Just Winston's again

Did the Comedy Store on Sunday. It went pretty bad actually. Did some newish jokes that went well Friday at Winston's, but they did not hit at all with the younger, douchey crowd. There was a lot of people just staring at me. It was kind of weird to do that bad out front of all those people. It affected me a little bit. I also did not make the list for this week. There was a different guy answering the phone, but that was the first time I called and didn't make it in a long time. Turns out we'll have to pack and move anyways but it's the principle.

We then headed to Blarney and there was a decent crowd. They were attentive for the first couple people that a comic runined it for everyone. He basically made fun of the 2 people in the bar you obviously shouldn't do that to. He gets up a lot and just starts arguments with people. Comics think he's the greatest thing, but he basically just does easy jokes, but adds yelling and movement. I'm not impressed but what do I know. I just don't like his attitude. I wasn't feeling it after the crowd was ruined and we just left.

Monday was the contest. I could have done time at the end but wasn't really feeling it. I just talked to a guy for a minute or two and bounced. Last night was fun. The crowd got there pretty early. So a lot of people got a chance to perform out front of an actual audience. My set went pretty good I'd say. Still working on the newer jokes, some good some, eh. I did get some good practice. I drank way too much after. Really disappointed in myself about that. I just can't say no to free but it's getting rediculous. There's really no need for me to be like that. It's rather depressing that I'm that weak.

Slow week, just Winston's

Other than the L.A. shows on Sunday I only did Winston's on Monday and Friday. It's rare for me to not have a random show during the week. It's funny cause there was a Wednesday show I was doing consistantly but the host stopped asking me to be on. There could be a few reasons. First he brought up I challenged him on stage. Secondly he popped in at Winston's one time expecting to get time and I didn't put him up. I'm not too worried about it as it's a pretty hit or miss show, I just find it amusing he's simply not asking me to be on.

Monday at Winston's was decent. Small crowd but they were every attentive which is good. The open mic beforehand hasn't been very popular and we've been getting only a few people show up. I can understand as there's barely a crowd, but it's stage time. I went up before the contest this time, and I think that worked out better for me. I did about 10 minutes of newer jokes. They were jokes I did once or twice and gave up on them. I had a few that were brand new but most were one's I gaveup on. All of it went pretty well which is nice.

All the comics on the show had their best sets I've seen them do. One of the guys thattied for first is usuall dreadful to watch but he did pretty well. I think the feedback went a little long that night, and one of the judges was slightly long winded. One of the older female comics made a few comments about one of the judges weight twice. The first time he let it go, the 2nd time he gave it back. Kinda funny she deleted everyone from facebook, or may have deleted her account completely.

Friday was a little rough for most people. The crowd filtered in pretty slowly but in the end we had 52 paying people. They weren't laughing easily but they were quiet. I did most of the jokes I did on Monday and reworked some stuff. I was happy with my set overall. I couldn't end strong, but I probably did the best. I went on for at least 10 minutes. I was enjoying myself. I was comfortable and the jokes and tags were flowing well. I think I have a new 10 minutes to filter in which I'm happy about. After the show I just headed home. I hate having to work Fridays, I'm tired by the time it's show time.

Air Force Pic

I'm not ready for L.A.

Winston's Friday was good, until the end which wasn't great. The crowd got brunt out. They came somewhat early for a Winston's crowd, but got tired with the marathon of comedy. The coproducer of the show went before me and didn't really bring it and that made it tough to follow. My wasn't doing too great, managed to struggle through about 8 minutes but couldn't make 15 minutes. I brought up the dude that used to run the show. He struggled through his jokes. I just can't put energy into my jokes if I'm not getting any crowd response. I should have kept going and work on my delivery and timing. Had a few people tell me after I did well, just a tough crowd. I get that a lot, it would be nice if I could get some better stage time.

Last night was a roller coaster, mostly downward. We headed up to L.A. My only other experiences was being used to do 5 minutes with a shitty drunk host. The other was me going up with my friend, getting wasted, and complaining. Last night didn't help my vision of the city. We all were able to get on the open mic at the comedy store in L.A. They have 40 or so comics sign up and randomly pick 15 names. I gave a ride to one of the guys that works there and he got us all on. We were excited. Until we got in there. First thing we here is one of the comics that works there tell all the comics to sit in the back. There was about 6 audience members sitting in the front and 6 or so spread apart throughout the room. The host was the biggest prick I've ever seen. He started off by telling the "audience" that all the comics will be awful and some will be less awful. He told them to throw things at them and heckle them. He made some rude comment about every comic. Some guy broke down and said "what is wrong with you people, I'm a headliner." The host then said he headlines for old people that want a cheap buffet. He called out a few of my friends that went up and I said he was crushing dreams. I went up there, got barely no laughs, stumbled over my last joke and got off. He made some snide comment about how I wasn't funny. He was a pathetic little man.

