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.