Sold-out show!

What a great feeling. Last night's show was packed to the gills, and people were having a hard time finding seats. Kelly Macfarlane was the host, and she was very funny. I was supposed to have 10 minutes last night, but got cut down to 8. Have no fear, everyone ended up going over and I did 11 minutes.

I was scheduled to go up 3rd, which if you're one of my usual readers, is my favorite spot in any lineup. I got bumped though, ad George Hamm came in and did a set in my slot, so I had to follow him fresh off a hot set at the Merrill Auditorium with Bob Marley. The energy in the room was great last night. From the first moment Kelly hit the stage, all the way through the end, everyone was putting in the effort and it was a great night for comedy. While I was waiting to go onstage, it was hard to keep focused, because I was pretty wound up. It was kind of like the scene in 8 Mile when Eminem talking about "there's vomit on his sweater already, Mom's spaghetti", except I didn't throw up, but the energy was there and that's what that soliloquy was supposed to represent.

I opened with new material. Actually over half of my set was new to newer stuff and a lot of improv stuff too that was really working. My very first joke started out strong, but I tripped over my words towards the second half of it, and it started to die out. I saved it by stating that the previous joke was certified by waste management as a genuine turd. That saved the day. Everyone appreciated that I noticed it didn't go properly. Towards the end of my set, one guy blurted out that it was his birthday. Then a couple other people did. In short time about 6 people were saying that it was their birthday and how old they were. Before it got out of hand, I reigned in the audience by saying, "That's great, you all had birthdays, good for you. You know who else just had a birthday? Jesus. That's right, Jesus! And I bet you stingy pricks didn't even get him anything. You could've at least got Jesus a Dunkin Donuts gift card. Because Jesus is fueled on Dunkin". I'm not sure where I pulled that from, but it did kill. It was pretty sweet.

I stayed to the end of the show and waited for the crowd to clear. I had people come up and say they liked my stuff and one guy said he "really appreciated my routine". It sounded like I needed to be wearing an gymnastics unitard and dancing with a long ribbon on a stick, but it was still good to hear anyway.

Next scheduled show is January 6th at Spectator's in Sanford and then I believe on the 24th at Club Gemini in Bangor. Next Thursday is also open mic at Bingas Wingas, and where time is short this month, I'll probably do some time there as well. To my new readers in Portugal, thanks for visiting and the stuff on your site is really dirty. I'm not judging you, I'm just saying, it didn't seem like the donkey really appreciated wearing the running shorts you put on him.

I'm Not Disappointed

Last night I went and did the open mic at Sierra. To say the crowd petered out after the second comic was an understatement. It actually looked like it might be a good crowd before it began, but that turned around quickly. Lucky for me (insert sarcastic sneer) I was up fourth.

By the time I hit the stage, most folks were no longer paying attention, except a couple of Nick Salve's friends and a couple heavy girls that looked like they came from USM. I got some laughs, but not like I'm used to. I thought my set was pretty good, but I can't be sure really anyone was listening. I'm pretty sure they weren't. If I had to drive a long distance for that show, I might have been upset, but I really didn't care. I felt like my set was pretty decent, but who really knows. One good thing is that my most recent change to my "Advice" joke went over even in a dead room, so that seems like it'll be a keeper.

There was a point where a show like last night would've eaten at me and I would lose sleep, literally. Not anymore. I've come to terms that not every crowd is the same, and there's things about comedy shows out of my control. I can't control the crowd, the temperature of the room, if the host is being an asshole, the crowd noise, shitty waitstaff, the only thing I can control is my jokes and how I tell them. I think given the situation, I did pretty well, but the crowd response wasn't there. Oh well, there's always the Connection on the 28th. I'm not gonna let it break my stride, I'm not gonna let it slow me down. Oh no, oh no, I got to keep on movin', Sorry, the 80's took me over for a minute there.

A Bit Of A Surprise

It was another good night for me at Acoustic Coffee. I’m not really sure what’s going on, I have historically had bad luck at that room, but the last couple of times, I’ve been very relaxed and the crowd seems to have really enjoyed my sets. Last night was no different.

My set was fairly short. I had told my jokes to many of the same faces in the crowd before, so I wanted to use some new material. I only used 1 joke that I’ve told before, and one that I’ve been rewriting. Other than that, everything else was new. I had a few that I had in mind that I wanted to tell, but when I hit the stage and got into the flow of it, I forgot which ones I wanted to tell. I hadn’t written a set list. So I did what anybody would do in that situation, I made up a couple of jokes on the spot. It was funny to me because I knew that I hadn’t written them out, and oddly enough Dennis Fog told me one of the ones I told was a really good joke. It was strange, but kind of easy at the same time. Most of the jokes were potty humor, and I thought kind of "hackey", but they worked, so I can’t complain.

The funny thing about my set last night was that the crowd was extremely quiet before I got onstage. I already had it in my mind that they weren’t going to laugh at all. The first thing I did was grab the mic and go to pull it from the stand and the cable popped out of it. Nice. I didn’t let it phase me, and from joke 1 all the way through to the end, I had the entire crowd’s attention and laughter. The only thing that didn’t seem to work was a story I told about the crack addict in Toronto, but I was using that joke to stall for time. Knowing that the joke wasn’t working, I bailed on it and said something to the effect that that joke obviously wasn’t good because nobody was laughing. That got a good rise out of the crowd and I saved a shitty joke by calling it out for its lameness.

Next show for me will be another open mic in Gorham next Tuesday the 19th at Sierra. After that I have time at the Portland Comedy Connection on the 28th. Also there may be a trivia night that I’ll be hosting at Bingas Wingas, but I’ll have to wait to hear back from Timmy B on that one.

Not bad, could've been better.

Last night's show was at the American Legion in Westbrook as a benefit for the Westbrook Cheerleaders. It was a crowd of about 40 or so people. I wasn't sure where the place was, so I planned it out on mapquest. My directions told me to take Rte 25 to Main St and then a right onto Dunn St. If you've ever been to Westbrook, just about every Rte is a Rt 25 of some sort. Rte 25 W, Rte 25 E, Rte 25, Rte 25 Business, etc. I did find it after a spell and the Dunn street sign was about 7 feet back from the road. I got lucky to see it.

Our payment for last night was a couple of free drinks. Miller light, I have to watch my girlish figure, and all the pizza we could eat. There was just about every pizza place in Westbrook that had donated pizza to the show. There were probably about 50 pizzas in total.

I was the first comic for the night. I did about 15 minutes I'd say with my jokes and playing with the crowd. They all laughed, but they sounded exactly how you would expect 40 people in an American Legion Hall to sound. I was expecting a bunch of drunk older cheerleader types living vicariously through their daughters, and I more or less saw just as many men as women, who seemed like they were dragged to the show by their wives because they needed to support the cheerleaders. So the response was good, but I was hoping for something better. Then again, I've gotten used to the fact that the first slot is always going to get less of a response than you anticipate. Folks aren't drunk yet, and haven't gotten into the flow of the show quite yet.

Brian Brenniger went on second, and he has a joke where he talks about a woman's taint. He got up on a bar stool and lifted his legs to point to the magical area, but when he did, he lost his balance and fell backward onto the floor. It was kind of scary for a second, because people didn't know if he was alright or not. This was just 20 minutes after he showed me a bruise he had gotten on his leg 2 nights previous that took over almost his entire lower leg. That's one reason I prefer stand-up straight to physical stand-up.

I left after Brian's set, this was when people were getting up to get more drinks and pizza ans went home. I was tired and this was the third comedy show I'd been to or went to see in as many days. At this point, my next "scheduled" comedy show is back at the Portland Comedy Connection on December 28th. I'll probably try and fill time in at Acoustic Coffee on the 12th, and maybe some time at Sierra's in Gorham on the 19th. If anything else pops up, I'll be sure to let you know. But it looks like a couple quiet weeks coming up, which will give me a chance to write more material.

Yippeee!!!!!

I had a great set last night at the Comedy Connection. It went so well in fact, that I decided not to do a set at Bingas Wingas after, because I didn't want to risk having a less than stellar set and ruining my night.

I had 4 people show up to watch my show. Heidi, my friend Jeff Inman, and his friend Steve and his lady friend. Our MC for the night was a guy named Spanky. To be honest, whn I heard the name, I was pretty sure he was going to suck, and boy was I wrong. He had a strange energy to him that made it almost impossible not to watch him. He was awesome. I wouldn't mind going back this weekend to see him do his whole set.

I felt a little bad. One of the newer comics through the Connection was hanging out upstairs with me. He was talking about how he was going to suck the life out of the room. He had a very negative attitude about his set before he went up. It was starting to make me think I was going to do poorly as well. But I went head first into my set and bulled through it.

