Duffy's II

Last night was my second open mic at Duffy's in Lincoln and I had a good time again. The comics I rode to the show with, Cody Hustak, Scott Muilenberg, Richard Reese and Nick Allen are all pretty funny and easy to get along with. On the way up, we listened to the new Doug Stanhope CD and it's really good. When we got to Duffy's we didn't have much of an audience, but by the time the show started enough of the people in the bar filtered into the showroom area to make it a good start. I went up third, technically second because the hosts didn't do any time up front, and had a good set. I started with my joke about Justin quitting smoking and just played from there on out. I am working on a bunch of new stuff right now, I reworded my scorpion joke, my motorcycle date joke, the facebook bully joke (that got a good laugh at the end), I forgot about my Linguine Bologna joke until I saw it on a video so I did that and I tried out a new Amazon.com/Tremors joke. I also did a couple other bits and got off stage around 7:30 or so?
Some of the other comics told me I had a good set (it felt like I did, too) and that's really cool to hear as the new guy in town. Yesterday Scott said that it was nice having a new guy who wasn't new to comedy. That's awesome, the Omaha/Lincoln guys have been really friendly and I'm still very excited about moving here.

Oh My, Omaha

I moved to Omaha this week and spent a lot of time at the Funny Bone here. Greg Warren put in a word for me with the club manager and got me on the list for the open mic (which they only do sporadically (and I only know that word because of the movie Clueless)). Anyway, I did the open mic, and then hung around the club a bunch this week because Eddie Gossling was headlining and I'm a big fan. Eddie got me a spotlight or two and I had a good time on stage, but sadly, I never performed in front of the club's booker/manager. The booker from the KC Improv was filling in this week though, but I don't think he saw me either.
On the bright side, I did meet a bunch of really cool local comics, and the feature act this week, Mike Speenberg was 1) really funny, and 2) super nice. This week was really cool because I'm in a new town, I don't feel totally alone, I haven't had a cigarette all week, I won money at the Casino, I did some good comedy, might have written some new jokes, got hit on at the bank, ate some quality breakfast type food at Village Inn and made pork chili. Mmmm Mmmm, pork.

506

Tonight I did not get to go to starbucks to write before the funny bone open mic. Instead I had to wait for a lady who came to buy my couch. So I made some cash, which is nice, but I didn't write or really go over my set at all for tonight (we'll get to that later). When I finally did get to westport, I stopped by the funny bone and then headed to starbucks. My voice has been sounding hoarse (to me at least) and so I've starting drinking warm tea to make my throat feel better. I was headed to Starbucks with the intention of getting a hot tea, but Jeff the barista there, knows my order (Venti Hot Chocolate) and was already making it by the time it was my turn to order. I took that as a sign to keep up the hot chocolate streak, because on the way over to the coffee shop I wondered if having a 100% streak in something mundane like a coffee shop order was worth perserving. Saying “so-and-so always does this” sounds better than saying “well, usually...”
I didn't really go over my set very much tonight because it was the same set I did at the bootcamp last week. My new bully joke, the 2nd person shooter and the math stuff with the word problems joke. My bully joke needs a punch at the end, I could tell tonight that it needed a little work (the audience at the 11:00PM showcase weren't great for judging material). Tommy Johnagin suggested I go back to having the bully be a chick, which sounds like a good idea. I'll tinker with it and try it again next week. I did the “is this coming out in binary” line as a throwaway during the “improper” / “fraction” stuff. I keep forgetting that I want to add “mean” to that. The other day I seriously just tried to string together a dozen math vocab terms just to see how long I could go. It's harder than you'd think. My closer tonight was the word problems joke. It's really not strong enough to close on, but we were only doing 3 minutes tonight and I wanted to do it. So I did. One thing I decided to work on last week (and I don't think I had time, and I don't remember if I wrote about this yet) was to stop doing my closer like it's my closer. There's no reason to suddenly amp up the energy or start selling differently than I have been. I shouldn't cue the audience to act a certain way (I doubt that I'm doing a good job of psyching them up for my big finale, if that's what I'm supposed to be doing). From now on, I'm going to do my closer like I'm doing another joke behind it, same pause for laughs (hopefully) and then “Thank you, my name is...” only I'll say “Marcus Robinson”.

The Last Day of Bootcamp.

