Just found out that my favorite comic died today.

Ron Shock had to leave this party way too soon… but it’s been a much better party because of him.

A was a great storyteller… but an even greater human being.

I’ve had the good fortune of trading a number of emails back-and-forth with this fella. Even though I was just a young star-struck hack magician, Ron was very supportive and friendly.

He will be missed. My condolences to Rhonda and the rest of his family.

********************

R.I.P. Ron Shock (1942-2012)
By Sean L. McCarthy

http://thecomicscomic.com/2012/05/17/r-i-p-ron-shock-1942-2012/

After a five-month battle with urethral cancer that he shared with fans and friends through daily Facebook posts and regular YouTube videos, comedian Ron Shock died today. He was 69.

Ron Shock began his comedy career relatively late at the age of 40 but did so in Houston where he was a fellow “Outlaw” with the late Bill Hicks.

In December 2011, he announced that he had been diagnosed with the rare and aggressive urethral cancer. Shock then moved to Las Vegas where he underwent chemo and other treatments. His wife, Rhonda, and others encouraged friends and supporters then to donate directly to Ron Shock’s Cancer Fund via PayPal to help with the mounting bills.

Up until the end, Shock continued to share his ups and downs via Facebook. He also uploaded a series of videos called Cancer Chronicles in which he spoke about his health and recounted various stories from his life on the road. Here, Shock described his final conversation with Bill Hicks on the day before Hicks died, and what happened the following day.

Just two weeks ago, Shock shared these words about how nice everyone was treating him at hospice.

The instant outpouring of love and tributes for Shock and his family can be seen on Shock’s Facebook page. Among the early wall postings…

“RIP Ron Shock. And fuck this last year and a half.” — Laurie Kilmartin

“RIP Ron. One of the best comedians and a gentleman in this crazy biz.” — Mark Ridley, owner of Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle

“ONLY good thing is that you are out of that horrific pain. Other than that, it sucks. RIP and remember, you have left so much brilliance behind that will be enjoyed for generations, you haven’t gone anywhere.” — Elayne Boosler

“‎Ron Shock was a great comic and even a better person. I have fond memories watching him at the Punchline SF many, many times when I was up and coming. A master storyteller. RIP, Ron, you always made me laugh.” — Byron Yee

“Ron and his wife lent me money to fix my car to get to a gig a couple years ago… that’s the kind of guy he was.” — Pat Godwin

“‎Ron Shock was one of the nicest and coolest comedians I have ever had the chance to work with. I only opened for him once, and to this day, I have never seen anybody tell a story like him. He made a two-hour set feel like ten minutes. After the show, we went to a diner and talked comedy until the sun almost came up. He told me story after story about Bill Hicks, Sam Kinison, being one of the original Outlaws of Comedy and the joy comedy brings to people. We’ve lost way too many great comics in recent years, and sadly, we lost Ron. Take care, buddy. Like you always said “You’re gonna die anyways.” — Pat House

“Rest in peace, Ron Shock. The best goddamn storyteller I ever saw, and a kind, kind person.” — Tim McIntire

Funeral services are pending.

Via
http://thecomicscomic.com/2012/05/17/r-i-p-ron-shock-1942-2012/

********************

Ladies and Gentlemen…  Some advice from Mr. Shock:

“Have a drink. Get stoned. Fuck a stranger. Eat a Twinkie… You’re gonna die anyway.”

Part magician, part comedian, and totally dysfunctional, Nathan Allen will be bringing his highly-caffeinated blend of magic and comedy to Howard, South Dakota!

Allen (dubbed “The Maniac of Magic” by his peers) will be making a stop at Maroney Commons (103 S. Main Street) on Saturday, June 9th.  The adult-only show will start promptly at 8:00pm, and will feature local South Dakota stand-up comics Keith Doty and Toby Davis.

Yes, Nathan Allen is a magician, but don’t be fooled – you will see NO rabbit, NO tuxedo, and NO sparkly boxes in this show.  Instead, Nathan combines his twisted sense of humor, sleight-of-hand magic skills, and hilarious audience participation into one of the very few magic shows on the face of the planet that is both geared for adults AND funny.

The best trick up Nathan’s sleeve is his ability to connect with a crowd, and it’s a trick he can pull off whether he is at a corporate event or a biker bar.  With a knack for being a bit naughty and tons of fun, without being offensive, Nathan’s personality-driven performances have been described as “Edgy, funny comedy and magic at its best” (Naturally Funny Entertainment; Chicago, IL), “Funny, fast-moving, unique, and very entertaining!” (Vetesnik Power Sports; Richland Center, WI), and “Action packed, funny, and unpredictable!” (Iowa Emergency Management Association; Des Moines, IA).

