Jasen Fredrickson

I played BC this weekend with Martha Chaves. Good times. Kelowna was lovely, and Cranbrook took the Spectravision out of the rooms.  Two days in Cranbrook with nothing to do but walk to Zellers.  A highlight of the trip was when I was able to pick up five books from the sale at the “mall” that the library was putting on.  Total price = $3.50. Five, FIVE books for $3.50.  Only in Cranbrook, where books are tools of the devil.

In more important news, master of comedy Rodney Dangerfield passed away.  He lived a great and long life, and I’m sure he would not want anyone to be particularly sad, he was a comedian.  My take is on this is how he impacted the comedy community.  There is an energy that is held and shared by all mankind where I believe that there is even a stronger bond shared by individual groups: peace officers, salepeople, vegans, any group where you would feel comfortable around “like” people.  Ever feel a connection with a person or group?  Or feel that certain people are repellant?  Some believe that it is a personality thing, I believe it goes deeper than that.

Chortle’s article on Rodney
CNN article on Rodney
MSNBC’s article on Rodney
Rodney’s home page

What is WIERD, very very wierd, is that a guy here at work had said he thought that Rodney had died years ago.  We were watching Caddyshack and commenting on how hilarious he was – radio in the huge golf bag, great one liners, perfect antagonist – and my buddy pipes up, “Didn’t Rodney die?” I almost flipped on him, I was telling him that he was still alive, went to his web page, and didn’t find anything of the sort.

Last night I went to the club to pick up a cheque and I was really feeling odd, and really down.  I was all down that all of my buddy comedians were moving away (Toronto, England), I was just bad energy feeling sorry for myself.  I even had to leave early because I really did not want to be there feeling the way I did.  It was an inexplicable feeling that, while having it, I was really aware I was feeling it, and really felt that I was being ridiculous for feeling that way.  You know how sometimes you feel down but need someone to tell you, “Hey, you look down,” to notice?  I really noticed, and no one needed to tell me.

And today I got the news about Rodney.

After rehashing everything I’m left with a peculiar, creepy, odd, yet empowering feeling about the events over the past day. I think this kind of explained everything, and adds another “cementing” to the belief in common energy that comedians, and all of us share. He had a very powerful and influential presence in the community.

…Or I could be a whacked out head case.

Regardless, I don’t think I was the only one who felt his passing, he was one of the good guys…maybe finally he’ll get some respect.

Longview, Alberta, Canada.  The best beef jerky in the world!  You kids put on a good show.  Thank you goes to Holly Clarke and the Longview Fire Department for having Daryl Makk and I perform at the fire hall September 18th.  The food was great, the guests laughed HARD.
Daryl and I went across the street to buy up some of the world famous Longview beef jerky only to find the shop was closed for the day.  Daryl half jokingly told our story of woe as a little anecdote during his act.  By the end of Daryl’s set we had some honey garlic, some teriaki, and buffalo(hot) we were told it is “da bomb”.  I claimed the honey garlic and it was finished before I made it into my house.  The next morning my jaw ached so much I thought it was dislocated. 1 full bag Longview beef jerky X jerky chew factor = 1 Freddy lockjaw.

Man , oh MAN!  I sometimes forget how much I love performing in Lethbridge. I got to see a bunch of buddies, which was nice.  I got to see my brother, which was nice.  I got to go down with Kerry Unger, pretend to harass the OnStar on call people, and hit a cat…which was nice.  Incidentally, I didn’t hit the cat, Kerry was driving, I just cheered on the van.

Oh yeah! we drove a Venture vaaan – completely unecessary.  I thought that we should have at least tried to kidnap/torture someone.  Or drive slowly through a school zone…you’re supposed to drive through school zones slowly anyway.  Well, at the very least I think we had a cat questioning it’s ability to outrun a Venture vaaan.  We’re pretty sure it was okay though, it ran off, which dead cat’s aren’t typically known to do.  It also wasn’t so much a squishy/bumpy sound as it was a double thump of a cat head bouncing off of a Venture vaaan exhaust system.

BUMP-KLUMP! You go kitty. You go Venture.

The online store is up. If you don’t have my CD yet you can get it from the site. If you already have my CD…you can get it from the site.

Some of the formatting has changed. Again, this will be one of the ongoing changes to continuously improve your perusing enjoyment. There have been new links added to the links page and the warning page.

Oh, and the online store is up. You can buy my CD there.

