Read Online I'll Be Here All Week by Anderson Ward - Free Book Online

instead.
    â€œWhat?” Rodney asks.
    â€œYou don’t keep track of my schedule at all, do you?”
    â€œWhat are you talking about?”
    â€œYou arrange the thing, and you really don’t pay attention to it at all.”
    â€œI do too.”
    â€œWhy would I need warmer clothes if I’m going to Key West?”
    â€œBeats the hell outta me,” Rodney says.
    â€œI’m going to Canada, Rodney,” Spence says.
    â€œCanada?”
    â€œYeah, you know, moose and beavers and snow.”
    â€œThat’s this week?”
    â€œYeah, that’s this week,” Spence says. “I’m driving up tomorrow.”
    â€œI thought it was next month.”
    â€œChrist.”
    â€œHey, you know how many assholes just like you I have to deal with?” Rodney asks. “You think I can memorize everything you do? You can’t even keep track of it yourself. Imagine having to keep track of a couple dozen guys at once. That’s what I gotta do.”
    â€œYeah, yeah,” he says to Rodney, “cry me a river.”
    â€œI mean it,” Rodney says. “I’ve got to deal with you, a bunch of other guys out there on the road, and people right here in the city every single day.”
    He’s telling the truth. Rodney has more clients than he knows what to do with. Besides booking comedians, he also represents actors and musicians and dancers. If there’s the possibility of making a few dollars from it, Rodney will represent it. There are rumors that Rodney has booked everything from children’s parties to singing telegrams to mimes on street corners. Somehow the fifteen percent commission on all of these jobs manages to add up to a livable wage.
    â€œIt’s your job to keep track for all of us. Maybe you’re spreading yourself too thin,” Spence says.
    â€œShit. You wish I had the time to only worry about you,” Rodney says. “You don’t make me enough money.”
    â€œWhose fault is that?” Spence asks.
    Rodney gives him the finger. “So when are you going to Key West?”
    â€œThere really is a job there?”
    â€œYou’ve never worked it?”
    â€œI didn’t even know it existed.”
    â€œThat was a bluff?” Rodney asks, raising his eyebrows and slowly nodding his head. “Touché.”
    â€œI’ll go there next week if I can get it,” Spence says. “Hell, there are plenty of holes in my schedule. Make that gig happen.”
    â€œI’ll work on it,” Rodney says.
    â€œI’ll hold my breath.”
    Spence often wonders just how many sweet gigs like Key West are being kept from him. There’s probably six weeks of work in Cancún that he doesn’t even know about. Right after the Kilborn show, Rodney got him all sorts of A-room work. There were some resorts and some casinos. There was even a two-week stretch at the Improv in Houston. When more TV offers didn’t happen, the gigs became B- and C-list. Five years ago, he never would have been booked at a dump like the Electric Pony. Five years ago, he thought The Late Late Show wouldn’t be his only TV credit.
    â€œYou know what you can do?” he says to Rodney. “You can get me a showcase at Gotham.”
    â€œGotham, huh?”
    â€œI think the time is right, yeah.”
    Gotham Comedy Club is an A-list room in downtown Manhattan. It’s a beautiful club, and one of the few spots in the city where comics can showcase for Letterman and sometimes Comedy Central. There was a time when Rodney could get him seen by TV bookers by arranging quick local sets and making a few phone calls. That’s how he got the Kilborn gig years ago, and Gotham would be where it could happen again.
    â€œI’ll see what I can do,” Rodney says, “I don’t know if you’re ready for it.”
    â€œWhat do you mean by that?” Spence asks.
    â€œI mean you’re still kinda new,