We are looking for writers who love writing in general and about comedy in particular. You should be a comedy fan with a working knowledge about the stand-up comedy scene both present and those who blazed a trail before them.

Comedian Interviews
Well known for our in-depth interviews with comedians like Pablo Francisco, Cedric the Entertainer, Whitney Cummings, Bob Saget, Nick DiPaolo, Kevin Pollak, Tammy Pescatelli, Dat Phan, Andy Kindler, Michael DeStefano, George Wallace, Jimmy Pardo, ANT and many others, each interview has been an experience for both our readers and our writers.

Comedy Album Reviews
They say everyone’s a critic.. but is that true? We are looking for articulate writers that can listen to and review comedians like Louis C.K., Patton Oswalt, Lewis Black, Pete Holmes, Kurt Metzger, or Amy Schumer. We often receive promotional copies of CD’s, DVD’s and digital CD’s that you can add to your collection while enlightening our readers.

Comedy News
AmericasComedy.Com also includes a daily dose of comedians in the news. We are seeking writers who can write breaking stories and provide short (250-400 word) blog posts, three to four times a week. Our comedy news section is updated daily and blogging is a great way to add to your byline or your writing portfolio.

Super Secret Facebook Group
Our writers get to join our private and super secret Facebook group, which we use as our “water cooler” to pitch story ideas, share news stories, and talk about ways to grow our website. Staff meetings (WebEx conference calls) are kept to a minimum with most communication between writers, editors, and the publisher via email.

Compensation
As a non-revenue generating site, AmericasComedy.Com is unable to pay for each article submitted. We do, however, have a financial reward for those writers that get the most traffic both weekly and monthly. Though not enough to quit your day job, it does allow a payout of a couple hundred dollars a month for those writers that take an active role in using their social media (Facebook sharing, Tweeting, Blogging, Tumblr, StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit, etc.) to spread their proverbial writing “seed” to the internet winds.

Interested?

People who have a background in writing, communications, journalism, or just love comedy are welcome to send in a cover letter with two writing samples to CortTafoya@AmericasComedy.com. Please include any experience you have using social media. The most important qualification for writing for our website is a knowledge and passion for comedians and their craft.

 One Time Submission

If you are a rouge, uncommitted sort and feel that you might just have one good story in you, we offer an article submission process for those that just want to freelance. Please remember however, we are looking for stories ABOUT comedy and comedians, not just funny stories (though a funny story about a comedian works!)

Come and join AmericasComedy.Com as we change the world one laugh at a time!

For more comedy news and exclusive interviews visit our AmericasComedy.Com Facebook fan page and follow us on Twitter @AmericasComedy!

An AmericasComedy Video Interview

You may not recognize the name of stand-up comedian Paul Mecurio, but if you’ve ever watched “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” you certainly know his writing. Mecurio, the winner of two Emmy awards and a Peabody award for his writing on that show takes to the stage like it is the only thing he is meant to do.

AmericasComedy.Com was able to secure an interview with the award winning writer/producer/comedian and began with a very benign question: “So, how did you get into the business?” The answer will intrigue you, captivate you and maybe even make you tear up just a little bit.

This video series encompasses an almost one hour session with Mecurio as he takes us through the process of going from an Ivy League law school graduate and a Mergers & Acquisition attorney, then as an investment banker, and ultimately to one of the hardest roles in the entertainment business today; that of stand–up comic. If you’re a fan of going behind the scenes in understanding what makes an award winning comedian tick, then watch all three parts of this video series. The fourth part is a “name association” of some of the many stars that Mecurio has been in contact with over the years.

So let’s get this party started. In this video Mercurio talks about his family, his wiseguy and drug addled family, his rise to fame in the investment banking business and ultimately giving in to the nagging knowledge that this wasn’t what he was supposed to be doing.

Fish or cut bait? It’s decision time

In part 2, Mecurio takes us from an open mic slashing (at the aptly named Downtown Beirut 2 bar), to an IRS audit and a girlfriend who thinks that Mecurio is cheating because he comes home at night smelling like beer and cigarettes. Watch as he goes full circle from banker to comedian and then back to being a banker.

“Hey everyone! My investment banker is a comedian!!”

