say. Facebook, I know you do offer some good things, so I guess we'll just have to compromise here... As long as you let me stalk women and stare at their pictures, I'll deal with the comments thread. Deal?

-I also have a bone to pick with stainless steel pots and pans. What is the benefit of them?  I know they look nicer, but they have to be the biggest pain the arse!  Every time I use them, I end up burning the bottom of the pot. To add on to the madness, they are harder to clean and the handle always gets too hot!  It's almost like dealing with some ultra-sensitive little baby. who cries over any little thing you do wrong. Actually come to think of it, that's kind of like me.          

-I don't know how the Real World does it, but every season they are able to find the most psychotic, obnoxious person, with the worst communication skills. And in this past season in New Orleans, they introduced me to the wonderful Ryan. Ryan, I never want to meet or see you, but thank so much for bringing so much joy to my life.

My future roommate from Craigslist

-I know the song "California Gurls" has gotten fairly old by now, but I am compelled to discuss it. As you know, the song basically talks about how attractive the girls are in California with their bikini tops and daizy dukes. For some reason, whenever I'm driving around the streets of LA and this song comes on the radio, I always see the most grotesque women, shaking their flabby asses as I look out my car window. Ms. Perry, where are these "California Gurls" that you speak so highly of?  

-Awkward line of the week... A few weekends ago, I was at this lounge and my friend started to talk with this attractive hostesses. My friend said to the her, "Doesn't that guy over there look like Hayden Christensen?"  You know, the guy from Star Wars." The hostess then replied, "I don't know. I don't watch that show."  That's why we all love the California girls.

I'm Out!     



                                   

                                   

Broccoli, Inner Fat Kids, and MacGruber

So a bunch of people and myself went out to dinner at this Chinese restaurant to say goodbye to a friend that is moving back home.(Wuss... Cough... Cough...)  I didn't know most of the people there too well because they were mostly friends of my buddy who was leaving.  I did my best to be affable and engage in conversations, but I was a little off as usual.  On the bright side the food was awfully scrumptious, so I was inhaling it and chowing down like no other.  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that one of the guy's girlfriend was not eating the fried rice that she ordered.  My nosy self was curious as to why she wasn't really eating at all, but didn't feel it was my business to ask.  Fortunately, somebody else at the table asked and her response was that she is upset because she thought there would be more broccoli in the fried rice.  Hmmm.... I found that response a bit peculiar because I could see if she hated the dish because there was too much of an ingredient, but to not eat it because it was lacking broccoli made very little sense to me.  Was she lying?  Is she truly obsessed with broccoli?  Why does my urine dribble when I pee?                           

  (This is the most amusing pic I could find with broccoli)

After dinner we headed over to this crepes joint because they apparently had cheap drinks there.  Some of the people ordered crepes, while myself and the inner fat kid watched on with extreme jealously.  The Broccoli girlfriend seemed to be enjoying her whip cream/chocolate crepe...  Given that I really wasn't bringing much to the table conversation wise, I decided to make what we call in the business, a "Callback" joke.  (Awkward definition: A callback, in terms of comedy, is a joke which refers to one previously told in the set. The second joke is often presented in a different context than the one which was used in the initial joke.)   I debated for a second in my head if I should make the joke, but given my desperation to involve myself I decided to go for it.  So I said to the Broccoli girlfriend as she was eating the crepe, "So do you have some broccoli in there?"  Even though the joke wasn't that good, everybody at the table erupted in laughter.  Feeling good about myself and my witty one-liner, I turned to the Broccoli girlfriend to find out that she was giving me this scathing stare.  And it wasn't just a mean look and then she turned away.  She was looking at me like she wanted to chop my head off and run over it with her car a hundred times.  To be honest, I don't even think she was blinking.  Instead of engaging her in a staring contest, I began to feel extremely uncomfortable.  I didn't know what to do, so I asked her if she was mad at me.  Given that she wouldn't really answer, I tried my best to apologize if I offended her and explained repeatedly that I am truly a nice, harmless, individual.  I unfortunately wasn't really getting anywhere because for the rest of the night, given that she would not say a word to me.  In hindsight, I realize it wasn't appropriate of me to offend somebody or make them feel uncomfortable.  Although, if I had the choice again to make seven people laugh or piss off somebody that I will most likely never see again... I'm going with the call-back joke. 