Today was the final day of the Kyle Cease Standup Bootcamp. I was fortunate enough to work with Bob Bledsoe (who gave me some excellent quotes for my book) during the one-on-ones (which is kind of a misnomer, but in the good way. The headliners would concentrate on one comic at a time, but the other comics in the group/pod were able to listen and offer input (which was great because having more brains working is better than having less brains working. That makes sense, right?). After Bob, I joined Ant's group because I wanted to work on my word problem joke.
I hit an amazing streak of luck because I was able to work with literally one-on-one for twenty three minutes and he helped me reword my facebook bully joke and now instead of being 20 seconds long, it's around a minute and includes an act-out and a bunch of personal details from my years in gradeschool. After that, we worked on my 2nd person shooter joke, which I admit I don't quite have the hang of in its new incarnation. Kyle bought pizza for the entire class today, which was excellent, although I never paid attention to what kind (restaurant/brand) it was. Kyle lead us through a relaxation exercise to help with the nerves of an Industry Showcase, and awarded 5 people the chance to pick their spot on the lineup. I didn't get to pick my spot, but I wasn't really nervous because my confidence level was pretty high through most of the day. After the actual seminar ended, we had a bunch of time to unwind between the end of the actual bootcamp and the showcase (which was scheduled for 10:30 but started closer to 11:00). Jon Lovitz headlined a show at 8:30 so I caught his set, and he's really funny. He also plays the piano now and had a weird 15 minute chunk on Bob Sagot being gay. It was hilarious, and a rumor (Jon's joke was that he was responsible for spreading the rumors).
The showcase was really amazing. I am/was very proud to be able to watch the progress of so many talented young and veteran comics. Some of the sets tonight were simply legendary, including Carl's, Dartanyon's, and Donna's (to name just a couple). I went up last (except for Dave, who wasn't in the class, but was part of the sound and video crew (he is also a comic, and was involved with the last bootcamp). I started my set by thanking the camera men, the sound guy (who cued up It's A Long Way To The Top If You Wanna Rock N Roll off my iPhone, and the guys in the director's booth. Then I opened with the brand new joke Ant helped me write about my bully from grade school. After that it was my revised 2nd shooter bit, then the Math Problems joke (now with no Leroy (sorry, Leroy)), Sudoku, my new Word Problems joke and I closed on the bit about being sober and people booing me.
I went on stage around 2:26AM and had been up since 7:00AM so I was very tired (also, my hands hurt from all the clapping and my voice is feeling kind of sore from all the talking, cheering and screaming from the past 5 days (the screaming was during the shows. You gotta show some support). I caught a break because about 2 comics from the end, Kyle had everyone come down to the front rows (the club is three stories high, I don't know if I mentioned that). It made a difference Ithink especially since the show was long and a bunch of the audience left before I got on. Their loss.
After the show, all the comics said their goodbyes and took some final pictures and I got lucky and caught a ride to the airport with Dave, Diego A. and Halli B. Right now it's 5:17am, and I have almost been up for 24 hours. My flight boards in 70 minutes and I don't have wifi, so I can't post this online until I get home probably. Either way I think I'm going to take a quick nap. I plan on taking another nap on the plane, AND THEN taking yet another nap when I get home (please note: the third nap will probably end up being closer to hibernation). I haven't checked my credit card balance online yet, and I'm a little afraid to, but no matter what I spent this week, the experience was absolutely worth it, and next time I'll probably try to get some of the St Louis comics to come out. I'm already planning on going.
But for now, I plan on taking a nap. OK. BurgerKing, then a nap.

Rip it like a Band-Aid

Tonight, my 1000 word essay is going to be about the show I was in at the John Lovitz Comedy Club in Universal City, CA. This was officially the first open mic I've done in California. The original lineup contained 26 comics and was hosted by Frazier Smith who did an excellent job. The JLCC is three stories and the capacity sign indicated that 542 occupants could enjoy a comedy show at the club. We had 12. I went up 23rd. After comic #20 or so, 4 people left, so I performed in front of the remaining 8 customers and probably 20 more bootcamp comics and other comics who aren't in the bootcamp. My set went alright, considering the crowd size. I'm working on loosing my comic accent (which I can only describe as talking AT the audience as opposed to talking to the audience (Kyle Cease told me to talk to them like I'm having a conversation with a friend). I've heard that advice before, and sometimes I don't have the accent, but the majority of the time, I probably do). It's easier to drop the accent with smaller crowds, because in an intimate setting like that, you have to be conversational with the crowd so you can make them feel more comfortable.
We were given three minutes tonight, which doesn't seem like much time, but I planned on doing my Bone Tom, Facebook Bully, 2nd Person Shooter, Math Problems, Sudoku and Word Problems jokes (the last of which was inspired by Ant during the bootcamp and is therefore my newest joke). I ended up doing my PANTS, my Sober Bacon and Gay Bar jokes. I didn't time myself, and since they light you with 2 minutes to go, I don't think I went over but I might have. I didn't time myself because the stool got moved to the back of the stage before I went on (at one point it was in perfect position to put my iPhone on). Tomorrow night during the filmed showcase I don't think I'm going to do the PANTS joke because my voice hasn't been in good enough shape to facilitate screaming (my voice has started cracking again like I'm in puberty. It's probably because I sing loudly to rock and metal songs when I drive).
I was really impressed with my fellow comics tonight, because I know a lot of them have far less experience on stage than I do (some of them performed for the 1st time tonight, others haven't broken 10 yet and they did great in front of the small audience). I was especially impressed by one comic, Joann, who didn't want to go up. I told her she should (and I won't assume she did because of me, but she did go on stage and did great). Ed Driscoll touched on the subject today and said that being nervous means you care. I agree 100%. It's like the anxiety I get on family float trips when I climb the cliff and am looking at the river below. You know you have to jump, that's why you climbed up there. But looking down at the water is scary. From that perspective it looks much worse than it is. When there are only one or two comics before you, it's like standing on that cliff. But you have to jump. Once you do, the anxiety leaves and before you know it you're in the water and everyone's cheering for you and clapping because you did it (it helps having my nieces and nephews jumping off the cliff too, because if a 13 year old Monica jumps, I'm not going to bail out. Probably because my family would never let me live it down). I wish I was able to come up with an analogy about ripping off a band-aid because the phrase “rip it like a band-aid” sounds really cool to me. As a kid, taking a band-aid off is a scary deal, especially if you have any amount of body hair near the adhesive. But when you rip it on stage and conquer your fear, you get to see yourself stronger than before. The wound is not longer a problem, it's healed and you're stronger than before. Kyle likes to quote Tony Robins (sp?) and say “When you think you can't, you must”.
Today Louie Anderson talked to us about comedy and told us that no one ever died doing comedy (I know some comics have passed because of how they let comedy affect their lives, but no one ever actually died on stage because they ate it. So the worst-case scenario just got a lot less terrifying because the only real fear is rejection. And who cares what a crowd of strangers thinks anyway? The biggest thing I'm learning from the bootcamp this week is that vulnerability is actually power. Being able to admit that you're vulnerable to an audience proves that you're human and have so much in common with them. When comics open up on stage and talk about their lives, the trials, tribulations and other t-words (T-Ravs?), the audience relates because everyone has a weakness that scares them. Admitting you have one to others can get the audience on your side as quickly as a hilarious joke. Granted the joke gets laughs which is the preferred method of payoff, whereas relating to the audience can move the audience emotionally. That's not always exactly what comics are looking for, but it certainly does make people remember you (and hopefully they want to see you succeed so maybe they come back to another show to see you rip it like a band aid the next time).
My advice to new comics, if any ever read this (and I think they will, if I can finish the standup book I want to write) is that you have to perform. That's why you came to the club, that's why you flew to Los Angeles, that's why you climbed the cliff. The thrill of performing, the thrill of facing your fears, staring them in the face and not backing down is better than any high, any drug, any thing.
Even if the waitstaff outnumbers the audience.
I love my life.

