Back at it

Took a few days off from the blog. No real excuses, just nothing really happened with the comedy front. Can't remember all the shows but I'll attempt to remember what happened. I know last Monday I was in the opening round of the madhouse comedy comp. I was eliminated. Kinda funny I've either made it to the finals or got knocked out in the first round in the 4 comps I've been in. I basically just talked to the crowd about one comic. I got a decent response, but they were kinda a young, dumb crowd. I also forgot to raise my hand when they were announcing the names at the end. I could have just done my set and likely advanced, who knows. Either way I could care less. I wasn't effected, obviously I'd like to advance but don't care either way. Tuesday was Sandi Shore's showcase at the Store. There was only 3 students, 2 were really young 13 and 14 I think, and the other was an older gay dude. One of the kids was taking the class for the 2nd time. Not sure what the point of this is. Clearly his dad has money to blow, but he should just be doing more open mics around town. His dad likely never made it in comedy, and now is trying to start his son on the right track. I can understand taking the class once to get over the stage freight and understand the basics of comedy, but after that just move on and start performing. Wednesday was Winston's. It was actually pretty busy. It's been so hit or miss lately. The line up was pretty decent. I think a couple of them will make it to the finals. After the show I drove up to the Store. Not really wanting to and almost bailed. I had a decent set, mostly chatted with the crowd. It's a no pressure situation going up late. Plus I had a few drinks, and the crowd was much more supportive than Thursday shows. I just would rather hang out at Winston's, then drive up there to be judged by strangers. Thursday I opened the show at the Store. My set was meh. I don't know why the Thursday shows are so damn hard. I think people have higher expectations for Thursdays over Sunday and Wednesday for some reason. That and going first is never easy. I think Sundays are easier to go up early as people likely came from dinner or had a drink or two before the show. Friday was Winston's. very good, fun show. Perfect amount of people in the crowd, and they were quite supportive. not an easy crowd but they did laugh and were respectful. It was the final show for Bob, the dude that used to run the show. I think he's a good dude, but New York may eat him up if he doesn't change the way he talks to people. Saturday was the Store. It was an old timey comic. He used a gay voice, a black man's voice, even brought his dog on stage. It was pretty terrible. Some people even walked out. Others complained how bad it was. I read a napkin on a table that read, "Should we leave? Yes X2." Pretty humorous. But just goes to show how important time in comedy is. There's plenty of comics in San Diego that could do much better than that, but they haven't been doing it long enough. You gotta just keep plugging away. Sunday was my birthday. Had some comic friends over. We drank some beers, smoked some pot, and ate some pizza. It was a really good time. I wasn't sure how it was going to be, but it was a really great time had by all. Monday was the Store open mic. Very fun show. This has become my favorite Comedy Store show. Has a Winston's, no pressure feel to it. I basically talked to one of the girls who was there for her birthday. I didn't get any jokes in really, but had a good time on stage and had some people tell me after they had fun. Tuesday was the Store. I worked the money booth for the first time. It was a bringer show, and 54 people paid 10$ each to watch bottom of the barrel comics. It is all that is wrong with comedy. Kinda funny I handed the guy $540. He never checked the numbers or counted heads, I easily could have taken money out and he'd never know. It's not worth it for me, but he's kinda too trusting with a stranger holding his money. