Hello again everyone. Especially you in the red shirt. It’s been a long time since I’ve written in the Patterblog but fortunately after 2 weeks at Just For Laughs Toronto and Montreal where I’ve spent every waking moment either writing or performing comedy and with a new and exciting web design ready to launch, I’ve got a lot to say.

First and foremost, STEVE FRICKING MARTIN! I know I should save the best til last, but I’m too excited and frankly I’ve always believed there is a better way than saving the best until last and that is trying not to include any unnecessary crap at all. Which makes these first two paragraphs either ironic or at least redundant.

Alright, best things first, this past Saturday night I was fortunate enough to share the stage with comedy (and now apparently Bluegrass Banjo) legend Steve Martin on a Just For Laughs gala. The line-up was stacked with great comics including Mike Birbiglia, Jo Koi and Gerry Dee and my goal was simply to not be the worst on the show (lofty I know. But it was more realistic than “Own The Podium”).

I drew the number 5 spot in the line-up of 10 comics which was essentially the beginning of the second act, immediately following Mr. Martin and his band doing their original song “Atheists Have No Songs”. Hilarious of course.

I came out to Steve Martin’s voice saying “When you hear the name of our next act Steve Patterson two words immediately come to mind…”Steve” and “Patterson”. And then I performed my gala set, which I had been working on steadily in clubs in Montreal and Toronto for a few weeks. By the time I was done, I had proven that I wasn’t a part of the group in the song that immediately preceded me. Because thank God, I had not sucked. In fact, Steve Martin brought me back out to take a bow and said “If I had known he was going to be that good, I would have cancelled him.” Coming from Steve Martin, it was an amazing endorsement, akin to Johnny Carson calling a comic over to the couch. Next to Nancy saying “yes” to my wedding proposal it’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.

Immediately following my set, I was brought to meet Steve and he had nothing but kind words to say and was more gracious than I ever could have imagined given the amount of people lingering around for a chance to get a piece of him. They say “you should never meet your heroes” but Steve Martin is living proof, to me, that statement is not always true.

Of course, in the perpetual roller coaster ride that is Canadian comedy, I went directly from meeting Mr. Martin to a set at the Comedy Nest for “Comedy Night In Canada.” It was a great line-up in my great friend Silver Butler’s club but the audience stayed stubbornly silent where laughter had just been. I do understand that anything would have paled in comparison to the show I had just done, but honestly by that logic this crowd was an albino.

No matter though. I got through that set with some interesting and perhaps not family-friendly words for the lethargic club gathering and returned to the Hyatt hotel where many of my comedy friends were gathering for the last night of the festival before heading off to various parts of the world. For the first time in my career, I was at the centre of some festival “buzz” as comics congratulated me on my gala set and the praise from Mr. Martin.

I was able for the first time with no show commitments during the next day to party until well past the break of dawn and I ended up at Montreal’s infamous “Banquese Restaurant” eating Poutine at 5:30am.

Now, not fully 48 hours since my gala, I’m still fortunate enough to be feeling the “aftershock” as the Montreal Gazette selected me as the highlight of the show in Sunday’s paper and in today’s paper veteran comedy columnist Bill Brownstein called my show “the performance of my career and destined for the Just For Laughs annals” which is saying something given all the amazing acts that have taken to their stages.

Soon, I will have to put that show behind me. I will have to get back to the writing board (I’ll be honest, I do it on a computer screen), working on a project for a Montreal-based animation company that might turn into something amazing all across Canada. But for today, I’m spent, elated, exhausted and hell, I have to admit, proud. By setting out to “not be the worst”, I ended up being praised in the best way possible by one of the funniest, classiest and most respected men in the comedy world. Thank you Just For Laughs for the opportunity. Thank you Fiancee Nancy for putting up with my Monk-like offstage manner all week. And thank you Mr. Martin for the kind words and inspiration. And I have to say, I KNEW you were that good but I’m extremely happy you did NOT cancel.