Chicken McNuggets...

-You know you're officially losing it, when you wake up on a Sunday morning and you can't find your keys.  So you rummage frantically throughout your apartment... Until you locate your keys outside of your front door, hanging out of your door knob.  I seriously might as well wear a sign that says, "Please take everything you want and have your way with me." 

-I've gone to quite a few art festivals lately because I'm attempting to decorate my apartment.  And I've been seeing a recurring theme at all of these art festivals.   Every tent/booth I walk by, the person in charge of it is sitting in a chair and stuffing their face with a plate of food.  And they are always eating gross and quickly,  I don't know if eating like a starving Barbarian is a prerequisite to run a booth at an Art Festival, but it's not really gonna motivate me to drop a few hundos on a painting.  Btw, how does somebody get the art festival booth job?  That's something I would be awfully good at and qualified for.  
            
-Speaking of people eating food obnoxiously, I was at work the other day...  And they were serving ice cream at 3pm for some fundraiser.  So pretty much the whole day, I was staring at the clock and having a mental image of a countdown with Dick Clark in my head.  Then I get an e-mail around one o'clock about a meeting that was going to take place at...  Can you guess what time? 3pm of course.  After almost having a breakdown/hissy fit, I took a deep breaths and did my best to compose myself.  Given, that I've only been at this job for a few weeks, the smart thing to do would be to forget about the ice cream and just go to the meeting.  But as usual, Robert, my inner fat kid, took over the situation and made me get the ice cream first and bring it into the meeting.  Even though I was the only person eating the ice cream in the meeting and I got numerous weird looks, it was all worth it.  They even had rainbow sprinkles too!  (Can somebody explain why I still like rainbow sprinkles?)

-Even though the movie bombed, "MacGruber" was one of the funniest films I've seen in years.  It's not for everybody, but definitely for people with a random sense of a humor.  Otherwise, go see "Marmaduke"!    

-So I watched the MTV Movie awards last night...

Highlights: Tom Cruise dancing number, Katy Perry's outfit, Ken Jeong's emotional acceptance speech, and Sandra Bullock's winning the lifetime achievement award.

Lows:  Aziz Ansari's monologue, facing the fact that Will Smith's son is the next Karate Kid, and anytime Twilight won.  I think I rather have a staring contest with the broccoli girlfriend than listen to Kristen Stewart speak.

-In other news... A woman named Debrahlee Lorenzana has filed a lawsuit against Citigroup because she claims she was fired because she is too good looking.  This makes me feel better because now I understand why I was unemployed for six months. 

(It sure is tough being so good looking)








I'm Out!

British Accents, Peanut Butter, and Lebron James

A friend that I met here in LA had asked me to read a part in his staged reading for his TV pilot. I was surprised that he would ask a person such as myself, given that I have the tendency to be a stammering, mumbling, fumbling idiot. To add on to my bewilderment, the part that he wanted me to read was for one of the leads. I wanted to grab my friend, shake him, and yell "Do you have any idea what you are getting yourself into?" Wisely, I decided against doing that and instead hid my doubts and insecurities. The day of the staged reading I looked over the script, just as any diligent, professional actor would do to get into character. The lines didn't seem too difficult, given that the character I was playing was the quasi-facetious older brother. Right as I felt comfortable, I saw that I had to sing/rap to the song "Suga Suga" by the artist Baby Bash. I thought to myself, you gotta be kidding me? Rapping? If you don't recognize this song from the title, believe me you've heard it. I looked up the video on YouTube(after a pit-stop at YouPorn) and did my darnedest to get the hook down. I figured if I purposely sang bad, then people would laugh with me rather then at me. I remember learning that from a "Family Matters" episode with Steve Urkel. (Awkward Fun Fact: I dressed up as Steve Urkel in 4th grade for Halloween. The costume was great, except for being tall, skinny, and black I was short, portly, and Jewish).
     (Can you tell which one is the real Urkel?)

