Hannalo

George Carlin

Last night, my friend Andy invited me to go see a George Carlin concert movie at The Actor’s Gang in Culver City. As part of the WTF Festival (whatever that is) they showed Carlin’s 1992 HBO special followed by a reading from his book, “Last Words” by his daughter, Kelly.

The special was incredible.  It’s really amazing — and scary — how his comedy from 17 years ago is still relevant.  He made jokes about war against “brown people,” Bush (the elder, but it still worked), Cheney, the environment.  And his non-political stuff really got me, too.  He was a brilliant comedian.

Tim Robbins is directing the next show for the theater and introduced the movie.  While he was speaking, a camera flashed from the audience and he said, “Please, no pictures.”  A voice in the audience said, “Oops, sorry” and Tim replied, “Oh, it’s you.”  I turned around to see who he was talking to…Roseanne Barr.  “I’ll give you the picture later,” she said.

After the show was over, Tim was asking for people to sign up on the email list for the theater.

“I’m embarrassed,” I told him. “I was first introduced to George Carlin as the train conductor on the Thomas the Tank Engine Show.”  Yep, that’s what I said to one of the greatest actors and activists around.  Good work.

Another pretty cool night in Hollywood.

So Funny...Not!

I’m currently sitting at my favorite cafe for writing. I had to share a table with some older gentleman because seating was limited when I got here.  One of the guys thinks he is hilarious and keeps asking me how my “Goat Sandwich” is.  I got an eggplant and goat cheese sandwich.  The waitress just told me next time I could order half a sandwich and he said, “You can order half a goat?  Which half?”  I hope that story is better to read than it was to experience.

Busy couple of weeks

Here’s what’s happened:

• I crashed my car in an accident on the only rainy night I’ve experienced in L.A.  My car is going to take over a month to fix.
• I celebrated my twenty-mvnblj birthday.  That is not a typo.
• I auditioned for a pilot.
• I auditioned for a commercial.
• I auditioned for a voiceover.
• I recorded a voiceover for a commercial for a sexual lubricant alongside my sister’s ex-boyfriend.
• I started an awesome new improv class.

What did you do while I was on hiatus?

My least favorite things about living in L.A.

1. It’s way too far from my family. Chicago was a quick 45 minute plane ride.

2. The traffic.  Really, these drivers are the worst ever.

3. It’s so spread out.  The reason the traffic is so bad is because you can’t get anywhere by walking.  I spend so much damn time in the car.

4.  Hollywood can be a real bitch.  This is a very tough business and it’s especially hard for a control freak like me.

5. The smoggy air.  Not so good for the skin — or lungs for that matter.

6 Months in L.A.

As you can see from the title, it has been six months since I made the move to L.A.  I cannot believe how fast the time has passed.  Here are some of my favorite things about L.A.

1. The weather: Duh.

2. The scenery:  Ocean and mountains are everywhere.  As much as I used to love biking along Lake Michigan, it’s so much more impressive to bike along the Pacific Ocean.

3. Writing and Acting every day: I’m not getting paid for it yet, but this is my dream and I’m loving it.

4. The famous people: I can’t help it. I get a little thrill out of seeing famous people in my natural habitat.

5. The going-to-be-famous people:  Even cooler than seeing people on TV in the real world is seeing people I know from the real world on TV.  My friend, Kinsey, has a recurring role on one of my favorite shows, “Greek,” and my friend, Elise, has a part in the new movie, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell.  It is really fun to see my friends succeed.

6. Good Day, L.A.: this wacky morning talk show on Fox.  The anchors are constantly bickering with each other. It is a highly entertaining way to get the news (although rarely is actual news discussed.)

7. There is always something fun to do:  Seriously, I have some kind of show or class every night. It’s nice.

8. The food:  The produce here is amazing and I’d never had quinoa before.

9. Inn N Out:  Delicious fast food option that is not close enough to my apartment for me to get it on any sort of regular basis.

10. Camping:  I have lots of friends who camp here. I went camping twice this summer and plan to do more.  I love camping!

Well, I’m sure there’s more, but that’s a list for now.  Tomorrow, my least favorite things about L.A.

Yesterday

…my Tumblr was down.

…I went up against Andrea Zuckerman from 90210: Original Flavor for a voiceover role.

…I bought a dress in a size I never imagined I would fit into.  Honestly, I feel like it must be tagged wrong, but I’ll take it.

…I saw Johnny Galecki from Big Bang Theory at The Grove.

…I had an awesome rehearsal with my sketch group.

…Fred Willard told me he couldn’t get my song out of his head.

…I didn’t throw up. (Nothing to do with bulimia. It’s a song reference I’m hoping one of my family members will recognize)

…I had a real good day. (Part 2 of the song reference)

Great Weekend

I have nothing to write about, so I’m just going to tell you about my very fun weekend.  I am so lucky to have come to L.A. with a great group of friends already living here and also to have met so many wonderful people since I moved.  I had the weekend off from babysitting, so I had a lot of fun hanging out and having fun.

Friday night, I went to see the first official Mission Improvable performance at Westside Comedy Theater. The old crew is performing the first couple shows and the newbies will start being placed in one at a time.  It was a really fun show with a lot of high energy.  I can’t wait for my turn to perform.  Went out with guys after and had a great time. I think this is going to be another great group of friends and collaborators.

Saturday, I went to the Michigan bar to watch a fantastic game with my friends from high school.  Thank goodness we won, otherwise I would’ve been a mess for the rest of the day and not have been able to enjoy the evening when I went to see a screening of my friend, Scott’s short film, “Carbone’s Birthday.”  Scott announced that he is about to enter the festival circuit with his film and will be going to London for his first. Very exciting!

Finally, I spent Sunday at a casting director workshop and then a very small improv rehearsal (two of us showed up).  Then saw two shows at UCB — Jeff Garlin’s Combo Platter which was a lot of fun and an excellent improv show called Shitty Jobs.  Scott got up onstage and was interviewed about his shitty job.  Apparently, he was robbed twice as a bank teller.  I had no idea.

That’s all folks.  Anyone gonna watch The Jay Leno Show tonight? I’ve got it set for DVR.  Very curious to see what it will be.

Hanna, out.