It is far too easy to be unemployed in this town.

I spend my mornings looking at all the various job sites and catapulting my resume all over town. My job, right now, is looking for a job, and it doesn't pay much.

The money situation is tightening. The fact that a double double and fries from In N' Out is only $3.50 is both a blessing and a curse.

Today is a milestone.

For the first time, a shady Los Angeles "actors association" just tried to shnooker me.

A woman called and acted very confused as to how she had my information in front of her. She told me that her company acts on referrals only, and said that a friend of mine must have given her my name and number. She had no idea who it was. When I tried to help her connect the links and figure out who might have done this, she said "Well, let me back up here and let me tell you who we are..."

She then launched into her sales pitch.

She might as well have been reading from a script, and probably was. She went on and on about how actors aren't aggressive enough and her company helps us wannabes by getting our faces out there in front of casting directors. Her monologue was punctuated by my occasional "Uh-huh," "Right," and "Yeah," just to let her know that I was still on the line.

She must have asked me ten times whether or not I was "serious" about my career.

I asked her whether her company charged a fee for its services.

"Well, yes, but we find our services are very beneficial to the struggling actor."

Rule #1: Actors don't pay anyone for career help. If someone wants to charge you a fee to audition, or meet with them, or whatever, it's a sure sign that they're calling every rube who just got off the bus from Oklahoma and making the same offer.

I told her I wanted to check out the website and get back to her. She told me that I sounded like I was "on the fence," and that I should only call her back if I was serious about pursuing a career in acting. The phone call was pretty offensive, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for this woman, who willingly took a job trying to sell a useless service to stupid people.

I may have just chosen to become an actor, but she's a high pressure, insincere telemarketer preying on naivete.

I have survived my first shnookering.

In other showbiz news, sunday nights at the IO we have something called the Extravaganza, where a performer gets five minutes to do whatever they want. A porn director/producer came up and did a bit in which he mostly made fun of Ron Jeremy, claiming to have known him professionally and personally.

You would think that "porn stand up" would be an innovative and fresh approach to comedy, but the truth is: not so much.

It was, however, the first stand up act I ever saw that ended with the words "Any questions or comments?"