Anyway, now that I got the rap song out of the way it was now time to continue with the script. Towards the end of the script was a line that read "Crank this shit up!". Now, normally this would appear to be a simple line to read. The twist is that in parentheticals it said to say the line in a British accent. Back in the day I could do a British accent with no problem. I don't mean to brag, but in 5th grade I was MAN #2 in OLIVER TWIST. Even though I had about two lines, the accent came to me with great ease and I had an immense about of confidence performing it. I'm not sure what has happened in the last 18 years, but I have completely lost the ability to do the accent. Before the staged reading we rehearsed the script with the rest of the cast. When it came to the part of the British accent, I was hoping I could just read the line without the accent and nobody would notice. That plan backfired when my friend was like, "Dude where's the accent?" I was like, "Do I really have to do it? I'm horrible at it." He replied, "You gotta do it. It's important." I didn't want to let him down so I unfortunately knew I had to give it a shot.

So the audience is seated and the staged reading begins and all I can friggin think about is that damn British accent. I can't get it out of my mind. As each page of the script goes by, I'm thinking I'm closer and closer to humiliating myself. It kind of had an affect on my other lines and made me stumble on some of them. I probably would have stumbled regardless, but let's blame it on that. My rap solo of "Suga Suga" did not go as horrible as I expected. I actually got a few laughs out of it, so I was hoping that would give me some momentum for the British accent. We hit pg. 32 and it's time to deliver the goods folks. It felt I was up to the plate in the bottom of the 9th with 3 balls, 2 strikes. and 2 outs. I got my game face on and tried to deliver the best British accent somebody could deliver. And what came out of my mouth, is something that is extremely difficult to describe. The best way to put it, is that my accent sounded like Corky from "Life Goes On" being lit on fire. After I did the accent, there were a few moments of awkward silence, since the audience had no idea I was attempting a British the accent. But the other cast members knew what I was trying to do and they all started laughing uncontrollably. The laughing was definitely not with me, but at me and well deserved I must say. I did feel bad for my friend because I butchered his script, but at least I did warn him of my retarded limitations. After this incident, I think it's time I hung up acting shoes and my Steve Urkel Halloween costume and stick to the writing. Although, that might need to be hung up too.

I know what you've been craving for the last few months... The McNuggets!!!

-I know this is a little old, but I have to comment on the Sandra Bullock divorce from Jesse James. Sandra, I'm sorry to hear that Mr. James cheated on you, but what the hell did you expect? The guy has a kid with a Porn Star? I don't know what your criteria is for characteristics you look for in a husband, but I would think having a kid with a porn star would be near the bottom of that list. And stop with this whole bad boy dating image thing. Maybe you could have done that during the "Speed" days, but you're 45 years old now. How about meeting a nice Jewish boy on JDATE or something?  I would just maybe leave out the whole adopting the African baby thing on the profile, to improve your chances.  Maybe wait to the fourth or fifth date for that revelation.

-The other day I came into work and there was this strong smell of Peanut Butter on me. I figured it must have been because I had eaten peanut butter/jelly toast for breakfast. But I still felt that the smell was a bit more pungent than usual. An hour or two later, I waddle into the bathroom and look in the mirror... And what I see is a huge glob of peanut butter on my chin. Two questions I immediately had for myself... 1) How did I not feel the peanut butter on my chin? 2) How many people saw this and did not tell me?

-If I had to choose the biggest scumbag on the planet right now, I might have to choose Ben Roethlisberger. Last year the dude gets charged with sexual assault with a Lake Tahoe Hotel Staff member, but was somehow able to get the charges dropped. In other words, the woman was paid off. Then, this past month he gets charged for sexual assault again with some college girl at a Georgia Bar. Dude, what's your deal? How many bullets do you think you can dodge? You have the money to be with any woman you want, so why would you have to resort to this? All I know, is that there no chance in hell that I will be drafting Ben Roethlisberger in the upcoming Fantasy Football draft. So take that you despicable piece of crap!

-I don't know if you caught the SNL that Betty White hosted, but it was one of the best episodes I've seen in years. The last time I could feel that much energy was when Jim Carrey hosted over ten years ago. Why can't it be like that every week?

