Kinda in a rut

No real stories to discuss. Been back performing. Last Tuesday I was in the Comedy Palace's comedy competition. I had fun with it. Worked on the new cracka's vs white people bit. The crowd didn't really know how to respond but I think it did fine. Wasn't sure I was going to advance but I really didn't care. When the first name was announced I was pretty sure I wasn't going to advance. Turns out I was the last name called, so that was cool. Wednesday was Winston's. Show was fine. There was a decent amount of people there. Thursday was the Store. I was working so I never know how that's going to go. I went up late and got a decent response. Friday was Winston's. There was a decent crowd. I worked with Jesse on more cracka vs white people material. Saturday I opened the first show. I did ok. Worse than the last couple times but likely better than the first time. I wasn't nervous, just think the crowd was really on board. Sunday was back at the Store. I followed Westland who likely had the best set I've seen a best of person do since I started comedy. He free style rapped something on dolphins, it was amazing. It was the first time in my comedy career I was nervous having to follow someone. I grabbed a friend's hoddie and did my best. I opened with trick daddy and rode the momentum from there. It was a pretty solid set. Monday I took a day off from comedy and basically drank all day. We went to the shelter intending to get one kitten, but ended up with two. Of course the one I like is sick. I have bad luck with animals. I'm hesitant to get close to these ones. It was rough at first because the old cat didn't adjust well to the new kittens. I hear he's taken a liking to them meow. Tuesday I worked at the Store. I got to go up. My set was weird. I think I was still a little hung over and somewhat out of it. Also the host brought me up saying I killed three black men. That was so weird and outlandish it really threw me off. It took me a few minutes to get out of that funk. I had trouble remembering my jokes, even tried an old joke, and it was horrid. I got the light, then they shut the light off. I struggled through the 15 minutes and did fine. Two people approached me after. One said even though I made light on how weird the set was, he said he enjoyed it and thought I looked like I was having fun. Another girl told me the reason many people weren't laughing is there was too many race jokes. I first said I don't do any race jokes, and the reason that was is there were a lot of black comedians on the show and that is a major thing they joke about. Wednesday was Winston's. It was a weird show. The only one that promoted was a 70 year old woman. Her fans were not pleased to be there and their lack of laughter made that apparent. She ended up advancing, then told me she won't be around for the next round. Made no sense to enter, but whatever. My room mate didn't advance and was pretty bummed. I don't care why people care about advancing in contests. All that matters is the finals. The other stuff doesn't matter. After that I went to Quality Social. I took it as a good time. I was asked to do 20 minutes which is kinda a long time in a bar environment. I was a little drunk and just had fun with it. I made light of how long it was going. Had a dude talk to me and buy me a drink after. That's always a nice feeling even if it just is from a dude. Thursday was the Store. I had to follow Erik again. He did well, but not quite as well. I plowed through my set. It was decent, nothing special. Friday was Winston's. It was pretty dead. The two features I expected to promote brought no one. I had fun with my set. Did some whacky sex jokes, and got a decent response. Saturday was working at the Store. The headliner had a rough time during the first show. I heard she kinda bombed the two shows on Friday too. The last show she did well. She does a lot of impressions, but it doesn't really translate into comedy. It's not particularly funny, but she is very talented. She's also sweet, and you want to root for her. I was surprised how cut throat the audience treated her.

Trouble on the home front

No real stories to report. I thought of a joke called white people vs crackas which I thought was a funny concept but had no idea whether it would work on stage. It hit pretty hard at Winston's, but that is a mostly comics crowd so who knows if it would work at the Store. I took a trip to San Luis Opisbo. That was a nice area. Did a lot of drinking, but didn't really get drunk. Did some wine tasting, ate some oysters, which gave me some of the worst spelling farts I've ever had. Haven't been around the Store over the past week or so. Was supposed to do the ACC last night. But was physically ill. Ex-gf told me 30 minutes before the show that she was kissed by another guy the night before. Granted they were drunk, and he supposedily kissed her, but I am not sure what to do. Things have been pretty bad the past few months, and I've been contemplating leaving before this happened regardless. She seems to think we can make it work, but I doubt that will come true. This brings me back to what happened with the ex. Things were never the same. The trust is gone, and I will never look at her the same way again. I was looking forward to doing the ACC show for awhile as it had my good comedy friends on. I vommited in the toilet and knew that I couldn't go up. Worst part is I left and walked around for 45 minutes to try to find my car. Only to find out it was a block up from the club. I even drove down the wrong way on a one way street. My brain was blank. I want to get back on stage immediately, but I don't know if I can.

