Something Great Is Coming

Since my last post, life has been pretty nice. Not because of anything extraordinary or new, but simply because I just have a feeling that some very exciting things are coming my way. Have you ever had that feeling? If you haven't you should just try to imagine that some of your wildest dreams are coming true. Feel that excitement. That's the feeling that I get sometime and have been getting all of my life. Whenever I feel that way, great things happen. So the next time your feeling optimistic, don't suppress it or write it off. Go with it!

Since my last post I've returned to NBC's, "Today Show" on the recurring segment "Guys Tell All". I also appeared on the weekend edition of "Today" in a segment called, "He Said, She Said". We talked about guilty pleasures. I had to admit that my guilty pleasure is KFC Original Recipe chicken. I didn't want to come across as some type of stereotype, but if loving KFC Original Recipe is wrong, I don't wanna be right! Whoever came up with that recipe of 11 herbs and spices was a culinary genius(whether it's Colonel Sanders or his black maid who he stole the recipe from and went on to die penniless). There's something about that secret combination and a true KFC impressario can always tell when any of those herbs and/or spices are missing. Sometimes you'll go to some bootleg KFC that never seems to have the combination right. But I digress.

You can also see me on HBO.com on the webseries, "Got No Game with Paul Mecurio". I'm one of the Black Guys(that's my character name, Black Guy#2) in the comedic short, "Race In Sports".

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Count Your Blessings

I'm back and it only took a couple of days. It seems like whenever I post to my blog another good thing happens for me to blog about. That should be incentive for me to increase my blogging frequency. The latest good thing is that I just received notice that my film, "Souled Out Comedy" has been chosen to screen at the Mid-Atlantic Black Film Festival. "Souled Out Comedy" is the documentary about the show that I produced and performed on with some of my favorite comedian/friends. It stars Marc Theobald, Dean Edwards, Leighann Lord, Wali Collins, Mike Yard and Rick Younger(yeah that's me, I love to take every opportunity I can to speak of myself in the 3rd person).

It seems lately that things are going pretty well for me. Although that may seem like something that a person should be able to clearly see and acknowledge, I find myself having to remind myself about how blessed I am. I'm sure I'm not the only person who sometimes has a hard time enjoying the ride. My ambition often has me so busy looking forward to the next accomplishment that I totally miss what is right before my very eyes. I guess I'm just saying this to remind myself that I'm living the dream and I have to wake up and keep my eyes open to see how great the dream is. It's like when an artist is working on his masterpiece, he periodically has to step back and take a look at the big picture and take it all in. That's an important thing to do because if you can't be happy along the journey to your ultimate goals, you'll find yourself unhappy once you reach your goals. I definitely don't want to be the guy who's making $20 million plus a film and driving people crazy because I'm still not satisfied(that's right I'm gonna make $20 million plus a film, remember you heard it here first). Right now as I write this I'm singing a song to myself that we used to sing in church when I was a kid, "Count Your Blessings". After you finish counting your blessings you always seem to see that you're way more blessed than you realized.

Taking Things Into My Own Hands

It's been a few weeks since I blogged. A lot has been going on, mostly moving into a new apartment. Moving as an adult with a small child is hard work. In this day of cyber-friends and social networking, it really drives home the difference between cyber-friends and real friends. A real friend is someone who helps carry a dresser or a sofa, or anything that's so bulky that it might impale you. Not to say that I only have 4 real friends, but the other real friends who didn't help carry heavy stuff probably have been there for other "heavy" situations that maybe kept me out of jail or helped greatly reduce a fine. My point is that after a while, you find out that real friends are few and far between and they're there for you when you really need them.