-What a disappointing playoff loss for Lebron and the Cavs. It's almost as if they just gave up and threw in the towel.  I know there are a lot of rumors about Lebron coming to the Bulls(my favorite sports team). But I gotta admit, I would feel guilty if Lebron came to Chicago.  I just know how devastating it would be to the city of Cleveland if he left. Sorry Drew Carey, but all your "Cleveland Rocks" songs would not make up for his absence.  My prediction... Lebron gets courted by JayZ and the new Russian billionaire owner and goes to the New Jersey Nets.

-Even though I've given up on the show "Lost" because I'm lost when I watch it. (Get it? I used the same word twice.) How pathetic is it that the show's intro still spooks me out even though I've seen it a hundred times and know it that it's coming? All I can say, is that my Spiderman night light has been the best purchase I've made in years.

 (I think I just wet myself)



I'm Out!

Happy Easter!

On Easter, a friend, his roommate, and myself decided to go hiking since there really wasn't anything else for three Jewish young men to do.  My friend's roommate, Oleg, had gone hiking in the Malibu Mountains and suggested we go back there.  He did warn us that parts of the trail get a little difficult, but nothing that we couldn't handle.  I figured that since I've been working out a decent amount lately, I would be able to battle through any rough spots. Boy, was I friggin wrong!  I felt like I was Tom Cruise in "Mission Impossible 2", except without the good looks, athleticism, and coordination.  Other than that it was impossible to tell us apart.  There were stretches of the trail where I hardly had anything to grab or step onto.  At times, I was grabbing onto some flimsy tree branch and stepping onto a rock the size of a Chicken McNugget. (Mmmmmmm.... Chicken McNuggets.....)  So we get up to the second waterfall, which truly is a pretty neat view to see.  Apparently, Oleg had gone up to the third waterfall, but my friend and I felt we had done enough. I felt all my bruises, scrapes, and bug bites were worth the trouble.  Plus, it was going to be enough of a chore to get downhill.

As we started our journey downhill, we encountered an Orthodox Jewish, British guy, probably in his late 20's/early 30's.  I never got his name, but for the sake of the story, let's call him Shlomo.  Shlomo appeared a bit nervous and did not feel like climbing up any further.  So he decided to climb down as well.  With Shlomo was an older man, who I assumed to be his father, but the guy literally did not say one word.  Shlomo and his mute dad were in front of us, so we were kind of following them by default.  I look ahead of us and I see Shlomo's dad going down some sort of tunnel.  He looked like the Gopher from Caddyshack burrowing into the ground.  It was a very peculiar sight, if I must say.  And after that it was if Shlomo's mute dad had vanished.  So here we were, left with babysitting Shlomo.  At first I thought it was endearing that this nice British Orthodox guy was nervous, but then it frankly was just getting annoying.  He was just going so slow and freaking out over every little thing.  I was bad enough at this hiking thing, but he made me look like a pro out there.  Since Oleg was the most experienced and talented out of everybody, I suggested that maybe he should lead us downhill.

                                                                   Meet Shlomo

Going downhill was not only difficult because of Shlomo’s antics, but because of how steep this cliff was.  The only way to climb down was to literally sit on your ass and scoot down.  Kind of like how a dog rubs his butt on the carpet.  I remember the first time I saw our family dog do that, it freaked me out because it looked like “The Exorcist” was coming towards me.   Anyway, as we were scooting down it kind of occurred to me that there had to be a better route.  But my friend and Oleg assured me that this was the only way to get down.  Plus, I really had no idea where the hell I was, so I wasn’t going to argue.  I look down and see that Oleg is near the bottom of the hill.  I think to myself, “Damn that Oleg is good!”  About a few seconds later, I look down and see Oleg running out of control by the waterfall.  I was hoping that one of the people standing around would be able to stop him.  But I think because he was running so fast, nobody really could without the risk of them getting hurt too.  Oleg then trips, falls on his back into this mud creek, and hits his head.  His face is covered with mud and blood and he is lying on the ground in severe pain.  I was in complete shock.  I turn to look at my friend with a look of, “Did that really just happen?”  Fortunately there were people and some families down there, so they were able to rush to Oleg’s aide.  There wasn’t much by buddy and I could do, since we still had half of this friggin cliff to climb down.

