So, last night I was named Emerging Comic of 2007 at the ECNY Awards at Comix Comedy Club. I did not expect to win at all, so it came as a complete and thoroughly pleasant surprise. (Of course, I suspect my dad probably pulled a Veruca Salt, making all the workers in his factory vote for me online over and over again for weeks on end.) Plus, the prize bag had a huge bottle of Macallan in it, which was tight.

By far, the best moment of the night–if not my life–was when the category for Emerging Comic was presented by the famous bloodied-nose rocker Andrew W.K. It was unreal. He gave a short, heart-felt speech about his love for comedy and and the entire comedy community as a whole. Then he opened the envelope and read my name. It will remain as one of my most special memories for as long as my brain still works.

As I do with all my special memories, I’ve turned it into an animated gif file. Enjoy.

Wow. Ok. So, last night’s show was insane. Thanks so much to everyone who came out. “Magical” is the only word to describe what happened. Lives were changed.

If you missed the show, please let me first tell you how sorry I am that your parents died (for that’s the only reason I can think of for not coming). Here’s a short re-cap: Noah and I showed our audition tape for the upcoming Notorious B.I.G. movie, Gabe and Jenny told a hilarious haunted Hollywood Halloween tale, Max Silvestri wined n’ dined the crowd with his patented jokes n’ quips^tm, and, as always, Greg Johnson crushed. Oh, also, Brett Gelman put on the single most amazing performance done by any human being on any stage anywhere. (No hyperbole.) The man got a standing ovation. At Rififi.

I recorded Brett’s performance with my iPod. You know, just for myself to have and hold and cherish. I listened to the mp3 on the train this morning, and, despite the fact that the sound quality is quite terrible, it still made me snarf coffee all over myself twice. Because of this, I have decided to share the 1000 Cats mp3 with the rest of the world. No matter how shitty it sounds.

Obviously, the grainy, cavernous audio doesn’t do 1000 Cats justice at all. Not even 1/1000^th of 1% of its justice. But, it’s the best I can do…and apparently the best that you could do too.

So, here. Enjoy.

You’re welcome.

Paul Wellstone. 5 years dead today.

The Sandy Koufax of politicians. (Sandy Koufax sang “La Bamba,” right?)

Addendum:

Hey, remember El Debarge? Well, he was arrested yesterday on vandalism and drug charges.

Hey, remember when “Rhythm of the Night” by El Debarge was your favorite song for most of your childhood?

Hey, remember when you had mono freshman year of college and you were all alone in your dorm room one night watching Barry Gordy’s The Last Dragon on cable, and then for some reason, within the movie, the music video for “Rhythm of the Night” started playing and it was the first time you ever realized that El Debarge wasn’t a beautiful woman like you’d always thought, but instead was a scary, waifish, rat-tranny? Hey, and remember when that made you start screaming? (Hey, remember it was also your 19th birthday?)

PS: Do you think it was fate that I discovered the 21st century version of El Debarge?