I took off yesterday and today to go to the Comedy Caravan to do a spotlight in hopes of getting some MC work. I get pretty anxious about being on time, and with the threat of a speeding ticket or traffic jams due to accidents, I left St Louis probably around 10:00am and got into Louisville, KY at about 2:00pm (turns out I crossed a time zone). Needless to say I was early. To kill time, I hit a McDonalds near the club (I'm beginning to think they shou;d sponsor me, you know?) staffed by the slowest most apathetic front end workers I've ever encountered. I don't complain while at a fast food restaurant for fear of them spitting in my food (or worse) but I'll openly gripe on the blog. I'm fairly sure those employees don't 1) have have internet access and 2) read.
Anyway, I killed sometime at the local library reading Comedy Writing Step by Step by Gene Perret. It is copywrited 1982, and is the best comedy-writing book I've encountered (if you want to write for Bob Hope or Phyllis Diller). Something tells me I missed that boat. Anyway, I killed some time reading, and then took a nap in my car. Eventually it was show time, and I met Roy Bean who was running the show for the night. He gave me the low-down and was pretty cool. The Caravan was switching it up for their Tuesday show this week; by that I mean, they didn't do the show in the normal showroom. Like the Springfield comeptition, they held it in the actual bar-room. By show time, the room actually looked full (of about 30 people). Having performed in front of worse crowds, I wasn't worried. I went up first, after Roy who did a good three minutes on why Hitler is better than George Bush (you had to hear it for it to sound appealing, but it was very sarcastic and ironic). In anycase, being a bald white guy following a bald white guy who speaks highly of Hitler is weird. Clearly, I had my work cut out for me. The mic wasn't the greatest and it went in and out throughout the show (so I wasn't the only one affected) but it was frustrating since I something was "on the line". Granted it wasn't a competition, but I felt like I could have had a better first impression. Other comics I talked to, though, said I did well. I ended up meeting a guy from Indianapolis, Phil Kijak who was showcasing also, and I met Vince Martin. I got some more leads on clubs to contact (I need to get on that) and learned about the joys or riding Grey Hound Buses to shows across the country. I left after the show and drove back to St. Louis, stopping only for some Waffle House (where I saw a guy on a horse, the waitress said he was a regular!) and gas. It was a cool trip, I plan on contacting Julie (the lady who does the booking) today or tomorrow. I didn't get to meet her after the show (which Roy said was not uncommon) so I don't want her to forget me.
I got to say that Mable, she's the bomb
What? You want to give me money? Better email me.