making lemonade

Tonight I went to the BS Bar and Grill, Scott couldn't be there until after the show started, so he asked me to pick an emcee and get things started. When I got there, only Brian Dowell was there, and after a bit, Clayton Champagne showed up. I was somewhat alright with that, because I knew the two of them could handle the rougher more-interested-in-darts crowd of 15 or 20 that was in the basement. My only hang-up was that I didn't want to emcee since those types of crowds aren't my forte (specialty, if you will). I knew Clayton and Brian could carry a lot of time and make a decent show if they wanted, but I didn't want one of them to go up, do like 15 and them me do 5 and bail. I wanted to pull my weight. Eventually Mike Howington showed up; and I texted Scott and he told me to cancel the show. Then Jeff Wesselschmidt and Michael Shawkee showed up and an audience member "demanded" a show.
Clayton emceed and did well, then I went up and did well for the 9 minutes and 14 seconds I was on stage. I spoke loudly and was slightly more animated than normal. I also did my "dirtier" material, meaning my porn jokes and a drinking joke or two. I did my Math/Advice joke which I like (cause of the innuendo) and found a neat (and logical) way to describe the one-legged skier that showed me up... "He had half as many legs as i did, and was going twice as fast. Mathematically that makes him four times better than me." Howington liked it. All in all, I had fun, but missed out on most everyone else's sets because I got a phone call. I felt bad, but no one complained that I had to step out for a bit. It's 10:30 now, and I am super exhausted, so i'm going to bed. Laughs tomorrow, Friday and Saturday (the weekend shows are with Bill and Dan. I can't wait.

Check out my MySpace blog for jokes on which I'm working.

Visit RooftopComedy.com. Watch videos. Laugh. Feel warm and fuzzy.

This is a place where eternally
fire is applied to the body

just talk, be yourself

Today I free wrote for 35 minutes and I thought my hand was going to fall off; I also reworked a couple of old jokes and posted a bunch of stuff on my my MySpace blog. It felt pretty productive. At Lloyd and Harry's tonight, I hosted in Clayton's absence, and Steve Poggi, Mike Shawkey and Jeff Wesselschmidt made it out. Gregg, one of the guys who works at Lloyd and Harry's also did some very drunken jokes, most of which were Clayton's and managed to spill an entire Budweiser on the stage. It was quite a show.
I'm going to try to start freewriting more, and doing some other exercises to get myself cranking out more material. I've kind of set a deadline for myself, I want to be featuring by my thirtieth birthday. I've worked Mason City Limits like that, but I need to get 15 more minutes of solid material and get into some more clubs. It might be a high bar to set, but it should give me something to work for.

Check out my MySpace blog for jokes on which I'm working.

Visit RooftopComedy.com. Watch videos. Laugh. Feel warm and fuzzy.

You can taste the bright lighs but you won't be there for free

first all week

Tonight I was on stage for the first time this week. I was really excited about it during the show, everyone was doing really well, and the crowd was pretty cool. I got up and did my thing; with a couple of new jokes and one story about Valentine's Day that went nowhere and a couple people said it was a good set, but when judged by my standards I would have preferred more laughter and less of me saying "I don't know" after every joke.

I'm in <I>another</i> stretch of writer's block, partially due to the fact i haven't been writing lately. The old all-or-none effect is playing a major role, I think. I can't stand free writing, because I only write about the stuff that bothers me, and it doesn't seem like the type of stuff I want to talk about on stage. I tried to talk about it anyway tonight, and there may be some potential, but I have to figure out <I>how</i> to say it, which is tricky (like busting a rhyme that is right on time) because no one can help me with that. It's frustrating not to make progress when you know you need to. I just want to the hot item for a moment to know that I'm doing something right, or at least original. It's late and I have work tomorrow. I am skiing with the family next week so will effectively be missing a week of comedy. I'll "try" to "write" but make no promises. That already sounds like I'm going to fail... The weekend after I get back I am working with Bill and Dan from the Bill and Dan show. I'm pretty excited about that, and am going to work really hard to get it together as I want to make a good impression.

Check out my MySpace blog for jokes on which I'm working.

Visit RooftopComedy.com. Watch videos. Laugh. Feel warm and fuzzy.

 

Bang your head! Mental Health'll drive you mad!

(Quiet Riot – Mental Health)

Save the Drama for your Mama

Last night was the final showcase for the Playback Theatre class I was taking through Bill Chott's Improv Trick. The class was fun, and I learned a lot in the way of listening for key aspects of stories (like beginnings, middles, ends, even major symbols, themes or powerful lines/emotions).

