Tuesday, September 27, 2005

You can now watch my short video "Duet" at paulrust.com.


And oh! Last week, my roommates and I received a pretty cool letter in the mail. It was folded-up (no envelope) and shoved through our mail slot (with no help of the postal service). It reads:

Dear **** (our apartment number),

Hi. My name is Ron _______. I sell co-caine on Wilcox. If you would like to buy some for your show business friends, call me.
Thx,
Ron


He also left his phone number, but I won't include it in this blog... for fear that you'd buy all the "co-caine" and I wouldn't have enough for my "show business friends."

Thanks for keeping us in mind, Ron!

EDIT: The letter in quesetion is now featured on LA's popular Defamer. It was taken from an article that my roommate Adam wrote on the lovely Underhyped.


THE CELEBRITY CITED LIST:
52. Benji Madden (Friday, September 16th, 2005)
53. Joel Madden (Friday, September 16th, 2005)
54. Peter Dinklage (Wednesday, September 21st, 2005)

My friend Neil and I saw the twin brothers (of Good Charlotte) at that most rock-n-roll of all places... the Koo-Koo-Roo chicken restaurant in Burbank.

I spotted The Station Agent's Peter Dinklage dining outside of Prizzi's... on the year anniversary of me spotting Randy Jackson at a Mobil station.

So far, 8 celebrities in September. One more and I'll have broken March's "Most Celebs in a Month" record. Let's do this, people!

Friday, September 16, 2005

And now for the conclusion of Class of 2000 Memories...

21. NIKKI JUHL
In kindergarten, I had a crush on Nikki. So much so that when I accidentially cut my right pinky and had to get stitches, I got excited by the prospect of showing off to her how "tough" I was.

22. KYLE KASS
In 4th grade, while Kyle and I worked on our homework in his basement, his father informed us that the LA riots had started.

23. KIM KOLBECK
Kim once asked our geography teacher if there were dogs and cats in Hawaii.

24. BOBBIE LANGEL
My First Date: July 1995. That summer, we did what all young lovers did: went to Nine Months!

25. BRIAN LANGEL
One night at a sleepover, I drew pictures for his parents.

26. JILL LANGEL
In 6th grade, I won a contest for "The Smoke-Free Class of 2000," in which I was awarded a plaque. I asked Jill if she'd like to see my plaque. She said yes. So I exposed my teeth and said, "See? My plaque!"

...She was not amused.

27. STEPHANIE LANGEL
Stephanie's older sister wore a leather jacket.

28. JAKE LIVERMORE
For years, Jake had a WWF "Junkyard Dog" action figure stuck on his roof. When it finally came down, "Junkyard Dog" had moss all over his back.

29. MANDY LOUTSCH
In 2nd grade, Mandy would wear a pair of blue-green-and-purple checkered pants. I often referred to them as "Joker Pants" (in reference to Jack Nicholson's character in Batman). Look out, Mr. Blackwell! Paul Rust is the new bitch of fashion critique!

30. MATT MASUEN
Matt's the only person I know who once had the "Sega Channel."

31. NICK NANNINGA
In junior high, Nick, Rigo (Nick's foreign exchange student), and I made a short horror movie together. The film ended with Rigo (the killer) stating to his victim: "Tell me where the money is or I start pedaling."

32. DENNIS PRICE
I watched a FOX Network version of The Breakfast Club at Dennis' house. Despite the FOX Network's own Bart Simpson frequently using the expression "Eat my shorts," the channel edited Judd Nelson's line to "Eat my... socks." Weird.

33. CRAIG ROHE
In 1st grade, I went to a homemade haunted house and Craig greeted me at the door (dressed as a ghost) and said, "I thought you would come!" And who did I run into when I was outside the haunted house? Rick Herbst... dressed in his skeleton costume.

34. SHANNON ROLLINS
On April 8th, 1995, Shannon, Anne Driscoll, and I all wore black to school. Why? The year anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death, of course!

35. KAYLA RUETHER
To Kayla Ruether, I gave her the nickname: "Kayla Rude-Dog." I think. This may or may not be true.

36. PAUL RUST
TOTAL CLASS CLOWN!!!

37. MARC RYAN
When I was back home last month, I saw Marc in my dad's store and said "Hi" to him.

38. ADAM SAUER
Adam's house was right beside the water tower. This convinced me that his family received water through their faucet the fastest.