In part 3, we watch as Mecurio receives the vindication and approval he was always looking for. How his commitment lead to being a long term writer for “The Daily Show” even before Jon Stewart came on board. Today, you can see him headline at comedy clubs across the country (he is appearing May 12-15 at the Miami Improv). Mecurio has written and produced shows and pilots and appears regularly on Fox’s Redeye and Sean Hannity shows and will be seen this month on the Joy Beyhar Show on CNN.

And now for something completely spontaneous!

We thought we would round off our interview with some name association with some of the superstars that Mecurio has met. These are the only ones that we could publish!

While it is impressive that that video (see below) has garnered over a quarter million YouTube hits in the last 5 days, it was that same weekend that Winfield was told he just landed a plum reoccurring role on the hit TV show, “The Office.”

Winfield is no stranger to performing on television. He’s been featured on the pilot, “The Bobby Lee Project” in 2008, Showtime’s “Comics Without Borders,” hosted by Russell Peters, “Comicview” on BET, “Comics Unleashed” with Byron Allen, “Last Comic Standing” on NBC and “Live at Gotham” on Comedy Central.

When AmericasComedy.Com last spoke with Winfield in November 2010, he was interrupting his college tour to fly to New York to film his first appearance on  “The Late Show with David Letterman.”

Today, we caught up with Winfield again flying from a college appearance in Texas to one in Florida.

So, tell us a little bit about the role that you play.
“His name is Wes, and he is one of the new warehouse workers at Dunder Mifflin. Without telling you too much, the fact that he is a new warehouse worker plays into the plot.

He (Wes) doesn’t really care, he’s just having fun, you know, having fun with the new guys at work. We are just funny people who cut-up at work.  And you know, it’s cool because the character has a lot of funny stuff to say and the best part is, he gets a lot of camera time.” (laugh)

With this new credit (The Office) behind you, you are destined to play some of the comedy clubs “A” rooms now. Are you looking forward to that?
“The role is an amazing, great role and I have many lines, it’s a funny character and not only is the office big around the world, but it is very popular on college campuses. They might have me doing even more colleges.”

Yeah, but probably only those with huge auditoriums. When we last talked in November, you had just done a college “room” that was underground and only had room for about 40 people and the ceiling was so low that it kept bumping your ‘fro’.
“Oh man, that was one of my greatest shows! I loved it. I think I did over 2 hours that night. It’s so much fun.”

How was the audition process?
“The audition was in southern california at 10:00 AM on a Wednesday. I decided to drive it rather than fly in and rent a car. I left Sacramento around 1:00 AM and arrived around 8:00 that morning. The audition went OK. Nowadays, when I audition, I don’t even plan on getting it. I just go in and do as good as I can and read, and forget about it.”

When you left the audition, how did you think you did?
“I thought, ‘Wow! That was a big opportunity I just had!’ Then I just forgot about it went on to set up a show I had scheduled in Ventura.”

How is your family holding up under your growing stardom?
(Laughing) “You know man, my family is cool. I find ways to be there. And when we are together, our time is so productive. I mean, you know, we have kids in soccer and we just stay busy and active.”

Some of your greatest bits were based on your family, but last time we talked, you said you weren’t doing much family based material, is that still true?
“I want to say that now that I have been home more, I’ve been back on it. (laughs). I’m not sure if that is my niche, but it is easy to talk about things that go on in the house, so I have a lot more stories about that.”

When will your character be appearing?
“The season starts September 22nd, on Thursday nights at 9:00 PT. I know I am not in the first episode, but I have a feeling it will be in the first 3 episodes. ”

How many episodes have you done so far?
“I have already filmed one episode and I will be heading back for a second in a few weeks.”

We love to watch the ascent of Sacramento based comedians (AmericasComedy.Com is headquartered in the California capital) and other than Jack Gallagher and Brian Posehn, we can’t remember the last local comedian with such national exposure.

If you would like to follow Mike E. Winfield’s career, you can subscribe to his newsletter by texting the letters MEW to 22828, or his SuperFanPage on Facebook. (Read our more recent interview with Winfield here.)

Watch Mike harass the hell out of this very tired audience member.

For more exclusive interviews and comedy news visit our AmericasComedy.com Facebook fan page and follow us on Twitter @AmericasComedy! 

