For a couple years now Nick Thune and I have had a few mutual friends, and we finally ran into each other in LA last week. I found Nick to be seriously funny. We talked a bit about comedy and he shared some great stories from his career, including his first appearance on the Tonight show, in which an AIDS awareness commercial aired right before he came on. I’ve thought for a long time performing comedy is one of the hardest things you can do, and even harder to do well. And yet Nick makes it look easy. Turns out he is in Portland this weekend for The Bridgetown Comedy Festival, including a show at The Baghdad theater on Friday night. I’ll be catching the Saturday show at Mt. Tabor because I’ll have come into town that day, otherwise I’d be at all three of his shows. All that to say, check out Nick Thune if he comes to your town.
21Apr, 2009
thanks Don, from winky frownie faces to african educational relief, you are a gifted firestarter in the wonderful world of viral transference. always look forward to your updates.
My son is a Freshman Reedie from Bryan, TX who was raised as a Christian and let’ s just say he is expanding his horizons at Reed in the area of spirituality. I was thrilled to read Blue Like Jazz (finally!) and to see that there are people of all beliefs including followers of Christ at that wonderful school. I also learned some things that maybe I didn’t want to know such as what really goes on at Rynn Fayre (yikes!) I’ll be praying vigilantly those three days next month. THANK YOU SO MUCH for giving a snapshot of Reed and talking about what you love about the school, which of course, are the same things my son loves about Reed. I’ll tell him about the comedy festival and maybe he can take a break from studying Chinese this weekend
I’m totally LOL’ing right now!
Don
Thanks for the note. I love nick and great venue
Cheers
“C atle” LOL / You do well bringing fun stuff to your blog audience. Whaddaya think of a “Mom Update” when you’re through reading galleys? How does she like her new car and going farther on a gallon? What’s in her cassette player these days?
That kid is good news.
CyaL8R!
We saw Nick Thune a couple years back in Seattle – he’s hilarious! I’ll have to pass the news on to my cousin and her husband. They just live over in Camas and would probably love it – sounds like a good time!
That guy is funny! I wish he (and you) would come East sometime soon. Charleston, SC, is pretty and worth the trip.
Hey Don,
Unrelated question. Understand of course if you can’t answer but thought I would try.
Just finished Angela’s Ashes. Had been on my shelf for a number of years. Pulled it off based on your giving recent attention to it in your blog. Thanks. Fantastic read.
Was getting ready to order McCourt’s ‘Tis and Teacher Man but the Amazon reviews are often NOT positive. Suggesting one walk away just enjoying the memories from the first book and leaving the others alone.
Thought you might have read the others and thought I would ask your opinion. Thanks for sharing if you have the time.
Cheers.
[...] Here is a really funny comedy sketch for those of you who were on AOL in the early days. [...]
salmonerd. that is just perfect. thanks for introducing me to this!
You know what Don, I’m going to post this on my own blog.
I guess you didn’t need to know that really, but there ya go, such is life
Don,
I wonder how many lives you have changed with Blue Like Jazz? I am sure hundreds of people have told you stories of how they were influenced by your book. Maybe it will be redundant for you if I thank you for your life changing words, but I still want to thank you all the same.
When I used to believe in God, in my heart something felt wrong. Now I think maybe I didn’t believe in God, maybe I was pretending – going through the motions. I will never know the truth of what I actually believed back then, but I do know that whatever it was, things are different now. I know that the joy and happiness and love and acceptance that I know now as God was not the same God I used to know. The God I know now is real and truthful and makes me want to dance. And that came from reading your book, Don.
But that all happened quite a while ago, and that is not what made me want to write this to you. What made me want to write this was that I gave Blue Like Jazz to my older sister, the person in the world that I am closest to and love more than anything. Her happiness makes me happy. When I gave her the book for Christmas I didn’t tell her how much the book did for me, I just gave it to her with hope and faith that it would speak to her as it did to me. I have been waiting since December for her to read it, and I was worried it would never happen. She finally called me today because she started reading it only a week ago. And we talked for a long time. And it was weird and wonderful because we have never talked about those things before. And she cried, and for the first time she feels beautiful in God’s eyes. She says that she thought of how much she and I love each other, and how God must love her even more than that, and Don, she finally feels worthy of being loved.
