I was a fan of Carl LaBove before I ever even met him. When I was 17 I went to see Sam Kinison in Orlando and Carl LaBove was the opening act. Carl blew me away that night with his ferocious comedy cyclone, Kinison was wasted and I left the Bob Carr auditorium thinking Carl LaBove was a name to remember.

Years later I met Carl when we did the Toronto comedy festival together. On the gala television taping for that festival Carl accidentally ended up being on mushrooms for that performance. I never get tired of hearing Carl tell the story of that night.

Through the years I have become good friends with Carl and I see him as a master Samurai warrior of comedy. He is the perfect example to shatter the notion that comedy is a young man's game. Carl continues to be one of my favorite live performing comedians and night after night he harnesses the same enthusiastic high energy story telling power that first blew me away when I saw him at 17.

I'm privileged to have seen him perform countless times through the years and he inspires me because his performances get sharper and his stories and perception never cease to bust me up. He is one of the few comedians who always makes me laugh out loud. This conversation was recorded last month in Chicago as autumn was just taking hold of the trees. We were shooting the shit at the kitchen table of the apartment where Zanies puts their headliners. One of the best human beings in the comedy industry, open your heart for Mr. Carl LaBove.