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.