FROM THE ASHES reading at BOOK COURT

Michele and I did a reading (I'd say performance, but that seems a little grandiose) of a small section of FROM THE ASHES at Brooklyn's Book Court, a lovely independent bookshop.



You can't see it here, but she wore her TRASH shirt, proving I didn't make it up.

FTA Does WTF!

I have known, on and off (though mostly off), the brilliant comedian Marc Maron since 1999. Prior to our actual meeting I had been aware of him because I’d enjoyed him as host of Comedy Central’s (or was it still the Comedy Channel at that point?) Short Attention Span Theater. He had a febrile intelligence that popped off the screen. I enjoyed his stand-up specials and whenever I’d see him turn up as a guest on talk shows.

I then saw him in Jonah Kaplan’s very funny short film Stalker Guilt Syndrome. I’d met Jonah through our mutual friend Dean Haspiel and told him how much I enjoyed the short, particularly Maron’s performance. Shortly after that I was having dinner at Olive Tree (not fucking Olive Garden, thank you very much), my favorite eatery downtown. Downstairs at Olive Tree, is the Comedy Cellar, an intimate spot to see stand-up. I spotted Maron seated at the table in the back where the comics who perform get their meals, so I introduced myself, telling him I’d just seen the short. Maron kind of frowned and said something like, “Oh yeah? Whudja think of it?” I told him I’d enjoyed it very much. I even got a copy from Jonah to add to my video library.

I guess Marc felt comfortable that I wasn’t going to stalk him (with or without guilt) because we exchanged info and started getting together from time to time. When I mentioned my burgeoning friendship with Marc to Jonah he said, “Yeah, good luck with that.” Hmmm.

In Marc’s company I got to know some of the ins and outs of the business of stand-up. I’d always been a fan of good stand-up but was now getting an inside look at how tough a career it was. I respected him and the craft even more. Marc was workshopping a one-man show back then (The Jerusalem Syndrome, which also became a great book). Michele and I attended several versions of it at The Westbeth Theater downtown. I think I was always the loudest laugher and the darker the material the heartier I laughed. I think Marc’s always had a soft spot for the guy (I’m guessing it’s almost always a guy) in the audience who is the only one to laugh at one of his uncomfortably truthful observations. Michele would look back and forth between me laughing and Marc performing and she’d afterwards tell me she thought Marc and I might be too alike in worldview. I dunno.

Then 9/11 came along, and swept up in the maelstrom of post-event trauma, our burgeoning friendship took a hiatus. Then a couple of years ago—maybe 2008—I’m at the urinal in the men’s room of the Comedy Cellar. Mid-leak a gravelly voice behind me says, “Is that Bob Fingerman?” I look over my shoulder and it’s Marc. We haven’t seen each other since maybe June or July 2001. I shake off and as I’m washing up—Marc having taken my place at the urinal—we catch up briefly:

Bob: How’ve you been?
Marc: Bad. Bad divorce. You down here or up there?
Bob: I’m up there. Dinner with a friend.
Marc: When I finish my set I’ll stop by.

And he did and we got back on track. None of this comes up in the conversation Marc and I had on the podcast. I don’t want to say any more. This is preamble. Backstory. Since he started the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, Marc has hosted some of the greatest talents in contemporary comedy (not to mention authors, his parents and other interesting characters) and engaged them in something rarely heard these days: bona fide conversation. I was thrilled and honored to be a guest at the Cat Ranch and appear on my favorite podcast. Marc has a genius for keeping it real and real funny. DOWNLOAD AND ENJOY!!!

In the Cat Ranch

It had been raining but when the show was over the sun came out. Hallelujah!

Some New Interviews and So Forth...

Heeb magazine (R.I.P. the print edition, but at least it lives on online) interview, by Stacey Brook.

And the Meltdown Comics' Meltcast audio interview (interview conducted by Chris Rosa and Caleb Monroe).

Coming soon: my conversation with Marc Maron on his awesome (and popular) podcast, WTF with Marc Maron. I'll write more about that as the date it goes up nears.