All hail King Marcus

I haven't written a blog in a very long time, because I was tired of just saying "I was at the Funny Bone, I did these jokes, I had a good/bad set". There's nothing interesting there. Now, I feel I have something interesting to say.

I'm in Los Angeles, California at a standup comedy bootcamp put on by Kyle Cease at the John Lovitz comedy club in Universal City. This week, we've been focusing on finding our true selves, the things that make us as humans and comic truly unique (for instance, I am unique because I wasn't popular in grade school, so I fled to a seminary where I could feel safe. The seminary left me without much experience dealing with women, so I have a hard time understanding their psychology, which is why the married woman who took my virginity and offered me money to kill her husband didn't scare me away, because either I still wanted a woman to pay attention to me. The seminary often left the exiles (or whatever you want to call ex-seminarians) clinging to the first woman who we found that paid attention to us on the outside world).

Kyle mentioned Saturday that Stephen King writes 2000 words a day, and since, as Kyle said, we're not Stephen King, 1000 words a day should be acceptable. And since then I've written 1000 words a day on various topics that are personal to me that other people may or may not have. I went through some of the pages and highlighted the stuff that I think is more interesting and has potential to be funny. My new goal I think is to start doing a new minute each week about personal stuff.

I'm really looking forward to becoming a much deeper comedian on stage, and with a couple tips and tricks I'm learning, I'm going to get a lot funnier.

Star Power Vs. Fire Flower

Tuesday night John Doelling was emceeing the open mic at he Funny Bone. Kevin O'Brien was first, and I was following Kevin. The crowd was pretty good, and as Kevin was on stage, a TON of people came in and we ended up with a good crowd. Kevin did excellent, and I was actually a little nervous because I didn't know if my style of comedy would "taste good" after his. I don't mean that in a negative way. Also I had come up with some ideas on the way to the club earlier and I wanted to open with them. Which I did. I forgot one premise, and worked on a new bit or two and then worked on some less new bits and then closed on my Mia Wallace joke, but I added a line or two and closed on my Kill the Mood line. I was extremely happy with my set. The rest of the show was great, and afterwards I sang The Black Crowes' Hard To Handle. That was fun too.

They always standing next to me,
Always dancing next to me,

Last week in comedy

Saturday: My audition at Dr Grin's didn't go the way I'd hoped. I'm not blaming the emcee for cooling the audience, but he did make fun of a lady on her 50th birthday and call some bachelorettes some non-complimentary things. Also, though, I asked the audience how they were doing TWICE and it probably looked like I was nervous, so I'll take 50% of the blame there.

Sunday: We didn't even do a show at Lloyd and Harry's because there wasn't enough of an audience.

Monday: We did a show at the Forum, I was going to go up last, but some guy (who brought people) wanted to go last so his girlfriend could see. So I let him. His friends weren't a very good audience, and they didn't laugh at anyone (including him) hardly at all.

Tuesday: I did another five minute set for Matt at the Funny Bone. I was happy with it, but could have been happier.

Saturday: Last night Johnny Kavanaugh and I did a one-nighter outside of Springfield, IL. First show we had 13 people, and they were fun and I did 24 minutes or so (they weren't big laughers, but they did seem to have fun). Johnny did a lot of crowd work first show and the audience LOVED that. Second show, literally no one sat in the show room, 1 couple (read: 2 PEOPLE) moved closer but were technically not in the area that was the show room. So I did about 15 minutes where I couldn't stop laughing at the situation, and Johnny did maybe 30. After that we got paid and drove home.

I have a bunch of stuff to write...

Monday was the last Monday-show at Lloyd and Harry's. From now on, we're going to be performing on Sunday nights. Honor the Sabbath. Anyway, on Monday the show was interrupted (continuously) by two sisters, Jackie and Alicia, who had 1) too much to drink and 2) the most shrill voices I have ever heard. They stumbled into the bar by accident and were pleasantly surprised to find a comedy show about to start. A bunch of the comics talked to them, whereas I just plowed through my material and made eye-contact with the remaining audience members to try to keep focus. Kevin Bunetic actually bought the girls a drink so they'd shut up. I thought that was funny.

Thursday I had a one-nighter in Rockford, IL at a bar called LT's. The headliner was a guy named Stephano. The audience was a little rough (we started with around 20 people) and they weren't sat too close to the stage. I did my thirty and had an alright set. I think I forgot to do my Pro Bono Pimp joke, but I'm not sure.

Last night I did two sets at the Comedy Club on State in Madison, WI (My friends Ward Anderson and James Ervan Berry were performing). My first set went very well. I did eight minutes and Joe (the comedian-liaison/manager (I think?))was impressed and I got compliments from other staff member and audience members (one lady said I felt like a motivational speaker because I smiled and made eye-contact). I got to do another set at the second show, and I asked Joe if he wanted different material or if it mattered. He said it was up to me, so I chose a different set (I actually repeated one (1) joke). I did really well that time and closed on my DQ joke (which I never do, but might start now for shorter sets). Joe was again complimentary and said he would pass on good words about me. After the shows, we got some pizza at Ian's (which was good) and went to the Silver Dollar for some drinks. Then Ward let me crash in his extra bed in his Hotel (The Concourse is pretty swanky). Next stop is Grand Rapids, MI for a show at Dr. Grins with Mike Brody and Tommy Johnagin.

