Nick Mortensen is in Portland Oregon, having been invited to the first annual Bridgetown Comedy Festival. The festival is in its infancy, but already has gained credibility among the Alternative Comedy Nation by snagging Patton Oswalt. This is Nick's first comedy festival. He's been Wisconsin's Funniest Comedian twice and has earned himself a rabid following around Madison by performing weekly 25-minute off-the-cuff comedy sets at "Good Clean Fun, All Slutted Up" - the Wednesday evening free-for-all of comedy at Park Street's dive-tastic Klinic (Wednesday nights, free, beginning at 9 p.m., entry to those 18 and up). The Bridgetown Comedy Festival is headlined by legendary Alternative Comedian Patton Oswalt, who might be better known as "Spence" from T.V's "King of Queens" or as the lead voice in Pixar's Ratatouille.

I got to Portland okay. I'm still a little downhearted about Brett Favre, but optimistic that maybe he'll come back after a few weeks of sitting home. The main source of my bummer is the awesome new T-shirts I had printed to complement my "Gay for Favre" material. It is my first foray into merchandising and I wanted to do it perfectly. I hate how comedians sell crappy t-shirts at their shows. I decided money was no object on the t-shirts and ended up spending $12 each for these great American Apparel t-shirts, thinking that I would break even on the first batch and start turning a small profit on subsequent, larger orders. It looks like those plans are off- at least with that design. Get yours while they are still available. They really are super comfortable. American Apparel stuff is really a cut above.

Spend the extra money on something nice if it is going to have your name on it. That's Dank Living.

I brought 30 of those shirts out here to give away and trade with the other comedians. I might just sell them - I think there will be a demand. I'm contemplating doing a new one sooner rather than later. I think we may all be becoming a little gay for Barack Obama over the next few months. I foresee a line of shirts that trade on whoever seems to be the most popular at the moment. As long as the shirts are nice and I don't lose any money, it is worth doing to learn the e-commerce process.

I'm staying right downtown at a place called the Jupiter Hotel. I must say it is pretty awesome. It is easily the coolest hotel I've ever stayed in. This is the hotel that Cathy Dethmers of the High Noon Saloon would build if she were inclined to build a hotel. I'm skeptical as to whether or not I am cool enough to be here. There are nothing but super-cool alternative 20 somethings downstairs and it looks as though my room was decorated by Ikea. I bet the Jupiter lounge sells a disproportionate amount of Pabst. I think I might go out tomorrow and purchase some Oakley Frogskins so nobody questions my credibility as a cool guy.

I don't do a show until 9 p.m. Thursday and I am definitely not on the main stage. Those are reserved for nationally known names and proven draws. I'm on one of the smaller stages, but I expect the comedians and audiences to be very good. I'm going to be all around trying to take it all in. Hopefully I'll have the chance to meet some of the other comedians. I've been very exited to see the guys that do the podcast "Guys with Feelings". I hope I don't come off as too familiar with them. Listening to their podcast the last 3 months has made me feel like they were my friends.

I really hope to crib some information from the organizers. I've been thinking that Madison might need to host its own comedy festival sometime soon. I'm the guy to make it happen.

One night of taking it easy and getting the lay of the land; tomorrow the adventure really begins.