The Last Minute Of The Fourth Quarter

• Lori Palminteri
• Uncategorized
• December 14, 2018

Many people have had worse years.  That’s one of the added layers of anyone who has depressive issues, that icing of guilt remembering that your life is actually pretty good, considering, and you still struggle mentally.  But it was a turbulent year, often disappointing, lonely… let downs.  You know, that thing we call life.

Christmas time has never been a time I dreaded or stressed out about.  The holidays are a fun time for me because I like seeing my family and those friends that were more prevalent in my past and reunions are spent not quite piss drunk, but clinking glasses and laughing.

To be honest, I was closing 2018 feeling defeated.  2017 hadn’t been much to brag about and this years hopes were not turning into reality.  No, reality felt like walls closing in.  Reality felt like I was a loser.  Reality felt solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, short.

However, in a self medicated state, I listed things I was grateful for.  And despite the feeling of failing, depleting serotonin disorders and always overblown anxieties, it is still good to be Lori Palminteri.  It is still good to be a healthy, debt free, a surfer, a stand-up with friends and family who make me laugh and make me think.  Don’t keep the good wrapped up in a box, open it and enjoy it too.

Still, I was ready for 2018 to end.  Maybe next year will be better.  I pretty much had to believe that.  I was sinking spiritually.  And then I get an email to do Comedy Central’s new TV show, “This Week At The Cellar,” a stand-up showcase show where comics mock topical events/news.

So I’m down a lot of points.  This year is not a winning game for me, but here it is— a perfect spiral in the last minute of the fourth quarter.  I’ll still lose the game, but at least I’ll get a touch down.  At least I’ll put points on the board and have just a little something to brag about.

This wasn’t all that much of a surprise, to be perfectly honest.  Back in the Spring, they did a showcase to sort of “test” the idea which I was featured on— and killed.  When the show was picked up, I was immediately hopeful.  This pendulum has to swing to me.

As show business goes, the show started and weeks went by.  I know as you’re reading this you’ll think I’m biased, and I suppose I am, but I genuinely like the show.  The show cuts from comic to comic, joke to joke.  Stylistically, set-up/punch, tight, clever jokes are my favorite.  I’m a joke puritan.  But time dripped by and it didn’t appear I was in the running for season 1 after all.

Until I got an email.  A week before the taping (that’s how it works, since it’s topical).  I was at work and did some sort of little dance and high-fived a co-worker who was confused as to what he was high-fiving me for.

The email was screenshot and sent to some friends and family.  A handful of phone calls were made.  I had to explain that they film a lot of comics, and the odds of getting air time is probably less than 20%, but still, it’s a cool thing, and I was stoked to get it.

The show does revolve around topical material, so I had a week to tailor and tweak and write new tags for the show, which is a little daunting.  I mean, it has been three years since I did a TV spot (I’ve been turned down for more than I care to share since then) and now I have a shot and it’s going to be material that isn’t necessarily tried and true.

The taping was on Wednesday (the 12th) and airs Friday (the 14th @ 11pm).  It is more than appreciated that some comics, friends, and family came out to support for the taping.  I was more excited than nervous, none the less, had a fun time and a good set.

Of course I’m greedy and want to make the TV edit.  But you have to count your wins.  And it is a win.  Hearing that it is deserved from other comics means the world to me.

Christmas came early for Lori.