Sadly only 7 to 10 people showed up to watch the show, so we didn't have the easiest time getting people to share their stories. But the ones we did were good, and that works for me.

I did find out some bad news; apparently there will not be any more Open Jams on Wednesdays down at Laughs. That sucks, because I liked improving and had a good time with it; but on the up-side, that clears up Wednesdays for the Comedy Forum and BS Bar and Grill. So now I'll hit those and focus back on Standup.

Check out my MySpace blog for jokes on which I'm working.

Visit RooftopComedy.com. Watch videos. Laugh. Feel warm and fuzzy.

 

It's like this and like that and like this and uh

(Dr. Dre – Nuthin' but a G Thang (feat Snoop))

Saturday wrap up

I never mentioned the Saturday shows at Mason City. the first one was good and the second was pretty rough, opposite of Friday. After the shows, I drove straight home to get some stuff done before writing with One Handsome Man and my Improv Class. i hate blogging late because I never seem to get any detail. It's just "there was a show. I told jokes. It either went well, didn't, or was neutral"...

I need more blog discipline...

Check out my MySpace blog for jokes on which I'm working.

Visit RooftopComedy.com. Watch videos. Laugh. Feel warm and fuzzy

Puzzle Pirate Poker and Punchlines

This weekend I'm in Mason City, IL performing with Kevin Naughton. Our first show last night was for about 20 people. 20 of the oldest, most non-laughing at jokes, didn't finish their drinks people. Having not done such a long set in a while, I was kind of all over my jokes, but I did my time and assume that I learned something. I did get a good tag out of the set for my Halloween jokes, which Chris and Ryan had to remind me of. The second show was for about 9 people, and they were much more responsive. It was a pretty good show, and I make it a little longer than the last show, I think my DVR said I did 28 minutes.

Chris mentioned that he might book me for an After prom in April or so. That would be pretty cool, as the last one I did was a lot of fun. Plus if I get another chance to stretch my legs, so to speak; I want to give it a try.

Check out my MySpace blog for jokes on which I'm working.

Visit RooftopComedy.com. Watch videos. Laugh. Feel warm and fuzzy.

 

2 for ... thursday...

Last night I pulled a double, hitting both the Comedy Forum's Pro-Am competition and the Cocktail hour at Laughs on the Landing. I enjoyed my sets at both places, which is a relief after how I've felt about my sets Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I didn't get the judges' vote or the audience vote at the Forum, those went to Brian Dowell and Edna Tagnetti respectively. I did about 5:17, which was just at the edge of what was allowed before getting a penalty. Yeah, I live on the edge.

The Cocktail hour was wild, I showed up late so I got up last, right after some annoying blond girl who wouldn't shut up (as a heckler) got on stage. I heckled the crap out of her, then I felt warm and fuzzy inside. It was awesome. Then i did about 8 minutes, I didn't want to go that long, but Adam wanted me to bust out the Tetris song, which I was happy to do. I didn't get in until late, which is hard on an old man like me, but I'll survive.

Check out my MySpace blog for jokes on which I'm working.

Visit RooftopComedy.com. Watch videos. Laugh. Feel warm and fuzzy. 

ROTAFORTUNAE

I forgot to talk about Tuesday's show at the Bone yesterday so I'll add it in with my thoughts on last night too. Tuesday's audience was pretty big, and fairly well behaved. I went up second but tried a bunch of stuff still in the developmental stage (Black Name, Radiation, Seminary and something else). I might not have had the confidence behind that set that I should have, so I would probably rank it as a 6 or so out of 10. Since I am harder on myself that most people a 6 is a pretty low score, I think 7's and 8's are average and I shoot for 9's and 10's, but with a little more work, those jokes will get there.

Last night was the show at the Forum, I went up second again and had some ladies talk through my set. I did get one noticeable laugh during my scorpion joke, and during my Nervous with women joke, I basically told the table of ladies to shut up. Then one of they tried to stare me down for the rest of my set. They continued to talk through everyone else's set, which is unfortunate because they made up a quarter of the non-comedian audience.

The competition is tonight, and I may try to slip down to Laughs to pull a double, it depends on how tired I am...

Check out my MySpace blog for jokes on which I'm working.

Visit RooftopComedy.com. Watch videos. Laugh. Feel warm and fuzzy.