![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/img_1842.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n
It reminded me of the limo pizza party I once threw Mr. X.\u00a0 [Note: Story of that fiasco at the end of this column, if you’re curious about it.]\u00a0 Had I known Jon back then, we all could have just tipped over to his<\/em> house, and called it a night!<\/p>\n When I heard that Jon’s show was called Pizza With Writers<\/em>, I couldn’t imagine why he chose those two things. Then I found-out that he was a writer, and when I went to his house, I saw his pro pizza oven that he designed and had built in his massive backyard. So, it turns-out, he just worked with what he is professionally, and what he has on-hand at his abode. Smart. If that formula is successful, I should produce my own show called Clutter with Comedians<\/em>. Instead of my fellow funny peeps coming over and eating pizza, they can come over and clean-out my Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n He had professional pizza makers from Mulberry Street keep the pizzas coming for the duration, and they were all really good.\u00a0 It was fun to be eating freshly-made pies in someone’s backyard!\u00a0 I think even the hermit-esque Mr. X enjoyed himself.<\/p>\n And this was impressive–Jon made the pizza sauce, marinated the veggies, and grilled the sausages all himself. When does he find time to write??? Or do a podcast?<\/p>\n People at the launch party kept asking Mr. X and me which one of us was the writer. I couldn’t imagine why they knew that one of us was! Then I realized\u2014it was all<\/em> writers! And pizza! Just as the invitation stated. I love an invite that lets you know exactly what to expect.<\/p>\n Jon Hotchkiss talking to his guests. Photo by Todd Felderstein.<\/p><\/div>\n This whole shebang brought me back to the early days of my own<\/em> local TV show, Karen’s Restaurant Revue<\/em>, because, as Jon is now<\/em>, I was a pioneer then<\/em>; there had been a few shows on that cable channel before mine, but none had ever been successful.\u00a0 Mr. X basically forced me into doing anything<\/em> in front of the camera, and when I told him to just leave me alone and let me write my restaurant book, he was smart enough to tell me to do it on-air.\u00a0 When I look back on the beginnings of it all, I still can’t believe I was at the forefront of the medium.\u00a0 So, hearing Jon address the crowd this night was familiar; he’s now at the forefront of doing a show on the web.\u00a0 At the urging of my former show viewers, I always plan to do the same, but just can never find the time.\u00a0 So, I really applaud Jon for getting it done.\u00a0 And from his garage, no less!<\/p>\n One thing he said that was of particular interest to me was that on network TV, “thirty minutes” really means “twenty-one,” so the web is more desirable because there, thirty means thirty.\u00a0 But everyone in the biz keeps telling me<\/em> that even my ten-minute vids are too long nowadays, in the age of six-second Vine videos!\u00a0 I keep trying to figure-out how to pare my half hour rants down to six seconds!!!\u00a0 So, Jon gave me hope that not everyone<\/em> has the attention span of a flea.<\/p>\n Edgar, Jose, and Juan from Mulberry Street. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n After we were finished eating, drinking, listening to Jon’s welcome speech, and seeing a few clips from Pizza With Writers<\/em>, we were sent off with a really cute touch–each guest received a small pizza box, with a pizza cutter\/bottle opener inside.\u00a0 If we chose, (which we all did, of course!,) we could take our boxes over to the oven and fill it with the leftover pizza! What a fun way to exit a party!<\/p>\n Okay, as promised, my horror story about that party for Mr. X.\u00a0 We rarely celebrate his birthday, which is his choice.\u00a0 (That, of course, is the opposite of my<\/em> birthday desires, which is to celebrate all month long!) One year, I asked what he wanted to do, so he jokingly (which I didn’t quite get) answered, “Pizza party.\u00a0 Limo<\/em> pizza party.”\u00a0 I couldn’t imagine what that was, but I went with it.\u00a0 And, of course, did it as a surprise, (which he hates, but it was what I thought he had requested, so who am I to argue with his birthday wish?!)<\/p>\njunk<\/del> prized possessions! I like it!<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>