"And who should walk in, but..."

Last night was really one of those great New York comedy nights. I started down in the LES and saw a show at Pianos, then hopped up to Karma in the East Village with John F. O'Donnell, and saw John Oliver do a set. John Oliver is absolutely fantastic to watch. He appears effortlessly charming, and when you hear his material, you can see why he's on The Daily Show. He is smart, challenging, and spot-on politically.

After that, me and JFOD went over to the Gene Frankel Theater(re?) for the Jerk Practice show. The lobby is lined with pictures of Gene Frankel, who looks a lot like God. Frankel is a somewhat famous stage director who, judging from the pictures, takes himself very seriously. I assume that he and James Lipton having coffee together would be a serious hoot.

Then we left to head up to UCB for Gut Bucket. On the way we walked past Comedy Village, and someone outside said that Dave Chappelle was onstage. We ducked in, and sure enough, Chappelle was up there, smoking a cigarette and reading the paper.

So me and Johnny are hanging out in back, and who should walk in the door but Chevy Chase. He and his family go sit in back, but as he's about to sit down, he yells out "I have herpes." The thing is, no one knows it's Chevy Chase, including Chappelle. So he's a little bit confused, and again Chase says, "I have herpes." So Chappelle doesn't know exactly what's going on. Then someone in the crowd yells "it's Chevy Chase," and Chappelle says, "yeah sure." Then he kind of squints, recognizes Chase, and loses his shit. "Oh my god! Chevy fucking Chase is here!" "I'm here for you Dave," Chase responds. Now, the audience goes nuts. Everyone is clapping and going crazy. After a minute or so, Chase goes up on stage and shakes Chappelle's hand, and they just hang out for a minute.

Chappelle does about 25 more minutes or so. When he's about to get off, the manager walks up and whispers something in his ear. Chappelle says, "ladies and gentlemen, Chevy Chase." So Chase went up and just talked for a few minutes. Me and Johnny had to leave to go up to UCB, so we couldn't see much of Chase's set.

Then Gut Bucket was a blast, and I went home and fell asleep.