Karma pays off

Saturday night I did a guest set at the Funnybone's midnight show. Ryan Stout was headlining and he got me the time. I had dinner with him, Tommy Johnagin and Andy Woodhull at Ozzie's last time Ryan was in. Matt Contey hosted and Jake Baker middled. My set went very well, I opened with my skiing jokes and followed with Hooters, Black Marcus, Black Name and closed on my drinking stuff. I was kind of nervous because it's been 14 months since I did a guest set at the Westport Bone (2/17/08 to be exact, with Eddie Gossling and Dan Chopin). Matt said he wants to see a different 5 from me at next week's open mic (since I am going to Columbia tomorrow evening).

Sunday I did a charity show for Bloom's Syndrome. It was an all day event, with Improv, Sketch Comedy, Story reading and Stand Up. My friend Katie Shanahan asked me to perform and I almost always say yes to Katie, and I almost always say yes to Charity shows. I was scheduled to go on at 6:50pm and do about a half an hour. When I arrived, Katie told me that there wasn't a big crowd, but they were a good crowd (she said they knew they were small, but they were giving the performers their attention and responding positively). I went up and did my set, I didn't do much crowd work or try to kill time and I only checked my cheat-sheet ONCE (about 18 minutes in or so). I ended up doing close to a half-hour and I had a fun time. I even got a compliment or two, which is always nice (especially from a small audience). I'll have to remember to add that to my resume (when I decide to update it).

Don't call it a comeback

Thursday I got in from my trip out East. I had a corporate show that my brother put together. New York Life was honoring one of their "big guys" and Darin wanted some comedy. Myself and Chris Smith did some time for them and my brother was really impressed. My set went really well. I opened with my skiing joke and it worked well. In the middle of my set, I made a joke about how I was glad I was doing well because the guest of honor was an accomplished marksman and was given a unique shotgun. That got a good laugh. It's not like every joke killed. Sometimes no one laughed because a joke wasn't their style, but I still got a bunch of big laughs and a ton of compliments.
Saturday I had a show in Keokuk, IA at an Elks Lodge. Dano, Joe and I did an Elks Lodge once and I was looking forward to this one. When I got to my hotel, I decided to take a little nap. About ten minutes in the phone rang and it was a guy saying the show started at 7:00 and not 8:00pm. No problem, I just cut my nap-time down and headed over to the Lodge. My GPS made me drive down this terrible gravel road, it was pretty annoying. Anyway, I get to the Lodge and meet the guys in charge, then I grabbed a seat and went over my set list. And then a guy came in; he kind of limped. And he and the door guy had a conversation (apparently) about how the guy's new leg didn't match his biological leg's natural color. Awesome. I was really hoping to open with my skiing joke again, and I didn't want to start the night off upsetting an audience member (or the entire audience). So I asked the door guy if he thought that guy would get offended. I didn't think he would, since he was openly talking about it. He probably had a sense of humor about it. I as right, the door guy and I asked him and he said he didn't have a problem if I did my joke about the one legged skiier.
My set went so well. I opened with my skiing joke and did really well. I used a louder voice into the microphone and kept my face visible and concentrated on the pace of my jokes (because I had to fill my 30 minute set). My pace wasn't slow by any means, but it was measured and I was able use my face to dial it up a bit. I had a blast too, I know I started smiling a lot and my ears got red because I was excited. And the audience was having fun too, I heard a guy or two banging on the tables when they were laughing. I call that a good set. When I got off, Paul Frisbee (the headliner for the night) complimented my set. He did very well too, I thought he was very funny. After the show, I watched a little UFC fighting at the lodge's bar and headed back to my hotel. Since I had to work on Sunday, I decided to not stay at the hotel and I drove straight home. I talked to Paul, and he suggested I get merchandise to sell. I've been thinking about it a lot lately, but I haven't come up with any ideas.

Tin roof. Rusted.

Last night I did a show at the Wild Wing Cafe in Winston-Salem, NC with Kevin Downey JR. We had an audience of around 50, and they were sporadically sat throughout the bar (some people as far as 60 feet away). My set went well, although I forgot to do a couple of new jokes, which bugs me because I also forgot some other jokes. I did 20 minutes spot-on, but I didn't have that, "I still have material left" feeling". I did a little crowd work, because one table was particularly chatty for a bit; but they behaved and didn't disrupt the show.

Nothing much

Last night's set at L&H was way better than I thought it would be. We had minimal audience, and I wanted to do a bunch of new jokes, so I did. I drifted in and out of new material and had a decent time. I even had one of the seven (and I may be being generous with that number) audience members laughing out loud a bunch.
Tonight's set at the Funny Bone was way worse than I thought it would be. I went up third, and the audience didn't give me anything to work with. I Granted, I did almost all new material (I brought back 2 jokes from a couple years ago, so it's like they're new because I am telling them differently now). Anyway, I did like 2 minutes and then told the audience to go eff themselves. Not the most gracious defeat, I know, but should I have thanked them? I don't think so.

Six shows at once

Saturday was my last night at the Loony Bin in Little Rock. The first show was a little rough because the stage lights didn't come on until about 40 seconds into my set. So I think the audience was a little thrown by that. During the second show I kinda got heckled by a blind guy (I put a video of it online) and the third show was kind of rough. The drive home was good and I got a little sleep before work at noon.

Monday's Forum show had a decent sized audience and twenty six comics. I went last and had a good set. Later at Lloyd and Harry's I had a more humbling set.

Tuesday's set at the Bone clocked in under 2 minutes because I wanted to do my Hooters, Ferrari, Black Marcus and maybe my Overboard dating sites joke (I don't remember). It wasn't a set I'd put online so I'm not completely satisfied with it.

Speaking of tapes, I did a set last night at the Comedy Forum for the HD Comedy Tour. I did about ten minutes in front of a decent sized audience. I went up first, so the audience may have been a little cold; I didn't see the rest of the show because I was caught up analyzing my set. It went well, but I kept wondering if I should have opened up with new material (I was kind of taking a page out of Chad Guff's book by treating that set just like any other).