My set was supposed to be 10 minutes in total, so I put together a 10 minute set. When I got there, my set was trimmed down to 9 minutes. I ended up doing 12 and a half. I feel bad, I didn't think I went that far over. I'm pretty certain, that's going to bite me in the ass. We'll see. I did a good mix of new and old material. I'd say about 30% of my set was new. 60% was proven, and I did about 10% improv. The crowd was really into my set. One moment I had a joke that was going really well, and I could tell by the reaction of the crowd that they wanted to keep laughing but didn't know if the joke was going to continue. So I said, "Go ahead and applaud that joke. It's been certified by the gemological institute as a true gem". The crowd exploded after that. It was kind of cool. I did that type of thing a couple of times. I had a good number of applause breaks.

Last night was one of my better sets that I've done in my opinion. Not only was the crowd really into my humor last night. My timing and delivery was on and I had a lot of fun plying the crowd. I was bending them and moving the tempo of the set up and down at will. It was a great feeling. Teo things I wasn't fond of last night is that I went over on time and closed with a street joke, which I didn't need. My jokes were doing better tan the street joke last night. But the other thing is I had a group of people say that they were going to show up for the show and they didn't. I gave out three free passes worth 2 admissions each, and none of them showed up. I could've used those for the people that showed up, but that's how it seems to go.

Next show is Saturday night at 8:00 at the American Legion Hall in Westbrook. It's a benefit show for the Westbrook Cheerleaders. It sounds like it might be a great time. Until our next installment kiddies, make sure you eat your vegetables.

One For The Gipper!

First things first, I had no intention of doing a set last night. I figured I'd go to Acoustic Coffee and support Dustin. I told him right off I was just there to hang and nor do a set. It was a quiet night, maybe 20 people total in the room of which more than half were comics. I was hanging outside with Dustin while Dennis Fogg was on. Unfortunately the crowd was pretty quiet. Dustin asked me to do a set. I said that I didn't have a set list ready. He said he just needed me to go on and boost the crowd, and I was starting to falter because I had a couple new jokes I wanted to try. Then Dustin looked at me and said, "Please. Can you do it for the Gipper?" So I did.

My set was very short. I told Dustin it would be. I ran either 4 or five jokes, and probably did just about 5 minutes at most. But it was a good set. I honestly didn't think that I'd get much of a reaction from the crowd, but they were there with me for the new material. I was kind of shocked. I worked a couple of rewrites as well. I'm glad I did it. It was a tough show for a number of comics because it was so quiet, but for the time I was there it was at least relaxed and fun. I guess maybe I was so at ease because I was thinking of it more like goofing around not doing time.

Next scheduled show is next week Thursday the 7th at the Comedy Connection in Portland. If time permits and the stars align, I'll put in some time at Bingas Wingas after as well. Two days later, I'll be working with Dennis Fogg on the 9th in Westbrook for the cheerleader benefit. I believe it's at the American Legion or something like that, but I'll update the blog once I know for sure.

Back In The Saddle

It felt like putting on an old pair of shoes again last night. Lately I've been so busy doing benefit shows, and driving to Augusta etc to do shows, it felt nice to get back and do some time in Portland. My time was cut down to 6 minutes, but basically I haven't really paid too much attention to the time limits they set for the past few months anyway. I try and keep it fairly close, but if they tell me 6 minutes and I do 8 or 9 and I'm not bombing, I call that close enough. If the crowd is digging you, it's a silly club owner that slaps your hand. Last night, the crowd was digging me. I had no real dead spots, but a couple of the jokes got laughter that was kind of quiet. It might have had to do with this self-proclaimed pool champion in the crowd that kept talking through the show and could've been distracting folks, but maybe the jokes landed soft. I'm not really sure. But by and large, given the size of the room and the reaction I got, I'd say I did very well. One of the strongest sets of the night.

It was a Sunday night showcase, and it was definitely quiet. There were 16 or 17 people there and with the heat on, it was a paltry 38 degrees. One of the smallest rooms I've worked in awhile, but they were there to laugh. A couple guys didn't go over so well, which were the two just before I went up. Sometimes when the life is sucked out of the room like that, it's tough to win a crowd back over, but I got them pretty quickly. I ran a couple of newer jokes and a rewritten one and it went over pretty well. It was a younger crowd that would normally dig my stuff, so once I hit the stage I felt pretty comfortable. It was hard to sit there so long, as I was on last, and there is a little pressure to close the evening on a high note.

Bob Marley swung through and did a little over a half an hour I'd say. He had some new stuff, and ran a few jokes I'd heard before. At this point, I've probably worked as many shows with Bobby as any other local comic. It's good company to keep. Maybe some of his good luck and skill will rub off on me.

One thing I felt bad about was a one of my jokes and a personal story involving my girlfriend went over well, and they were funny, but she was there and was embarrassed. I know it kind of goes with the territory, but I felt bad anyhow. My girlfriend has been very supportive of me through this whole process, and I felt like a dick by saying something to put her on the spot. I'll rework the one joke so that it isn't directly pointed for future reference, because it is a great joke. It's fun, but can surely be generalized. The story was funny enough, but on the whole, not really worth saving and certainly not worth hurting feelings over.

Next "scheduled" show is on Thursday December 7th at the Portland Comedy Connection, possibly swinging by Bingas Wingas after to run some time there as well. I may try and do some time at Acoustic Coffee this Wednesday. Dustin Beckleman is hosting, and I'd like to see how he does with that. He's always been supportive of me and swung by the Connection when I have shows like last night, I can try my best to do the same for him. Another date at the Portland Comedy Connection on the 21st, and a possible Trivia Night/Game Show host gig at Bingas, but more on that if it comes to fruition. I also have a benefit show in Westbrook on December 9th for some Cheerleaders. Word on the street is I'll be telling jokes to drunken older women. My kind of crowd.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the regular folks that stop by and read my adventures on a regular basis. That goes for Mike, Amanda, and my friend Ping Pang from Korea. Hope you get your fingers back after that horrible firecracker incident. If anybody thinks the blog needs newer information, feel free to let me know. I'm always open to suggestions.

Telling Jokes In The Industrial Park

Tonight was in Westbrook Maine at Victory Kart Racing. Not a bad show, or a great one either for that matter. It was okay. My set was fine, but generally my sets depend on a crowd that's enthusiastic to hear jokes and participate a little. This group was not a participation type of crowd.

I had a decent enough set and others did too. It would've been nicer if the crowd was more into it, but it was kind of like the crowd from the other day in Augusta. You take what you can get I suppose. I wasn't really feeling it, and a couple of the other comics weren't as well.

In the end, we ended up putting on a pretty good show, and Dennis Fogg was doing great to close the night. We each got paid in a prepaid $25 gas card for Exxon/Mobil. To me that's ironic, because my real job I sell gas cards, and tonight in my "fake" job I got paid in gas cards. The owner thanked us and was pleased with the turnout. All in all, even though my set didn't go as well as I wanted, it was a good show to be a part of. We were supposed to race before the show, but that didn't happen, but that's fine with me.

Next show is this Sunday at the Portland Comedy Connection. After that, for the time being, the next show is on December 7th at the Comedy Connection Portland, and then the American Legion Hall in Westbrook for a cheerleader benefit on the 9th.

Delia's in Augusta

It was an odd one for sure. Not crazy odd, but I can't quite put my finger on how I felt about the show, although I'm leaning towards dissappointed. For the record, I'll say I had a pretty good set. Not great, but pretty good. And there was a huge crowd, but my disappointment is in how the whole thing was put together.

Delia's was a pretty good sized resturant/bar. If anybody reading this is a comic, or been to a show at a resturant/bar, I don't need to mention that these are a hard room to tell jokes in. We packed the place, and from what I was told, the 4 comics were going to be splitting the door, and if we brought in a good amount of people, supposedly the owners would pony up a tip on top of that for the comics. There were at least 200 people in the place, easily $1000 for the door alone, and there was a large amount of people that had to stand up. For all accounts and purposes, this place already was a success before it began, and according to what I was told (mind you it was third party from one of the other comics) I'm already expecting $250+ for my services. More on that later.

The event was put together by Reach For The Sky or Sky's The Limit Entertainment, run by Lisa Babb. She laid down some rules at the onset, that we shouldn't get on a pulpit for political humor, offensive humor, and above all we were not allowed to drink at the venue. These are all odd requests for comics, but I played the game. Although I did see her walking around all night with quite a few colorful concoctions myself. I was kind of turned off about it from that point forward, but my father and sister had shown up for the show, and nobody from my family had ever come to see me perform stand-up. I trudged through the night, and did okay. I would've like to have done better, but a lot of things were working against it.

Out "stage" setup was rickety at best. A 3' x 3" concoction of old speaker boxes, 2x4's, and some loose laminate on top. The P.A. system was rediculously quiet, and kept going in and out. But I championed through my set and got my laughs. I had mentioned that these types of places are hard to work, because in a dinner atmosphere, people like to chat with each other, and comedy does require folks to listen, to go as planned. I did mantain the attention of most of the audience for my entire set, but there was a group of drunken women in a horseshoe shaped couch system set-up around the stage. They were so loud it was difficult to hear myself and I had the P.A. and the mic. Later on Dan Frederickson may or may not have told them to "Shut the fuck up", several times. He had a rough set from beginning to end, and had to do 25 minutes. I felt bad for him, because he's a gifted comic, and this wasn't how his stuff usually goes off.