We had to leave soon after because I my car could only be there for 2 hours and it was getting close. A dude that books a show in the upstairs of the comedy store asked my friend to open the show. He also put me up. The lights was bright as heck, and there wasn't many people there but it went well. It was cool to get up soon after bombing so hard. I like the Comedy Store it has a cool vibe and it's cool they have 3 rooms in one club. We left soon after and found out, I got a fucking $50 parking ticket. God damn I hate my life. I had been so good with not getting tickets. Theyre so fucking annoying. Waste of money. Luckily the people I rode up with chipped in for the ticket. My roommate was a little hesitant about pitching in which was annoying but whatever.

Next up was the Improv show. I had to host which was somewhat a bummer cause I had some friends come and I couldn't really sit with them cause I had to keep getting up. Also I didn't know any of the comics and I was trying to be professional and memorize their names and intro's. I wasn't comfortable, because I'd never performed on the stage and I didn't know really how I was suppose to host. I just immediately brough up one comic after another. I opened the show by doing 8 minutes. I stumbled over a few punch lines, recovered nicely but still bad to be doing comedy almost 2 years and I'm still not comfortable with my material. It's so rare for me to do jokes and have an attentive crowd. I need to work on my delivery and jokes. The whole experience was very humbling. I'm glad I get to perform tonight and I need to keep going up and doing jokes. I am not ready to move to L.A.


Improv jokes: Cocaine, del taco, pot kettle, trick daddy, getting older

Made it 2 days

Made it 2 days without drinking for the first time since I can remember, probably a year at least. I've been awake since 3, it's 4 now. Sucks, not sure what's better for me. Here's the flyer for the Improv show.

Too much drinking

So Sunday I missed Blarney Stone for the first time in awhile. It was the Super Bowl and I was drinking beers all day and got a little too drunk to go over there. I did do the Comedy Store. It was pretty slow there. But the crowd was tentative. There was a gal in the front row with her face painted both teams. It was strange. There was one dude in the middle and what turned out to be his girlfriend to his right. My god she ws too good for him. I just need to get that lucky break. Anyways it was the first time I did the comedy store somewhat drunk. I messed around with the audience for the most part. They didn't tell me until after but I got 5 minutes again. There was an older female comic I've chatted with her and there and she was buying me drinks. Always a plus.

Monday was the contest. It was pretty dead. The slowest we've had so far. I'm hoping the crowds start to pick up in the later rounds, but who knows. The website says free, so they had to change that. There was two girls that complained and we gave them their money back. I chatted with one of them who wrote that the door guy smelled like booze on the events page. She ended up deleting it, and she said she'll return. Who knows. I tried one joke off the top that I thought of. It was slightly topical and it went eh. I'll need to try it again in the middle of my set or something. I am starting to really like the feedback portion at the end. Who knows if people like it or hate it. I wish people would help me out like that.

Last night I attended 3 shows, and didn't perform on any of them. One was an open mic I haven't done in over 6 months. It was rough back then, mostly urban crowd. It is a lot better now. The host did 20 minutes to start the show which was weird. He then brought up a guy that bombed, and the host tore into him and gave him advice and whatnot. It was entertaining. Next up was 2 L.A. people. THe girl was over the top yelling and kinda weird. The dude was said to be Comedy Central's comics to watch in 2011. He was ok. Seemed he was trying out some new jokes. He was on the 3rd show we went to as well. My friend watched him and said he was ok. Went a little long at times. He did an hour. I'd love to do an hour, not sure I could do it without notes. I know I could do 25-30, but an hour is a long time. Not sure when I'll be able to do that much time other than Winston's.

I'm going to try to not drink the next two days, wish me luck.

Slight depression

So had my show on Thursday, 2nd attempt at the Culy Warehouse. The space has so much potential, but so little reward. So the dude called me last week saying no more cash bar. He called me the day of the show saying he called the person he borrowed the sound equipment from last time sold the stuff.... So now we have no mic. He says he'll try to find one or rent it. He texts me an hour or so later saying he can't get one and doesn't feel like spending money to get one. Great... So I ask around a little bit. Locate a mic and a stand. We think we have an amp and speakers, but around 5 pm for our 8 pm show, we find out that's a no go. So at this point were debating cancelling it. We decide to keep it on. I text the comics saying we have no mic. One guy calls me and says he can probably get one. Well he ends up coming through, but this is after I tell all the comics it might not happen, and the other promoter tells people there are mic issues. Anyways I get there and there is basically no one there as expected. The other comics didn't promote at all. We were suppose to charge $5 but decided to not charge because of all the issues. I delayed the start of the show until around 8:30. I let a couple comics go first who were hanging out. There ended up being around 20 or so audience members. 2 of which I brought. I had 3 more but when they saw the venue they said they'd grab food and return. They never did. I was a little angered by the fact no one showed up. It gets so frustrating to have people say theyre coming and never show. My set went ok. I was a litle bummed and the lighting there is a little awkward. I just tried different jokes than I did the night before. Some went pretty good. There were 2 dudes sitting in the front row with their arms crossed not laughing at anything. It was so weird.