Last night was one of the most unique comedy nights I've ever had. Ever. Paul and I decided to walk to the club because it was nice out and only a short walk (half mile or less) to the club from the condo. As we walk up, Pat is just getting out of his SUV. We all walk in together and pass a bus for the Arkansas School for the Blind. I saw it, and briefly thought about my blind jokes and wondered if they'd be a problem, but in the past I've never offended anyone with my skiing and drinking jokes.
Fast forward about a half an hour. I'm sitting in the back and I see a blind guy being let to the bathroom, so I figure "There he is". Pause: I only saw 1 (one) blind guy right there. But there was a bus outside, indicating more than one person came in the bus. Un-Pause .
Now, skip to the next chapter; I'm on stage and doing alright. I opened with my Hooters joke, which is working (though I think I need to see a couple of the last lines with a VERY specific tone of voice (tone might be the wrong term, I might be talking about pitch, but since Brother Christian (one of my choir instructors from the seminary) isn't here, I can't ask. Anyway, I'm a little ways into my blind skier joke (I found a new setup, by the way: I like skiing, because I'm kind of good at it, and anyone can do it. I've seen people in wheelchairs ski; I've even seen blind people ski. It's crazy because.... So this guy in the front row says something. It's a light-hearted heckle, like he's trying to help me out. Anyway I respond neutrally (I don't insult him, but I also don't encourage anymore from him). He says something else, I say something else (still neutral) and then he tells me he's blind. And that threw me so hard, even HE saw it. He said something about how it caught me off guard. Then he said something about having a seeing eye dog with him. I thought he was talking about his date, and I said (laughingly) that it was rude to call his girl that, and the crowd died laughing. Then I looked at his feet and saw an actual Seeing Eye Dog (named Duke). So then I broke out a joke I haven't done in years about how I dated a girl who trained seeing eye dogs. Somehow I got the audience (and that guy) back and finished out my set. I don't know chronologically where it happened, but I did my Ferrari joke again and wrote a new line on stage to close out the bit. I'm pretty excited about it. Near the end of the show, I was playing Zombieville, USA and some audience members in the back started asking me about it. They had iPhones too and we started talking about them for a bit. After the show, they said they'd look me up online and be my Facebook fans.
The second show was good, but I had to kind of "work" to get through my set, which is fine. I stuck to my time second show (I went over a minute or two first show) and got to try my Ferrari joke again. This time I dropped a couple parts that I think aren't necessary or necessarily hilarious. I'll work on them tonight and until I figure them out. I'm very stoked right now because I might be coming back to St Louis with about 2 more minutes of material. I haven't been sleeping well at all this week, seriously I went to bed at 4 this morning and I was up by 11. I'm going to blame the bed in my emcee room and try to catch a nap this afternoon before the shows because as always, I'm driving home tonight so I can work tomorrow afternoon.

Paddy G in the house

Pat Godwin showed up right as Paul and I were heading over to the club tonight. He had a valid/personal reason for his absence last night, so I'll leave it at that. I was nervous about tonight's show because Paul and I re-worked my Ferrari joke today and we literally spent an hour on it. I opened tonight with my new Hooters joke and it did alright, though I think it's way funnier than the audience gave credit. My set went well; the audience was good but a little tight. After my set, Pat said that I did well, especially given the circumstances. Tomorrow we have 2 shows and 3 on Saturday. Now that I have a definite outline for my Ferrari joke, I'm planning on doing it every show. I'd love to come back to St Louis with a couple new polished / semi-polished bits.

100% unexpected

The show tonight at the Loony Bin in Little Rock was really good. It was open mic night and since Pat Godwin wasn't performing tonight they had 9 locals go up and then I did about 12 and Paul Strickland closed out the show with 25.
Some of the open micers did really well, and a couple did not. The audience hung in there, though. My set was really fun, I had a couple people heckle early on, but I shut them up by being quick (read I snapped at them) and a little vulgar. But not real vulgar. My math jokes got some serious laughs tonight, which shocked the heck out of me (cause it's Little Rock and they NEVER laugh at the math jokes). I had a couple of weird reactions from the crowd (they laughed at treasure map, but not booty), and they really laughed at the Abraham Lincoln punchline but not the hat/sneak/beard tags.
Paul Strickland is very funny; he has some lines that are just beautiful and he's got a really good stage persona. Offstage he's pretty easy to get along with and he's already helped me in the writing of some jokes.
I'm very excited about the rest of the week.

I grabbed a nap before the first show last night and I think it threw me off my game, but Beth had good things to say about the week, so I don't think it was too detrimental. My Hooters joke worked better second show than it did first show, and my Ferrari joke is still being troublesome, but I guess that means when it finally works it'll feel better.

Here's a good random treat: I had a terrible nightmare about eating it on stage.

The room looked like a "hall", and I was behind a podium for some reason. Anyway I started in on my stuff about how I don't drink and some lady heckled me and said that people who have drinking problems wouldn't appreciate me making light of their problems. I told the lady I have a drinking problem and continues but she had already convinced the audience she was right. So I struggled through my material and (here's the worst part) I could see the club owner (who doesn't exist in reality) light me and then approach the stage. Clearly I had lost the audience and he wasn't happy. I woke up while the headliner (Dan O'Sullivan, who does exist) was telling me he couldn't believe I ate it that bad two weeks in a row.

That was the worst part of the dream; apparently now I'm not allowed at TWO imaginary-clubs...

Thursday: I came up with a good line on stage to close out my Abraham Lincoln joke. My set felt a little disjointed and I didn't do my "new" Ferrari joke.

Friday: I wrote a Hooter's joke today because Dano and I went to Hooter's for lunch. I didn't word it completely right first show because it's new and I think the wording need to be very specific. The show was pretty good, although I didn't try that Ferrari joke.
I did try the Ferrari joke second show, and I may be loosing confidence in the premise. I specifically remember it working, but it seems so long ago it's hard to believe. For an extreme example, I'd liken it to seeing a miracle. You see the miracle and belief whole-heartedly in what your senses tell you happened. But years later, as the memories fade you start to second-guess yourself and the validity of the miracle. I did have a blast second show, though. I remember bring really loose and comfortable; I'm hoping tonight's shows go just as well.