Back on the grind

Sunday I worked and it was pretty slow. When I went up the crowd was tired. I followed a L.A. dude that was the feature at the Madhouse all weekend, and talked about the Colorado shooting to open up for 3 minutes. The crowd pretty much checked out after that. My set was not great, and the crowd started filing out after that. Monday was the open mic. There was a decent crowd. When I went up I chatted with a group of girls in the front. I had a feeling it was a birthday party, as there was 4 hot chicks and one blah chick. I assumed it was her b day, and I was right. As I started chatting with them, I find out the bday girl has wanted to do comedy, and her friends she's hilarious. I, of course, sit down with them and try to get her on stage, with no success. The set was kinda weird, and I think I somewhat put a damper on the show. Some of the comics tried to do the crowd work I did, but didn't get the same reaction. Tuesday was the Store show. It was a small crowd, but they were there to laugh. I went up somewhat in the middle, only doing 6 minutes. I did well, got to do some different jokes, and everything pretty much got a good reaction. Wednesday was Winston's. There was a pretty good crowd. Thursday was the Store. I drank pretty much all day, and was slightly buzzed. I could tell I was out of it, as I was shaking the mic, and didn't have great stage presence. It was by far the drunkest I'd been performing at the Store. I think I did fine, but who knows. I did open the show, with some jokes and some chatting with the crowd. I know I took some popcorn for the group sitting in the front row. I smoked after and that made the gf very upset. Friday was Winston's. The crowd slowly trickled in. It wasn't packed but the crowd was supportive. My set went pretty well. The gf said I had the best set of the night. Who knows if that's correct as she was drinking. I was happy with it, and got some jokes out that don't always work. Saturday I opened the second show at the Store. I assumed after last week I was going to open a lot more shows. I didn't feel like I did amazing but according to other people on the show they enjoyed my set. The headliner jokingly said she was going to steal my home depot joke and do it on the road. The feature and the opener also said on a few occasions that they enjoyed my set. That's a cool feeling.

Slow week in comedy and some vegas action

After work on Sunday I headed with my buddy, his gf, and mine. We got in pretty late, around midnight or so. We got bumped up to a suite because all the smoking rooms were taken. Not bad for getting a free room regardless. Gf got a little drunk and was being a little bratty. I wasn't too pleased about it, and showed my anger. She took off at one point and I had to search for her up and down the strip. Pretty shitty start. Next day I woke up and started drinking. I pretty much drank for 13 hours straight. I was slightly annoying but never got too out of control. Ended up losing around $500 playing blackjack and food. 1/4 of that was money I gave to the gf to gamble. Pretty lame, when she lost that money, she took out more, and didn't give me any. We came back Tuesday night and I worked at the Store. It was a pretty busy show. We were staffed for maybe 50 or 60, but there ended up being almost 200 people. The servers were swamped and we had to turn people away because they just couldn't serve people anymore. One of the servers said she once served the entire room by herself. That's nuts. Wednesday was the contest. It turned out pretty busy. Crowd was not easy. One of the comics pretty much tore into them, and I had to say something about him on stage to keep the crowd happy. He didn't like that I did that and confronted me. We talked it out and he realized he was in the wrong. Thursday was my promoted show at the Comedy Store. I had been trying to do a different 15 minutes every two months, but I was not able to do make it 15. I made it close to 12 I believe, but lost the crowd with a joke and couldn't gain momentum with the jokes I was trying. I started off pretty strong, but tried my robert meowney joke and the crowd kinda tuned out. They were the hardest Thursday crowd to crack. Plus a lot of them were talking and no one told them to be quiet. I know the security dude told us that he was not going to shush people to see how we'd handle it, but it was annoying because I was doing a longer set, and was taping it. I think it went ok, just not as strong as the last few shows we've done. Friday was Winston's and dual headlining with Jesse. It was pretty dead. The girl I booked to promote didn't bring many people. My buddies and their gf's came, but no one else I knew came. A lot of the comics stayed and actually moved up to the front to watch and laughed. I think we need to practice it a little more, but in front of a real crowd it could be something popular. Saturday was back to work at the Store. I tried to give up the shift to no avail. First show was sold out. I actually got to open, and then had to host the whole show. I messed up the first girl's name, to which she told me again how to pronounce it. I asked what I had said and she had no idea. I think I somehow got it right when I brought her up, but just said her first name on the outro. I am not too concerned. My opening set was pretty strong, almost every joke got a somewhat applause break. I'll likely get more opening spots from now on. The headliner said I had a good set, although he was just being nice as he needed a favor.