Paul Hunt had a good second half to his set and he had to kill 20 minutes. His first half was tough, because the crowd wasn't with him, but he pulled it together and closed strong. The closer for the evening was Brian Brenniger. He did about 30 to 35 minutes, and ripped it. He's very physical, and nothing seemed to be distracting him. I give him all the credit in the world for last night. He was truly there to tell jokes and he didn't care if people wanted to laugh or not, but they did. He ruled the room. Like I said, my set was good. I had laughs from beginning to end and few dead spots. I was up first, which is always the toughest slot to get, because the crowd usually hasn't drank enough, or gotten into a comedy flow. I did do a good job I think in setting the tempo and getting people focused and as I said before, got my laughs along the way.

Now the foolish part, getting paid. After the show, I went up to Lisa and asked if I could get paid for the night, and she said she was waiting for people to settle up. Normally this is something that gets done while the last comic is up, so that everyone can get paid and get out. Not so this evening. Not only did she start collecting late, most of the bar was full before she began collecting at the door. I was a bit testy at this point, because I still had to drive back to Portland, because in 8 hours I needed to be in Cape Elizabeth to run a 5K. She tried to have the wait staff add this to their bill if folks didn't pay at the door. It was pretty a piss poor and Mickey Mouse way to do things. I usually don't get paid to do most shows that I do, so it's not the money aspect of it, but this was an amature way to handle things at best. Fast forward 45 minutes or so later, and I'm handed $100 in $20's. Ummm.... granted I didn't attend MIT and I'm not the best mathematician, but based on what I saw, this was a slap in the face. No tip on top, and we made that bar a shitload of money for the night. I took my money and left before I spoke my true feelings at the time.

I'm sure stating that might burn a few bridges for me, but getting caught up in any operation that runs like that shouldn't propel you forward most of the time anyhow. Sorry Delia's and Reach For The Skylar, I can get other work, thanks.

So, as far as how my set went, I'm pleased with how it went, but a comedy room that full would've been a much more positive and different experience. As far as the whole experience went, I won't work for that bar, or that "entertainment group" again. That was a poor way to treat comics, and that was the reason the bar was full to begin with. I'd hate to see the bar profits, or what Lisa figured she was entitled to for putting the whole thing together, because I'm sure I'd be furious.

Normally I won't rant so angrily, but as I said at the onset of this blog, it's not just about the jokes, there's a lot of politics involved in the business. I feel like I was used, not a single thank you from Lisa or the bar owners for doing the show. Maybe a simple thank you would've saved my angry feelings, but who knows. Someones pockets got lined, and they weren't mine or the other comics.

A Blast Was Had By Many In Buxton

I had my doubts as to what to expect out of the Buxton show last night. The ride up had some of those things that make you feel like you'll be making the piggy noises like in Deliverence. There was a woman in a wife beater heading towards a large pile of garbage holding a chainsaw while wearing a wife beater, 20 feet away from a house with a ton of wild turkeys running around on the front lawn, and a bag of discarded cookies in the middle of the road. Those ended up being red herrings, as it were, because Buxton was a blast, and my anus is still water tight.

There were six comics and a host last night, and I thought I was only going to need to do about 6 or 7 minutes, but Ro had us all do 10 to 12. I was a little thrown at first, because I didn't bring my notebook of jokes. I have plenty of material to take up that much time and then some, but when I get excited I have a hard time remembering things. I wrote down about 7 jokes and decided to wing it. I've been doing that a lot more lately anyhow. I've been interacting with the crowd much more than I did in the past, so I do less jokes and more improv. It seems to be working. My crowd reaction seems to be getting more intense. It doesn't seem like I'm reciting as much either. It's becoming more conversational. Last night, I ran the gamut between 8 and 80. I asked an 8 year old boy if he knew how to spell pussy, and I called an 80 year old woman a whore. It was pretty hilarious in my opinion. Out of context that makes me sound like a complete monster, but within the flow of the show, it was acceptable. It was just a matter of creating a situation where calling an 80 year old woman a whore without making it forced takes a little work. I had a really good set. A couple of the other comics said I killed or destroyed, but in my heart I'm pretty certain it was just a really good set. I know I can do better, and I will. But what do I know, I just keep plodding ahead hoping to get some laughs. I'm never quite fully satisfied.

Before my set, Dennis Fogg said that he'd been hearing that I was one of the hot comics lately. I'm not really sure if that's true, but I have had a string of good shows lately, It feels good. He mentioned something about another benefit show he's like me to do in South Portland as a cheerleader benefit. He said he'd get back to me on that, and that's cool. Also Chuck Sanborn wants me to do a show at the Maine Indoor Cart Racing the day after Thanksgiving. That should be a blast as well. Other things are in the works that I'm not at liberty to discuss right now, but once I can, I'll be sure to include them. Exciting things are happening and my dance card is filling up.

A Successful Two-fer

Last night was a blast. I had two shows last night, and both of them went well. I'll break it down for you.

The first show was at 8:30 at the Portland Comedy Connection. I got to open the show. Somehow somewhere, people decided they wanted to get out and laugh. I'd say the Connection was probably 3/4 full. It was nice to see. I opened the show, and did very well. The crowd warmed up quickly. At some points I was killing, but a couple of my jokes fell flat. It was kind of an older crowd, so I was kind of sure one of my cancer jokes wasn't going to go over that well. And I was right. Several applause breaks and lots of crowd interaction. The host was Tom Hayes, who was pretty funny. I like his stuff. It was a really great show to do, and the beginning set a tempo that this show would play like a professional show as opposed to a Showcase Show. I thought I did so well, I almost didn't go to Bingas Wingas, because I didn't want to ruin the good vibe. Good thing I did go.

Bingas started at 10:00, and I was sixth on the list. Funny thing was, there were 3 different people on the sixth slot. We figured it out. It was a loud room to do a show, but the crowd was into it. I had a great time, and I think it showed with my performance. The Connection show may have been stronger all around, but I had a few shining moments at Bingas that definitely carved a notch out that said I was there. It was great because there were so many comics there, and a bunch from the Liquid Blue/Acoustic Coffee crowd that I hadn't seen in awhile. It was good to catch up with them and see some other folks that I hadn't really talked to in awhile. There were a couple of jokes I used that I'm pretty cautious about, but for some reason, there was a big payoff last night. I have to push the envelope sometimes, and rooms that Timmy B! open up seem to lend themselves to that.

I'm pretty tired this morning, I was charged up and it took me a long time to fall asleep. Next show is Saturday the 11th in Buxton at The Roost. A few comics were saying last night what a great time that is. Also Friday the 24th is tentative at Maine Indoor Carting in Westbrook. Come out and hear some jokes, it really can be fun.

Beantown Baby!

Last night was the Faneuil Hall Comedy Connection show. It's a nice big club, and they run the showcase very smoothly. There wasn't too much time in between acts, and most of the folks stuck to their time. It was a bit refreshing. It was also a nice show to do.

The day before the show, I was contacted by two of the people that said they were going to go. Turns out they were just lying whores who deserve to eat shit, but I won't hold that against them. I'm only playing, I probably will hold it against them. It gave me a chance to carpool with my pals Mike and Bandit, and my lovely lady. It was just like any other trip to Boston with my favorite road travelers, except I had to tell jokes at a club.

I was on second. The first guy's set was a little odd, but he made it through. My set went well, even though I was thrown at first because Kevin Knox mispronounced my last name, and that will get in a comic's head. I went through the set I had planned, and threw a couple extras in there too just for good measure. My set went over well, but not great. It felt good enough that I didn't feel guilty people came in to see me and I felt they got a few laughs. The last time both Mike and Bandit went to see me was way back last year (almost to the day) in Lewiston where I had one of my worst experiences. It was nice to kind of redeem myself.

The other comics all had good to great sets. Timmy Brochou had a really good set, which was nice for him because it was his birthday. I'm not going to go too much into the material I had done last night, because I'm planning on posting it to myspace in the next couple of days. You can see it all for yourself and let me know if you want to.

The drive home was nice. We all seemed to have a good time, and we had the White Stripes Under Blackpool Lights blasting. I got the Baja up to the century mark a couple of times, and I was home and asleep before midnight. All in all I'd say it was a success. 3 more shows this week. This Thursday at the Comedy Connection, with the Bingas Wingas show on Portland street right after. Then to The Roost in Buxton on Saturday afternoon for a benefit show to raise money for the Bonney Eagle Robotics Club. Nerds have to buy legos I guess.

Well..... There It Is.

My 1 year anniversary came and went with no fanfare whatsoever. The crowd was a dud, my set was fine, but the crowd wasn't really the type to appreciate my brand of humor. It wasn't a bomb, but it wasn't a success. All things considered, I'd be better off if it'd never happened.