Monday and Tuesday were pretty normal as open mic nights go, so I didn't feel like blogging about them. But tonight's show at the Loony Bin was so much fun. Wednesday is open mic night at the Loony Bins, and I love it.

In a Loony Bin open mic, the emcee doesn't warm up the crowd for the comics. He just throws the first to the wolves. I asked Beth about it today and she says it makes the comics learn faster. Either way, I had brought up seven open micers before I did my set (I tried to make a joke between each of them). My set was pretty good, I did my Nervous joke, my overboard joke and my Mia Wallace joke (my new line about killing the mood got a semi-applause-break). I had a weird segue into my Sam's club joke (I ended with the Scarface line). I didn't do my Ferrari joke, and I wanted to work on it all this and week; so I'm slightly bummed there. I did my shampoo, braille menus, gay bar chunk and got some good laughs. The feature act, Justin Leon from Kansas City (Lawrence) was really funny and Dano had a good set too. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the week, I really think we have a solid show this week.

Trip to Columbia

Last night I went to Columbia for their open mic at the Eastside Tavern. The Eastside Tavern used to be one of my favorite bars in Columbia (still is, technically). They had a pretty good turnout, but the show literally started 50 minutes late or so (which is cool, I didn't have anywhere to be). I wanted to perform in Columbia because I still have friends from college who live there and haven't seen me perform in years (if ever).
I got to go up first after the emcee, Dan Friesen, and I had a good set. People laughed and after I was off stage they told me I did well. After I was done, I watched the other comics until it was time for the "Make Sal laugh" competition.
Sal is the owner of the bar, he's a long haired pierced tattooed kind of guy and he's awesome. So each comic got 2 minutes to make Sal laugh using whatever comic devices that comic wanted. Each is timed so in case more than one makes Sal win, the quickest is selected as winner. It took me 21 seconds to get Sal to laugh (I did some roast-like jokes (so did some of the other comics)) but unfortunately someone else had already done it in 18 seconds. So I didn't win the 20 dollar bar tab, but I did have a great time. Then I drove home and slept.

I just walked in the door from my trip to Ashland, WI. I left yesterday around 8:00am because my GPS said I could do the trip in 10 hours and 15 minutes. I was hoping to get into town around 6, maybe 6:30, hit the hotel for a nap and go to the show at 8:00). Nothing even remotely similar to that happened. Instead I took a wrong turn after grabbing some coffee and added a 20 minute detour to my trip, so now I was scheduled to arrive closer to 6:45. Eventually I get a call from the guys at Charter (who booked me) and the bar had decided to do a second show. I say I'll do anything to help (I'm trying to impress) and tell them my ETA is 6:50 or so (I was getting into some two lane traffic and the speed limit was 55 for over a hundred miles. Seriously). Eventually everyone agrees I'll try to make it by 7:00 and we'll do two shows.
So I pick up the speed and start passing people (still a two lane road here, speed limit 55). Eventually I pass a truck and I have to floor-it to make it in time and not crash into the vehicle in the other lane up the road. Turns out that other vehicle was a statr trooper and he clocked me at 81 mph. He was nice, and my ticket is $236 and some change. So if I can make the second show, I'll almost be able to pay for my ticket (and nothing else) with tonight's pay.
I ended up making the show. Mark Poolos was headlining; it was cool to see him again. I did 24 minutes each show and Mark said he was impressed I didn't get angry because of my ticket. Both shows were fine, I'd say they were like a Sunday show at a club. Kind of chill, but they laughed. Anyway, Sarah, the manager of the club said she felt bad that the additional show caused me to get that ticket so she gave me a bonus (which I repeatedly tried to refuse, because I don't know what the etiquette is in that situation).
After the second shows, I talked with Mark and Tim (the bartender) and then headed Hotel Chequamegon, which was very nice. Then I woke up this morning and drove home.

The Get A Way Comedy Night

Tonight I went to New Frankfort, IL. More specifically I went to the Get A Way Bar to do comedy with Scott Long. Before the show, I met a local rookie comedian (I won't mention his name, just in case anything I write could be taken the wrong way. Don't get me wrong, the guy was nice, he just did somethings that new comics do. Call them mistakes or whatever, I'm just saying what happened). He was going to do some time before the show. He had done so last month at the bar and said he had performed one other time. When I asked how much time he was doing, he said thirty minutes. I let that comment go for a bit because he said he told stories on stage and so I wouldn't seem like a jerk, but eventually I brought it up and told him that 30 minutes was a pretty unreasonable expectation, both from himself and from the audience. I've been doing comedy for 5 years now, and I barely have 30 minutes.
Anyway, a half an hour before eight (the show is supposed to start at eight) this guy gets on stage. And he does alright, I mean the audience wasn't really prepared, but he stuck it out on stage for about 17 minutes and I never saw him get rattled or discouraged. So he's got that going for him. Anyway, they bring me up almost immediately, by reading my bio off of my website (that made me laugh), 13 minutes early. Luckily I was ready. I always am.
So I got on stage and started, the microphone kept cutting in and out and at one point I accused the sound guy of messing with me (that got a laugh). Eventually he just gave me a new mic (they were wireless, so it was a smooth transition). I had some talkative people: I told one lady mid-setup to just go ahead and talk. I continued my joke without taking a breath, and that kind of got a laugh. Later, some very drunk guy (around 8pm, keep in mind) starts talking and I point out that the people laugh when I talk and don't when he talks. Then I told him that everyone pretty much hated him and wanted him to shut up. The crowd definitely laughed at that. Anyway I checked my phone at 8:04 (which means I was on for 17 minutes) and was pretty sure I had enough material to get to 30 (That's a big fear of mine, coming up short on time). Anyway, I didn't check my phone again until I got off stage at 8:16.
I learned a bit about featuring tonight; some comics say that you don't really start learning comedy (or learn who they are, whatever) until you start featuring. I agree. Someone once told me that karate students don't start learning the good stuff until they're black belts, so I look at it like that.
Tonight I learned that it's not just about being funny, it's about pacing yourself and not getting tired on stage. I guess you can get physically tired if you move around or are really out of shape, but I'm talking about getting tired of being on stage. If the audience isn't the best, or they aren't laughing enough anymore, it might be because the delivery is off.
That's one thing I wanted to tell the rookie guy; it's like UFC fighting. You don't just get huge stamina for grappling and ground-work. You have to work your way up to that.
Anyway, while Scott was on stage, I talked shop with the other guy and tried to get his perspective on comedy. I gave him some advice (he asked and I warned him to take it with a grain of salt). I told him to get good, he'd have to do more comedy and really surround himself with it. It made me think of someone who was stuck on an island and made a bow out of a stick and a shoe-lace. It might do in a pinch, but it's not going to be as effective as a product from someone who's studied around other bowyers. That's what comics (especially new ones) need. Other comics. And clubs. And stagetime.