Friday was WInston's It was a decent amount of people. Chatty bunch again. Funny there is one dude still in San Diego from the original 6 of us that came here from Maine. He's a stoner and we don't have much in common. He always says he is going to the show and never does. Once again he tells me to let him know. I text him he doesn't show. I was hosting and still a little depressed and drinking a little more and faster than usual. I messed up my words a little bit while hosting. That and the crowd wasn't great, plus we were over time so I just decided to not even go up. I wasn't feeling it. I still have some jokes I need to work on, but I didn't feel like workshopping that night. We had some drinks and pizza after but I left rather early. I definatelt should not have drove. It really urks me when I do that. My life would be over if I got a D.U.I. I'm usually so good with not drinking and driving. I just got to the point where I didn't want to be around people and left. Luckily I made it home safe, but I'm not proud of driving.

Last night we hung out at the Comedy Store. Jeff Garlin was there. He did 45 minutes of just chatting with the crowd. It got boring and we were about to leave but then I see a hot chick on stage, and that sparked my interest to stay until the end. He ended with two terribly hacky unfunny jokes. But he did answer questions from the audience and that was kinda cool. He seemed a little bitter. I heard that the shows the night before were pretty tough crowds. He told one of the comics that he didn't know why he was there, he was rich. I talked to him before he went up and asked if he was nervous. I then told him there was an agent from Chula Vista public access. He had no clue what that was. I then told him they were seeking talent. He just walked away. Funny for me to put people out of their element. The comic standing next to me thought I was the biggest idiot in the world. But I think it's funny, how unsocial so many comics are. Why can't you just joke around. Esp. him he's rich, have fun.

Lotta zany shows

Friday was Winston's. There were a lot of no shows, and the usual comedians I give more time to didn't say they were coming. So like we had the previous week we were ahead of time. There was a decent amount of people but they were talking nonstop. There was a good time where there wasn't too many people and they were attentive. But it started filling up and it was a typical douchey crowd. I tried to tape with little success. I did a few jokes and bailed on the set pretty quickly. I complained a little bit and the headliners apologized. But in reality it's not their fault. Most of the people there never go to comedy shows and don't know the etiquette. A few people came up to me after and said I did well with the elements, and said they could barely hear the show because of all the chatting. Whatever, I made a little bit of money, and that's the main reason I do the show.

Sunday I did the usual Store and Blarney. This week they once again said I would get a little more time. I didnt have enough time to get my camera, but felt pretty good about my set. I had struggled the last few times on stage. And while I wasn't questioning my abilities I was getting frustrated. I stuck to my jokes and got a good response from the crowd.

Blarney was more interesting than usual. It was the host's anniversary show so he tried to promote it a little bit. There still wasn't many people there but it was a fun show. There was a 60 year old couple heckling and being drunk, but nothing too bad. Two guys before me was a jacked black comic. The lady told him to take his shirt off, he said he would if she flashed, of course she did. Unfortunately I didn't get to see the goods... I went up and stuck to my jokes. I was taping and it was so hard to ignore the talking and her yelling but I was proud. I believe it was the first time I did Blarney without drinking before. I think not drinking keeps me focused and fresh. I think the jokes went very well, but the tape isn't great as there isn't a lot of laughter and there is a lot of talking. Oh well. A dude did say I was so funny he had to listen and stop playing angry birds.

Monday was the competition. It was slow as expected. One dude that brought a decent amount of the crowd, didn't even show up nor did he message or anything. We had a guy go on that has never done comedy. It was a pretty weak line up compared to what we've had in the past few weeks. One dude that was suppose to go up later, went up this week and advanced. The first 2 people were seperated by 2 points, and the next closest person was nearly 50 points away. I brought on a judge, in hope he may hook us up with doing his room. I didn't really ask about it, and he didn't mention it. Oh well. I did some jokes at the end, and it went decent considering the time I went up and the awkwardness of hosting/ judging. I think the critiqing is really getting better and is helping people. I see some improvements in people, and get thank you's.

Tuesday I was suppose to tape. But I got to the Palace, and there was no one there. I hung out for a little bit, but decided I didn't want to waste everyone's time. Last night I did a little bar show that ended up being pretty good. They didn't have a stage and the seating area was pretty small. I followed an ethnic comic that basically talked about his race for the most part. I can't stand that. He actually just got an audition for just for laughs. Oh really? Don't agents get tired of that? Anyways I was decently happy with my set(s). I had 12 minutes and broke them into 2 6 minute sets. First was clean, 2nd was whatever. I stumbled over my words a little bit, luckily not on the punch lines. It was a little distracting but I think I did pretty good. I have one more chance to film tonight, otherwise I'm going to use one of these tapes to submit. I'm not sure how the show will go today. Just been getting bad calls from the guy. First it was no cash bar, no he says they have no mic or speaker.... He said he was going to get it, but this may be the last time I do the show there. I'm so tired of promoting, and it's just a lot of headache. Hopefully it goes well.