The International Brotherhood of Magicians recently presented Nathan with the Iowa Magic Award, based on his technical skills and entertainment value.  He was the only magician featured in “The Grassroots Comedy Tour” and in “The Super Bowl of Stand-Up.”  His entertainment services won him a full-ride business scholarship to attend college.  He was just on television in Europe.  Of the dozens of magicians in Iowa, Nathan was the only one selected to perform onstage at Iowa Governor Culver‘s Inaugural Gala.  And yet, in a typical example of his priorities, he insists that he is most proud of being elected Class Clown.

More than just something out of thin air, Nathan’s slow-but-steady rise in the entertainment industry is the result of a 15-year, love-hate obsession with his work.  He started learning magic when he was only 8 years old and did his first paid performance when he was just 12.  Now, at the age of 28, Nathan has a long list of performances under his belt, for companies including 3M, Alliant Energy, Charter Communications, Honda, RadioShack, and Wal-Mart, to name just a few.

Nathan is based out of Des Moines, Iowa.  He drinks way too much coffee, and in his spare time, he enjoys arguing with the television.  When it’s turned off.

For more information about Nathan and his comedy-magic shows, visit him on the web at ManiacOfMagic.com.  For tickets to the June 9th show at Maroney Commons (Howard, SD), call the Windward Inn at 605-772-4700.  For more information about the venue, visit MaroneyCommons.com.

- Kurt Cobain (1967-1994)

Yes, Nathan Allen is a magician, but don’t be fooled – you will see NO rabbit, NO tuxedo, and NO sparkly boxes in this show. Instead, Nathan combines his twisted sense of humor, sleight-of-hand magic skills, and hilarious audience participation into one of the very few magic shows on the face of the planet that is both geared for adults AND funny.

The best trick up Nathan’s sleeve is his ability to connect with a crowd, and it’s a trick he can pull off whether he is at a corporate event or a biker bar. With a knack for being a bit naughty and tons of fun, without being offensive, Nathan’s personality-driven performances have been described as “Edgy, funny comedy and magic at its best” (Naturally Funny Entertainment; Chicago, IL), “Funny, fast-moving, unique, and very entertaining!” (Vetesnik Power Sports; Richland Center, WI), and “Action packed, funny, and unpredictable!” (Iowa Emergency Management Association; Des Moines, IA).

More than just something out of thin air, Nathan’s slow-but-steady rise in the entertainment industry is the result of a 15-year, love-hate obsession with his work. He started learning magic when he was only 8 years old and did his first paid performance when he was just 12. Now, at the age of 28, Nathan has a long list of performances under his belt, for companies including 3M, Alliant Energy, Charter Communications, Honda, RadioShack, and Wal-Mart, to name just a few. The International Brotherhood of Magicians presented Nathan with the Iowa Magic Award, he is the only magician to ever be featured in “The Grassroots Comedy Tour” and “The Super Bowl of Stand-Up,” and he just appeared on international television in Europe earlier this spring.

And yet… in a typical example of his priorities… he insists that he is most proud of being elected Class Clown in high school.

Nathan is based out of Des Moines, Iowa. He drinks way too much coffee, and in his spare time, he enjoys arguing with the television. When it’s turned off.

Satuday’s show at Rumors will feature the flame-throwing adult comedy of Michael Harville.

For more information about who Nathan is and what he does, visit him on the web at ManiacOfMagic.com. For more information about Saturday’s show in Laurens, call Rumors Pub at 712-841-6986.

From Craigslist:

Seeking Adult Drunk Clown for 30th Birthday party
http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/chi/814181712.html

Date: 2008-08-26, 3:22PM CDT

We need an Adult Drunk Clown who is good at getting drunk and stupid. No need to do any clown tricks, just hang out and drink a shit load. We will be hopping around to different bars and want a clown to tag a long and drink heavely. He doesn’t even need to socialize with anyone, just drink.

the birthday is on Friday, Sept. 5th in Bucktown. Oh, did I mention that the clown needs to get shitfaced. Don’t worry, we will purchase all the drinks.

PostingID: 814181712

It’s pretty awesome.

[get your instant download now]

Therefore…
Daydrinking = Productivity.

Its special awakening ingredients?
“Sunflower & Grapefruit Essences“.

Okay. Whatever.

The tiny-hotel-soap is labeled “Calm“.

Its special calming ingredients?
“Sunflower & Grapefruit Essences“.

Okay. Whatev- Wait.

WHAT SORCERY IS THIS?!

Even as a magician myself, I can’t say I disagree with anything he writes here… And THAT, my friends, makes me think that perhaps… just perhaps… I’m on the right track.

Enjoy “Nothing Up Their Sleeves” by Doug Stanhope:

Nothing Up Their Sleeves
http://www.dougstanhope.com/journal/2011/5/3/nothing-up-their-sleeves.html

It’s a good Sunday when you spend the afternoon trying to stop yourself from directly calling or emailing children to piss wildly on their dreams simply because you can.

