EDITOR’S NOTE: Improv host and KRLT morning disc jockey Howie Nave recently returned from Kuwait and Iraq, where he and fellow comics Scott Kennedy and Graham Elwood entertained the troops. Today is part two of a Q&A with Nave.

We were scheduled to perform at two bases in one day and were getting ready to board a Black Hawk in Baghdad when word came down that soldiers were killed and wounded while on patrol at one of the bases we were headed off to. Immediately there was a communications blackout, and all flights that weren’t of a military manner were canceled. The last thing they needed were outsiders at this time. The other show was canceled as well because both bases were relatively close in proximity to one another. Scott Kennedy, the other comic who booked both me and Graham Elwood, said he would hold off until next month when he felt it would be appropriate to check with the base’s commanding officer and decide if and when they would want a show in the future.

You said one of your trips was changed because six were killed?

We were scheduled to perform at two bases in one day and were getting ready to board a Black Hawk in Baghdad when word came down that soldiers were killed and wounded while on patrol at one of the bases we were headed off to. Immediately there was a communications blackout, and all flights that weren’t of a military manner were canceled. The last thing they needed were outsiders at this time. The other show was canceled as well because both bases were relatively close in proximity to one another. Scott Kennedy, the other comic who booked both me and Graham Elwood, said he would hold off until next month when he felt it would be appropriate to check with the base’s commanding officer and decide if and when they would want a show in the future.

What did you wear?

Because the average temperature in the daytime was anywhere from 105 to 118 degrees we wore shorts and short-sleeved shirts, even for the shows. I wore tennis shoes; so did Graham. But, man, I should have worn something a little sturdier that goes at least to the ankles because everywhere you walked it was gravel. They poured this stuff everywhere to keep the sand from blowing around, so the ankles got a little sore. When flying, you had to wear long pants and a long-sleeved shirt and body armor, and it gets pretty hot wearing that armor. It’s made of Kevlar that was checked out at Camp Arifjad, along with a helmet that must be worn anytime you are on a military aircraft. Now I know what it feels like having “rented gear,” because it looks like something you would get at an Army surplus store, and the soldiers would tease you, too: Graham joked that one of the soldiers asked, “Is that the body armor they gave you? Oh man, that’s not the good stuff.”