FUTURAMA MEETS FROM THE ASHES

Michele and I had the great good fortune to attend a studio voice record session for one of the forthcoming episodes of the greatest show ever, FUTURAMA, courtesy of being invited by my friend, Phil LaMarr. Phil is an amazingly gifted comic actor who recently filled the very large boots of Laurence Fishburne by stepping into the role of Cowboy Curtis in the recent live run of The Pee-Wee Herman Show in Los Angeles. On FUTURAMA Phil breathes tropical life into Hermes Conrad, Planet Express's resident bureaucrat (and paperwork enthusiast), among others. Phil was kind enough to provide a blurb for the trade of FROM THE ASHES, and between sessions his mega-talented cast mate Maurice LaMarche (Kif Kroker, Morbo, Hedonismbot, etc.) gifted us with a few spontaneous reads of Phil's quote in his FUTURAMA announcer voice. I got one of them on tape:



These guys are my heroes. I wouldn't be exaggerating to say that Bender Bending Rodríguez is my favorite cartoon character of all time, and that is mainly due to the unfathomably great voicework of John DiMaggio, who was also in this session. I can take to the grave that I made him laugh. Plus, as the voice of Marcus Phenix in Gears of War, John gave me tips on how to finally beat the climactic boss battle. How cool is that?

Phil LaMarr, me, Billy West.

Me and John DiMaggio.

Me, Billy West and Maurice LaMarche.

And I'd be remiss if I didn't cap this by saying I was in the presence of the God of Cartoon Voicedom himself, the great Billy West. Astonishing. Witnessing him seamlessly and without pause slipping from character to character (Philip J. Fry to Professor Hubert Farnsworth to Dr. John Zoidberg in nanoseconds) was a thing of beauty. He's a genius. I felt like a too-old/too-healthy version of a Make-a-Wish Foundation kid. I was in Heaven. These are my gods, people. And I walked among them.

Billy giving FROM THE ASHES the West Bump!

John DiMaggio giving me gaming tips for the final boss battle in Gears of War (the crossbow and the Lancer... I'll try that).

Me, Michele and John DiMaggio.

FTA TRADE GETTING SOME NICE REVIEWS & PRESS

Newsarama (review), Newsarama (interview), Destroy the Cyb, Wired. Suvudu. Mapcidy.

For whatever reason the link the Publishers Weekly is not working, so here's what they had to say:

From the Ashes Bob Fingerman. IDW, $19.99 paper (176p) ISBN 978-1-60010-600-2

This “speculative memoir” chronicles the misadventures of writer/artist Fingerman and his wife, Michele, in a postapocalyptic Manhattan. Despite being bombed out and irradiated, New York City is still rife with assorted factions representing the worst of humanity, only now those groups are writ large and lawless since the restraints of conventional civilization no longer exist. While a far cry from the all-out horror of a Mad Max–style landscape, Fingerman's wasteland is overrun with homophobic religious zealots, insane right-wing politicos and cannibalistic foodies, while the last bastions of human decency prove to be a plethora of mutants and zombies (or “reanimated Americans,” as they prefer to be called). Bob and Michele wander through all of this with a wry acceptance familiar to anyone who's ever lived in New York City, serving as the heart of an end-of-the-world narrative that wrings a wealth of humor from its potentially bleak scenario while making pointed observations about the idiocy of humanity and how it's likely never to change. A fun read, spiced with highly appealing artwork, this one's a solid winner. Plus it gets extra geek credit for inside jokes involving Zardoz and cannibal cinema auteur Ruggero Deodato. (Mar.)

TV-STYLE COMMERCIAL FOR FTA TRADE

FROM THE ASHES TRADE ON AMAZON FOR 32% OFF!

Hey all! Got some extra dosh to spend for Xmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa? Then please spend some of it (very little, really) on the spiffy trade of FROM THE ASHES. It boasts over twenty five pages of bonus material (thumbnails, prep art, sketches and character design stuff, cover gallery and more), plus a foreword by comedian Marc Maron (whose podcast, WTF, was #3 comedy podcast of 2009 on iTunes). I'm really proud of this book, so if you were waiting for the trade to finally read it, now's the time to order it!And if you already bought the comics, this is the sweet-ass edition you've really wanted all along. BUY IT!