We had two shows tonight at the Loony Bin in Little Rock. Both of them went well, but each one had a little hang-up that kept the shows from being awesome: when I got on stage for the first show, the microphone was not on. So when I greeted everyone I even said "my microphone's not on" which got a chuckle. But then when the mic got turned on, it was super loud. I could head my voice BOOMING through the PA. I don't like being able to hear myself through the PA more than I can hear myself naturally, and there was some feedback which wasn't pleasant to listen to, so I moved the microphone and my left arm lower. But my voice continued to BOOM and I kept hearing the feedback during my set. I repositioned myself a number of times and nothing much helped. Later Mark told me that the lower I put my arm and the mic, the higher they turned the volume. Next time, I'll say something (I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want to break the "fourth wall" and admit there was a problem twice. At the end of the first show, I mentioned that Todd Yohn was coming to the Bin next week, but as soon as I got off stage, Jeff announced it over the PA; so I got really self-conscious that he didn't think I did a good enough job announcing it. But he didn't say anything about it to me between shows, so I guess it wasn't a big deal.
The second show was pretty good; no microphone difficulties, but the audience wasn't as quick on the uptake as the first one. Also; there was this table in the corner (stage left, about 8 o'clock really) that WOULD NOT SHUT UP during my set. They were really distracting me; I don't know if they kept any audience members from not being able to hear, but they very nearly kept me from being able to talk. I really didn't do anything about them though, because I didn't want to start the show off on a weird note. "Hey welcome, glad to see you all, shut the hell up, here's Brandon". During the second show, I did about 14 minutes and did my Smoking joke, the drinking chunk (with my new parts I've been working on all week), my dating material (there is some older stuff I want to add, but that can wait until next week or so), and I closed on my skiing joke. I didn't do any of my job stuff (and I'm hoping to bring back one joke, if it doesn't seem too hokey or dumb to me). I'm thinking that with the recent changes I've been making, I'm adding a lot more to my over-all time. I'm really hoping I can come up with about 4 more minutes by summer and another 4 by my birthday. It's good to have goals; even really REALLY hard ones.
Check out my MySpace blog for jokes on which I'm working.
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