I began watching Dunlop perform on what was one of my favorite shows, the original Make Me Laugh TV show. On that show, I used to love to watch him with Bruce Baum, Gary Mule Deer, Murray Langston (as The Unknown Comic) and others use plain silliness to make the contestants laugh. No swearing, no racial references, just silliness. Even as a kid I knew that if I were ever to become a contestant on the show, I would buckle under Dunlop’s buggy eyes prop.

In the late 70′s and 80′s, Dunlop appeared on many shows, including The Richard Pryor Show, An Evening at the Improv and even appeared (as did a young Robin Williams) in a very cheesy sketch comedy movie called Can I Do It Til I Need Glasses?

In 1993, Dunlop, with the help of writer David Lee Miller, wrote and produced the movie, Breakfast of Aliens, where, as it is summarized in IMDB.com as “A lovable loser, Walter Clydepepper (Vic Dunlop) eats an alien from outer space in his cereal and becomes a deadly stand up comic.” Not surprising, I didn’t get to see it but it had appearances by both Murray Langston as The Unknown Comic, but also Jamie Masada, the owner of The Laugh Factory as the Porno Director.

Throughout the 80′s and 90′s Dunlop appeared as a character actor in movies, (The Devil and Max Devlin), TV shows, (Adam-12) and on many comedy shows.

In the mid 90′s I had the privilege of meeting and hiring Dunlop to perform in the small town of Modesto, in a Holiday Inn that was lovingly converted to an “Evening at the Improv” setting for a Friday night. The shows were sold out and the small rural community talked about it for months. It wasn’t until December 2009 that I got to see Vic again. He was performing at a regional comedy club in the Sacramento area and as I head a Meetup group here in town, I brought about 20 people out to see him. The amazing thing was that Vic took one look at me and remembered me and when I came up to him to shake his hand, he gave me a massive bear hug and asked me whether I still had the Modesto room.

My Meetup group, who have been coming to shows with me for almost 2 years marveled at Dunlop’s creative ability to elicit a laugh by being silly and performing one liners. Of the original kings of silliness, (Baum, Langston and Dunlop), I think I am going to miss Vic the most. Because not only was I never able to NOT laugh at his jokes and his plastic buggy eyes, but I will never forget his kindness and his bear hug.

We’re going to miss your clean comedy, your huge heart and your great big buggy eyes Vic. Thank you for making me laugh.

Enjoy Vic’s Clean Comedy Show. It IS Suitable for Work and Family!

The comedian known as just ANT tells us about how he chose that name, (Andromeda?), about his pre-comedy career (Lynda Carter, yes, WonderWoman, got him fired!) and how he stranded his parents in Europe!

Join ANT and AmericasComedy.Com’s correspondent, Carin Beede as he was preparing to go on stage in celebration of pride week at Sacramento State University (Sac State according to ANT).

A special thank you to Zenia LaPorte, Director of Sacramento State’s UNIQUE program.

“I’m really excited to announce the first of what I hope will be many opportunities to bring you the chance to get some great exposure AND win some money by showing off how funny you are,” states Josh Spector, founder of Connected Comedy.

They’ve teamed up with new video site Squabbler, to run a contest in which the best “Squabble” will win $250!

In case you’ve never heard about Squabbler, here’s a little background about the site:

It’s a new website from the guys behind the insanely popular Awkward Family Photos blog. Squabbler is the place for people to settle their everyday debates with family, friends, co-workers, etc. Each squabbler submits a 30-second video stating their case and then the viewers decide who’s right. Squabblers can debate about anything and everything and we encourage them to be creative with their 30 seconds. Only limitation is that they don’t publish squabbles with offensive language… bleeps are okay.

“Squabbler’s a great site that’s growing quickly, and it also could be a really good place for comedians to showcase how funny they are in a unique manner. That’s why I thought they would be a great partner for this first Connected Comedy contest,” says Spector.

Here’s a breakdown of all the contest details:

HOW TO ENTER THE CONNECTED COMEDY SQUABBLER CONTEST

All you have to do is find somebody that you disagree with about something – another comedian, a friend, a family member, your dog, your alter-ego, whatever – and the two of you each shoot a 30-second video of yourselves debating something and upload it to Squabbler.

When you submit your Squabble, please include the word “CONTEST” in the title – for example, “CONTEST: The Hammer Debate.”

Here’s everything you need to know about how things work on Squabbler.

And here’s some examples of the most popular Squabbles on the site, to give you some inspiration.

