As we've liked to do in the past here at the Bastion, today's post is brought to you by a traveling scribe, sent over the hundreds of miles, mountains, and plains, to reach you, dear readers, in the hope that you will find enlightenment and enjoyment from a few pithy words on the screen. It's the latest installment of Robert Buscemi's Report from the Road. He's been in Los Angeles for several weeks, taking in the scenery and entrenching himself out there, and we look forward to more stories when he finally returns to us in the crystalline Midwest.

I'm in LA for the month, and the Chicago comedy syndicate is entrenched. Old stand-up friends are putting me into their shows (Blerds at the UCB and a great new one: "Gimme a Minute" at the West Side Eclectic) and helping me plot to get on everyone else's shows as well.

My favorite new-to-me comics out here: Chris Fairbanks (whom I've mentioned before), Natasha Leggero, and Paul F. Tompkins (who just last night headlined the top alt-room out here, "Comedy Death Ray" at the UCB Theater). And of course Chicago's own turbo-charged madman Mike O'Connell, though he no longer counts as new-to-me. Oh and everyone's talking about the super-creative, baby-faced Johnny Pemberton, whom TJ Miller told me "is actually as smart as you try to act, Buscemi." Good old TJ, huh?

I'm running around with (or at least running into): Nate Craig, Becky Garcia, Renee Gauthier, Tony Sam, Mike Bridenstine, Mike Holmes, Jordan Vogt-Roberts, Hannah Gansen, Josh Cheney, Mike Burns, Adam Witt (from Schadenfreude), Matt Braunger, Kyle Kinane (who just last night got a near-capacity UCB crowd laughing its ass off with GREAT, all-new-to-me material -- Kyle headlined "See You Next Tuesday," the UCB late Tuesday alt-stand-up show), and TJ Miller, who continues to bum-rush every stage in town and dish out bone-deep, ludicrous stand-up jack-assery, and who just did several dates in NYC on a 3-man bill with Chicago greats Pete Holmes and Kumail Nanjiani.

Shows I've done or am booked to do: Maria Bamford, Natasha Leggero, and Melinda Hill's "Tiger Lilly," the El Cid avant-garde show "Garage Comedy," Josh Fadem's "Acid Reflux Hour," Brad Stewart's "No Name Comics," and "D & D" at Big Fish, and the World Cafe in Santa Monica.

For star sightings, I saw Louis CK and Mark Maron and Maria Bamford ignite "Tiger Lilly," and I'm almost sure I saw Martin Short duck into a high-end restaurant.

My two cents on the comedy scene out here is this, if anyone's interested: It's pleasingly DIY. My experience is that there is a very friendly, loose collective of people performing, and it takes no time at all to make friends and acquaintances and figure out what rooms will be most conducive to your style. The Chicago gang is infiltrating and ingratiating themselves exceedingly well, running rooms, getting representation and management and gigs. There are crap open-mikes that you can do to make your name among your peers, and the system will let you rise to better rooms if you do well and show your face out and about. And I almost always find that people will give you an initial booking out of curiosity alone if you can show them you've made your way around the scene or have decent press or past bookings or friends to recommend you with whom they are familiar. But even failing all that, just showing up every week, shaking hands with the bookers, and then emailing politely and regularly can get you on stage. Whether you get invited back depends of course on whether you're funny and original.

Blah blah. It's sunny and warm in winter and it's nice to feel like there's industry around, but you quickly realize how much your tastes and your act and your trajectory and your pals are defined by the bonds you forged in good old Chicago. I talked to Alana from the great improv duo Lannie and Emmy for like a half hour at the Improv recently. And watching Kinane or Miller or Burns or Holmes or Nate Craig on stage today means simultaneously seeing them in your mind four years ago, so your perspective is somehow just more rich and satisfying.

That's that. Could I be more gay and mushy? No offense, Bill and Cameron. I meant gay-gay, not GAY-gay. And no offense, Sheehan, I meant mushy-mushy, not MUSHY-mushy.

--Special Contributor Robert Buscemi