A WellRED Weekend, again

comedy shows, encouragement, and translating for yankees

Something you should know about me. I love stand-up comedy. My introduction to the genre was probably watching Sinbad specials with my parents as a kid. If I ever want to watch something but have no idea what, I’m gonna end up watching a comedy special. So it was pretty cool, when I accidentally (via cross-stitch and Twitter feuds) became friendly with the comedians who collectively tour under the banner of The WellRED Comedy Tour. They are: Corey Ryan Forrester, Drew Morgan, and Trae Crowder. They’ve written a best-selling book, recorded a hilarious album, and they’ve made it to Little Rock a handful of times now.

I make sure to see them any time they come to town. This weekend was no exception.

It was a great show. I had a WellRED newbie with me this time, my friend Matt. Matt is, well, he’s not from around here, ya know? He’s from up North. I was honestly a little worried that he just…would not understand half of it. Either from accents or just very specific southernisms. But it turned out alright and I only had to do a little bit of redneck-to-English translation. Turns out some things really are universal. (Like calling hecklers a word I won’t type here.)

Sidebar: why would you come to a comedy show and try to talk at the comedian during the show? Why? Do you suffer from Main Character Syndrome that is THAT severe? No one thinks you’re cool. We all think you’re a jerk. End sidebar.

The show was great, Corey extolled the virtues of Arkansas’s gifts to the world, Drew discussed impending fatherhood, and Trae has us examining our language and the redneckery therein. A+, guys.

After the show is always a neat little experience. The three of them always sell “meet and greet” tickets so people can come up and meet them after the show. Which, hey, that’s how I met them the first time! After waiting on people chatting and taking pictures we hug necks and take a photo and play a rousing game of “how’s your mama’n’em?” (It’s more of a "how’s your psyche’n’em,” but still.) We are standing around discussing cigars (long story) and Corey ends up beside me. He asks me how this Substack is going. I tell him the truth: it hasn’t been. I kinda got in a funk and then a bunch of life stuff happened.

Now, I give these guys a lot of crap. It’s the basis for this weird little friendship and it comes from a place of love, but we are more bits and quips than sincerity. (Except when I message Drew whilst high. That’s usually 100% sincere. Non sequitor and meandering, but sincere.) But Corey—new dad, full time comedy artist/writer/hit maker/CHO—looks at me and tells me to just do it. Just write. Just get it done. And he’s right. It’s as easy—and as difficult—as that. He told me to keep writing and posting, even if it’s just him reading it.

So here I am, doing the thing.

I’ve got a pretty big writing project that I’ve been working on that I’m excited to share with you guys. It’s a southern science fiction novella called The Grand Design. It’s about an astronaut from small town Arkansas who is the first human to explore an alien planet. I’m still working on it, but I think I’m gonna start posting parts to it here soon. I’ve also got some new poetry in the works. I’m gonna try my best to post fairly regularly, but keep in mind I have two jobs and a new house I just moved into so a perfect posting schedule is probably a little out of my reach for the time being. But I’m gonna give it a shot. My friend Corey told me I should.

Be sure to follow Corey, Drew, and Trae on their various social medias and check out https://wellredcomedy.com/ to see if they are coming to a city near you. And be sure to check out Corey’s Substack “Part Time Funny Man!”