Last night's show was at the Comedy Connection in Portland. Lately they've been having an issue of sorts getting any people into the seats for Showcase shows. It's crowds are a lot like an open mic with no advertising lately. It's kind of sad. Aside from two weeks ago, I haven't been looking forward to doing the Connection shows. When I was starting out, I couldn't wait to do that room, but it's become quiet and the crowds seem less interested.

I won't lie, it bothered me that the show went over so poorly. I thought maybe I'd be able to look at last night, and where I was a year ago, and I was let down. I know I've grown as a comic, but if there's nobody in the forest to hear the tree fall....

I have a few more shows lined up, but I might stop pushing for time at the Portland Comedy Connection for awhile. I think I just don't appreciate it, and somebody else might still want the time there. I have a number of shows booked up through January, nothing for December, but November and January. I think I might let the shows run through and see where I stand. I had a goal when I started to do this for a year, and this will be going over a little bit.

The only goals I have left is to play Boston, which will happen next week, and then 1 more run at the Portland's Funniest Contest. I don't care to win, but the crowd was so good last year, I'd love one more time in front of them.

I Had Fun In Bangor

I never thought I’d say that, but what a blast. Bangor was a fun road trip with some fun dudes, and I think we represented Portland comedy really well last night. Myself, Timmy B!, Dustin Beckleman, and his pal Billy all piled into Timmy’s Tracker and hit the 95’s all the way to the town with the Paul Bunyan statue. On the ride up, we were listening to What The Hell Happened To Me by Adam Sandler, and when we went through the toll booth, I yelled out loudly with the CD “I got a snake mang!” which was really funny to us in the car, but I’m assuming the toll lady was less than impressed.

I’d never been to Bangor before, and quite honestly I figured it’d be a little like that scene from Deliverance where someone gets to make piggie noises. First impression of Bangor wasn’t far off. We were a little road weary from the drive and wanted to find a place to stop and eat or something. Almost the entire town seemed shut down like Children of the Corn (obligatory Stephen King reference there) at 6:00 at night. Very strange, but we did find a pub called Main Street Tavern. This place was a little sketchy; the barmaid was an older woman with prison tattoos up and down her arms, but a smile that could melt a convict’s heart, not really. We ordered from the menu, which she said “All items are either made in the toaster over or the microwave”. I ordered the Cheeseburger $3.50, and Dustin ordered the Jumbo Cheeseburger which she said was the same thing. I asked her if I could change my order to the jumbo then, seeing as it was the same price. She looked at me like I just stole her last prison cigarette. Good stuff. They had pickled eggs and Slim Jims on their menu, very classy.

We also befriended a fellow named Hawkeyes (his nickname, not ours) who had been coming to that tavern for over 17 years. No shit! He was quite braggadocios about the several women he had scattered around town for his carnal desires, to which my reply of “With a good supply of roofies, duct tape and a halfway decent hunting shack, who wouldn’t?” kind of fell on deaf ears. I guess it would of meant more if his friend Hawk-ears had been with him. Enough of the local culture, on to the Club.

Once we arrived we met the owners of Club Gemini, real nice guys. They directed us back to the VIP lounge. Now that was really nice. I was surprised how such a nice club existed in Bangor, and the VIP lounge was a treatment I hadn’t been afforded before as a comic. The host Randy showed up a little later on and we talked about the order of the night and went on from there.

We all had good sets, and I dare say I had a really good set. I did about 15-17 minutes at the start, and then later we did a comedy campfire where I added a few new jokes as well. All of the Portland guys did really well and represented Portland comedy in a positive light I believe. There seemed to be no empty seats around the stage, and the crowd was there to hear some comedy. The show went until just about 11:30 and I had my head rested in my bed at home just under 2:30 AM. A long night, but it was well worth it.

Great crowd, great club, great time, not such a good cheeseburger form the Maine Street Tavern, but don’t tell Hawkeyes, I think he likes their burgers.

Was It Worth It?

Not really. Last night's show was kind of weak. It was Sierra in Gorham, and once again the crowd was very thin. At least last month the crowd wanted to listen, but last night was regulars that wanted to drink and seemed less inclined to laugh. Those shows are tough. I think I had a pretty decent set, but who knows.

I don't want to give the impression that the crowd didn't laugh at all, but to get them to that point was way more work than I really wanted to put in. It seemed that some stuff that worked for a few people, didn't work for others and vice versa. It was like the polar opposite crowd from last Thursday where comics could almost do no wrong. I don't care that the "joint wasn't rocking" last night. I was just out running material and that was that. It'd just be nice to know if your material was working so that if it was, you can use it on a more appreciative crowd in the future.

I was going to go to Acoustic Coffee tonight, but I just don't feel like going through the same type of show 2 days in a row, so I might blow it off. We'll see, I can never make up my mind to not do a show. If not, next week Wednesday is my next scheduled show, a paying gig in Bangor at Club Gemini. I've heard good things about that club, so we'll give it a shot.

The Inmates Were Running The Asylum

If you weren't there for it, it's hard to explain. Last night's lineup was insane for a Showcase night. Myself, Timmy B!, Joe Ricchio, Tuck Tucker, and Rich Pickford were all in the lineup for the showcase comics. Everyone did a minimum of 8 minutes, and not a single set was bad. I've never seen that many comics in one night and everyone was killing. But that's not even the full story. For your measly $6 last night, you got some of Portland's best up and coming comics, but we had 3 headliner comics as well. Bob Marley, Jimy Dunn, and Kenny "The Viper" Rogerson. Our host for the show was this weekend's feature Jon Lincoln.

Bobby started the show and I got to follow him. I've done it before, so I wasn't too concerned. He got the crowd up really quickly, I just had to make sure I didn't lose them. And I didn't. Last night I could feel my timing was really on and my jokes were ripping it up. My new stuff and my old stuff I reworked a bit didn't let me or the crowd down in the least. It was awesome. People were coming up to me in between sets saying how funny I was, and those were people I didn't know. I did call one girl out during my set that had huge titties and was obviously a stripper. It was obvious by her outfit, that she wanted everyone to notice them. I made sure they did. The crowd was all feeling the same thing and my set had to stop for a second so everyone could catch their breath. It felt so great.

I stayed through almost all of the show to watch all of the other showcase comics. It was hard not to. Everyone was running new material and the crowd was ours from the beginning to the end. It was our room last night, and the feature and headliners had to gain control back after us, which is normally the other way around. It felt good.

Before the show began, I was talking to Jon Lincoln about the lineup, because all of the comics were excited about it. I let him know that it might get a little randy with the comics scheduled, and he was thrown off a little because he said he's a clean comic. But by the end of the night, he was saying "vagina-face and fuck" just like the rest of us.

It was soo much fun, perhaps one of my best sets ever and the best show I've ever been a part of. I was proud to be a part of that show. If I were building my dream show for local comics, I would've had Luke and Dustin Beckelman on the lineup as well, but like I said before, I've never seen such a potent lineup for a showcase night. I want to thank the crowd and the other comics for such a great time.

More upcoming shows are next Tuesday the 17th at Sierra's in Gorham, and the 18th at Acoustic Coffee on Danforth St in Portland. After that, my next scheduled shows are Sunday October 29th (my official 1 year show for doing stand-up) and the week after in Bostons Fanieul Hall Comedy Connection on Monday November 6th (I'll be working alongside Timmy B once again).

Electric Coffee??? No! Acoustic Coffee!!!!

I hadn't done this open mic for quite awhile. Last night was a blast. I had a raging set, more on that in a minute, and got to hang with some funny people.

I thought for sure as soon as my set began, I was going to have a terrible set, because I took the mic out of the stand and the chord came unplugged. I recovered and ripped through a lot of new material. Only one joke didn't work, but in retrospect, the timing of it and the build-up prior to kind of cut it off at the knees. My best moments were improv last night though. Most importantly with Nick's (one of the other comics) mother's vagina. The fact was that he had brought half of the audience, and I wanted to address them during the set and keep them into the show. One thing led to another and we went back and forth regarding her holiest of holies and the topics of racism and rip chord safety leashes in regards to her stuff. It was classic.

A lot of the comedy was dead on last night and the crowd reacted to most of it very well. The tempo of the show was working great, and Seth Bond Perry did an excellent job keeping things moving. It was definitely worth the commute from South Portland to Portland for the show, and I'll probably come back and do it again in a couple of weeks.

Next scheduled show is next week Thursday the 12th at the Portland Comedy Connection. Also I'm there on the 29th (my 1 year anniversary of doing stand-up, maybe someone will bring a cake). After that, the next show I have is on November 6th in Boston's Comedy Connection. Keep your eyes peeled at the open mics too, that's where I tell jokes that don't work sometimes and bail on them early because I will tell them before finishing them, because I'm silly like that.

The Final Curtain

Not me, but Slainte'. At least how we know it. Last night was the last night for a great room. It's going to be under new ownership and Timmy B will no longer host the room. There's a possibility that they may keep hosting it once a month, and my name has come up a couple of times as someone that could host it. I'm not sure, all I know is, last night was a good night.

