My week has been a bid strange and sad. A friend of mine, Ken Ober, passed away. He was a great person, and truly one of the nicest and most earnest guys I’ve ever met. Ken was a true dog lover, and his friend Barry Crimmins suggested (in a lovely and fitting post here) that something nice to do in honor of Ken would be to adopt a dog or make a donation to a “no kill” animal shelter. I took Barry’s suggestion to heart, and since I can’t possibly adopt a dog while living in my NY apartment, I’m making my donation to Tails of Joy, a not-for-profit animal rescue foundation started by Elayne Boosler. Feel free to do the same, or not do the same, or think about doing the same. But in general, just think about doing something good. That would be nice. You can learn more about Tails of Joy by clicking on the picture below.

You can also donate online on the Tails of Joy Facebook Page

Jordan Rubin wrote something funny on twitter this morning: “Deep coma” seems redundant. People don’t have light comas. “How you feeling?” “Meh. I think I’m coming down with a coma.” That reminded me of an old sketch from Chris Morris’ series “Jam,” about a condition called “Symptomless Coma.” Then I got to thinking about how much I loved his stuff when I first saw it.

When I was about 19 or 20 I got a region free DVD player and started going off the deep end with comedy from the UK (mostly). Some Japanesy & Australian stuff, too. My favorite comedy “discovery,” hands down, was Chris Morris. The Day Today, Brass Eye, Jam…it was my first insight into anything beyond mainstream American comedy: SNL in the 90’s, stand-up specials, In Living Color, etc. That’s what I watched because I didn’t know to LOOK for comedy (or music, or anything else). I knew to watch what was put in front of me. I appreciate everything I ever saw, I’m not discounting the influence of seeing Leno live for my 16th birthday, or watching an old Rosie O’Donnell special with my mom around 1995 and thinking that nothing could get funnier. That was my frame of reference. I wasn’t hip, I didn’t have older siblings or edgy friends who introduced me to anything “outside”…I grew up with my mom…she listened to talk radio and loved “Mama’s Family,” so that’s what I did. I think I’ve written about this before, but I distinctly remember lying about having seen Mr. Show years after it had ended. I was at Largo in LA, after I’d started doing stand-up but before I’d started doing stand-up THERE, and I’d hear time and time again that so-and-so had been on Mr. Show. I was insecure that I hadn’t seen it, so I’d say I had. I was too old to be doing that, but I’m too old to be doing most of what I do. At some point I got the Mr. Show DVDs and watched them all. I loved it. It was so good…but everyone else had known that for years. Chris Morris, Steve Coogan, Armando Ianucci….there was something adolescent about finding them. Something almost vinyl. You see folks digging through bins to find records, that’s what it felt like to find a show I’d never seen in the region-free section. I wasn’t buying stuff off the internet at that point, so I’d go to the store (usually Cinefile on Santa Monica Blvd.) and spend what money I had on anything imported…and yes, I’m very aware that I’m describing the year 2000 like its 1968. Who cares. The way some older friends (and characters in movies) describe listening to Zeppelin in their parents basement, that’s the only comparison I have to holing up in the room I lived in (a “studio” behind a guys house), watching DVD after DVD on a TV that sat next to a hot plate that sat next to a microwave, which when all turned on at once would short out the power and leave me fucked (and possibly forced to cook in the bathroom). I didn’t intend for this to get so groovy-nostalgic, but I don’t have much that makes me look back and smile this earnestly, so no apologies on my part. In any case, there’s that. No real purpose to this whole thing, other than I started writing, and this is where I stopped. (throw to clips)

shows I’ll be doing as part of the:

FRI, NOVEMBER 6 @ 7pm @ The UCB Theater me, Tom Shillue, Donald Glover, Marina Franklin, Snakes, Paul Downs, & Special Guests! in:

SAT, NOVEMBER 7 @ 2pm @ The Paley Center, with the other writers from “Late Night”

SAT, NOVEMBER 7 @ 8pm @ Town Hall I’ll be opening for the wonderful Patton Oswalt!

hope to see you at one or two or three or four shows! (I’m only doing three, so I just tricked you. You dumb idiot)

Love, Morgan

Jen Kirkman (my festival roommate). She’s hilarious. Maybe you knew that already.

Jen’s chips!

Ian Edwards.

Hugh Moore

Kyle Dunnigan

Chris Fairbanks

Natasha Leggero

Duncan Trussell

Mary Lynn

Tig

½ of Steve Agee

Free cupcakes? Yes please.

Free shrimps? Okay!

Bearded Worriers.

¼ of a self portrait.

Jen and I took a trip to George Washington U’s radio station where everyone was nice and also young.

Stuff.

OLD stuff.

old stuff and young stuff.

you have to stand like this if you’re a guard.

the president’s house.

essentials.

Ta-daaaa!!!

a poster. So far so good.

Miles checking his portfolio.

a guy who gets mad with signs.

Dunnigan. As in “oops, I Dunni-gan.”

Chelsea Peretti across the street from a place called “The Big Hunt” (get it? LOLOLOLOL!)

mediocre brunch times with Peretti, Todd Barry & Brendon Walsh.

Duncan Trussell. Beer.

sisters doing it for themselves, but also for others.

smokers break. Don’t worry, we’re all going to quit.

Jen-zart.

agee cums when he lines up five gems on bejeweled (it’s a medical problem)

comics on a trolly.

tour guide: L. Silverman

walkin & talkin

Laura and squirrel.

thune filming himself while performing.

kinane in the membrane. (I made that up all by myself)

Lizz Winstead and the World’s Greatest Tour Guide.

cameras turned (agee and walsh)

man love.

my old roommate shaun. he’s the best. you are sad because you don’t know him.

Reggie Whats?

historical thingies.

Right now would be a great time for a politician to admit he fucks horses. It would get BURIED under this balloon story.