I watch an assload of documentaries when I’m home and generally it’s because I hope to enjoy them – unlike regular television which I often times watch just to hate. Hate is entertainment too.

In order to understand how a simple documentary on teenage magicians taking part in a contest can bring me to the brink of calling or emailing those same teens to tell them how much they suck, you have to understand a few things.

First and most obvious is that you have to understand how (shitty) magic is and how wildly delusional magicians are about what they do.

Another key is to understand how easy it is to find the people from documentaries on the internet, either the documentarian or his subjects. These people aren’t celebrities. If a Kevin Bacon movie makes you angry, you can’t just pull up his name and number on Google in a fraction of a second. But a teenage magician…?

Yes – if I hate magic so much why would I watch a documentary about it? Frankly – on the off-chance that the documentary was mocking it. I watched “Jesus Camp” as an atheist and was thrilled with the results.

But no such luck with this one. This one was magic at it’s most magician-y. In the first three minutes you are shown a montage of professional magicians hurling lofty quotes about their own craft such as…

“Magic reminds us that the universe is a huge, capital ‘M’ mystery.”

No it doesn’t. It reminds us that some people will do anything to get people to look at them. The universe never springs to mind at all, ever.

“It’s a specific state of mind when your world view is shattered for a second.”

This goes into footage of someone doing a pedestrian coin-disappearing hand trick. Which of course shatters your world view.

“Magic… on a significant level and a more deeper impact, it is changing people’s lives. When you are able to do the impossible, there are no obstacles left in your life anymore.”

Yes but you don’t do the impossible. You have the dexterity to hide a coin between your fingers while wearing spangles. It’s extremely possible, as are the obstacles in life. Idiot.

Now a montage of the teenagers in the contest.

“I found something that came naturally to me, came easy to me and blew people away, made a lasting impression, made people wanna talk to me, made people like me.”

Magic doesn’t make people like you. It makes people watch your hands to figure out where the coin went. If they don’t like you without doing magic, you have a long road, son.

“Maybe that’s what we’re trying to do with magic – is trying to find out who we are as a person.”

Um… yeah. You’ll figure that out by hiding a silver dollar. Jesus fuck.

Now comes the Japanese kid.

“When I can’t communicate with language, I can use magic. Because magic is borderless.”

Remember this next time you are overseas and can’t find the bus station – just pull a string of chinchillas out of your top hat. It’s an international language.

You can see now why I’m already in a state of vomit-shock in the first three minutes. Or maybe you can’t. Regardless, I now had to watch the whole thing. And while I watched, I Googled the most annoying of them and all had email contacts and most had phone numbers for bookings.

I didn’t call or email any of them – maybe because I’m a better person than that or maybe because Bingo kept yelling at me for even thinking of doing it.

But just being on the verge of shitting on their happiness, I understand every piece of hate mail I ever received. I’ll settle for simply imploring these young magicians-in-the-making to lean more towards the Penn Jillette and less towards the every-other faggots who seem to believe they are mystically doing more than spinning plates in a uni-tard.

Again, this was written by Doug Stanhope, and the original article can be found at http://www.dougstanhope.com/journal/2011/5/3/nothing-up-their-sleeves.html

My typical answer is, “Ummm…”

But here is the answer I would love to memorize and rattle off faster than an auctioneer, just to emotionally exhaust whichever poor soul who was trying to make polite conversation:

• Awards Nights
• Banquet Events
• Bars
• Beer Gardens
• Casinos
• Christmas Parties
• Class Reunions
• Club Events
• Coffee Shops
• Colleges and Universities
• Comedy Clubs
• Comedy Nights
• Company Parties
• Conventions
• Corporate Events
• Country Clubs and Golf Courses
• Customer Appreciation Events
• Employee Appreciation Parties
• Fairs and Festivals
• Fraternity and Sorority Functions
• Fund-Raiser Events
• Graduation Parties
• Halloween Parties
• Holiday Parties
• Hotel Events
• House Parties
• Illinois
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Lounges
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• Nebraska
• New Year’s Eve Parties
• Nightclubs
• Office Parties
• Post-Prom and After-Prom Parties
• Private Parties
• Public Events
• Resorts
• South Dakota
• Taverns
• Theaters
• Wisconsin

Yeah.  That would be fun…  for me.

Oh, and if you think that this was just some pointless post to help out with search engine rankings… You’re absolutely right.

:)

I agree.

Thanks, Trevor!

ALTHOUGH… I’ve never been to this place and have no idea how large it is.  “Sold-out” could mean “eight or nine people” for all I know.

Crap.  I didn’t buy a ticket.  Maybe they’ll let me attend anyway.