Getting Ready for the Show -Trip to the West -Part 3

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The venue was just two minutes from my hotel so I warmed up for my speech by watching Judge Judy for a few minutes, and I kept thinking about how weird it was.

A whole gathering waiting for me to show up to speak.

"You coming?" I asked my beautiful wife.

"I've had just about enough of you," she responded. "Go aggravate someone else for awhile."

We both laughed.

And it was weirder still when I got to the place.

The first people I met were already making requests.

"Please say you're going to give us the ladder story," the host said.

"That's Born to Run," I said. "I gotta' play that one."

And there were others that had seen me speak before.

And they introduced me as 'funny as hell.'

So.

A little pressure?

Nah!

All in a day's work! I was only worried about talking too long. There are plenty of stories.

The stage was an actual stage.

I would be able to prance around.

Microphone and all.

The crowd was ready.

I made them laugh about three seconds in...and went from there.

We had a ton of laughs.

One story after another and dead quiet when I was sending the message home.

The ladder story getting the huge laugh.

Leaving the stage was weird again.

People are a little unsure of walking up to you.

Would I be just as nuts when I'm standing there?

Weird.

My speaking voice was raspy...first long speech of the winter.

We gathered outside in the sun and I drank a couple bottle of water. They had served Buffalo wings.

Strange!

An hour later I was back at the hotel.

Judge Judy had shifted to a cop show.

Kathy was ready to head for dinner.

"How'd it go?" she asked.

"Horrible," I said.

"Idiot," she replied.

We headed out for steak.

We ate at a place called City Hall.

The waiter cleared our crumbs away after each course with a little tool.

It was really uncomfortable.

The place was way too nice for us.

But the porterhouse was outstanding and I had a big bowl of sauteed spinach.

"There was a guy in the audience who asked if I'd speak to his company back here next year."

"You said 'yes', right?"

"Why not?"

I cut my steak.

"You wanna' just pick it up and gnaw on the bone, don't you?" Kathy asked.

"More than you'll ever realize," I said.

On to Vegas!

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