The Forum and Lloyd and Harry's

I didn't blog last week; probably because there wasn't much to blog about. It's getting like that again for me; mainly because the little things I'm trying on stage are interesting to me. Until I try to explain them to people. Then it just sounds weird. For example, tonight at Lloyd and Harry's, the crowd was extremely unruly. Dani Reel got up and had people join her to sing Clayton happy birthday. And I got to follow that. Not that I cared, I pretty much write off L&H shows as a loss before I go up. That way there are no expectations. So far, that strategy has paid off numerous times. Like tonight for example. I went on stage and decided to talk-under the audience. I don't remember when I learned about it (talking under an audience basically means I talked quietly so that the audience would police itself: those who wanted to hear would silence the louder audience members) but it worked tonight (nothing works 100% of the time, if it would have failed, I might have just eaten it on stage or tried something else). Dani's friends started yelling at people who were loud, and then asked me to. So I told the guys to shut up, which they kind of did (I was lucky they didn't start talking back to me more than they did).

Anyway, I had some new jokes tonight that I tried. They didn't work at the Forum. Johnny Kavanaugh emceed, and I was slated to go up first. I was going to ride Johnny's likability-wave and use it so I could said new jokes. The audience didn't seem very attentive while I was on stage, and I kind of resented them for it. I think they were upset because I asked them (repeatedly) to move closer to the stage (which few did). After a certain point, I do begin to hate audiences. And I kind of hated the one tonight. Especially because eventually they behaved for some of the other comics. I feel kind of jealous, you know? Why couldn't they have liked me? Why couldn't I have a good set. I hope that sounds sarcastic.

streak busted

I'm almost a week late on this blog, because on last Monday (February 2nd) we did a show at Lloyd and Harry's that wasn't great. It seemed like the audience wasn't in to it, and Steve Poggi said that few of the other comics actually wanted to do the show. I didn't know that, but in hindsight I can kind of see it. Anyway, the show wasn't great and so I was nervous going into the Funny Bone open mic as the host.
I was hoping to make a good impression last week because James Johann is coming to Westport this week and I worked with him in Little Rock in November. I asked Matt if I could host that week and he said he'd like to watch me host the open mic. Long story short, the audience was rough last week and I didn't get the big laughs I wanted. HOWEVER, I didn't crack or show that the audience was tough, I went on with my material (and may have gone long by about 2 minutes, which REALLY bugs me). Anyway, Matt wasn't able to see my set. Something happened, I don't know what. So I think I dodged a bullet there maybe. It's too bad I didn't ask to host a week earlier...

Charity Show

Last night I did a Charity show with Joe Stewart, Mark Feigenbutz and Mike McGuire. For the life of me I don't know what charity it was exactly, though I am sure Joe will tell me if he reads this. Anyway, I forgot to ask off for the night, so I literally left work for an hour and a half (B-Rabbit style) so I could perform and then I went back to work. I even opened up my set talking about it and made some jokes like "they're still waiting for their Pepsi". It was funny to me because I was easily 15 miles away from my "section" and we don't serve Pepsi...
Anyway, my set was alright, I wouldn't score it as high as sets I've had in the past month, but I got enough laughs to call it a B or B+, so I'll settle for that. Right after the show, I had to leave and go back to work, so I did literally that (I even told the audience that's what was going to happen, because I didn't want them to think that on-the-clock-server was part of my shtick or something). The best part of the night came when I accidentally wrote a new lead-in for my skiing joke. I can't wait to try it again tonight and see if it's as comfortable as it felt last night.

The Sudoku joke.

Last night the Comedy Forum had a decent sized audience, and I ended up going up last out of about 13 comics. The beginning of my set was a little too cocky for my tastes, but I said it, and pulled it off, so there you go.

As soon as I got on stage, I asked Andy Faasen if he'd check my camera and see if it was recording. I then said "I plan on being hilarious in a minute". The crowd kind of laughed at that, I took it as disbelief and said "Oh no, I'm F****** funny". They laughed. I had kind of a blue set, but I killed. I did about 12 minutes and after the show people came up to me and told me I had a good set and it was really weird. Cause, I mean a LOT of people came up to me. Like 7 or so, but 7 out of an audience less than 30? It felt really weird, but I felt funny. 100% Bona Fida funny. One group in the front row also laughed at my "Improper" tag, which never happens. I also got an applause break on a new sudoku joke (line) I'm working on. I did curse during it, so I don't know it that's why they laughed. I hope not.
After the Forum, I picked up Poggi and we hit Lloyd and Harry's, where I emceed and has a less than stellar set. The show was good, we only had about 7 comics or so. I forgot to try my sudoku joke which sucks because I would have liked tonight to be its third time on stage. If I'm on the list, that is...