People were in the mood to laugh. Nobody had a bad set, and it was easy to tell new jokes. Towards the beginning, there were just us comics and later on, more people filed in. I didn't take the bullet last night, I decided to wait. My set was mostly new stuff. Some worked, some could've done better, but it was a good set all around. I did probably about 10 minutes in all. I threw in some old stuff, even my wine tasting turned rape joke, which I love, and was told by my fiance that it should never see the light of day. Well it's worked every time now, so I guess we know which of us is the comedian.

There were a good number of people doing physical humor last night, and Timmy himself had a great bit about imaginary pets. My stuff wasn't physical, but I'm still perplexed about a joke I find funny that isn't shaping up. Perhaps because it makes fun of Christopher Reeve and it's rather scathing. People sure are touchy about him it seems. My intro portions of a couple of my jokes did very well, so I think if I reworked them and came back at a different angle, I should be able to get something juicy out of them.

A couple of the regulars weren't there, and I'm sure they'll be sad when they find out it's done and the last night went well. Slainte' has been very kind to host us and provide free drinks all year long. It's the room where Joe Ricchio was king and we all hung on his every word until he mimed fucking Jesus in the ass. It's the room where comedy campfire would happen to keep the jokes popping from comic to comic. It's the room where many of us found our voice and always had time for us to do a set, no matter the situation. It's the room that was brutally honest about jokes that had a shot and ones that needed sod tossed over the top of them. And it's the room that any comic who went and had a good set could leave saying, "What a great room. I'll definitely come back." I'm going to miss the room, because the patrons generally were the type of audience that appreciated my sense of humor. It was the open mic room where I've always felt most comfortable.

Thank you Slainte', and than you TimmyB!

Blame Canada!

As mentioned before. I’ve decided to do a post about my trip to Toronto if anything funny should happen, and believe you me it was a blast. Myself, Mike, and Bandit (Paul) hit the highway for 12 hours each way for fun and frivolity.

My very first practical joke didn’t work out as planned, but was funny all the same. We were leaving my house in South Portland at 3:00 in the morning. I decided that as a prank, for breakfast I’d eat a whole can on baked beans, and munch on sugar free vitamin C drops for the 12 hour ride. Both of which make me especially gassy. I also sprayed myself with half a can of Old Spice body spray to try my best to be the most fragrant traveler ever. Fast forward to 3 hours later in Springfield MA where I am in the grimiest bathroom of a Dunkin Donuts ever, exploding over the toilet. Then fast forward 3 and a half minutes forward to the same bathroom where I explode again, and start to regret the beans and cough drops. I might have regretted it the first time, but figured one blow out might be okay, but now I’ve settled into a pattern with well more than 9 hours left to travel. Apparently it would become obvious to me later that I actually had a cold that would help in the distribution of fluid business for the next few days anyhow.

Fast forward to Buffalo New York, who needs to buy a muffler? Everywhere there were muffler shops. I was looking forward to stopping in Buffalo to have some wings from the town that made them famous. We got a little turned around, and ended up eating at some place called Ying’s Wings and Things, which I’m fairly certain was a tax shelter for the mob, as our waitress knew nothing about the food they served. Whenever I go to a new place, I like to try their local beer. I asked what their darkest local beer was, and the waitress’ reply was “Guinness?” I had ginger ale instead. The wings were good, I didn’t have to poop, but Mike took a picture of Bandit over the stall just prior to him flushing an epic turd. We all had a good laugh at that, and me sucking the juice of the wings off my fingers. Buffalo seemed like an armpit of a town.


Once we were in Niagra Falls, Mike and I played a different version of air hockey. I grew up with an air hockey table and it’s one of my hidden talents. Nobody ever beats me. This was a new style though. It was called Boomerang and it was “V” shaped and you played right next to your opponent. I think I ended up winning 7-3. Mike took a picture of the back of his Bandit’s neck while he wasn’t looking, and it looked like a pack of sausages. The falls were pretty impressive, but we had a destination, so I took another poop and we were off.


Toronto itself feels like a young city. The layout is a lot like Downtown Chicago, with all of the glitz of Times Square. Bordering neighborhoods where the kitschy shops are feel like the “U” District of Seattle. It’s neat, but they sure love Tim Horton’s. How many donuts do people really need? There’s a lot of homeless people in the city, and we saw a rather disturbing sight Saturday night. A Chinese man was “cracked-out” in the middle of Yongue Street. That’s a major downtown street in Toronto. He was sitting Indian style in the middle of the sidewalk with his nose running, tears flowing, foaming up all over himself in the middle of the rain. It hit me in the gut pretty hard. It wasn’t a pretty sight.

We also had breakfast at a place called Over Easy I believe. Ramrod must’ve been feeling silly because he got a chocolate waffle the size of his head. I thought it was funny, because it really looked exactly like something out of a scat video or something and he was wolfing it down.

The Red Sox game was cool; it was a good game even though they lost again. Getty Lee was in the stadium right behind home plate, and the crowd went bananas when they showed him on the big screen. The pitcher was Hansack, who was the same guy I had seen pitch in Portland the week before. Ironic I had to travel so far to see him play again. There were tons of Red Sox fans at the game, and lots of sign from places like Fall River MA.

There’s a lot of hockey stuff in Toronto, and it felt weird to be there. Sports that are important to us mean nothing to them and vice versa. I know nothing about hockey, and they seem to care nothing about baseball. I do care about Coffee Crisps however, which is one of their candy bars we can’t get here. We must’ve eaten enough to feed a small village in those things alone.

On our trip home, we were stopped at the border and pulled from the car. We had to wait in the office with a lot of men name Muhammad etc etc. It was pretty nerve wracking, as I couldn’t think of anything that we might have done that would’ve gotten us handpicked out of those thousands of vehicles to get searched. It made me regret thinking that if we got stopped, I was going to tell an officer that Bandit had balloons of heroin in his butt, but seriously, these cops weren’t “fucking around” as they say. It was all business. Fast forward about 10 hours later, I was back home safe and sound at home with my fiancé, and I took a big poop and went to bed.
Looking forward to next year when we go on another trip. It’s always a blast hanging with the boys.

Sierra Mist!

Last night at Sierra's was fun. It was the first time I had worked that room, and I had a pretty great set. Some new stuff and old stuff happened last night, I went without a set list. The only problem was, not too many people were there to see it.

Aside from the comics that were there, at any given point there would've been about 5 people in there max. Too bad for that, the room is set up really nice, I'll definitely go back again next month if I can. The comics that were there, were all supportive and had fun. It seemed like egos were checked at the door. That's always nice. After a few minues, nobody seemed to care that there wasn't an audience.

I was impressed with our host Dennis Fogg. I had worked with him before, but he was hosting last night. He had so much material, it was silly. Aside from Dennis, there was a new guy named Nick Salovos (?) sorry I'm bad with names, myself, Seth Bond Perry, Chuck Sanborn, and Tammy Pooler. I feel like I'm forgetting someone, but it was all good. It was a nice mix of Comedy Connection, Acoustic Coffee people and Liquid Blue folks in a neutral room. There was a different air to it for sure.

For some reason my Supercuts bit worked really well for me last night. Tammy Pooler said it was one of the funniest things she'd heard in a long time. I think it's a funny bit, but I don't generally think of it as that strong, but for some reason last night was it's night to shine.

When my set was done, I decided I wanted something sweet to drink, and I asked for a Sprite. Normally when you ask for a Sprite and they don't have it, they say "7 Up okay?". Not last night, the bartender Matt said "Sierra Mist okay?". I said sure as the taste of irony crossed my lips. Just a little cocky that a place called Sierra's doesn't serve Sprite or 7Up, only Sierra Mist.

Nothing scheduled for shows until October 12th, but I'll probably work Slainte next week Thursday the 28th. But, as the post begins with a picture of the road, I'll be hitting it with my friends Mike and Bandit to Toronto this Friday morning. It's going to be fun, and as I mentioned before, I may make a post about it, because I'm pretty certain something funny will happen.
OH NO I DIDN"T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Feel Poorly

I have to be honest, I dread writing this post. My set last night was bad. I got a few laughs, not a bomb, but it might as well have been. From the word jump, I knew it wasn't going to go well.

My energy was really low when I got onstage, and I felt distant. It might have had something to do with the host, referring to the comics last night as a meal and I was introduced as the salad. He did a fine job of making the crowd laugh, but from what I could see, he was cutting the showcase comics, myself included, off at the knees. Phrases like, "There's the emergency exit right there in case the next comic really sucks..." etc etc. I know that's an excuse, and I'm not blaming him directly, I'm just painting the picture.

My jokes weren't hitting the crowd very well. A couple of them went over okay, but I literally had a couple that got no response at all. It was grim. I tried to mix up styles while onstage and deviated from my set list. Jokes that had killed before were getting a limp chuckle. They weren't into me, and I wasn't into them. It was just a hair better than the OOB show I did a couple of months back.