Matt f’ed off to England and is ripping it up over there, we’re all proud of our troops we send overseas.  I wound up finding out that Steve Patterson is over there as well after I tried to contact him when he gave me a virus…a computer virus, don’t be lame.  They performed together with Sean Collins at the Comedy Store.  Damn great show those people got.

Incidentally, I’m still waiting for a photo for your link Steve. 

I’m also getting a lot of pressure from folks to update the page more often.  I’ll do what I can, but I do update it.  Let’s call it “Covert Ops – Web Updates”, the changes are subtle and not always on the front page.  (Brilliant idea having my blog on the front.)  My bio is going to be a work in progress, moreso for me, so if you don’t find it entertaining – sorry.  I want to delve into my past to reveal more about who I am and what makes me act the way I do.  After the stunning revelation that I spent the majority of my formative years in the eighties, it all became clear…talking about my youth is a lot like…well…i haven’t been curb stomped (yet), but I think it may be similar. But, not unlike getting a good ol’ curb stomping, acknowledging my roots is a necessary part of growing as a human being…with less blood, smashed teeth, and shattered upper palate.

I’ve begun my journey by listening to more Van Halen. The drums at the beginning of “I’m Hot for Teacher” are righteous!

…This curb tastes funny. *CRUNCH*

This weekend past Matt Billon and I were performing through Saskatchewan.

Jealous?

It’s amazing how hard it is to find a John Deere hat through the prairies. We stopped in almost every small town on highway one, on the way up to Prince Albert, through to Saskatoon, on the way to Regina, and back to Calgary.

NOTHING.

What was really weird was the reaction that I got for even asking.

“You want a hat?”

“Yeah.”

“What kind of hat?”

“Like a promo hat.”

“Maybe try up the road at the next town…or Burger King, I think they have promo hats.”

…

In other news, last night Toby Hargrave crashed at my place again.  In the past three years Toby has been the only house guest I have had.   I think I’m not going to allow any one else to stay at my place, comedians or family, to preserve the sanctity of the shrine now set up for Toby Hargrave…and by “shrine” I mean “the room that stores the spare bed,  bags of old clothing for the Salvation Army, and kids toys”.

I guess,  in a way,  it’s always been a shrine for Toby.

IT’S FINALLY HERE!!! the happy fun bus finally has a presence on the web.  I no longer refer to my stand up as “the Happy Fun Bus”, it’s been a looong time since I decided that to do so would be a detriment to the show.

NOW it can be a detriment to my web site.

Rather – it can BE the web site.

you know the rules.

www.kerrytalmage.com
as we move through life and encounter obstacles that seemingly seem impossible, we forget those who have done far greater with worse odds. kerry talmage, a brilliant comedian, a thousand times more gritty than sandstone, and half your size, passed on to the great stage in the sky. his battle against kidney failure, heart attacks, bad road gigs, and rude club staff, came to an end june 17, 2004. a legion of people the world over miss him and will always remember him, and not just comedians, i believe there are nurses out there who will NEVER forget him. i hope that kerry has touched your life personally, and that you were offended. i think he would have liked it that way. he was a great man, a great, great man. he will be missed.
www.kerrytalmage.com

Damn.  I was out reading today.  I read Megan Fraser‘s online journal, Will Weldon‘s online journal, and Toby Hargrave‘s ongoing detailing of his comedic exploits.  I love these guys, they are living the dream, and they are great people.  They write from the hip.  It made me think about what I’m trying to accomplish with my web site.  I can’t say I want anyone to know what is going on personally in my life.  You’d shoot yourself.  Not to kill yourself, but to distract yourself with a nicely shot out kneecap.

“I read about Jasen’s personal life today.  Work, comedy, home life…”

BLAM!!!

“Ahhhh, that’s better.  Could you pick up my foot and shin?”

hop…hop…hop…

So I’d rather give you entertainment of another variety.  Crazy stuff I’ve found on the web that you can check out.  Good stuff.  Bad stuff.  Weird stuff.  Just interesting stuff to me.  You can’t get to know what makes me tick, but you can see what winds the clock.  That doesn’t make sense, but I don’t care.

…

Eric Blumrich.  Here’s a guy who has one or two opinions about the political affairs in the states.  Rather, he fucking hates republicans, more specifically, George W. Bush.  I’m surprized he hasn’t “disappeared”. 

I like the War Pigs video, Ozzy rules.

My take is I just can’t wrap my head around how it doesn’t bother people, en masse, that he’s former president George Bush Sr’s kid.  Just to point out a fact, this means he came from Barbara’s vagina.  It makes me itchy thinking about that.

Please don’t shoot out your knee, I’m done writing for today.