Misadventures in Blissville

Tonight, I’m thinking about what a wonderful friend Colin Norris Hall is; a true gentleman, courteous and altruistic to a fault, not a mean bone in his body. When I think of a friend, I think of that most unerring of qualities: loyalty. If ever I have an idea, he goes right along with it. So, on Thanksgiving Day of last year, he came over for a nice turkey dinner, and we recorded four episodes of this fledgling podcast.

“Not Responsible For Nerve Damage” was the last episode we recorded that night, and we did it in true gonzo fashion – out on the front steps of my building, watching people pass us by and probably wondering what these two characters were doing shooting the shit in the chilly weather when the sun had already gone down, and there wouldn’t be much to say beyond, “Happy Thanksgiving.”
So, I’m thinking about friendship tonight. I’m thinking about what I’ve done to have such a friend. I’m thinking about people to whom I could have been better. I’m thinking about people who are no longer with us.

I got back in touch with a lot of people over the course of two years, and it did not dawn on me either how much I mean to them, or how much they meant to me, but when people responded enthusiastically to my idea for a podcast, I was genuinely touched.

The Obamacare situation was something that was debated back-and-forth between me and Colin for a couple years. We were so heated on the topic, we went without a script. I like to work up a preliminary script, just so I’m sure I can get all my ideas across and not leave anything out – case in point, I wrote a lot of notes for the show with Eve, but it got so big, we had to make two episodes. In a few weeks, there will be a big show (four episodes!) with my wife about stand-up comedy. Even with the script and research, we still managed to leave out a few items.

Sometimes I worry I’m going to run out ideas, but then I get lunatics like Colin, Bronwyn, and my friend, Andrew running things by me so fast my head starts spinning like a top! I’m grateful for their contributions to BlissVille. Mark Jeacoma’s steadfast belief in me is what made BlissVille possible. He deserves this Oscar, too … [sorry, this is turning into an acceptance speech…]

Next up, we got the second part of my interview with Evie – “One Man (And Woman) Going Slowly Insane” January 16th and after that, an analysis of the first series of the Doctor Who reboot, “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” on January 23rd.

Questions? Comments? blissville1870@gmail.com