This past weekend I was in Bloomington, IL at the Funny Bone that just recently opened-up there. I have to admit I did have some trouble finding it the first time, but that happens whenever I go someplace new. I arrived at around 6:20 friday night, the shows start at 7:30 and 9:30. Don Bassford, the owner, introduced himself and told me I'd be splitting the time (orinially I was told 10 to 15 minutes) with another Comedian, Greg Larson, Don reassured me that I would still be paid and put up in a hotel for the evening. The first show was really fun, I half-expected to have some trouble on stage (as generally that's how a week1 starts for me). In this case, though, I did pretty well. I started with my Celebate by Popular Demand joke, and moved right into some x-girlfriend/fat jokes. After the show, Don came up to me and informed me that he had recieved some complaints from some plus-sized women, who said their weight was not their fault. He told me that he wasn't going to MAKE me change my material since I was a comedian, but that I should be careful. Naturally Don wanted his audience to enjoy themselves and come back. I really didn't know how to respond, on the one hand I'm a comedian (an artist, if you will) and my art is just that; mine. On the other hand, Don had money and I wanted money, so I told him I'd switch it around a bit. After all, you don't bite the hand that feeds you. So the next show, I start out with the Celebate by Popular Demand thing and went into the -girlfriend/fat jokes. However, this time I left out one of the jokes and move straight into jokes about how I looked. You know, having big ears and all. Anyway, it worked, and I pulled the attention off of fat people and onto myself, and so I kind of evened the playing field by making fun of myself. I continued to my skiing, spanish and work jokes.
One of the coolest things of the first night was when Billy D. Washington was on stage for the 7:30 saturday show he made reference to my "blackest thing about me" joke and actually said my first and last names. I hadn't even introduced myself to him yet. That made me feel really cool that the "blackest" joke had worked like that. Anyway, the entire weekend was amazing, the crowds were very cool, I've never had so many people come up to me and say that I did well and that they enjoyed my set. One guy actually said the word "set" too; I was impressed. Anyway, the entire weekend (except for my 2am drive home sunday morning) was incredible. The waitstaff, including Bill were super nice and fun to hang out with. I'm very happy and super lucky that my first trip "on the road" was so enjoyable.
1week: Not the traditional Sunday to Saturday week, but a week of paid performances. Even though the shows may span only 2 or three days, I call it a week.