I probably could have easily panicked at this point, but there really wasn’t any room to with Shlomo around.  Instead of worrying about how Oleg was doing, Shlomo started to freak out and say “You guys are going to help me get down right?  I need your help!  I can’t do this by myself!”  I told Shlomo, first I have to see if I can climb down myself before I can help you.  I hate to say it, but Shlomo was not really helping the nervous, wimpy, Jewish stereotype here.  My friend quickly gets down, to check on Oleg.  He also slipped on his way down too, but was able to prevent himself from falling.  I then scoot my ass down and finally reach pavement.  It was evident that Oleg was in a lot of pain, so we weren't sure if he had broken anything or not.  It was hard for him to talk because he got the wind knocked out of him.  Shlomo still hadn’t moved since Oleg’s fall and is crying like a baby.  So my buddy had to climb back up and help him get down.  I have absolutely no idea where Shlomo’s mute dad is at this point.  I have a feeling that Shlomo’s dad became a mute from his son’s constant whining and crying.  I walk over to Oleg and there is an older gentleman and two younger girls around my age, helping Oleg out.  As much as I do want to help, I’m not really knowledgeable as far as what to do in these type of chaotic situations.  Even though I had pretty much lost my faith in society many years ago, it was refreshing to see how many people were helping out.

My friend finally helped Shlomo down the cliff and Shlomo just leaves instead of seeing how Oleg is doing.  And just so you know, about six feet to the right of the disastrous cliff we came down, was another path that was a hundred times easier.  People were pretty much walking down this path.  I thought to myself, “Are you kidding me?”  We went through all of this for nothing?  I have a feeling had we not bumped into Shlomo, all of this would’ve been avoided and realized the other path to get down.  There’s some more drama to the story, but I think I’ve basically have written enough for one blog.  In a nutshell, there was some debate amongst the people if we should call for an ambulance or wait and see if we could walk Oleg to the car ourselves.  We ended doing a combination of both.  We walked/carried Oleg about three quarters of the way back to the parking lot and then some firemen came to put him in an ambulance.  I’m proud to say that Oleg is okay.  He fortunately did not break anything, but instead had some massive bruises and maybe fractured a rib.  This happened on Sunday and the tough son of gun was back to work by Thursday.  To make this Easter holiday even stranger, than it already was… While we were waiting in the emergency room, everything started shaking and then I quickly realized that this must be an earthquake.  It was a strange one in that it felt like we were on a boat that would not stop swaying.  From what I heard, it was the longest earthquake that Los Angeles has had in the past ten years ago.(I don’t have evidence to back up this data, but a friend told me this.)  In summary, if you ever plan on going hiking, I would maybe stay away from the Malibu mountains and in addition to any friendly, nerdy, British, Jewish Orthodox, young males.

I’m Out!          

Jimmy Kimmel Live

I recently had the pleasure of attending a live taping of “Jimmy Kimmel Live”. I’ve been a huge fan of Jimmy Kimmel and the show for a while, so I was looking forward to the experience. I had been to see Letterman twice, while I spent a summer in New York many years ago. I know some people just want to see a live show once and never do it again. But I’m what you call a bit of a dork, and I enjoy seeing all the stuff that happens behind the scenes. So my friend and I went on a Friday evening because that was the most convenient day for us to go on. It was probably not the most masculine of shows to see, given that the guests were Josh Duhamel and John Mayer. So order to fit in with the crowd, I brought a pair of my panties to throw at the studly men. I was sad to give them up because it was my only pair that did not have any skid mark remnants in it, but at least it was for a good cause.

As you walk in to the studio, the PA’s on the show direct you where to sit. The studio is a lot smaller than it looks on TV. There are two rows right in front of the stage and then behind the cameras are another 10-12 rows. It really made no sense as to how the PA’s decide where you sit. From my best awkward analysis, it seemed like the good looking people were sat in the front, while the “Others” were placed towards the back. My analysis was given more credibility, when these two heavier-set gals that were standing in front of us were seated in the last row in the back. Given that my friend and myself won’t be on the cover on Men’s Health anytime soon, I assumed the PA was going to sit us right next to the hefters in the back. Surprisingly, he sat us in the first row right behind the cameras. I guess he figured our butterfaces would be blocked by the cameras. As I was looking at the PA, I thought to myself, "God, that I guy looks familiar." Where the hell do I know him from? Then it occurred to me that he was on one of the seasons of “Punked”. I then asked him if he was on the show and he gave me a shocked look that I actually recognized him. It made me wonder how in the hell is a guy from “Punked” working as a PA? I guess it just demonstrates how hard this business is and why I have started working as a stripper.