Since my last blog entry some other exciting things have happened too. My film "Whistle & Snap" screened at the Roxbury Film Festival and was well received. I was so nervous as I watched and listened to the audience watch our film. It's really different when you have written, produced and star in your own project. When I do someone elses material as an actor, I can always seperate myself from people's reaction and reception of the material. I can always say, "hey, I just do what they put on the paper, I did the best I could with what they gave me". Also, unlike when I do stand-up, I can improvise and adjust according to the audience I'm in front of, but with a completed film all I could do is see how what we produced came across to the audience at hand. The ice was broken when I heard the first laugh from the audience. It was actually quite exhilirating. I was both encouraged and inspired to continue creating and producing. It made me feel empowered and let me know I'm doing the right thing by taking my fate in my own hands and becoming a producer and writer. I'm looking forward to Younger Child Productions' next project(s). I have a feeling that directing is in my future!

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On the Road Again

The last few days I've been on the road. It wasn't all show business but it's reminded me of my early years in stand-up comedy when I spent a great amount of time on the road driving from town to town. Looking back on it now I realize that those adventures were something that was perfect for that time in my life, but I guess I've turned into a relative homebody. It's not that I don't like to leave home, but I can't go away for as long as I used to. I like to go away and get back to the family ASAP.

This week has been full of fun and excitement. Monday I had a callback for a commercial, Tuesday was my final shoot day on the film, "Morning Glory" and Wednesday I performed on a comedy fundraiser at the Palace Theater in Hamilton, NY with Jake Johannsen. The fundraiser was organized by one of my castmates from "Morning Glory", Matt Malloy. Go ahead click on both of them so you'll be able to visualize who I'm talking about.

The comedy show was lots of fun. I got to perform for a very appreciative crowd and I got a chance to work on some of my new material. There was even more excitement offstage after the show in the small town of Hamilton, NY. Hamilton is a small town with a population of about 2,500 and is also the city which houses the campus of Colgate University. So in other words it's very small and everyone knows each other. When I arrived I think I doubled the black population. That can be quite a daunting responsibility for a black man, but I handled my responsibility with poise and class. I wasn't in town for 5 minutes before someone mistook me for the other black guy in town, JoeBaker. Joe is a Hamilton native and a coach in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and just happened to be visiting his hometown at the very same time that I was there. I heard about Joe as soon as I got to town and was looking forward to meeting him. As luck would have it, Joe was in the first row at the comedy show. We connected immediately in that "you're the only other black dude in town" way, that only another brother can understand. It was like we were long lost brothers. We had more in common than just being the "Lone Negroes" we also both have white wives and drive the Volvo S60. No wonder people mistook us for the same guy!

The other point of excitement while in Hamilton, NY is that I received a ticket for running a stop sign. The kind of stop sign that only a Hamilton native would have seen. Needless to say I was a little nervous when I was pulled over by the towns most notorious cop(the other 3 are very nice I hear). He made me step out of my car and do various sobriety tests. Since I was determined to not be too far over the legal drinking limit, the officer let me off with just a ticket for running a stop sign and gave me the option to come back and fight the ticket in court. I figured I should cut my losses and just take the ticket and get out of Hamilton. So much goes through your mind when you're pulled over in a small town and asked to step out of your car by a police officer. I thought of all of the bad things that could happen but most of all I thought of how my behavior could reflect negatively on the remainder of Joe Baker's stay in town. I'm sure that by now Joe has had to explain to all of the town's people how it wasn't him who was pulled over for running a stop sign. So I shared all of that to say, Joe I'm sorry for misbehaving in your hometown and bringing you shame. If there's anything to gain from this experience I think it's this, always be on your best behavior because what you do doesn't only reflect on you it could also affect the other black guy in town!

A Change Is Gonna Come

I'm sitting here in front of the computer as I just put my son down to bed and I'm keeping my promise to blog more. As I begin this I really don't know what I should be sharing but I'm assuming as I type the words will come to me. I guess I should just start by saying what's going on, give an idea of "The Life and Times of a Renaissance Man". Tomorrow is my final shoot date on "Morning Glory". It's been a lot of fun and I'm trusting that another project will present itself very soon. That's one of the things I love about what I do, things can change so quickly and one day you can be sitting around with nothing on the horizon and before the week is out you have several things going on.

