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.