Stupid sports

Last night I...
- wasn't on the list at the Bone last night.
- showed up anyway as usual.
- ended up getting Starbucks coffee for Brian and Jen who work at the
funny bone.
- found out how to make In My Pants seem less dirty (maybe)
- combined two bits so that it will be easier to present them (maybe)
- wouldn't have gotten on stage because th World Series was on and not
enough people showed up to be an audience for us.
- got another "Funny Bone" rocks glass, I have three now.

The black knight

Last night there was no list at the Funny Bone; I showed up around
5:30ish and worked and tinkered with some jokes (ok, premisis) that I
had come up with in Vegas. Eventually Matt Wolff and Jeff Urine showed
up. Jeff was kind of running the show last night, and Kevin Patterson
put me on the list (originially number 10, I went on 9th). While in
Vegas, Andy Woodhall and Tommy Johnagin wrote a joke each on my name
(Andy's in the form of a one liner, I forgot exactly how Tommy told his
joke, so I only remember the premise), and so I decided to open with
them. I had planned on using Andy's joke then Tommy's, but somewhere
along the course of the evening, I switched the order.
I guess I should stop being so cryptic, but I got such great laughs on
the jokes last night that I don't want to spoil it for anyone who might
eventually see me do them (the jokes) on stage. Needless to say, I am
super thankful for the material and the help, however I am a little
worried that the one liner may be a little too powerful, and I
won't be able to match it with any of my other jokes. Anyway, I have to
get back to work. Red Sea tonight, I should try some new material
there... (should)...

Vive St. Louis!

I got back from my vegas trip today and I am soooo tired; however I had an absolute blast! I ate more buffets in one week than I've ever thought possible. I met Paulie Shore's dad, Sammy Shore and the king of improv comedy, Shelley Burman. I hung out with Andy Woodhall, Tommy Johnagin (both reside in Chicago currently) and Gordon Baker Bone, seriously one of the funniest and nicest guys I've ever met. I really can't do the trip any justice with a blog, so I won't even try. Suffice it to say, I had the time of my life, and have never laughed so hard in my entire life.

Standing up and going number 1

The Funny Bone server was down this week, so no official list was published; just one that had the word "me" on it (I did not see said list myself, I just heard from other comics). About 13 to 15 comic showed up in time for the meeting, so Matt didn't have a hard time making a list. He did ask for a volunteer to go first, and so I said I'd do it. Even though the fact I just got done MC-ing for a week, going first in an open mic was rough, I tried a couple new jokes and I don't think I delivered them properly; for example; a couple one liners that I 'created' in conversation with co-workers and friends. I think they were kind of spur-of-the-moment / you-had-to-be-there lines. I forget who followed me on stage, but after they were done, so roughly 15 minutes into the show, 17 people showed up and almost doubled the crowd size. I must emphasize that I hate blaming crowd size, but the psychological aspect plays heavily in my mind. More people = more people potentially laughing at my jokes which sounds better on stage. Open mic is also difficult because with such a time constraint, I feel pressured to do well, which is hard (especially when you lead off with new(er) material).

Friday, Saturday and Sunday

Sadly I forgot to write in my blog this weekend, City of Heroes being the major reason for my laziness. I am kind of proud of myself, because I made some changes to my set order, wrote them down, and didn't have to refer to my cheat sheet to remember them. One show on Friday I completly omitted Pharm1, Pharm2, Black Jack and Slots (those names probably only make sense to me, sorry). Pharm1 is my "I work at a pharmacy" joke, and Pharm2 is the "I do medical testing" one; I haven't been doing pharm 2 this week because it needs some more open mic work, it wasn't getting as much responce as other jokes, say phonesex and tetris. Spanish has been going over very well, and when I do Black Jack properly it serves as a great call back. Saturday was fun, but I was very tired after the two shows. After Sunday's show Joey, the manager of the Fairview Heights Funny Bone, paid me and gave me some great advise about getting paid in clubs. She actually used the phrase "show business" which I know it is; it just never dawned on me. Show Business. Cool. I did manage to film every single set, though I never filmed my announcements; maybe I should have. My favorite announcement was the one I did about the Thanksgiving show; "because you get to see a show, get to drink, get to laugh, and best of all you don't have to talk to your family; no that's something to be thankful for"! All things considered, this week was awesome in every way. My bits are coming along well, as are my pieces (bits and pieces, nevermind); and my stage memory is growing, which is important. I can't wait fot Tuesday, because I want to try out some new bits; I've got two or three I'm working on, it'd be nice to get some new material, especially since most of it's based on stuff that has actually happened to me.

Numero two-oh

The show last night was a lot of fun; however, I don't feel I did as well as I did Wednesday night. I forgot to do my Black Jack and my World Series of Slot Machines stuff, and I fumbled with the announcements a little. I think my facial expressions and act outs weren't as good as Wednesday, those seem to depend on how much energy I have and how much fun I am having on stage. The crowd was much smaller, though we still had about 50 or more people. I wasn't as nervous as I was Wednesday, which could be either a good thing or a bad thing. I think there is a certain level of anxiety at which I excel, if I could control that, I would be happy, or nervous; whatever. I am not officially in my new condo, I dropped off my keys at the old Mars Apartment before work (oh yeah, I was late to work today, SCORE!). I slept through my alarm clocks or never set them, who knows... Where's Encyclopedia Brown when you need him?