Here lately I have been spending a lot of time contemplating new directions in my stand-up comedy. I've just started getting onstage more often to work on material that touches on topics I'm passionate about. I've been encouraged by many people in my life because they keep saying that when I talk passionately about the things that matter to me when I'm amongst my family, friends and the people closest to me I'm at my funniest. For some reason I've always made people laugh without trying and it usually comes when I'm just being honest and saying how I really feel. I look forward to going to higher heights once I just let go and truly become the me that I am with friends when I'm onstage. A major factor in achieving that is abandoning the desire to be loved by everyone (I know kind of a tall order for someone who's decided to get into entertainment). I have to not care about the judgement of strangers and just be true to me. One thing I do know is that you're never gonna be loved by everyone and one of my biggest comedy heroes Bill Cosby has even said, "I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone". I've even said myself, "there's only one person you have to go to bed with every night and that's yourself, so you gotta do what's gonna make you happy". So watch out. I may say some things that people aren't expecting from me in the near future and if I ruffle a few feathers maybe I'm doing something right.

A lot of people know me as a "clean" or non-cursing comedian. This doesn't mean I'm gonna do a full turn and become Rick "Raw Dawg" Younger, but you never know. Just kidding, a little bit, but maybe not. But if you're thinking about judging me if I say something you don't like, ask yourself, What Would Jesus Do? I think he would forgive me!!!

I Will Persist

So many times people ask me, "Rick is it hard to be a Renaissance Man"? To tell you the truth I don't think about it, I just do all the things that I do. Like right now as I type this I'm also playing the role of Producer. My production company has produced 2 films that we're submitting to film festivals, "Souled Out Comedy" and "Whistle & Snap". "Whistle & Snap" has been selected to screen at the Roxbury Film Festival in Boston, on August 2, 2009. You know what, just go check out the website for Younger Child Productions!

I love the excitement of doing many things. I guess I'm just not one to put limits on myself. I've found that the main reason most people don't live their dreams is that they talk themselves out of pursuing what they really want. There are enough people in life telling you no, so why contribute to the negativity by telling yourself no. As a person who functions in the creative and artistic world, I've found that the most successful people aren't always the most talented. The successful ones are usually the people who won't quit. The ones who keep coming back when they're told no or when doors are closed in their faces. Talented people oftentimes are very sensitive, it kinda goes hand in hand with their ability to create. That can also be a bad thing because, I've witnessed firsthand when talented people have given up just because they can't take the rejection anymore. I've decided to employ this philosophy, "If you're talented and don't quit as the other talented people give up, eventually you'll be the most talented person still standing"! The way I figure it, eventually it'll be me(with my abundance of talent and persistence) and a group of untalented people left to choose from. Then my talent will be even more apparent. I will persist until I succeed!!!

Living the Dream

I told you I was gonna have a greater commitment to blogging. I'm back after only 2 days away. In the last 2 days I've had a few commercial auditions and today I shot another scene for the film, "Morning Glory". I was in a scene with Harrison Ford and Rachel McAdams today and I do have to see it was pretty damn cool. That's the thing, you gotta be cool about it and act like, "we're all just actors doing our job", but it's pretty awesone to say I just did a scene today with the guy who played Han Solo and Indiana Jones!!!

You also have to fight the urge to just tell everyone you see. Imagine if I just walked up to someone and said, "hey homeless dude, I'm in a movie". He'd probably say, "man I don't care about your movie, I just went to the bathroom in my pants". Thinking about that scenario just helped me to put everything in perspective. It's a pleasure to do what you love for a living and to be clothed in your right mind and probably most important of all, it's great to not go to the bathroom in your pants. So if there's any wisdom I can leave with you, it's this, if you have a place to live with functioning indoor plumbing then you're truly blessed!