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Time for my car’s annual inspection, which means it’s time for some lucky NYC mechanic’s annual bribe. I suppose it’s technically possible for a 1987 Honda Accord to pass emissions inspection properly, but I’m sure I’m not familiar with how that might happen. Two years ago a mechanic charged me $200 for “exhaust work” — a repair job which I naively believed to have actually taken place. Until my exhaust broke in reality 2 weeks later and my regular mechanic (who does not perform inspections) informed me that it was clear no work had been done.

Rather than get angry, I chose to see this $200 repair bill as part of the inspection fee, and now I expect [...]

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People of the world, my improv team is ending. The charmingly-named Monkeydick, formed (in its original incarnation) about five years ago has just three shows left. After that, we’re all boarding the boat to the Grey Havens. If any of you out there are fans of the group, please come check us out. There’s info in the yellow box on the right-hand side of the page.

ADDITION: I had this in a comment for this post, but I’m putting it here for those curious (so I’m quoting myself):

We’re not mad. The theater — the artistic director and others — wanted our show to be getting higher attendence. They also (rightly) sensed that for whatever reason, we were not putting as [...]

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Turned 35 on Saturday, and to celebrate I corralled a bunch of my friends into a tiny karoke room in the East Village. It was a spectacular showcase of enthusiasm and silliness. There were many many highlights, but in an effort to be a better editor I will mention just one: Curtis Gwinn’s rendition of Billy Joel’s amazingly terrible “The Entertainer.”

I also drank about 35 cans of beer. I drank enough water on the trip home to dodge the worst of the hangover, but was exhausted all Sunday as my muscles and digestive system tried to fight against what my body must have assumed was a murder attempt. Only now — about 30 hours later — is the final veil [...]

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Rob Lathan and I made a web site for him today. It’s brand new. Check it out and give us suggestions.

ADDITION: Notice I titled this post “Latham” instead of “Lathan” even though it is indeed referring to the web site of Rob Lathan. That is because Rob has, for as long as I’ve known him, always referred to himself in his scripts and sketches as Latham. In other words, if he writes a sketch for Gameface, the parts will be labeled “Mitch, Wengert, and Latham.” I think this started since many people actually mispronounce his name as Latham. But Lathan has helped keep the joke going in an almost completely hidden and inaccessible way by agreeing with the [...]

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