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.

Good, Better, and Best

I took a couple pictures before last night's shenanigans started, and the sky was really pretty. I couldn't help but think something was going to be magical about last night when I saw the sky like that. I'll have to post that part later. The service doesn't seem to be accepting pictures right now.

Last night was a funny night. A couple of things happened. Being a Thursday night, I was scheduled to do a set at the Comedy Connection. When I got there I found out my usual 7-8 minutes had been cut down to 5 minutes. I'm assuming it's because my previous set I was supposed to do 7 minutes I went 9 and a half minutes. I was bummed, because I hadn't had to try and squeeze a set into five minutes for awhile, so my set was hurried. It was a GOOD set, but I know I'm capable of better. I was thrown off to be honest with you. I was on fourth, so I was done by 9:30 so I headed over to Slainte'.

There were only about 5 more comics left by the time I got there, so I put my name in as well. The room had only about 20 people left in it by the time I hit the "stage" area, so I made everyone come gather around in what I called a "Comedy Campfire". I did a set of all brand new material, some I hadn't written out yet, but went with the flow. The new stuff was a hit for the most part, and I think I definitely had a BETTER set than before, I dare say a great set.

set, while everyone was sitting around me still, Timmy mentioned that the show was done, unless there were more comics. That's when the idea hit me to tag team some jokes with Dustin like we were going to try the week before. He came up, we did a few back and forth, then other comics joined in too. We tossed the mic back and forth until it hit the ground, and then called it a night. It was the BEST set of the night because it was impromptu and special. I'm sure it's something most people that were still there can say was pretty sweet.

Next 2 shows are next Tuesday and Thursday at the Comedy Connection. Hopefully I'll have more time than 5 minutes, but I'll plan to be on probation all the same next week. I have enough material building up at this point I'll be able to roll with the punches if it goes long or short. I believe Luke Hanberry said he also was doing Tuesday night, so if you want to see me or Portland's Funniest of 2006, swing by and check it out.