39. KATIE SCHILTZ
Katie thought Tom Petty's Wildflowers album was depressing.

40. THERESA SCHLICTE
In junior high, Theresa did this hilarious sketch at the year-end talent show. I can't describe it all, but I will tell you that it ended with the immortal lines: "Now you look like your favorite movie star... Arnold Schrwazenegger! Hasta la vista, baby!"

... And that's it. Class of 2000!

Now for the Class of 2005...

THE CELEBRITY CITED LIST:
1. Dave "Gruber" Allen (Monday, August 30th, 2004)
2. Gedde Watanabe (Tuesday, September 14th, 2004)
3. Joey Pantoliano (Sunday, September 19th, 2004)
4. Patrick Renna (Monday, September 20th, 2004)
5. Randy Jackson (Tuesday, September 21st, 2004)
6. Richard Riehle (Monday, October 4th, 2004)
7. Dwier Brown (Saturday, October 16th, 2004)
8. Betsy Randle (Saturday, October 16th, 2004)
9. Michael J. Anderson (Saturday, October 16th, 2004)
10. Rider Strong (Monday, October 25th, 2004)
11. Heather Graham (Monday, October 25th, 2004)
12. Andy Berman (Friday, October 29th, 2004)
13. David Spade (Tuesday, November 9th, 2004)
14. Henry Winkler (Friday, December 10th, 2004)
15. Joe Elliott (Sunday, January 2nd, 2005)
16. Glenn Danzig (Saturday, January 22nd, 2005)
17. Jay Leno (Thursday, January 27th, 2005)
18. David Cross (Wednesday, February 16th, 2005)
19. Steve Guttenberg (Thursday, February 17th, 2005)
20. Bob Saget (Thursday, February 17th, 2005)
21. Bob Odenkirk (Thursday, February 24th, 2005)
22. Mike White (Friday, February 25th, 2005)
23. Anne Meara (Monday, February 28th, 2005)
24. Curtis Armstrong (Saturday, March 5th, 2005)
25. Chris Rock (Thursday, March 17th, 2005)
26. Michael McDonald (Thursday, March 17th, 2005)
27. David Krumholtz (Saturday, March 19th, 2005)
28. Robert Forster (Sunday, March 20th, 2005)
29. Michael Colton (Monday, March 28th, 2005)
30. John Aboud (Monday, March 28th, 2005)
31. Jack Black (Monday, March 28th, 2005)
32. Jason Lee (Thursday, April 14th, 2005)
33. Peter Bonerz (Monday, April 25th, 2005)
34. David Lovering (Monday, April 25th, 2005)
35. Ricki Lake (Tuesday, May 24th, 2005)
36. Marissa Jaret Winokur (Saturday, June 18th, 2005)
37. Jason Marsden (Thursday, June 30th, 2005)
38. Ben Foster (Tuesday, July 12th, 2005)
39. Ione Skye (Tuesday, July 12th, 2005)
40. Taylor Hawkins (Friday, July 22nd, 2005)
41. Paul Scheer (Friday, July 29th, 2005)
42. John C. Reilly (Saturday, August 6th, 2005)
43. Paul Thomas Anderson (Saturday, August 6th, 2005)
44. Sean Hayes (Saturday, August 13th, 2005)
45. Will Arnett (Saturday, August 13th, 2005)
46. PJ Harvey (Saturday, August 20th, 2005)
47. Dennis Miller (Thursday, September 1st, 2005)
48. Aimee Mann (Friday, September 9th, 2005)
49. Samm Levine (Saturday, September 10th, 2005)
50. Torry Castellano (Saturday, September 10th, 2005)
51. Brett Anderson (Saturday, September 10th, 2005)

Singer/songwriter Aimee Mann was in attendance for the UCB Theatre's "Greatest Hits" show.

Freaks and Geeks' Levine and The Donnas' drummer Castellano and singer Anderson were at a roller-skating party.

Monday, September 12, 2005



WEDNESDAYS: SEPTEMBER 14, 21, and 28
8:00PM
$5
(with DEAD HEIRESSES... awesome show!)

Neil Campbell and Paul Rust tear through an all-new night of sketch comedy in a desperate attempt to entertain you. They will literally leap off the stage and into your hearts!