Lotta drinking and some drama

Wednesday was Winston's. I started drinking kinda early that day. I did the contest but had to bail early as I had another show. The contest was pretty dead. Only 6 of the 8 contestants showed. The two people that were eliminated were the 2 people I planned on bringing people, which they didn't. My friend was in town and checked some of the open mic. They weren't too impressed. I can't blame them, there was no one there. After that I got a ride to American Comedy Club. Although I've checked the show out a few times this was the first time I was on the show. I saw a dude I used to get along with that most of the San Diego comedy scene can't stand. I always defended him as he normally paid me to do his shows. Anyways, couple months back he had some stupid facebook post to which I made an assanine response. He took it the wrong way, deleted me from facebook, and made himself look like such a tool. Anyways, when I saw him on the show, he said hello, and we shook hands. Well he does his set, bombs as usual, and I was after him. I made light of it, and he yelled something about wanted to kick my ass from the audience. After that I tore into him a little more, than proceeded to do my set. I stay for a bit, and listen to the headliner, that requested levi be on the show, talked shit about me on stage. About how I should never insult another professional, and said something to the affect that I'm an amateur. I was going to leave. When all of sudden Levi chases me down again, up the stairs. Telling me how I need to stop disrespecting him. This is when the owner runs over and tells Levi basically to leave the bar and that he wanted me to stay. He gave me his card and all. Once the headliner gets off stage he gives me a lecture how I shouldn't have done that. Such a tool. My friend, who gave me the ride, is talking about how he should have choked him. Pretty funny. I had some comics say they enjoyed it, so whatever. Next day I wake up to see a message from the guy, telling me to stop disrespecting him. To which I simply say you take things too seriously. He then went off on me for 5 straight messages, about how I suck and am an amateur. Funniest part was he called me ugly and poor. Hilarious. Friday was Winston's. The open mic started pretty slow. After that we had another roast. This one was harder to write for. I wasn't as close to them. I think it was another success. Everyone had fun and the audience enjoyed the show.

Store and friend time

Wednesday was the 4th. No show at Winston's. I hung out over there and voiced out some jokes. But, it ended with Jesse and I doing a bunch of Bob Hansen jokes. It was fun. Thursday I opened the show at the Store. It started off pretty slow and awkward. I guess I said something to the affect of, "My girlfriend knew I went without a boyfriend for a long time." I dug myself out of it and ended somewhat strong. Friday was Winston's. It was pretty slow and dead. Somehow the door brought in more money than expected. I knew I was sleeping there, so I drank a little more than I usually do. I was not drunk, but after my set I got pretty intoxicated. Saturday I worked the Store show. The headliner and feature were not the typical variety that they normally book for the weekends. I think they both did fine but they were very alty. They made e laugh at times, but they didn't do as well as many of the normal headliners. Sunday I worked at the Store and went up after the open mic winner. I always getting that spot for some reason. Not sure if it's a good or bad thing. I would say it's a worse spot than 3rd and 4th where people are performing on who were hired after me. I am fine with my set time, and usually do well. But it's a little silly for me to be getting shittier spots than people with less talent. I believe it has t do with me not kissing ass and playing the game. Monday was the Store open mic. I opened with some crowd work and tried out a bunch of new jokes or stuff that I tried on Sunday. I was very happy with it. One joke tanked pretty hard, but overall it was good. I ran the light by about 2 minutes, which is the first time I've ran the light by that much in awhile. I didn't care too much as I was the senior guy working and wanted to end strong.

Chatting and such

Sunday I was at the Comedy Palace. I was booked as the headliner, which doesn't mean much. I just went up last and did the most time. The crowd was kind of weird, typical palace crowd. Watched some of the comics do well, some did meh. I asked for half the comics to be on the show, so that was fun. I went up with no real plan. My first joke went pretty ok, then I screwed up my second job. After that I chatted with a couple of people in the front row. I felt it went pretty well. Almost every line I said got a decent response from the audience. I slipped in a few jokes as well. It was cool to do that much crowd work, totally sober. I had a good time. I took shots at the people for most of my set. I went up to them and made sure we were cool. They said they enjoyed it, and wanted me to tell the others they enjoyed the mas well. Monday was the Store open mic. Like I've said, it's become one of my favorite nights. I tried a few new jokes, and slipped in some crowd work. I was happy with it. Had a guy approach me after about doing a show in Orange County. I had to decline as it's a Friday, and he could only pay me $10. I told him if he had something else open let me now. He said he was working on getting an L.A. show, and I said I'd be down for that. Also had an audience member give me a joke idea, but started the sentence with, "you were alright, but you should say..." Tuesday was the Store. I wasn't sure I was going to do a set, but ended up doing 6. Was suppose to do 7, but the host ran the light to open, then did another 3 minutes between the first comic. That led to the manager saying that the rest of us had to cut our sets short a minute. I basically just had fun with the fact we were playing music, than played with the crowd woooing. And before I even got into my first joke, I already got the light. I was satisfied with my set. The booker said he enjoyed it, and wished I had more time. The headliner was great, and light years ahead of me.