God Hates Truck Stops

I just got back from a quick trip to Nebraska and Kansas. Despite having been there a few times before, I had never performed comedy there.

Keith Lenart (who headlined) and I drove together, and stopped at the world's largest truck stop.

Try not to be jealous!

We also were quite shocked to find that there's actually a trucker museum. Of course, we had to go in. After a quick walk around the antique truck exhibits, I had my fill. I did get a picture of the outdoor sign though.




Our first gig was in Norfolk, Nebraska at a place called TJ's Bar and Grille. I couldn't believe how nice the crowd was. Not only did they not heckle, but they also let me play with them and try new material quite a bit. They also put up with my smack-talking about being able to kick the arcade punching machine. And they were quite cool when they realized I could back up none of said smack-talking.

After much persuading and promises of free beer, I did end up kicking it.

Look at the determination on my face! Kate Brindle don't mess around, yo!

I got a whopping score of 330 (which equals roughly half the score an average toddler gets upon kicking the machine).


The next morning we headed to Kansas, and we made a brief stop in Lawrence.

Have I mentioned how much I absolutely LOVE Lawrence? Like, seriously, I would marry it and bear its children, that's how much I dig the place. There's something about college towns that just makes me happy.

This trip to Lawrence was significantly better than my last time there, when I crashed a wedding in order to avoid a tornado. Luckily, the sun was shining during this go-round, so I didn't have to interrupt any bridal parties in order to take shelter in the basement.

We performed for the weekend at Jeremiah Bullfrog's in Topeka. It's a great little venue that looks like a theatre (complete with stage curtains). I didn't get any shots of the inside, but I did take some of us outside (and with the official frog mascot).




That's Keith and me with DJ Biz, who runs the shows.


During the day on Saturday, we enjoyed the summer-esque heat and dodged screaming children at the hotel's pool.


We also went to see one of Topeka's finest tourist attractions: the Westboro Baptist Church. If you're not familiar with them, their leader, Fred Phelps, could be the mayor of Crazy Town. He's the one who runs the website, http://www.godhatesfags.com, and goes around protesting various events that he feels support "the homosexual agenda."

I was surprised to learn that his "church" is really just his house (complete with tons of security cameras, and a giant banner), which is smack in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

I'm sure his neighbors must absolutely love him.

Keith expressing our feelings about Fred Phelps.


If you'd like more information about Phelps (and you need some laughs), check out my friend, Brent Sullivan's, one-person show (located here) about him.

Nothing terribly exciting happened on the way home, other than us discovering an amazing iPhone app called Gas Buddy, which finds you the cheapest gas in the area. Mr. Buddy worked his magic, and we were able to score it for $3.49 a gallon.