Ladies and some gentleman, I understand that Josh Duhamel is easy on the eyes, but boy he can put you to sleep when he talks. He was telling some story that was absolutely making no sense and actually caused people in the audience to start laughing. The highlight of the show was actually the second guest. It was some midget named Shorty Rossi and he was friggin hilarious. Apparently this guy has his own reality show called “Pit Boss” where he helps rescue pit bulls in dangerous neighborhoods and gets in fights with thugs. It might be a wise decision for Shorty to expand his business and rescue boring celebrities before they embarrass themselves on live television. 

(Watch out Duhamel! Shorty and his posse are coming.)

                  

Besides waiting in line, the most annoying thing about a live talk show has to be the Warm-Up guy. By the way, who the hell would want to be the warm-up guy? It’s almost like a profession for a rebound guy after a break-up. You just want to get him out of the way, so you can move on to something better. After listening to him tell jokes for 20 minutes you would find in a laffy taffy wrapper, I wanted to bang my head against the wall. Apparently this rebound guy has 8 lives or something because he would not go away. During the show he constantly gestures for you to laugh and clap. For a person such as myself that gets distracted when they see a dust of air, it takes away from the enjoyment. I must say though that Jimmy Kimmel is amazingly talented and it seems like he treats his staff well because they all seem extremely happy. My only suggestion is to maybe switch the audience PA dude from “Punked” with the warm-up guy.

Other McNuggets…

-I used to think TV caused me to waste the most of time out of my day, but I’m beginning to think Facebook has taken first place. I don’t know what my deal is, maybe it’s because I’m a bit nosey, but I could seriously look at pictures for 24 hours/7 days a week. I just sit there like zombie, slouched in my chair, with my dropped open, and look at picture after picture. By the 20th picture, my brain usually wakes up and asks me, “Hey schmucko, what the hell are you doing?” To make it even more ridiculous I’m usually looking at pictures of somebody I don’t even know. It’s like a friend of a friend or something like that, which probably makes me some kind of stalker. So be careful my fellow Facebookers… You might not be aware, but this nosey schmuko could be looking at your pictures at this very moment. Watch out!

-I was having dinner with a friend recently and besides ripping my blog(he thinks I ramble on too much, which is true and I’m working on it) he pulled a very crafty move on me. After we got our food, he pulled the old, “Hey do you want to trade half and half?” This is the not the first time he has pulled the switch-a-rue on me. I remember him doing it before when I ordered a scrumptious turkey meatloaf sandwich and he ordered some chicken curry sandwich. I remember agreeing to the trade and regretting it for the whole week after that. So this was my time to redeem myself and especially the other half of the turkey meatloaf sandwich that I abandoned. I did not want to switch this time because I was perfectly content with my blackened chicken sandwich and wasn’t really in the burger mood. I quickly tried to think of an excuse to not trade, but I couldn’t come up with anything. So I caved in and switched sandwiches with him. In hindsight, I should’ve said, “Sorry I can’t eat your burger because it causes me to ramble on my blog too much.”

-I was on the Paramount lot recently and as I was driving up I saw the two kids from “Glee”. I’m not an avid watcher of the show, but it was the tall guy and the dark haired girl. According to IMDB, their character names on the show are Finn and Rachel. From gawking at them, I got the idea that they are probably dating or at least hooking up. Plus, I remember hearing about them possibly being together in the tabloids. I’m not sure if Finn is aware, but I have a history of ruining celebrity couple relationships. If you go back in the awkward vaults, you can find out how I was the reason for the Rihanna/Chris Brown break-up. You see what happens here is that once the celebrity female sees me… She immediately becomes extremely attracted and infatuated with me to the point where it ruins her current relationship. To prove my point even further, I heard a few days ago that the Finn dude is canoodling(I really hate that word) with Taylor Swift. Hmmmm... I find it awfully suspicious that he’s on the market so soon. I don’t know, but I’m just sayin’….

