Anthill Pub 1-25-10

I'm keeping up with my promise to document The Anthill Pub shows better! I got home from the road this weekend just in time to host the show, and it was another great one. Ian Edwards had to cancel last minute, which was a bummer since he's one of my absolute favorite comics, but we had Erik Griffin fill in for him and kill it! One of my best friends, Andrew Santino, killed it with a 25 min set that had the Anthill crowd shouting out requests for jokes they remembered him doing a YEAR ago at the show! Tim Shaw, who won Orange County's Funniest Person contest last year, also destroyed. His bit on a guy being charge with two counts of sexual assault and one count of "sexual annoying" is one of my favorites ever. It was a very successful show from start to finish. Come out next Monday to see our headliner, Comedy Central's Brian Scolaro!

Elko, NV (1-22-10)

This past weekend I hit the road again with Sadiki Fuller, featuring for him at The Red Lion Hotel in Elko, Nevada... for both a corporate gig and a regular show. The drive was 13 hours each way, and the weather was brutal.
Definitely an intense drive. I had to put chains on my tires for the first time ever... Sadiki had to show me how to do it. I did my first corporate gig, and I was SO nervous about having to be squeaky clean, because as most of you reading this probably know, 80% of my jokes are dick jokes. I was trying to tweak my favorite jokes to make them as clean as possible. We ended up having to perform in this big conference room at a hotel, and I went up RIGHT after the president of The Chamber of Commerce gave his big speech. They gave me a wireless mic, right in front of a podium, and introduced me as "Robbie PACKARD." Oh, and there was a panel of 6 people on either side of me, and they stayed up there for my set too. As bad as that sounds like it could be, they were a fun crowd and they had been drinking for about 3 hours so I killed. Then we did another show at The Red Lion Hotel later that night, which was also awesome. Other than the fact that I had brake trouble which is costing me $450 and also got a speeding ticket for going 65 in a 60 (its only costing me $67), it was a fun trip. Beautiful drive with awesome scenery. Perhaps we will meet again, Elko!

El Paso, TX Jan 13-17, 2010

Last week I landed my first weeklong feature gig at a comedy club… The Comic Strip in El Paso, Texas, where Sadiki Fuller brought me along for the journey. 7 shows in 5 days, all 30 minute sets—I was beyond stoked. I had never been to Texas, let alone El Paso, and I was a bit concerned that my VERY Caucasian, OC look would make me a prime target for a cowboy boot to be lodged up my backside. But we got in the car, and made the 12-hour journey anyway. The trip was longer than we thought, plus we lost an hour to the time change, so we were running late for our first show on Wednesday.

We got to our hotel at 7:20, with the show starting at 8pm. Ran into our rooms, took 2-min showers that would have made the Marines proud, and got to the show at 8:02. Less than an hour after entering El Paso, I was on stage. What a week. I had some of the best Mexican food I’ve ever had (El Paso is less than 5 min from the border of Mexico, and even though it killed my stomach I enjoyed every second of it.

The shows were seriously amazing, and packed every single night (besides Wednesday). The crowds were rowdy, drinkers, and came for a good time. On Friday, one guy wanted to buy one of my shotglasses that I sell after shows, but he didn’t have any cash on him. Instead, she shakes my hand, slips me a bad of weed, and so…. I gave him a shotglass. On Saturday night, one guy yelled out “Tequila!!!” in the middle of one of my jokes (that had nothing to do with drinking). I asked him if he wanted me to drink some, and they brought me one onstage. Then another girl bought me another. And another. If you don’t know this, you can’t really say no to a show when 300 people are cheering you on in the middle of a show. I was a little drunk for the second show, but I pulled it off and it was an amazing experience. I’m editing a short video from the trip, and will post it soon.

Thanks to Sadiki for taking me on the road with him, we actually head out tonight (after my show at Loyola Marymount University) and will drive straight through the night to get to our shows in Elko, NV tomorrow. Pictures, video and blogs to come!

--Robbie

Hilarious Weekend Update

A lot of people still hate on SNL. Guess what, you're wrong. It is back, and the cast is supremely talented, and the sketches keep getting better and better. They're taking more risks now, which can divide their fanbase, but I'm laughing harder than I've laughed in years. Check out this clip from last week's Weekend Update, I peed a little when I watched it.

Anthill Pub 1-4-10

Well, I've already lagged on what I said I'd do by waiting this long to post, but I'm still sticking to my word and posting each week about Monday Night Comedy @ The Anthill Pub. KT Tatara headlined the show, and had the crowd rolling for almost an hour!



Justin Berkman and Tom Vrab also tore the audience apart, and the place was packed. Standing room only at the pub on Monday nights, get there early! Show starts at 9. We're off this Monday because of the holiday, but we'll see you back there on January 25th with headliner Ian Edwards!

--Robbie

Anthill Pub 1-4-10

Happy new year everybody! Hope you all stuck your tongue down a stranger's throat at midnight, what better way to ring in 2010 right? I admit to being a lazy blogger, so I'm gonna pick it up again. I run a weekly show at The Anthill Pub at UC Irvine every Monday, and I will be posting a re-cap of the show every Tuesday.

Last night we kicked off 2010 in style, an awesome lineup and a packed house. I'd say there was 120-140 people crammed into the pub for comedy night. Chris Edwards, Hasan Minhaj, Mike E. Winfield and Eddie Pence all rocked the stage, and my dumbass hosted the thing. I didn't bring my camera because I just came up with this awesome re-cap idea this morning, but I will have a great post for next week's show. I'm gonna go back to watching CSI re-runs in my boxers and a wife beater... I mean, uhhhh, working hard on some new stand-up material.

--Robbie