When my set was over, I thanked the crowd, and the host was nowhere to be seen. I was hung up there to dry. What a horrible feeling. He should've been in or near the room to take the stage back, but instead he was off jerking around not paying attention. He's done it before when I worked with him, but at least I plowed through the set and had a good set last time, so the moment wasn't quite as awkward. Last night it sucked.

Comedy is finnicky. There's nothing quite like the feeling of being on stage and people are feeling you. It's one of the greatest feelings in the world. There's a strange connection and magic to it. When it goes south, like last night, it's just as instense of a feeling except, it feels that bad. It's tough to go through. Anybody that knows me closely, knows I have poor self esteem, and have been through bouts of depression. It makes the tough nights especially tough. It doesn't matter how many great nights I have, a bad one will stay with me and mean more than 1000 great nights.

When I took my dog for a walk this morning at 5:00, the thought that kept popping into my head was "I haven't learned anything from last night's set". That's something I've always found is that I learn something from every show. I'm full of self doubt and I'm real angry about how my set went down last night. I'm mostly angry at myself for not doing a good job. I wonder if all the stress and work to write new jokes is worth a night like last night. Tune in next time and see.

My next show is on Tuesday of next week at Sierra's in Gorham at 8:00. Other than that, I have October 12th, the 29th, and the previously mentioned Boston Comedy Connection on November 6th.

A Quick Update

I just thought I'd throw this post out there, so people didn't think I "fell off". I haven't done any shows for almost 2 weeks. I was thinking of doing Acoustic Coffee last week, but decided to let it go. I've basically been enjoying the very end of summer. No fooling, I kept pretty busy all summer and forgot to smell the roses.

So for the past couple weeks, I've been going to the movies, catching plenty of Sea Dogs and Red Sox games, and as you can see above, I met Bruce Campbell. He seems really cool. It's been a fun couple of weeks, and I'm kind of glad I stepped away from stand-up to refresh.

I have a "booze cruise" Monday with the comics and employees of the Portland Comedy Connection. After that, I finally have a show on Thursday at the Connection as well. I may try and swing out to Slainte after, but probably not. Aside from that, I don't have anything else scheduled, but the 19th of next week, I plan on finally attending Sierra in Gorham to give it a shot. I keep forgetting to give it a try, and now I have plenty of time.

I've been writing and reading books on stand-up for a couple of weeks too, I'm hoping it'll help me with structure, but it makes the writing process that much easier.

I have a long weekend trip coming up in 2 weeks to Toronto with my pals mike and his Brother we call Bandit. I may even put a post in here about that, but where this is a comedy blog that would seem weird. If something "stand-uppish" happens, I'll let you know.

And in closing, let's all keep our calendars clear for Monday November 7th. Comedy Connection Boston here I come! Be there or be a geometrical shape with equal 90 degree angles at all four corners with matching length and widths.

A Tree Seems To Have Fallen In Portland...

... and nobody seems to have heard it.

The crowds have been getting smaller and smaller at Slainte' the past few times. It isn't promoted very much so it seems to be running out of steam. It's too bad, because it's a fun room to do. Tonight there were 3 audience members, and about 9 comics.

I think my set went well. I used mostly new material, just to mix it up, but the jokes weren't fully flushed, but there is some stuff to work out. It's hard to tell how it went really, it was so quiet. Some of the guys basically went up and wrung out some new stuff, but it was an otherwise unproductive and awkward night. I don't feel bad though, I like the stuff I did and feel like it's a good lead in for other stuff.

The highlight of the evening came well after my set when I tried to leave. If anybody reading this is familiar with my posts, I talked about this drunk black woman that looked like a cross dressing Wesley Snipes that told me I needed to make sweet love to her. Well guess what? She showed up outside tonight. There were a few of us outside when she came so I felt a little safer that she wouldn't molest me, but boy was it a treat to talk to her. She was so drunk and she would go on these really long rants that were completely disjointed. The only theme that kept popping up is she'd go "Whoop there it is!" every now and then, but not really in a conversation break. It was a little like bad radio hip hop tourrettes. She said she was going to go wake her friend up and give her some uppers and have her come down and show us her titties. After she walked away to get her friend, I decided that was a good time to leave.

Next scheduled show is on September 14th at the Comedy Connection in Portland. I may hold off on the open mikes for awhile, I could use the break and refine my jokes I have right now. Big news though is I have a set coming up in Boston in November. It's November 6th at the Comedy Connection in Fanieul Hall and I'm supposed to convince at least 10 people to go see me. So if you're interested, that's the place to be that night, let me know.

I Can Really Set 12 People On Fire

That's what it felt like. I had a pretty fun set last night. Mostly I was working on delivery, working in and out of playing with the crowd and digging back into jokes. It was fun. I still have plenty of work to do to get better, but it was nice.

I ran a couple of my newer jokes that seemed to do well. I'm trying to run stuff that isn't too "dirty" and kind of rides the fence so that depending on the reaction of the crowd, I can push it one way or another. I also ran a joke that I had thought of before leaving the house, but hadn't really written out. It worked, but not as well as I hoped. Of course I can write it out and flush what I need from it, it should be good.

Tuck hosted last night, and he did a great job. He was in the zone where I don't think he could've done anything wrong. The crowd seemed a little confused at first, not really sure which direction the show would be going in. I think during my set, they seemed to relax, and took everything in after that. Some material I'd seen some of the comics do in the past which nose dove... dived... diven, worked well for them. The energy surely stayed in the room.

Tuck, Luke, and I all said at the end of the show that we thought it was a great show, even if there were less than 20 people in the room. It was cool to pull that off.

Now comes the sad part. No shows at the Connection until the 14th of September. I'll be working open mikes until then and after to make up the time. Not tonight at Acoustic though, I could use a break. It's been a long week and I need to rest my weary bones. This will give me an opportunity to write all new and exciting material. So watch for me next Thursday at Slainte, the week after in Acoustic (the 6th) and then back at the Connection and probably Slainte following on the 14th. Until then, feel free to go to my myspace page and watch videos of me and pretend the jokes are new and exciting.

There's no real hidden message behind the pictures today either. I just thought it was cute that my dog's hancercheif says "Little Firecracker" and it'll probably be awhile before I'm back in the pool again.

I Shoulda Doubled Down

I had a great set last night, don't get me wrong. I even had multiple applause breaks. It was great. But I wanted more. The room was sold out, completely packed. Every one of my jokes worked, but a few of them could've had more punch to them. But the crowd was a little more geared towards family friendly material it seemed. My material was more edgy, obviously, and if the crowd mentality was more raw I think I would've killed. It's a bit of a wake-up call for me to put together some material that is more accessible than just my biting stuff.

Bob Marley was great the whole night and definitely kept everyone entertained. Now that it's behind me, I can get back to crafting newer material and trying different things. My agent Tim told me to stay with my solid material and not try newer stuff for last night's show. I can see his point, but I also don't like to be told what type of material to do, but that's part of the game, and I'm just 1 cog in the whole machine.

I'm on a good streak of good to great shows right now, and enjoying being back in the game. My stage time is going to quiet down for a little while, the Connection has given only 1 or 2 showcase shows to comics throughout September. After next Tuesday, I'll have to wait until September 14th for my next show there, so I'll be filling in time at Slainte, and maybe even Acoustic.

I'll be back on top of writing, and am trying to get some time with Tuck. I think we'd be good for each other as far as perspective, so I hope we can find the time. It's creeping up on a year that I've been doing this, and I feel that recreating my angle might be in the works, or at least expanding what I use for material.

Like A New Born Baby

Good show last night. I liked the material I ran, and it was all new. I was going to do a couple new jokes, but Wednesday, Luke Hanberry gave me shit about having such a large notebook full of jokes and always running the same material. Truth be told, I run new material a lot, and I had even ran a joke that night that I hadn't even written out. Also most of the jokes from that set were less than a month old. But I'll admit it chapped my cheeks a little.

So I wrote all new jokes, except the brand new one from the night before. I'm sure he'll say something about me running a joke twice now. And running new material can be daunting. It's kind of like childbirth without the uteral wall tearing and stuff. Because you expose raw ideas, and the momentum of your entire set can change if the jokes don't go well. It was okay though, because because all of my jokes got laughs, and seemed to be working okay. In fact, one joke absolutely killed, and another one I think can be flushed into another great joke. Out of six new jokes, getting two I feel confident in running right away is a great feat. Like the analogy of childbirth, when that one joke killed, it felt like I delivered the baby, and the doctors said there was a 78% chance he'd be retarded, but then he comes out with a degree from DeVrey, hey it's not Harvard, but cut him some slack he's a newborn, and aside from a slightly lazy eye, it's a beautiful baby. Sorry for the runon sentence.

There was some good stuff going on at Slainte last night, and some not so good, but it's always a relaxed and supportive crowd. I love to work that room. It's too bad the crowds aren't as big as when it started, but you do get some regulars that are willing to tell you what they thought was working or not.

My next show is this Saturday night at 9:45 at the Comedy Connection. It's being billed as an All Star Showcase. It should be fun, and I hear the tickets are selling well. My show at Mr. Goodbar on the 28th was cancelled. Not that I like to lose shows, but I wasn't super jazzed to face that room again. As I understand, most everyone is having a hard time with it.

