Love from LA

It's hard to get a good impression of LA, given that:

a) the place is so damn sprawling;
b) I've spent most of the day inside doing private coaching; and
c) I'm only here for two days!

Today in a nutshell:

- got up at 3am New York time to catch my plane. I cannot BELIEVE I'm still conscious, let alone pumping.

- met and worked with comedy guru Steve Kaplan on my stand-up and show. Three words: wow, wow and wow.

- while waiting in the lobby to meet Steve, I glimpsed a fellow guest out of the corner of my eye. "Wow," I thought, "he looks like Tom Gleeson." Next thing I know I overheard said guest talking to the concierge...in an Aussie accent. "Damn," I thought, "that IS Tom Gleeson!" (Note to non-Aussie/non-comedy fans: Tom Gleeson is amongst Australia's better known comedians). I waited til he'd finished his stuff, then "Hey!" I said. "You're Tom Gleeson!"

"Yes," he said.

"Hi," I said. "I'm Jenny, we met briefly at Jeez Louise*." *Funny womens' conference as part of Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

"Oh hi Jenny," he said. "This is my brother."

We shook hands.

I told him a bit about what I was doing over here, he told me a bit about what he was doing and asked what I was doing tonight.

"Oh," I said, "I was thinking of heading to the Comedy Store to check out some comedy."

"We're thinking of going there too for a bit, just to have a last beer."

"Right," I said. "Well maybe I'll catch you there."

We'll see.

Tomorrow's already shaping up nicely. I have managed to score a rather exclusive invite to the Magic Castle (private magician's club) and then plan to check out the Second City musical rehearsals.

And then I'm leaving on a jet plane...