Well, the new revamped site is up. I do hope you all enjoy it. I loved the old one, but, like all things, it needed to be updated. I just think its much brighter and more positive now. The old one was cool, but I think this one is more parallel to the mood of my comedy; Not quite so dark. A special thank you to Ryan Fitzgerald, my web guy, for designing this new monster. This should be much easier for me to update from anywhere so hopefully I will be posting posts more often. I had some new ones that were lost in the transition, but that’s alright. I have an exciting week ahead of me. I am seeing Counting Crows tomorrow in Iowa City, and then I am driving to Omaha, NE to see my newest niece! This weekend, I am headlining a show in Springfield, OH and am driving down with my pal, Tyler Kroll. Should be a fun road trip. I’m so used to making these long drives alone. It might be a little awkward peeing in a gatorade bottle with Tyler next to me, but, hey, what other choice do I have right?
This past weekend, I put in some quality car time. I had a few Illinois gigs, then shot down to Alabama for a show at the military base Redstone Arsenal. The highlight of that trip (besides the photo id laniard that I got to keep) was when I was running from my car to the general’s quarters where we were staying and I fell down and scraped my arm up really bad. Did I trip? No. Am I grown man? Yes. I just fell. 28 year olds dont fall down. 10 year olds fall down. 102 year olds fall down. I have no excuse. I worked with Michael and Dan Swartswout. We put on a great show. Alright, I am going to bed now. Here is a copied and pasted old post from March 26, 2008 that I think was lost:
I am sitting in my hotel room and just thought I would do some writing. I normally blog this stream of consciousness stuff on my website, but right now my website is being completely revamped (check it out soon, a whole new look to johnnybeehner.com) so I will post it here. Counting Crows new album came out yesterday and it’s great! You should get it. I was just reading a bunch of articles online about Adam Duritz and what an interesting life he has. I like the similarities between being a traveling comic and that of a rock star. I, by no means, am comparing myself to a rock star. I just mean that a lot of what he says in interviews, I can relate to. I am away from home a lot. I don’t get to see my friends and family as much as most. Basically it’s the negative stuff that people don’t see that I can relate to. Obviously, Adam Duritz has a lot to say about the negative stuff. Also, I am not at all complaining here, either. I love what I am doing. I am excited by my own life and I think it’s important to focus on the good in life. People don’t talk about how lucky they are very much. I think its human nature to complain. I do it a lot. I am just excited because I have written a lot of new material and I feel like I am making my way in life doing what I want to do. I started in 1999 and have been traveling since 2002. It’s weird, my overall mood is generally a reflection of how my writing and performing is going. When I hit a dry spot, usually brought on from pure laziness, I don’t feel good as about myself, but after spikes of heavy writing and good shows, I am very happy. A lot of my recent writing is about my relationship. It’s happy goofy stuff because my relationship is fantastic. My girl is very much like me, and that is just so… I don’t know what word I am looking for, but she’s like a muse. I don’t want my show to be 45 minutes of girlfriend stories, but it’s tough not to talk about her when her suggestion for a mind-blowing closer is “What if you get someone from the audience to come up on stage and smell a bunch of bottles and they have to guess which one you farted in.” I think when I have kids, if they ever ask me when “I knew,” I’ll be able to answer them.
I get to meet interesting inspiring people every day I go to “work.” I am on a run now working with Rick Richards. He’s been at it for 30 years. When someone that has been at it that long compliments you, it’s exciting. I love writing and performing. The legwork behind it is what we get paid for, I think. We don’t get paid to tell jokes and make people laugh. We get paid to drive 12 hours. We’re able to pay our bills because we are constantly on the phone, or emailing, or bugging the shit out of bookers and club-owners in some dumb creative way. Performing is the reward. Writing is hard. I am currently reading Steven King’s “On Writing” and it’s a great book. It’s all about how you have to treat writing like a job and do it EVERY day even when you don’t want to. It’s a great book for anyone to read. I think its kind of old, but I just got it so it’s new to me.
Also, if you live in Milwaukee and haven’t seen The Gentlemen’s Hour, you really need to. It’s our sketch/improv comedy group and we have shows at the Alchemist Theatre every other Sunday. We also have a show May 2nd at ComedySportz. It’s fun and different. Check out thegentlemenshour.com if you haven’t yet. I’m pretty lucky to have met these guys and to be a part of the group. I don’t think it would work with any other people. Mike Kauth, Tyler Kroll, and Patrick Schmitz are funny guys. I think it’s difficult and rare to find people that you mesh with onstage. We have similar senses humor and know each other well so it works. It’s a good balance for me, to be a part of that on top of my solo “do everything yourself” stand up career. My brother, Scott, who happens to be the star of the record breaking smash hit comedy classic, “Tomcats,” is out in LA and he is a member of the Groundlings Sunday Company and the amount of writing he does for that is very inspiring for me as far as writing for the Gentlemen’s Hour. He is definitely the funniest person I know… besides my penis.
Well, that Taco Bell I ate about 3 hours ago is starting to nag for attention, so I better get to bed soon or I will probably get sick. This has been a fun series of ramblings to write. I guess my point with all of this is to say go buy the new Counting Crows album, Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings. It’s great. And while you are at the record store or on itunes or whatever, also get Kathleen Edwards’ Asking For Flowers album. Tell them Beehner sent you. And when they, “Who? What are you talking about?” just say, “nevermind.”