The contest begins March 21 and you can enter any time through April 3, 2011. You’re welcome to enter as many times as you want.

HOW TO WIN THE CONNECTED COMEDY SQUABBLER CONTEST

The winning squabble will be chosen by a panel of judges including Spector and the Squabbler staff. The winner will be chosen based on a combination of originality, humor, views, comments, votes, and likes. Basically, the more awesome your Squabble, the better your chance of winning.

WHAT YOU CAN WIN

The winning Squabble will receive three prizes that include:

• A $250 gift card to the Apple Store will go to the winner of the winning Squabble (so if you have the best Squabble AND you win your Squabble argument based on the votes, you get the big prize)

• A $100 gift card to the Apple Store will go to the loser of the winning Squabble (it takes two to Squabble, so you should get something even if you don’t win your argument based on the votes)

• The winning Squabble will be featured on the Squabbler home page in the “Top Squabble” spot

• All Connected Comedy Squabbles will be featured in a post on ConnectedComedy.com

So, if you like the idea of things like this and would like to see more, then take a moment to enter this contest and have some fun. Also, feel free to email Josh Spector once you’ve uploaded your Squabble if you want to make sure that it’s entered correctly.

Disclaimer: These are not sponsored links. AmericasComedy.Com is a very big fan of Connected Comedy and advises every comedian, no matter at what level in the business, to follow the very helpful and insightful information that Spector and other contributors share freely with others in the business.

“One would never expect Louis Katz would be the guy that offers you opium after a show but it’s certainly an effective way of marketing yourself. Katz is funny to the point that Hitler would have given him a sleeper car on the train. I’ve re-told his menage a trois joke to people so many times I feel like it’s mine. Just buy the fucking CD and shut up.” – Doug Stanhope

“I relate to Louis Katz. He’s a sensitive, thoughtful, filthy, funny Jew. What’s not to like? His CD is hilarious. I hope he keeps what’s left of his hair long enough to enjoy the type of success he wants. If not, he can always write. Enjoy him now! While he still has hair.”- Marc Maron

If These Balls Could Talk was released in conjunction with the premiere of Katz’ Comedy Central Presents special, debuting March 11 at 11:00pm ET/PT. Katz discusses why he hates hippies, how he lands women and exactly what street chocolate is.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Katz’s comedy career began at the incredibly early age of 9 when, as part of a school project, he submitted several jokes to The Tonight Show, two of which were read on air by Johnny Carson.

Katz went on to performing at clubs and colleges across the country. He has appeared in the Montreal Comedy Festival, the Amsterdam “Toomler International” Comedy Festival, the Vancouver Comedy Festival and Atlanta’s Laffapalooza Comedy Festival.

Katz’ credits also include appearances on “Last Call with Carson Daly,” COMEDY CENTRAL’s “Live at Gotham,” Jamie Foxx’s “America’s Funniest Comics” and HBO’s “Down and Dirty with Jim Norton” In addition, he has produced a series of short films for Adult Swim.

Enjoy listening to a few of the tracks from Katz new CD:

SNEEZES, FARTS and ORGASMS, the trifecta of sweet release and hey, we all do it. It also happens to be the title of Brian Scolaro‘s new comedy album that gives us the best release of all – laughter. We get a whole hour of multiple laughasms with 27 tracks of live comedy, sketches, and even a hilarious five minute interview with Marc Maron and his WTF podcast.

With a smooth voice and sharp delivery he shares his warped ideas on appropriate behavior in church, how to perfect the prevention of auto theft, why good Italian food is like getting shot in the face, and when the best time is to kill someone. (Turns out it‘s New Year‘s Eve. Unless you want to shoot them, then you should do it on the 4th of July.)

Scolaro also has a gift for getting long laughs from one punchline by repeating it until it‘s lost all meaning becomes a sound effect and you‘ve caught yourself laughing at it all over again. Like when he does his imitation of what a car alarm should sound like on track 4, or a motorcycle sitting at stop light outside your window on track 10. And the convention is never more golden than during his signature Sneezes bit on track 20.

Most of the album was recorded live at the Improv in Irvine, CA where he often performs. Other tracks were taken from sets at the San Jose Improv and Lestat‘s in San Diego.

