Yesterday afternoon I picked up my friend April and we met Paul Harris in
the Central West End. We didn't even get out of Missouri before my left
rear tire blew out. I slapped a donut on, and we turned around and
switched vehicles. We actually made it to the show on time, which was
amazing, because I figured we'd be running late.
We arrived at the Springfield Illinois Funny Bone and I got the low-down
from a lady named Tracey; 5 bucks for six minutes on stage, best one up
gets to open during the weekend show. Aaron Hurley, a comic from
Illinois, was there and went up first. Aaron's been at the Westport
Funny Bone and has invited me to a show at the Iron Post. I was number
four and Paul was Six. I had a decent set, though the crowd wasn't
completely paying attention. There was a 'corral' type stage, with a
fence/banister between the microphone (and comic) and the audience.
However, between the audience and the banister was about 20 feet of
dance floor with a single table (that had about 8 people at it, I
couldn't EVEN SEE everyone at the table, because of a stack of
speakers). But it's stage time, and so I'm not complaining. Paul went up
last and closed the show, and did really well. With small crowds, people
are usually too self-conscious to laugh, which is why it seems harder
for comics, but Paul had a group of people consistently laughing through
his set. Very impressive. When it was al said at done, they pulled us up
on stage and announced the winners; I got Third, Paul got Second, and
Aaron got first.
We hung out a bit and got a drink and some food (I got mozz. sticks,
despite my slight intolerance to lactose). It was pretty cool, I'll try
to go back to the next one in January. Hopefully the Forum won't be on
the same day...