Andrew J. Lederer

ran into greg proops in the hotel elevator.

the only time he's ever met me in a meaningful way -- and we haven't met that many times in total -- was when we did jeff garlin's show at bang together about 9 years ago.

no reason he should remember me after all that time but he did think i was awesome that night (which i was), so i said hi and reminded him how we'd met.

unfortunately, i was insecure when i met him another time and he was kind of dismissive to me (forgetting that he thought i was awesome), so i was insecure this time, remembering how that had gone.

he said he remembered me but i suspect my palpable insecurity connected his memory to the later (bad) encounter even as he hung the negative feelings on the details of our (positive) original interaction.

still, he was (superficially) friendly, so i introduced him to the producer of provenza's chat show, joking that they were "arch rivals" (since proops is doing his chat show here as well).

proops said he'd heard provenza's show had gone well, which he damn well should have heard, since last night's entry (featuring eddie izzard, billy connelly, louis black, louis ck, dave foley and kevin mcdonald with danny bhoy, jimmy carr and others watching) was one of those great shows -- truly magical -- that danced on the head of pinheaded comedy angels.

i said the show had been "unbelievable" but told the vaunted ironist he didn't have to believe me, a bit of wordplay that seemed to go completely over his head.

yeah, alright, it was insecurely delivered, but he still should have gotten it.

and maybe i was standing there with a tight neck spoiling my lovability, but who is he to judge me, with his large, seemingly expanding head and his ossified, never-gonna-go-farther-than-he-has-in-show-business stance.

i know i haven't demonstrated that he judged me ill but, damn it, it felt like he did and, on top of that, his uptight wife shuddered when i said, "hello loveliness," upon being introduced to her.

and what do you know, anyway? you weren't there.

now, richard herring -- he's nice.

and he just told me he reads this blog.