Have a nice day everyone, and than you to all my repeat visitors, it's nice to know people find my adventure somewhat interesting. Feel free to comment if you'd like.

And So It Begins...

Last night I had a really good set. It felt nice because it was a rough room at the Connection. I wasn't watching the show, just hung out with the comics and watched as other comics came out and pissed and moaned about what a terrible crowd it was. I couldn't have cared less last night.

I waited for my spot and just got up and ripped it. It was a decent mix of older stuff and newer stuff, with a brand new one thrown in that actually did fairly well. At the moment I was telling my chocolate penis joke, I noticed two large black men in front. That joke talks about men wanting a larger penis. I involved them in the joke, walking the line between racial stereotyping and funny, and it paid off. They laughed and it disolved any tension that might have been in the room during that moment. I tried a couple of techniques I learned from some books I've been reading and was surprised to see them work.

I'm pretty tired this morning, but I'll have to shake that. This week is going to be busy, and there's no time to be sluggish. Tonight, I'll be at Slainte'. I'll try and write some new jokes for there tonight, and then tomorrow morning I'm off to go see the Red Sox and Yanks at Fenway. I'm so excited I could just sh*t! Saturday night's the big show at the Comedy Connection, it's the All Star Show with a special guest I'm supposed to keep on the down low. $12 bucks will answer the mystery for you if you show up.

Walking Away From A Trainwreck Unscathed

I had a great set last night. All of my jokes worked great except for one which just kind of worked, and that was a brand new one. I'll be able to rework that one later on. And although I had a great set, it feels like it was by the skin of my teeth. For some others, last night was more like a bit of a train wreck.

I almost felt as if the crowd from Old Orchard Beach had become lost and came to my favorite comedy club. From jump, these people didn't want to have anything to do with the show and there were noisy drunk hecklers. Our host even had a hard time getting anything out of them. I was scheduled 8th out of 12 comics, and I sat and watched as normally talented and respected comics got chewed up and spit out onstage. It was grizzly to watch. And then the #7 comic happened which I'm fairly certain saved me.

The comic was Bill Picard, and he was a wheelchair bound comic. He used a keyboard to speak, just like Stephen Hawking. (On a side note, this is where I decided to scratch my joke that referred to Stephen Hawking for the night). His jokes were funny, but went over even harder I believe because he was handicapped. I have to say though, that it was inspiring. When he got up I was brought right up onstage. I did something at this point I felt guilty about later.I was so impressed by what Bill had done, instead of asking the crowd to give it up again for the host, I asked them to give it up to Bill. Then I played back and forth with Bill and referenced one of his jokes. I could tell Bill liked being called back into the next set, and I felt good making him feel good. But after my set I realized I was kind of stealing his thunder and projecting him onto myself by interracial with him. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it was an advantage I created over other comics for the night.Last night was a rough crowd, but I made it through with flying colors. Very few comics had a good night last night, but I was one of the more solid sets of the night. It felt good. I cannot tell a lie.

My next show is next Wednesday the 16th. I was also added to the All-Star Weekend and that's the 19th at 9:45. One other comic I know that's working that show is Dustin Beckleman, and it's always fun working with him. That one will be special for me, because it's a Saturday night show, and my first one at the Connection. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for great things.

Cheers... errrr...... umm...... Slainte'!

It was another fun time at Slainte' last night. It was my only set for the night, so I got to be there on time and "take the bullet". The show was supposed to start at 8:30, but didn't kick in until just after 9:00. There was a severe lack of people there that weren't comics. By the time I hit the stage though, it was about a third full. We'd get more folks throughout the show, but all in all a slower night for Slainte'.

I tried something different last night to see if it'd work. I played a game where I had everyone sitting close, like the comedy campfire. And knowing over half my set were new jokes I hadn't really written out, I looked to the other comics for help. I'd tell a joke and pass the mic to see how someone else might have changed it. To be honest, the additional feedback from other comics didn't really add much to the jokes, but it accomplished what I wanted. Basically I was taking a small crowd, making the situation more intimate and drawing them in as well as setting a mood. They were engaged in the performance, and there wasn't a single person chatting with other people or not paying attention. That's a pretty difficult feat in bar setting.

My new material went well. I had reworked the Jesus as Voltron bit, economizing the hell out of it. It ended up working. It went from the joke that drew crickets 2 nights ago, to a joke that got good laughs last night. I did a couple of things with it to make it work. First, I cut out unnecessary words and ran it as slim as possible. Then I used the fact that I was bored in a hotel room and decided to read the Bible. Seems like a subtle change, but I've noticed people shut down when you tell religious jokes pretty quickly, because they feel like you're going to preach. By making it an act of boredom instead of a preaching sermon, I think it made the joke more accessible. That's the kind of ridiculous shit I think about when writing jokes. It felt good though because I liked the idea of telling a joke about Jesus being a Japanese Robot comprised of Apostles, as opposed to a shitty carpenter.

I took off not too long after that, I was pretty tired. It was another great time in a great room though. I feel it vindicated my last trip there where I got befuddled by hecklers. Thundercats Ho! Next show is Tuesday August 8th at the Comedy Connection, which is also the birthday of my friend Mike who has the record website I linked to on the right over there.

It Was Busy But Fun

Last night I had rehearsal with the Running With Scissors gang st 6:30. I had just enough time to get home and take care of a few things before heading out. It went okay. I think I did better with them the last time I was there. There's another practice next week on Wed.

The Stand-up show at the Connection following was a good one. I went on fifth, and I was following a new girl comic. She seemed very nervous, but it was obvious that she had brought a lot of folks with her. It helped out the whole room if you ask me. She had some good ideas, but hadn't flushed them out, and the crowd was being real supportive. That helped me in a way because the were in the "give an inch take a mile" type of mode. And I took everything I could.

My set went really well. All of my jokes worked, except a new one I was writing beforehand. I don't remember how the conversation came up before the show, but a couple comics and I were talking about Jesus. I got it in my head to write a joke about Jesus not being a carpenter, but actually might have been a Japanese robot that forms like Voltron out of the Apostles. The whole flow of the joke wasn't right, and who knows, the premise might be ridiculous, but I'd like to give it another try. The idea strikes me as funny. Some people will tell you a bit isn't working, but if you rework it because you believe in it, it can really boost your ego when it finally does work. My Fantasy Baseball joke is a lot like that. A few folks told m not to use it, but I really like the concept, so I kept it and now it's one of my favorites to perform.

Another show tonight out at Slainte'. Timmy B posted that it starts at 8:30. I'll be there and I'm hoping to run a couple new bits, and might rework the Jesus Voltron one to see if it has any merit. And then I won't have another until next Tuesday, back at the Connection.

P.S. The picture above is of my dog's favorite toy. A stuffed squirrel named Earl Tha Squirrel. Not sure why I put it in there, but enjoy.

Making Faces!

I had my “audition” for the Dancing Face DVD project by Topper Carew last night. It was kind of a funny situation/story. Originally it was supposed to take place at the Comedy Connection a couple of weeks back, but I couldn’t make it. He seemed pretty jazzed to have me do it, and said if I gave him my email, he’d send me a message if they decided to do another audition. I got an email.

The email stated that the next time they were doing it was on August 1st at 7:00 at a place called Springsteen’s on Spring Street. I’d never heard of that location, but figured I knew where Spring Street was, so I’d be able to find it. I went to Holiday Inn By The Bay, as that was one of the landmarks referenced in the email and asked a very polite, smartly dressed gay gentleman at the front desk if he knew where this place was. He said that the only thing he could think of was a bar called Spring Street on Spring Street which was a gay bar. He asked me, with a little glint in his eye I might add, if I was looking for a gay bar. I assured him I wasn’t sure, but I was supposed to meet a guy who wanted to film me, but not in the way it sounded. I tried to explain that it involved filming my face, but no matter how I explained it, it sounded like I was going to take a load in my face at a gay bar. I said thanks for the help and excused myself, knowing there was no smooth way I could get out of that conversation without seeming gayer than most of the patrons of the gay bar.

I went to the bar, a little cautiously. I’d never been to a gay bar, seriously. It was the right place. Basically I met with the director and he had 3 cameras and 3 or 4 light towers. There were 2 cameramen, and nobody else had shown up to film yet. It was a pretty professional set-up. They started up some electronic dance type music and I began dancing with my face. I’ll be honest, I felt a little ridiculous. It was supposed to go for 1 minute, but I’m fairly certain it went longer than 1 minute. At least it felt like it went at least 3. They said I had some funny stuff and I could watch their website for further updates.

When I left, I could only think to myself that I hope I didn’t run into anyone that might think I was leaving my fiancé for the love of a man. And sure enough as soon as I opened the door, there was fellow comedian John Ater. I asked are you here to do the face dance thing? He said I’m here for penis. Just kidding, he was there for the same thing, but I didn’t stick around. I went home to think of manly things like hunting, fishing, and drinking beer with strippers. Female strippers.

