Last night I did a "private party" for Stevie P. Mikey Manker and Kevin White were also on the bill, but due to... something... the cops showed up. We were originally supposed to start at 10:00, but the show got underway (in an unfurnished basement with a PA system and lawn furniture) at about 10:30. Steve went up for about 10 minutes and then brought me up. My time was fun, there were maybe 20 to 30 people in the basement, more-than-half of which listened to me. Some of the others thought it would be a good idea to talk about truly-unimportant-stuff in the back while I was on stage. It was a distraction, but the attentive-audience understood what I was working with and cut me some slack. Not that I felt I needed any (or much) slack, because I kept my composure and was pretty conversational on stage. There were two (drunk) dudes who seemed to be in stitches throughout my set. Most notably, my motorcycle joke got some major laughs, I slowed it down and let each tag collect its laughter. A couple of times during the last quarter of my set, some guy announced the cops were there. I kept going, what did I care, I was sober and actually enjoying myself. I think I was in the middle of my Phone Sex joke when someone came in and said everyone had to leave or they were taking the owner to jail. So I said goodnight to the crowd did what any comic would do: I plugged my website. I feel kind of bad for Mikey and Kevin because they drove all the way out to St. Charles for seemingly nothing; but I learned more on how to work with distractions. Shows like that can either suck or be a complete blast (like the Pawnee After Prom in Springfield). I think a lot of comics wouldn't look forward to rougher shows, but they really push you. It's "easy" when people pay money to come watch a show, I mean that's why they're there. But when you have a show in a basement with sheets hung from the ceiling to make a green room, or when you have a bar show where some of the people there just want to drink and talk about their day to friends, those shows can be discouraging. But if you're funny there. You're really funny. Speaking of bar shows, Clayton's hosting a show at Lloyd and Harry's on Mainstreet (adjacent to the Bistro) on Mondays starting at 9:30. Be there, I will.
Whacha gonna do when they come for you?