Written by and starring: Neil Campbell and Paul Rust
Featuring: Emily Happe, Kulap Vilaysack and Nic Wegener


reserve your tickets here


UCB Theatre
5919 Franklin Ave
Hollywood, 90028
(323) 908-8702

(the above poster was designed by the fantastic john henry muller)

Wednesday, September 07, 2005


There's a blog undearneath all this...


CHECK ME OUT AT:

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9TH - 10pm
"Greatest Hits"
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre
(4207 Franklin)
$8

... featuring:
Campbell & Rust (Neil and me!)
Bob Odenkirk
Mary Lynn Rajskub
Paul F. Tompkins
Dan Mintz
Winchester Prep
The Pretty Ho-Hum Spectacular on Ice!
Charlyne Yi
The Idiots
Hard 'N Phirm
Rode Hard & Put Away Wet
Jarrett Grode
Jen Kirkman
Morgan Murphy
Jimmy Dore
Brody Stevens
and more!
hosted by: The Fun Bunch

reserve your tickets here



SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10TH - 12am
"The Tomorrow Show"
Steve Allen Theatre
(4773 Hollywood)
more info



WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14TH - 8pm
"Let's Go"
Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre
(5919 Franklin Ave)
$5
reserve your tickets here




Now for the blog...


In May 2000, I graduated with 39 other students in my class. Looking through my yearbook, I realized that for each classmate, I have a memory attached to them. (This is what happens when you have a small class)

So I'm gonna' do that. List a classmate and write the first thing that I remember about them. Yay!

1. KATIE ANTHONY
When I was home alone and the washing machine's pipes burst and flooded our basement, I called her dad. Because he's a plumber. This also marked the first time I realized that real-life plumbers don't wear red overalls or punch bricks to find coins or do dances on top of vines.

2. JANNA BLOCK
In second grade, I told her I use shampoo and conditioner. She asked me why I don't just use Pert Plus. From that day forth, I've used Pert Plus. Thanks, Janna.

3. JODI BLOCK
Together, Jodi and I sang Michael W. Smith's "Friends Are Friends Forever" at our high school graduation. And if you're wondering... yes, this is when I officially became "Coolest Dude in the Whole Wide World."

4. BRETT BROWNMILLER
Brett was more commonly known as "BJ." One day, in 7th grade, I timidly asked, "Hey, you know what BJ means, don't you?" He - very annoyed - replied, "Yes!" I guess he had been getting that a lot lately.

5. JESSI CAMPBELL
1999 Homecoming Queen!

6. BART DEROCHER
Bart DeRocher told the class that his dog could say "mama."

7. RYAN DIRKSEN
In third grade, while watching the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode featuring the Pizza-Monster, I told Ryan that he was my best friend.

8. CURT DRECKMAN
As our teacher headed class, Curt Dreckman whispered to my friend how AIDS started. And yes, it involved a scientist. And a monkey. And the unspeakable act of love between them.

9. KARI DRECKMAN
For Halloween, Kari Dreckman came to school as a McDonald's milkshake.

10. ANNE DRISCOLL
In junior high, my friend dated Anne Driscoll. At a County Fair dance, they lost track of each other and for the rest of the evening, my friend lamented, "I must find my Anne! Where's my Anne?!"

11. AARON ELLENSOHN
Aaron Ellensohn sang a song (seemingly self-written) about a man (seemingly created by Aaron) named J.J. Duncan. The song went as follows: "J.J. Duncan. J.J. D-Duncan." It was a pretty good song.

12. ANDY ELLENSOHN
I saw him and his dad at Hy-Vee once.

13. AMANDA ENGEL
In fifth grade, she confessed to me that in bed, she listens to an Alvin and Chimpmunks tape on her Walkman.

14. NATHAN EVANS
I always thought he looked like Timothy from one of my favorite childhood books: The Trouble with Timothy. Decide for yourself:



15. KERISSA FEUERSTEIN
Kerissa portrayed the "Ghost of Christmas Present" in my 1992 film classic A Kids' Christmas Carol.

16. KARA FRIED
Within moments of Kara first entering the classroom as "the new girl," I had a crush on her. Exactly five minutes later, she threw up.

17. NIKKI HAACK
As our friendship dissolved in the summer of 1996, I called Nikki on the phone to voice my frustrations. And just how did I do that? Jim Carrey impressions, of course!

