I guess since I posted that pic of the ladies from Community, it’s only right that I post something about some of the guys in order to maintain equality on here and dissuade any claims of male chauvinism (but seriously, look at that picture again…WOW, amiright?!?!).
Anyway, it just so happens that I’ve recently seen the real-life counterparts of my two favorite characters from the show. In May, I got to see Troy, aka Donald Glover, in concert at Park West. It was a fun show with a mix of stand-up, multimedia and a performance under his rap persona Childish Gambino. Can’t remember if I wrote about it earlier on here but it was a great time and hearing him rap with the help of a kick-ass live band was, as he would put it, dopeness. Definitely fueled my inspiration level to work on my raps and get a mixtape done. I’m working on it…promise!
Just yesterday, I was able to sit in on a Q&A at Second City with Troy’s better half, Abed, aka Danny Pudi. This was a real treat as I got to hear about his time in Chicago (he is a graduate of The Second City’s Conservatory Program) as well as how he got to where he is now. He was super nice, hilarious in person, and stayed around afterwards to answer questions/take photos. I wasn’t able to nab a good one but that’s him in the photo below, I swear!
The biggest thing I got out of the Q&A was his thoughts on making the move to LA. Obviously, a lot of people have aspirations to work in TV/film. He said, and I’m paraphrasing here, it’s best to move when you’re ready. Some people move out there without any preparation and it’s easy to get lost in LA. He said he gained a lot of experience performing around Chicago and set a number of goals that he wanted to accomplish before making the move (in addition to having a secure job, transferring his Chicago job to a work-from-home situation). One of his goals was to write and perform in his own show, which he did, and is something I am striving to do.
The way I see it, I’m perfectly happy here in Chicago and haven’t given much thought to moving out west. However, I know that if I do decide to take that route one day, I will heed Mr. Pudi’s advice…make sure I’m ready and that I’ve accomplished the things I’ve set out to do in this great city.
Enough #realtalk…I leave you with one of the clips Pudi showed us and talked about, one of the “tags” him and Glover do at the end of each episode (best part of the show): “La Biblioteca Spanish Rap”