Born in Brooklyn, Brian began his comedy career on the NYC scene. Telling his parents he was at his ‘real‘ job he was actually out performing every night at the comedy clubs and became one of the city‘s favorites. After he appeared in the “New Faces Show“ at Montreal‘s Just For Laughs he landed several great roles in TV pilots until he made it on the air for two seasons as the smitten Stuart Miller in the Fox sitcom “Stacked,“ starring opposite Pamela Anderson and Christopher Lloyd.

His other TV roles include, NBC‘s “Harry‘s Law,“ Showtime‘s “Dexter,“ HBO‘s “The Life and Times of Tim,“ TNT‘s “Men of a Certain Age,“ Bob Odenkirk‘s “The Brothers Solomon.“ He appears as several characters on “The Life and Times of Tim“ and as Goblin, on the Disney Channel‘s “The Wizards of Waverly Place.“

He has performed his stand-up on “Late Night with Conan O‘Brien,“ “Live at Gotham,“ and ABC‘s “Comics Unleashed.“ In 2009 he shot his half hour special “Comedy Central Presents: Brian Scolaro.“

Scolaro on why Sneezes, Farts and Orgasms: “Cosby, Pryor, and Carlin all had material on farts. So I wrote a bit on sneezes. It kind of became my signature bit. And naturally that moved into my own fart area. Which is disgusting if you have ever been in that area. And orgasms seemed like a perfect way to cap it off. My act ends there cause I normally don‘t do anything after an orgasm. Except regret.“

Watch Brian

Brian Scolaro | MySpace Video

Comedian and opening act for the late Sam Kinison, Carl LaBove claimed in court that the child that he has paid child support to his ex-wife for years was actually fathered by Kinison. The notorious Kinison died in a car crash in 1992.

La Bove, claims that he is obtained DNA test results that prove Kinison as the father. DNA tests taken from Kinison’s brother Bill allegedly show a 99.8 per cent likelihood the late comedian is the father of the unnamed offspring, who is now 21, it was reported in various news outlets. The test results also rule out any possibility La Bove is the father according to the claim.

La Bove has been paying maintenance for nearly 13 years after splitting from the girl’s mother, but he has now filed legal papers claiming the child is Kinison’s. There is speculation that La Bove came clean after such a long time because he hopes this news will free him from years of unpaid child support penalties.

As the speculation swirls in the media, Punchline Magazine reports that on Monday, an episode of WTF with Marc Maron will go live, wherein Maron sits down with La Bove to get the full story.

Tune in Monday for the link to Punchline Magazine’s exclusive audio clips!

While we wait for the real story, watch this signature Kinison routine, “Jesus Didn’t Have A Wife” (As for most of Kinison’s work, it’s NSFW)

An AmericasComedy.Com Interview

When Mitch Fatel was growing up, it seemed that there were only two things he wanted to do: explore the magic of women and make people laugh. He seems to be doing just fine on both counts!

SacramentoComedy.Com caught up with Fatel by phone while he was on a recent layover returning from a very successful series of shows at the Tempe Improv.

Fatel, when asked about living on the East Coast, commented that he felt silly telling people that he lives in New York because he’s traveling more than 46 weeks this year. “I spend less time in New York than I do anywhere else.”

Fatel started doing stand-up at the age of 15. He joined a comedy class for adults that his mother had to convince them to let him audition for. It is rumored that he used to have his parents drive him to gigs and he would appear in his pajamas and tell the crowd that he had to get up early for school the next day. That lasted only two years before he had that inevitable “bad show.” Fatel was “devastated” and didn’t get back up on stage until he was 21.

During those nonperforming years, around 19 or 20 years old, Fatel began to work as an intern for Howard Stern. What must have seemed like a candy store to a hormonally charged man, it helped shape Fatel’s craving for all things sexual.

“I was very young, and I didn’t know much about the world then.” When asked about his friendship with former Stern cast member “Stuttering” John Melendez, he said, “John and I were friends, and I got him an audition for the show on Stern. They liked him and he got the job”

The conversation inevitably moved to Fatel’s characterization on stage as the innocent, lost boy/child who just wants women to share their soft breasts and gorgeous vaginas with him. Online and in person he propositions his (female) fans and asks them to please send naked pictures to him. For anyone who watches his YouTube clips knows, his show is filled with bits about women’s bodies, sexual acts and, ultimately, being wanted.

