Golden State Block Party Tour to Sacramento and San Francisco

Here we go again and welcome back to another edition of The Ronnie Mund Block Party Tour Blog brought to you courtesy of John Tole's America starring Carey Denise. Thank you for all the kind comments and I'm trying to get back to everyones questions as fast as I can. You can either hit me up on twitter @johntole or email me at johnrtole@gmail.com .

It was another one of those surreal career weeks where I go from a club to an open mic to a festival and a block party all in the span of 5 days. I was stoked to be invited to the first ever Moontower Comedy Festival here in Austin TX and allowed me to opportunity to perform with Joe Mande, Jay Oakerson, Lucas Molandes and more as as we did showcases Wednesday and Thursday nights.

The Wednesday crowd I opened for was for The Dan Band and if you're like me you're like "who?" but then you realize it's the dirty cover band from Starsky and Hutch, Old School and The Hangover and you go from who is this to let me bust my camera out.

I had the chance to grab the mic and share some airtime with Covino and Rich who were cool as Hell, huge Howard fans and great on air.

After Thursdays show I pulled an all nighter and by 7am CST I was winging my way to the City by the bay. The plan was I arrive at 10am I get picked up, we come back at 1pm and pick up everyone from the tour and Howard TV.

With the black cloud diner in full effect and unluckier than a Chinese younger sister the planes coming from the East were delayed and now no one is landing until 5pm which puts us in the middle of Bay Area Traffic with 90 miles and probably 3 hours to get to Sactown.

I'm sitting at a cafe when the call comes in and I exit the gate only to be fully engulfed in Ronnie's Block Party Glory as the Block Party Bus pulls up.

It's everything you think it is, half ex prison bus from "The Longest Yard (Reynolds not Sandler) and half rolling strip club.

It's got a lounge area, tv's, booze, couches, bunks and of course a stripper pole.

Side note don't have the photo of the stripper pole be the first picture you send your wife or there will be a minor disturbance in the marital force.

Here is the bus in it's glory.

At 5pm we picked up the gang and we were ready to go and make the trip up to Sac, Ronnie and Shuli were stoked about the bus, Scott wasn't sold on it and everyone settled in for the long ride up north.

After a booze fueled ride up I-80 we pulled up to Shenanigans in Sacramento and the fans were ready to go!

Everyone piled inside to get the show ready for the TWO! Sold Out Sacramento Events!

The Line up
Scott
Ronnie
Eric The Actor
Yucko The Clown
Maddog Mattern
John Tole
Shuli Egar.

The police had some concerns with the bus but all was well in Block Party Land.

The shows went off like clock work and the fans were excited to be part of the party. Yucko killed, Maddog destroyed and Shuli and I rounded out the night and sent the fans home happy to be part of a one of a kind comedy experience.

My Block Party experience was over and I made way back to Austin for my final Moontower Show which was The Festival's Dirty that I was hosting which included Pat Dixon, Rachel Feinstein, Jay Oakerson, Ari Shaffir and with a hot room going it brought out the Roastmaster himself, Jeffrey Ross to close out the night.

This is the first time in the history of John Tole's America that I've had the opportunity to host a new voice and with my early departure from the tour I'm handing the reigns over to Maddog Mattern to bring you all home.

Maddog is a beast of a comic, a mans man and the dude can write his ass off.

ENJOY !

John Tole

Day 2 San Francisco: by Maddog Mattern.

Saturday was a dream come true. A legendary town. San Francisco. A legendary venue. The Great American Music Hall. And next to us a legendary strip club. The O'Farrell theatre (which was once managed by my hero Hunter S Thompson). Magic was in the air.

We get to our hotel at 2 pm. It is the hotel that Bradley Nowell of Sublime died in. The Phoenix. It's black Cloud is perfect for the tour. Since we also carry a black cloud (Scott). Maybe they'd cancel each other out.

Our pool was full of lesbians with tattoo's, Buddy Holly glasses and a lot of man hate. As we tried to figure out what we would do in the waning hours before show time. These girls stated at us like we were lesbian starter kits. And they had good reason. We were a bunch of Loud mouth, abrasive, non sensitive mooks of all ages openly talking about how we were gonna wack it to these hellions in our hotel rooms. We are scum!!!
The scum went to fisherman's warf. It went like one would expect. Scott wanted to see the town. Ronnie wanted to focus on seeing some local talent. Scott and the boys enjoyed watching the saloons on pier 39. Ronnie thought they were pussies. He has a point all they do is lay around. They are basically sea hippies. Makes sense they are in SF.

