More and more I am beginning to hate my day job. It really seems like there is no room for advancement, and it's disheartening to say the least to know I've reached the peak for what I am doing there. There are prospects of leaving the department or even the company, but I'm sure all these options will lead to the same final result. Disatisfaction.
My set tonight was a blast. I had a friend, Bill, come out from work to watch my set, and he brought his wife and they said they had a great time and that they would be back. That's very nice of them. Before the show, Janine and I tried to put together a setlist of newer jokes and some jokes I haven't done for Rooftop in a while. Here's what I ended up doing:
Kinko's
Babysit Darin
Gremlins
Walmart Greeter
Walmart Returns
Dumped Via Email
New Pet Scorpion
Blacking-out and Braille menues
There was a table of four who were very vocal with their laughs, which really helped me feel confident in the bits I was doing. I ended on the braille menus half of my blacking-out jokes, and left in the tag mentioning "the dog from the shampoo joke", but instead said "the dog from a joke I didn't do tonight". That was kind of for the comics in the audience, like an inside joke I guess.
Something weird happened while Greg Warren was on stage, 2 ladies got seated in the front row (stage right-center). One recieved a phone call during Greg's set, which he commented on, and later the two were talking, which Greg commented on. This second offense was enough for Derek the door-guy who just came up and grabbed their drinks, while Scott shined a light on them and escorted them out. Greg wasn't mean with them, but he wasn't nice either. People like that can disrupt a show; some comics (myself included) at the open mic level can't compete with distractions, and that can throw a guy's (or girl's) set. I think Greg went after these ladies because of that. Obviously he's got more experience than the rest of us so he can power through it, but he didn't. He called them out on it, made them understand and then watched them get booted. And then he did literally one or two bits, got the audience back and got off stage.
I got home and had a message on MySpace from Brett Clawson saying he saw my set on Rooftop Comedy and he liked a couple of my jokes, including my Gremlins reference. It's one thing to get a compliment at the show, but it's a whole 'nother thing to get a compliment like that out of the blue.
More and more I am beginning to think I might make it. There are hundreds of things I need to do, including meeting more people, remembering their names (which I am bad at) and charm the crap out of them. That doesn't even take into account writing tons of jokes, finding who I am on stage and not going completely broke in the process. Despite the overwhelming odds it seems that I face, I am having fun on stage and getting some nice things said about me. My only question is, how do I take it to the next level? I need more road work, MCing and opening specifically. But I still have three shows this week, so for now, I'll concentrate on that.
Party! Get Naked! Buy us beer!