I’ve made a lot of sacrifices for my stories in the past.
I’ve shocked, stabbed, and frozen myself.
Risked life, limb, and embarrassment.
And really, really stretched things.
But no story has ever caused me so much pain as this one I wrote for Cowboys & Indians Magazine. It was the most fun I’ve ever had doing a story, but it was also the most physically painful thing I’ve done in the name of journalism.
It was finally published this last week after I reported and wrote it last August. It was all supposed to be fun, but nothing with journalism is ever so straightforward. I sweated through all my clothes, threw out my back taking batting practice, and wrenched my neck stuffing myself into a noodle costume. In the following days my back and neck were so bad that a cramp in my neck caused a blood vessel to burst in my eye. I’ve been going to the chiropractor monthly ever since.
For all my efforts I was rewarded with an 11-month wait for the story to be published. I’m still waiting on payment for it. This is how it goes for writers. The truth is though, no one who reads the story is going to know about any of that. They don’t care how long it took to publish. They don’t care about my chiropractor bills.
They don’t want to hear about the labor pains, they just want to see the baby.
And in this case, I think the baby is pretty great. This is one I’m very proud of. I’m also proud that I almost hit a couple dingers after a 13 year hiatus from baseball.
Back in August my wife wasn’t even pregnant, yet our son was born before the story ever came out.
Crazy right?
Oh, wait. Is that what you thought this post was going to be about?
Well, ok then.
I won’t tell you about these labor pains because I didn’t experience them, but let me just say that my wife is incredible. And I know that every husband is required to say that, but seriously you don’t have any capacity for understanding how straight up weak you are as a man until you see a woman give birth with no drugs at all. Man, I’m popping an Advil with a slight headache. You’d never catch me doing anything like that without any help.
Here’s Malcolm Glen “Mac” Bedgood. I think this baby is pretty great too.
My comedy career has taken another step forward recently as my friend Kevin Deanda and I have started producing shows ourselves. Our first show is called The Melting Pot and features an incredible lineup of comedians. It’s at The Comedy Arena in McKinney on July 28, you can buy tickets here.
As I mentioned in my very first post about doing stand up, one incredible thing about the comedy scene in DFW is how diverse it is. At every open mic you’re going to see people from every background and everyone gets along. In comedy the only thing that matters is whether you are funny. You can be rich or homeless, Hispanic or Indian, male or female. Nothing matters as much as if you’ve got the goods when you hit the stage. It’s one of the few places in modern life that operates this way.
That’s why Kevin and I decided to name this show The Melting Pot, because comedy is truly a giant mixture of people from everywhere. The comedians we have on this show are absolute killers. I hope to see you there.
Kevin and I named our company Deadgood Productions (Deanda + Bedgood). This name unlocked some part of Kevin’s brain and has become his artistic muse. He sends me new designs for shirts, stickers, and posters every night. It’s amazing. We’re selling some merch to allow us to pay our comedians more (not always the case in comedy).
These shirts and stickers are part of a very limited run that we’re printing early this week. If you want a shirt it’s $20 and stickers are $2 each or 3 for $5. Please reply to this email by Monday if you want in on the first order. Sizes are unisex so they might run slightly small for men, so size up if in-between sizes.
There’s a lot going on in this post so I’ll summarize.
Read my Cowboys & Indians story
Look at my new baby
Buy cool merch
Simple right?
Once again, thanks for all the support over the years.