We leave the Warf and go to the venue. It is utterly beautiful. Walking in there gave me chills. It looks like an Opera House with a huge stage and decadent looking balcony. This was no fooling around. This was big time babies. It was at that point that I realized that regardless of how this gig goes I had made it. We were about to be on the same Stage Robert Plant, Elvis Costello and Tom Waits played. This was a thrill. But the true thrill was to come later.

As a performer killing is always great. But killing to 850 people in a rocking theatre is life altering. We are all better people after this show. The crowd had a wild hysteric energy. And the performers did too.

Eli Braden opened by playing awesome song parodies that worked the crowd into frenzy!!! Everyone was singing along to lyrics about Robin's jugs. When he left the crowd was ready to rock. Scott then came out and after a huge pop from the crowd he lost them by attempting jokes.

Out comes Ronnie Mund for the save. Crowd explodes like a volcano of love. He truly is a rock star. Drenched in Mambo and looking like a stylish mechanic who gets pussy. Ronnie then brings out Eric the Midget/actor. He talks for a minute and then out comes the unknown on the show..... Me. I hit the crowd in jaw. With the help of a black guy in the crowd who kept calling himself ..... The black guy. We played off each other like Martin and Lewis. After my set comes Yucko. Who brought the creepy hysterics coming. Shuli came out and destroyed. This was his night. The crowd ate everything he gave him. And then asked for more. At the end of the set Shuli got some broad to blast her mammaries in the face of Eric. Which was a tender moment. And by tender I mean a moment for Eric and the rest of the depraved in the building (including me) to get the blood going in the pickle. It was a great first show. Everyone was flying high after the show. But there was one more to do. We had to reach down for one more. And that's what we did!!!!!!

In between shows we all are loose as a goose. Maybe to loose. Libations are flowing and eventually tempers. An argument erupts backstage between Scott and Ronnie/Shuli. Over what? Honestly who knows? And who cares? It led to utterly wonderful chaos. After Eli's wonderful warmup Scott grabs the mic and starts by saying that Shuli and Ronnie are the two biggest dicks in the world. He then slams the mic then exits. The crowd erupts in a sound of shock. Ronnie then takes the stage minus intro music. Crowd is nuttier than Chinese chicken salad. Ronnie calls Scott back to the stage. Scott yells at Ronnie while moving towards him. Ronnie picks up mic stand and tells Scott "if you make one more step I'll hit ya in your bald fucking Head!!!" as the late great Gorilla Monsoon might say we were about to get Wrestlemania before Wrestlemania. As this occurs I get brought up. They skipped Eric and went to me. I opened by saying what a thrill it was to try and do standup after The comedy equivilant of Shawn Michaels throwing Marty Jannety through Brutus Beefcake's window. It goes good. Half the balcony looks like the Mexicans who were gonna kill Erhan Hawke in "Training Day" I close strong and hold my arms in the air in triumph. After that I finally start drinking. My poison? Guinness. Why? Because I'm a gentleman.

Eric comes out to a STANDING ovation
like the Pope does in the Vatican. Yucko cleans the house like a methed up House wife. Shuli than brings it all home.

The show kept climbing. Each act found a crowd that was getting stronger. That doesn't happen much for a late show. Usually the opposite. This is a testament to the fans and frankly out crew. This is a great show. We took diversity and tempers and still delivered. Thus might be a bit of a comedy train wreck. But it's a gottdamn professional train wreck. Stern personalities with pro comics and pro support staff in Cleanbox Entertainnent. We came together and made it happen!! Know one got hurt. And at the end everyone was happier than a pig in shit because the adversity led to a totally unique once in a lifetime show. It's an honer to be on this tour. It's chaos but like Heath Ledger's Joker said "I am an agent of chaos." This is the best show on earth. Come get a piece.

Thank you for checking out the blog!

Toronto is later this month and then the East Coast in June!

Please continue to support this blog and my podcast we have new shows coming up every Tuesday and Friday and it's a lot of fun.

Thank you to everyone at Cleanbox, Howard TV, Ronnie Mund, Shuli Egar, Yucko, and Maddog for making these events once in a lifetime experiences!

See you on the road!

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