18. CARL HARTMAN
Really, really liked the B-52's.

19. RICK HERBST
When Rick Herbst spent the night at my house in 1st grade, his so-called "pajamas" were actually a glow-in-the-dark skeleton costume.

20. STEVE HEUERTZ
Steve read Stephen King's It... in the third grade!

More classmate memories in the next blog!

Friday, September 02, 2005

Back in Los Angeles. Iowa was cool. It's pretty and the air smells nice.

While there, I got the sincere pleasure of being a "LeMars tour guide" for Scott (my sister's new husband!) and his kindly parents: Frank and Lisa.

At one point in the tour, we're walking down Main Street with its quaint storefronts and handsomely-designed brick sidewalks - when Scott asks his parents: "So... what do you think?"

To which Frank and Lisa (both born and raised in Southern California) stop, gaze at their surroundings, and favorably remark how LeMars is the "quintessential small town."

Yes. We all agree. It certainly is.

And right at this moment, we all turn, look through the barbershop window, and see... three smiling barbers simultaneously waving at us.

Quit showing off, LeMars!

THE CELEBRITY CITED LIST:
1. Dave "Gruber" Allen (Monday, August 30th, 2004)
2. Gedde Watanabe (Tuesday, September 14th, 2004)
3. Joey Pantoliano (Sunday, September 19th, 2004)
4. Patrick Renna (Monday, September 20th, 2004)
5. Randy Jackson (Tuesday, September 21st, 2004)
6. Richard Riehle (Monday, October 4th, 2004)
7. Dwier Brown (Saturday, October 16th, 2004)
8. Betsy Randle (Saturday, October 16th, 2004)
9. Michael J. Anderson (Saturday, October 16th, 2004)
10. Rider Strong (Monday, October 25th, 2004)
11. Heather Graham (Monday, October 25th, 2004)
12. Andy Berman (Friday, October 29th, 2004)
13. David Spade (Tuesday, November 9th, 2004)
14. Henry Winkler (Friday, December 10th, 2004)
15. Joe Elliott (Sunday, January 2nd, 2005)
16. Glenn Danzig (Saturday, January 22nd, 2005)
17. Jay Leno (Thursday, January 27th, 2005)
18. David Cross (Wednesday, February 16th, 2005)
19. Steve Guttenberg (Thursday, February 17th, 2005)
20. Bob Saget (Thursday, February 17th, 2005)
21. Bob Odenkirk (Thursday, February 24th, 2005)
22. Mike White (Friday, February 25th, 2005)
23. Anne Meara (Monday, February 28th, 2005)
24. Curtis Armstrong (Saturday, March 5th, 2005)
25. Chris Rock (Thursday, March 17th, 2005)
26. Michael McDonald (Thursday, March 17th, 2005)
27. David Krumholtz (Saturday, March 19th, 2005)
28. Robert Forster (Sunday, March 20th, 2005)
29. Michael Colton (Monday, March 28th, 2005)
30. John Aboud (Monday, March 28th, 2005)
31. Jack Black (Monday, March 28th, 2005)
32. Jason Lee (Thursday, April 14th, 2005)
33. Peter Bonerz (Monday, April 25th, 2005)
34. David Lovering (Monday, April 25th, 2005)
35. Ricki Lake (Tuesday, May 24th, 2005)
36. Marissa Jaret Winokur (Saturday, June 18th, 2005)
37. Jason Marsden (Thursday, June 30th, 2005)
38. Ben Foster (Tuesday, July 12th, 2005)
39. Ione Skye (Tuesday, July 12th, 2005)
40. Taylor Hawkins (Friday, July 22nd, 2005)
41. Paul Scheer (Friday, July 29th, 2005)
42. John C. Reilly (Saturday, August 6th, 2005)
43. Paul Thomas Anderson (Saturday, August 6th, 2005)
44. Sean Hayes (Saturday, August 13th, 2005)
45. Will Arnett (Saturday, August 13th, 2005)
46. PJ Harvey (Saturday, August 20th, 2005)
47. Dennis Miller (Monday, September 1st, 2005)

PJ Harvey was at Amy and Scott's Berkeley wedding reception. All in all, she seemed to like it - even though she did complain that the cake was a little... Dry.

Dennis Miller was in the office of where I work. Gosh. One day into September and I've already spotted a celebrity. Who knows? Maybe September 2005 could beat long-running champ-of-sightings March 2005? Only time (the entire month of September) will tell.