Thank you, Don. Thank you so much for helping God find us and so many others.
-Elizabeth
Don & Co:
I’m sorry to post here, as what I have to say is not connected to this post. I spent some on “The Mentoring Projects” website. On the “Contact Us” Menu, I wrote the message which follows. But either my browser or the mentoring project’s host weren’t doing what they were supposed to do, because there was no button for me to click to actually submit this message. I had this hope that it’ll get to the right people if I submitted here.
Thanks!
Hello Folks:
My name is Jeff Campbell. I’m involved in leadership in a church in Massachusetts. I’m also a Special Education Teacher. I work with emotionally disturbed adolescents. As a Christian and an educator, your amazing work resonates with me on lots of levels.
We are making some plans for the summer. It appears that at this time you are only partnering with churches in your area. Is this correct?
A sermon series this summer that the pastor will be leading us through is on “The Shack.” As you may know, this book contains themes of abondonment by fathers and how this plays out in our relationship with God the Father. This seems like a point of connection to what you all are doing.
We are very much in the planning stages for this and I am not yet in a position to have much in the way of details. I’m looking for any guidance or suggestions that you all might have for me to share with the leadership team.
Yours in Christ,
Jeff Campbell
Saw Nick on Friday night, and he was HILARIOUS! Thanks for the suggestion
Don, Thanks for intro to Nick Thune. I went to see him @ Mt Tabor . . . and he was even better than the vid you posted. The guy nailed it! What sucked was having to sit thru the two girls before Nick and the long winded Porno Master who used sex humor/porno in every possible way.
I think true comics can rock you without having to drop too many F-bombs and Porno slapstick. I did not mind giving Nick $18 but knowing that Porno King and F-Girls got some of my money chills me with a bad chill. It’s 3 days later and I am still laughing at Nick.
I noticed the article on Joshua DuBois in the Christianity Today mag that came today. Seems like a real quality guy. There seemed to be a bit of uncertainty expressed that Mr DuBois has adequate access to Mr. Obama. Therefore those involved The Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships may struggle to have their ideas heard Since you are on the panel (and just met, correct?) sure would love to hear your assessment. Thanks!
I can so totally relate to this. Thank you for shareing
Nick’s a funny dude. Sometimes when I’m bored at work, I’ll read your blog comments. They are entertaining. Hey jessegiglio, what does “viral transference” mean?
Hey Don, this is totally off topic, but it was felt dropping you a line.
I’ve been doing missionary work in Nepal for the last 2 and a half months. I’ve got 2 weeks to go and I’m, starting to feel the burnout of intense third world travel. I’m also starting to fear returning back to the States due to the huge gap in culture and living conditions. My nice comfy futon seems like a king’s bed in relation to the straw mats and bus seats that have often been my bed.
At any rate, Blue Like Jazz is one of my favorite books and I’ve been anticipating reading it again when I got home. Much to my surprise, I found it in a used bookstore in downtown Pokhara. Your book in a hole in the wall bookstore in the middle of Nepal, go figure.
Feel free to look at my blog if you get bored. I plan on writing a book, or essay, or something inspired by my trip. I’m sure you get the “Hey Dan, check out my (fill in the blank)” often. So just check it out if you get bored.
Grace and peace
Don, in this interview: http://www.umportal.org/article.asp?id=5256
you are quoted as saying
“The Obama campaign tapped me to campaign with them and I would have never done that before.”
But I am fairly sure I have audio of you saying you campaigned for John Kerry. I think it was when you called into a radio show called Key Life ministries or something, and the conservative host jokingly called you a “pinko communist.” So did you campaign for Kerry?
Not that I care. Just seems to be an incorrect statement.