I met Kate Micucci for the first time a couple years ago at a BBQ Joint in Chinatown LA that was having a comedy night and made her a “You Should Know:” artist just after I launched this incarnation of AvantTrash. I have a fetish for the Uke and this girl is the closest thing to a ukulele hero since Tiny Tim or Asian Babies. Besides that She and her partner in Garfunkel & Oates (Riki Lindhome) are both very funny and talented actresses to boot (You might recognize them from Scrubs or the remake of Last House on the Left). With G&O they write songs about a variety of brilliant subjects: 3rd wheel dates, Self-Esteem being low enough to date someone less than ideal, The smugness of pregnant women, and Douchebags (to name a few). Their lyrics blend a crass and beautiful truth with a much-more-than-folk sound coming from whichever 2 instruments they happen to be holding (Guitar, Uke, Keys…and Kazoos). It’s coincidental that tonight they made their debut on Jay Leno on the same night I made them the 7th day of Xmas (I’ve had all 12 days planned out for a month). I caught a preview of their Leno performance during their Holiday Spectacular at the UCB Theatre last week. They were even nice enough to give everyone in the theatre CD’s and DVDs…and candy. A fitting wrap up to the year is their video I posted last year around this time for “Present Face”. You may recognize a few more comedians in this video than you did last year, they aren’t the only ones that had a good 2009.

Good thing about the economy being in the can, less people exchanging awkward gifts.

Garfunkel and Oates is Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci and they are great! Check out their other YouTube Videos.

I’m practicing my “Present Face” for this year. I haven’t seen much of my extended family since last Christmas. I gave them a list of used vinyl records that I would prefer over some shiny new piece of junk from Wal-Mart I’ll never use, I can’t imagine that they know what I really want, which is lower rent. And I don’t think they can do that.