When asked when he developed this stage persona, he replied, “I never really consider it anything I developed. As soon as I got on stage he was ‘there.’ Its just who I am. I think it is more really ‘me’ than the person off stage. I think that the person I am off stage has conformed to societal values and what you are supposed to do and how you are supposed to act, but the person on the stage is more the person that I really am deep inside.”

Like most boys, Fatel developed his love for the softer sex at an early age.

“When I was a kid, I absolutely worshiped women. I thought they were magical creatures. My whole life was spent trying to get them to like me.”

As sex is the singular theme to Fatel’s show, it makes one wonder if this was always the case.

“When I got older and I had been doing this [act] for a while, I wrote other bits that had less to do with girls and vaginas. Ultimately, I felt that I was doing it for other people because the truth of the matter is what I do is very distinct. I wanted to stick to doing what I think is right, and it’s what I like writing about. I think it’s what every guy feels, and girls too. I always want to concentrate on that part.”

When Fatel was asked about the difference between being a male “pig” verses being just a little “piggy,” he said that that comparison was very telling. “I don’t think women mind if you’re a pig, it depends on where you are coming from. If it’s a cute pig, it’s likable. If it’s gross, it looks disgusting. I think it looks disgusting. I think being a “piggy” is better than being a pig.

“How does being, as most women I have spoken to characterize you, ‘such a cutie’ help you in your sex life?” we wanted to know.

“I do see only one girl right now who I think it’s going to work who lets me have sex with other women just as long as she is in the room and can participate. I think that is the greatest compromise I have ever had,” Fatel said. “I think that is one concession that I don’t have a problem making. She is a very special girl, and I plan on hanging on to her. She understands that, being a guy, you are attracted to other women, and she has no problem with it as long as she is a part of it. That is a great addition to my life.”

After hearing the collective jealous groan from every man out there, Fatel went on to say that it wasn’t always this “magical” before this girlfriend.

“It’s always been harder to get the girl. It’s easier to get the introduction, but once they start dating you then they get upset about the material once they are your girlfriend, and they don’t like it when you make jokes about them onstage.”

“But what about the groupies?” we inquired?

“Well, I don’t get groupies like rock stars get groupies,” he replied. “Rock star groupies just want to have sex all night. My groupies just want to cuddle me all night and feed me soup, which is really OK as long as I can touch their breasts while they are doing it.”

Career-wise, Fatel, continues to tour extensively and promote his latest DVD, “Mitch Fatel is Magical.” When asked about other creative outlets, he replied that he is in the process of pitching some shows to some networks later this month.

“I have always had an interest in that, and I finally have an idea that I think will work for me. But the short answer is no. I got into this [business] to be a stand-up comic. I have wanted to do stand up since I was 5 years old. I have never really had any aspirations to do anything other than that. The only reason that I am interested in TV or movies is that it can further along my career. The art of stand up is a fantastic art, and it is something that gives me more pleasure than anything I have ever done, and as long as I can make a living at it, I feel very blessed.”

We asked some of Fatel’s fans on Facebook and Twitter to pose some questions of their own.

Fan Remy asked, “Knowing that you think small breasts have more personality, what constitutes small breasts to you?” She later commented that hers have plenty of personality, to which Fatel replied, “Anything that doesn’t fit in my mouth makes it big.”

Fan Stephanie, a local comedian, wanted to know which performers Fatel admires.

His reply was delivered quite passionately. “The people I admire are Jerry Seinfeld, still to this day, for being so good at what he does. Steve Martin was my original inspiration to do stand-up comedy when I was a kid. I was 6 or 7 when his albums came out, and I remember thinking that this guy is getting paid for acting goofy on stage, and I was always goofy in school and got in trouble. I thought that if I can act like him and get paid instead of getting in trouble, then that is what I wanted to do for a living. So, he was my original inspiration for doing stand-up comedy.

“From there, Howard Stern, David Letterman and Jake Johannsen were all very important parts of my upbringing. Sam Kinison and Gilbert Gottfried were new and unique comics that all had their own unique voices. They taught me that I could have my own voice as well. Now that I am older, it’s funny that my favorite is so different from me. It’s Brian Regan. He’s my favorite because he is so opposite of what I am. I appreciate that. Also, to this day, I still listen to, respect and miss [the late] Mitch Hedberg.”