Maybe Next Time

I had a really fun weekend, that ended up not having anything to do with comedy. My girlfriend and I went to Providence on Saturday and caught Water Fire, which is where the city had fires that they light up along the canals. They had gondolas and fire swinging people, all while they play music. It was interesting.

We went to Pawtucket the next day to see the Paw Sox and Keith Foulke was supposed to pitch, but I guess he tweaked something in his back or something. It was hotter than hell, and we left just as the 9th inning was getting underway.

I was supposed to perform with Running With Scissors last night at the Connection, but one more person said they couldn't make it, so they cancelled. I was pretty excited to do it, but there will be a next time. I'm on Wednesday night with Dennis Hunt from the group at the Connection, so we'll talk about it then.

Playing With Scissors

Yesterday I hung out with Tuck Tucker and Dennis Hunt of Running with scissors. They ran me through a few exercises for improv comedy, and I have to admit it was more fun than I thought it'd be. It's humor on a more organic level. It's a different way than I'm used to about approaching comedy, but I can see myself learning from it. It was also cool to work independantly with those guys, as they're a couple of the comics I've grown to look up to in the area.

I must have done okay, they asked me to do a show with them on Sunday. I told them I'd do my best to be there, but had to leave it open a little. I'm going to be in Providence and Pawtucket this weekend, and my return time will be cutting it pretty close. I explained it all in great detail so that they didn't think I was trying to be a jerk. They needed extra warm bodies due to Rachel being out of town. I won't go into detail about why, that's her business, but my heart goes out to her, I've been there myself.

I didn't do Acoustic last night, but I came pretty close to doing a set at the Connection. Karen Morgan showed up as we were finishing, and I half talked and half joked myself into a set because someone cancelled. I let Tuck take the set though. I'm still riding high from a good set a couple night ago, and the length of time it took me to have that good set, I didn't want to blow one so soon.

So next stand-up show for me is next Wednesday at the Connection, and my debut with Running With Scissors is this Sunday. Unless of course I get stuck in traffic or something crazy like that.

Stand-up Comedy Is A Lot Like Golf

It really is. You can have a run of nothing but terrible swings in golf, and want to give up. But you have 1 great shot and it keeps you coming back. Last night was a great swing.

The crowd was small last night. 24 to be exact, I counted while I was waiting for my set. I started my set with a quick quip asking them to perform cellular mitosis in order to double the size of the crowd. That kind of fell flat, I'm not sure if that reference was a little to esoteric to start the show with, but I'll call that a mulligan. From that point on I had them. All of my jokes were doing well, and a couple seemed to make folks laugh as if the room was full. It felt great to command the room again. I even ran a brand new joke that the setup didn't get the laughs I thought it would, but the payoff line got the room. I'm fairly certain it was the pentameter of how I set it up, and I can do that one better next time. It was a brand new joke that I hadn't worked through yet, but I definitely have something cool to work with.

Luke Hanberry, Kevin Neales, and Mark DeCosta were there last night, as well as about 6 or 7 other comics. I'd say I had either the top 1 or 2 best set of the night. When you have guys that turn the room out like those guys there, to come out near or at the top is a great feeling.

My next show is next Wednesday Aug. 2nd at the Connection. There's a slim possibility I may do Acoustic Coffee tonight (I know what I've said in the past, don't make me eat my words). I also have an audition tonight with the improvisational group Running With Scissors, and I'm waiting on a contact from a guy called Topper Carew about auditioning for a "face dancing" DVD thing. I'm not really sure what that one's about, but he seemed pretty jazzed to have me try out. He's the creator of the Martin show from back in the early 90's. Wuzzup?

Not on Top, But Back In The Game

I had a pretty fun set last night at the Connection. I had a much better set than I've been having, but I'm not back on the top of my game quite yet. It was a fairly quiet crowd, but I ran a lot of material, and only 1 joke didn't go over. It was an awkward joke that I'd run in the past and gotten laughs on, but it is a little confusing, so I may just ditch it. But the way I handled it saved the moment. Basically I told folks that there's be a burial service for that joke after the show if they'd like to stop by and say a few kind words. It just felt good to get back up there and do well again.

Slainte' went the other way. Although some of my stuff was really winning the room over, there were 3 guys that were piss drunk yelling through my set and trying to get involved. They kept yelling about Thundercats for some reason, and no matter how much I bit back, they didn't shut up. Same thing happened to Luke after me, which was too bad because the room was real lively and fun until those guys started up and the wheels fell off. I left after that and hope the room righted itself, it'd be a shame if that's the direction the room went in at this point as it's been a real fun room to work. So that set wasn't great, but the situation was more than my jokes or the room, it was out of control hecklers with an agenda. But I did feel really good about how 2 of my new jokes went over, so they'll be in the rotation for a little while. And then when I was done, one of the hecklers pulled me aside to say he liked my stuff. Of course I was wondering why he just didn't shut up to hear it, but really who cared.

I was just happy to get out there and not suck the life out of the rooms last night.

Oh Sweet OOB!

I'd really like to say this was the show where I turned it all around, and sadly I can't. But this time it wasn't my fault. My set, in my opinion, was actually pretty decent. But getting laughs out of that crowd last night was like doing brain surgery with a mallet. I only stayed for about half of the show, but the most laughter coming from the crowd even for the host was a low rumbling. If I'm asked to do that location again, I'll have to acquiesce to decline. Honest to God, a train ran through just before my set blowing it's whistle not more than 20 feet from the stage. The crowd wasn't into me, wasn't into George Hamm, wasn't into anything other than mild sedatives. But it didn't effect me so much last night.

One thing this string of bad shows is doing for me is toughening my skin. It's making me think more realistically about how I expect a crowd will react, and it's giving me determination to put out some newer fresher material and come out with more vigor. I had to kill 10 minutes last night, so I had to use most of my "proven" material. It felt stale to me, maybe it's been feeling stale to the audiences. I'm going to put together some fresh material and come with it later this week. I've switched up my style before, I'll do it again. I'll go with maybe more edgy but less blue material. This is a moment where I have choice. I'd like to quit, because let's face it, I'm not getting paid for this, but where's the honor in that? I need to go back out there and prove once again that I'm funny. I know I am, I've had people tell me so and have video to prove it. This may be a fool's errand to keep moving on, but who knows, exploring this other style coming up may be the best thing I can do. At this point I have nothing to lose. I feel like this is a cliffhanger and Batman and Robin are about to get eaten by the Penguins man eating robot birds, and we won't find out what happens until next week. But you'll only have to wait until Friday morning.

Well...... That sucked!

I got to say, my shows at the Connection are trending towards foolish at this point. I actually don't feel too bad about my set from last night, even though it was one of my worst sets there ever. I know where I went wrong.

I pretty much went into in a negative mindset after my last set and self destructed right off the bat. I think I might be thrown because I've been keeping time and rushing after I got the previous drop in time. I've gone from 7-8 minutes, to 5, to 10, and back down to 6 last night. To start the show off I forgot to start my watch, and literally without thinking raised my watch above he mic and hit the timer which let out a loud "beep". I lost the crowd right there, and didn't even start to get them until halfway through my next joke. I did get them with some of my jokes, but a lot of my set was forced and I had to work way too hard at that point. I was stammering and hurrying. That's not really like me. I've decided that not only will I come with new material for the next show, I'm not going to time myself. I know it's wrong because I should be vigilant, but they're being inconsistent with the time they give me anyhow, so what do I care anyway?

I'm actually kind of glad I got that one out of the way. It's over, now I've sucked the life out of that room finally, and can go nowhere but up. Like I said, it won't always be pretty, it just hurts to do poorly in your favorite room. I'll be back to the Connection next Thursday, and I'm very excited to work that show because Kevin Knox will be the host. He's a great guy. In the meantime, I have a show Monday at Mr. Goodbar in Old Orchard Beach where I'm supposed to do 10 minutes, and I might try Sierra in Gorham on Wednesday. If all goes well though, I'll squeeze in Slainte' after my Connection show Thursday next week. I've got enough chances to get back on track, let's see if I can right this ship.

Dragging out the meh.....

There's the picture I was trying to upload since last week. Pretty huh? Last night was bittersweet. There were a couple of cancellations and I got to do 10 minutes. Here's the rub. I started the show, which usually means the reaction of the crowd hasn't really set itself yet. I had an okay set. It was about as warm as last Thursday. It was actually a good set, but I could've done better I think. There were 4 new comics last night, and it was a bringer show. I brought my fiance and that was it. Oh well.

As usual, if I don't kill the show, all I've been thinking about since I got off stage is "Am I a bad comic? Should I just give it up?". There's that great self esteem I have eating away at me like an ulcer. I'll do my best to put it behind me and try again on Thursday.

I'm not sure how much time I'll be doing as I've gone from 5 to 10 minutes in 1 week, but I'll plan for 7 for Thursday. Hopefully I'll have a great set, I can't handle doing mediocre.