Tonight's Michael Pizza show was a pretty fun night. I was worried at first because our warm ups hadn't gone that great (I was being a little bit of a dick and everyone else seemed a little unenthusiastic). But, at the end of the night, I was pretty happy with the show we had done. The night was made up of singing ventriloquists, creepy janitors and slow motion marriages. Fun stuff. Michael Pizza is really starting to have consistently good shows, and that's exciting.
Lately, I've been thinking about moving to LA. My friend Cesar just made the leap and I also have a very close friend who is an animator for Disney out there. Add to that the fact that I've been writing a lot with Gary Richardson (from the Harold team Neapolitan) and I have booked a commercial or two lately, and I'm starting to think that LA may just be in my future.
Anyway, the little bit of success that I've had recently with Michael Pizza and all the thoughts of moving to LA have got me thinking about my past and how I got to this point in my life. I have lived a pretty weird life and I thought I'd share it with you. So, for those who are interested, here is how I came to be where I'm at...
I was raised in Memphis, TN. My mother was a school teacher in the Memphis public schools and my dad was a struggling musician who worked in wheat fields and oil rigs to pay for our family. Eventually, my dad starting performing with Roy Orbison (Pretty Woman, Traveling Wilburys, etc). You can still see my dad on old episodes of SNL with his huge red afro, playing bongo drums with Roy. Memphis is also where I fell in love with rap music. I used to visit my friend Scott in the bad part of town and he introduced me to rap. We lived in Memphis until Roy died and my dad moved us to LA so he could help with Roy's estate. I got super into art and drawing in California and I vowed to be a cartoonist. At least until we moved back to Tennessee.
Once I moved back to Nashville though, I pretty much gave up on art. I got really into anything and everything bad. Fist fights with kids in my neighborhood. Robbing people. Man, I was an idiot. But there were two major events that really turned my life around...
Number one: On my first day of senior year in high school, I was driving to visit my friend Terrence at his job at McDonalds. I had been having a little turf war with some guys from down the street and there was a lot of animosity between us. Anyway, one of the guy's older brothers pulled his car up in front of mine and slammed on his brakes. When he got out of the car, he punched me through my car window. My friends and I (Matt, Seth and Fred) jumped out of the car and started beating this dude up. Before we knew it, he had pulled a gun and, while trying to shoot me, had shot my friend Fred in the arm. The cops came and blockaded the street. We were laying on the ground with shotguns at our heads. I even had a cop tell me that he'd "blow my head off". Anyway, long story short: we beat that guy up pretty bad, took the gun from him and spent a year in court over the whole ordeal.
The second thing that happened was even crazier (this is where the story really gets weird). After that whole gun fight fiasco, we kind of quit being friends with Seth. For no particular reason, it just happened that way. Anyway, one day Terrence and I decided that we should break into Seth's house and rob him for anything of any value. True story. So we did. And, in the process, someone saw us and called the police. I got arrested at my job at Jersey Mike's Subs and Salads. My parents had to come see me in court in shackles and an orange jumpsuit the next day. It was crazy. In the long run, I was charged with aggravated burglary and theft over $10,000. A few felonies on my juvenile record but nothing too major. Weird, huh?
It gets weirder.
I went to college for music business. I started an independent rap record label. I released many albums and made a little money with rap music. Everything was cool for a while. Then, my rapper friend Luis (who I had met in juvenile detention for the aforementioned story) was murdered. My rapper friend Marquise went to prison for murder. And my rapper friend Lamont was murdered. All within a few years of each other. On top of that, my brother had been an amazing rapper but was starting to get burned out on music, so he quit rapping all together (here's his newest record for free if you're interested: http://ripcadence.com).
So, with no rappers left to produce and no real focus, I needed a new creative outlet. My sister was performing in a show called Baby Wants Candy in Chicago and, for Christmas, she got me a gift certificate to Second City. I had always fancied myself a funny, smart guy. Misguided, sure, but funny and smart nonetheless. So I did what any failed rap producer/wannabe thug would do: I moved to Chicago and started comedy. I met Josh and Ben in level two at iO and Eric in level four. We created Michael Pizza and the rest is history.
A lot of improvisers don't believe me when I tell these stories (it all seems so long ago that I hardly believe myself anymore). But ask my sister Erica or my brother Scott. Or, just get a few vodka/cranberries in me and ask me about the stories I didn't tell. Hell, some stories I can't tell because the statute of limitations isn't up yet. It's been a weird road to get to this point.
Oh, did I mention that I've worked with the country music artist Kenny Chesney for the past 7 years??? I can't make this shit up people.
Come see Michael Pizza on Thursday nights at iO Chicago. It's a four man show and our weird, fucked up lives make for some pretty funny point of views each week. And, if you see me play a thug character, I'm just doing a little Truth In Comedy, courtesy of my friend Lemont McLemore AKA Money Maker Mont (RIP).