(Sorry buddy, but I hoped you enjoyed your time with her)

-I gotta say I was kind of rooting for Peyton Manning to win the Super Bowl. I know he already has a ring, but it’s like how can you not like the guy? He is talented, works his ass off, and is not one of those Brett Favres who needs all the constant attention and recognition. But I have to give credit to the Saints. They were the better team yesterday. Obviously, the coach’s gutsy call for the onside kick changed the whole momentum of the game. But a guy that nobody is talking about and should get more attention, is the Saints kicker. In a season where field goal kicking has been extremely inconsistent, this dude kicked three fields of 40 plus yards with perfect accuracy. I know it sounds a bit out there, but he gets my vote for the MVP.

I’m Out!

To Catch an Awkward Predator

The other night, I had nothing going on. Which is shocking, given there is usually a waiting list of people waiting to hang out with me. Anyway, my friend asks me if I would want to go to this girl’s place with him. From what he told me, he didn’t really have any interest in her, but she would constantly text him. I guess the girl asked to him to bring a friend, since she was hanging out with another girl. My friend warned me that these girls were not attractive. I said I didn’t really care because… A) Who am I to judge? B) I was more going for the material than anything else. C) These girls were 21 and a little too young for my taste. D) All the above and I’m desperate as hell. If you’re scoring at home, D is the correct answer. We drive out to this girl’s place. It was about a half hour drive. My friend really knew nothing about where she lived. We get there and apparently she lives is this gated community. And I’ve never really driven through a gated community before. It was like something you saw out of a movie. So we had to give our name to the security guy. Even though the security guard stared me down for a good two minutes, he eventually let us in. We drove past some houses and they were absolutely enormous. I was getting more excited about this girl’s house, than anything else. We pull up and it’s a gorgeous house. If anything, I was ready to move in. It was evident, that she was probably living at home with her family. So then that made me wonder if her parents were home.

We walk up to the door and the girl lets us in. She looked a bit tired and maybe a little under the weather. So it wasn’t the most generous vibe walking in. Although, I usually never get generous vibes wherever I go, so maybe it’s me. Anyway, I was carrying a six pack of Bud Light. Actually, it was a four pack since I had drank two of them in the car. I know what you’re thinking, “What a generous house warming present, numb-nuts”. As I walk in I could hear a lot of giggling and chitter-chatter. I thought it was just going to be another girl there, but it sounded like there were definitely more people of both sexes. She leads us to the family room. And as I walk in, I pretty much just freeze. There are two girls and two guys sitting on the couch. The girls look like they are underneath blankets and wearing their pajamas. There is a plate of brownies on the table and they’re drinking milk. One of the girls was painting the boys arm. I could not believe my eyes. What the hell was this? A Junior High pajama party? This was totally different than what my friend had explained to me over the phone. Which was… me, my friend, and two girls hanging out and drinking. As I walk in the four younger people stare at me with their mouth dropped open. They were probably thinking, who the hell is the old weirdo carrying beer? And should we call the police? In order to try and alleviate the awkward silence, I politely offered a beer to anybody who was interested. But of course, nobody was interested since beer doesn’t really go with brownies, milk, and face painting. I felt so uncomfortable, I was seriously waiting for Chris Hanson from NBC’s “To Catch a Predator” to walk up behind me and start questioning me.

(Jonno, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?)

I sit down on the couch and I can already hear some snickering from the youngsters. I looked over at my friend and he was just as shocked and pissed off as I was. They were watching “40-Year-Old Virgin”, so at least they had decent taste and weren’t watching "High School Musical 3". (I wonder if they graduate). I tried to make conversation with the kids, but I wasn’t getting much of response. It felt like I was in pure hell. Where every minute felt like an hour. The only thing that was giving me any attention was the girl’s eight pound little dog, Kloe. I tried to get Kloe’s digits, but unfortunately she didn’t have a cell phone. Finally after maybe of 45 minutes of being there, my friend texted me and asked if I wanted to get the hell out of there. And I could not have flew off the couch any sooner. There were just too many things that didn’t make sense to me. Why would this girl invite my friend and tell him to bring a friend, if she was babysitting her younger brother, younger sister, and their friends? Another good question might have been, why didn’t my friend find out more information before making the trip out there? And my final question is, will Chris Hanson ever track me down?