Milwaukee in 2 sentences

I had a great time, modified some new jokes and was holed-up in the condo for 5 days straight. The headliner and feature were both from Chicago so they weren't around much.

Saturday's tapes won't work...

I had an awesome plan last night for making a new demo tape. First set, I do "Chunk A" which is just my bad-with-women material. I do that for 7 minutes and close on "Chunk B". Second show, I do "C", "D" and "E" (break up material starting with the email joke (thanks again Nikki!)), skiing and random-stuff (that's "D") and job stuff (that's "E", I guess). So my first show was alright, although I had to cut off some of my drinking material to fit into my 10 minute goal. The Skyline doesn't do a check-drop during the show, (so they do it after the headliner gets off stage and THAT means it's harder to flip the room between shows) so going-over wasn't an option.
The second show wasn't great for me. Not since I was looking for a tape. That email joke is SO HARD to open with, I'm determined to rework it until I can open with it, and I have to work out some kinks on my Motorcycle joke so it can go early in a set (and not piss people off). Eventually, I knew I wouldn't be using the tape from the second show, and I loosened up a TON, and that's when I started getting usable tape. I closed on the drinking stuff again (and sold it WAY better, I feel).

Focus

I think I was not very focused on stage last night. I play around on stage, which has been the main theme of my recent posts, but what do I mean by that? And how is it affecting the show.

Cause: I don't really prepare a setlist.
Effect: I closed on my skiing joke last night because I was doing it when I ran out of time. Also, I'm not getting a good tight tape made.

Cause: I'm trying new jokes on stage and concentrating more on adlib/in the moment writing (and less on notebook writing).
Effect: The joke isn't polished (which I think makes me look more human as a comic, I learned that from Jake Baker) and I'm using the same technique during my announcements.

I think if I prepare a setlist just right, I could split my first set tonight into two pieces and surround my second set (on tape) for a good twenty minute set. That's the plan, at least...

30 hours of Appleton

My drive into Appleton, WI was a good one. I made decent time, didn't speed much, didn't get too lost (the occasional wrong turn is inevitable almost any time I go somewhere) and I got in some grocery shopping before the show. I also had time to make a batch of soup. The other comics, Bil Dwyer and Dava Krause, are pretty cool. Wednesday's show was good. My set went well, and I had a good time playing with the jokes. I didn't make a set list, and so I forgot to do one joke or another, but I'm recording every show through the RoofTop camera, so I'm confident I'll get all my jokes on tape this week. There are three sets of announcements at the club and I screwed up the second set pretty good. After the show, we hit a small bar called Kokomo. We ate peanuts and threw the shells on the floor. It was kinda cool. Today, we woke up early and got breakfast then I watched Season 1 of 30 Rock. I like it. Tonight's show was good, I nailed the second set of announcements but somehow floundered through Bil's intro.

The Me Dan O' and Joe Show

Tonight, Joe Lehnig Dan O'Sullivan and I went to Warrenton, MO to perform at the American Legion. A couple of weeks ago I went out there to make suggestions on how to set up the room. Unfortunately, they didn't really listen. The front row was easily 20 feet away from the stage, and the stage-left audience was easily twice that away. I didn't do a real thorough mic-check, which I paid for at the beginning of the show.
I had some guy, the president of the board maybe, bring me on stage. The audio wasn't up enough, so my first two minutes were pretty much wasted. I killed another minute trying to get the volume up, and then I restarted my set from scratch. It took me a while, but I got the crowd on my side and I finished a 25 minute set pretty strong. Joe and Dano both did really well, and there are talks of me booking another show there in April. That's be nice.

one part of one joke

Tuesday the 13th I let Nikki Glazer make my set list. She offered the week before and I was really excited to see what she thought of my jokes. Seeing which ones she picked was really enlightening as to how she looks at my material. Doing this is really helping me look at my material in a new light. Nikki picked my email joke as my opener, which I had NEVER thought of before. So I was challenged to get into that topic quickly. I don't think I managed as well as I would like, but I did fine. The only part of my set I wasn't happy with was my DQ joke. I totally forgot one of the tags in it and I didn't tell it very well. I didn't do my Chubby Chaser joke (which actually was just added on RooftopComedy.com (sweet), instead I did my new Ugly Celebrities bit. It seemed to go over. I closed on my Mia Wallace story, and the Abraham Lincoln stuff didn't hit, so I thanked everyone and said goodnight.

Lloyd and Harry's

Tonight was a good show for me at Lloyd and Harry's. I feel like I had the crowd's attention. They laughed where appropriate and I did a new joke (that I haven't even written out all the way) and it worked. I also did my Abraham Lincoln reference tonight and it seemed like it got a good laugh. I remember looking at my phone about four and a half minutes in and thinking I had gone through WAY too much material for four and a half minutes, but I looked away and told some more jokes and before I knew it, Clayton was lighting me at 9 minutes. I got off around 11 minutes with my Sams club joke, which I haven't done in a while.

Go Bananas

I went to Cincinnati to do stand up at GoBananas. As soon as I got in the door, I stick my foot in my mouth and call Mike Jeff. Then later I called a different Jeff Dave. My set was good, but the drive home was terrible, I had to slow down to 35 at one point, and I saw an SUV literally spin around twice about a half (to a quarter) mile ahead of me. It was crazy. I can't wait to go back.

short sentences

No show at Forum Monday.
Hosted at Lloyd and Harry's.
No list for Funny Bone Tuesday.
2 drafts of the list, wasn't on either.
Matt let me go up after Gabe.
Steve made my set list.
Killed.
Camera didn't work (again).
Cincinnati tomorrow.
Gonna use same set list
Some lady made fun of my ears at the jazz club. She was old.
Talked to some girl. Had a boyfriend.
Went home.
Had to pick up Poggi.
Jack In the Box.
Charlie Gets Crippled.
Sleep.