Other McNuggets…

-Speaking of McNuggets…I waddled into this McDonalds in Burbank the other day. My plan was to get something quick to eat because I was going to a friends show. Given that there was a long wait in the drive thru line, I figured it would be wiser to go inside and order. I walk inside and walk up to the counter. The McDonalds employees appeared somewhat busy. So pretty much five minutes go by and they don’t even acknowledge my existence. I figured it wasn’t worth waiting for, so I just left. Cut to two hours later… I’m driving back home and I pass by the same McDonalds. So I’m pretty hungry at this point. I contemplate turning in, but I say what the hell and I give it one more shot. Again the drive-thru was pretty busy, so I go back inside. There were a few other customers waiting for their orders. So I walk up to the counter and give it a second try. The two or three McDonalds employees still ignore me. This time I wait another good five minutes and I get nothing! No one look or acknowledgement in my direction. I thought about yelling out loud and saying “HELLO!”, but for some reason the little bitch in me took over and I didn’t say a word. Instead, I kicked the door open and stormed out of there. Yeah that’s right, I totally showed them. But seriously, it was like I was living in a “Twilight Zone” episode and I was invisible or something. I mean how in the hell could this happen twice? I know it makes no sense how I did not speak up and say something. But really anything I do makes a little or no sense. I’m thinking because of this incident I’m going to have to rename my “Other McNuggets…” segment. Bastards!

-Given all the controversy surrounding Late night talks shows, I figure I must give my two cents. First of all, I have never been a fan of Jay Leno. I never understood how this man got his own talk show. I know he’s a decent stand-up, but he is not spontaneously funny and is a horrible interviewer. Especially when guys like Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel are friggin hilarious. Leno should just get the hint already and just give it up. He doesn’t need the money, he has no kids, and plus everybody hates him right now. I know Conan is making a crap load of money, so it’s hard to feel sorry for him. But I think it’s more than money with him and more about the principle. He’s wanted the Tonight Show gig forever and never really was given a fair chance. I also feel bad for all those people that work on the show and moved their families from NY to LA. The real person behind this mess and should be getting the blame, is Jeff Zucker, the president of NBC. That guy has single handedly brought NBC to the shitter and made it the laughing stock of television. When I was growing up, NBC always had the best shows and was like the Rolls Royce of the networks. Mr. Zucker, if you’re reading this… NBC is not the right spot for you and I know a job that is better suited for you. There is a McDonalds in Burbank that could really use your help.

-I don’t know what is, but lately I’ve seen numerous people picking food out of their teeth. I guess it would make more sense if it was happening at restaurants, but I’m seeing it wherever I go. Walking down the street, in my car, at the gym, bank, post office, whorehouse… You name it! I find picking food out of your teeth is extremely gross and nauseating. It should be treated equally as picking your nose. And why is everybody getting food stuck in their teeth? Is everybody on some kind of laffy taffy kick that I’m not aware of? Laffy taffy… (Insert Homer Simpson drooling noise)

-Why does every darn commercial these days, have to be the old lady from “Legion”. I know I touched on this from a previous blog, but it’s almost like she’s following me or something. And it always tricks me because the commercial starts off with the sweet and gentle old lady, before she goes off on her devilish transformation and spazzes out. It’s bad enough that they play this commercial three times a day, but I feel like it’s been going on for over a month now. I mean will damn movie come out already, so I can watch TV without covering my eyes!

(Your baby is gonna burn!)

-Speaking of TV, I have a new show that I recommend… “Men of a Certain Age”. I’ve never been a big Ray Romano fan, but this show has got me hooked. It’s kind of a dramedy, but with great characters and some really funny moments. I actually laughed out loud at the last episode, which I rarely do when I watch TV. I don’t know what it is, but I’m on this weird kick where I enjoy watching show/films where people have issues. Especially issues where a 28-year-old male, hangs out at a junior high sleepover or can’t order McDonalds two times in one night.

I’m Out!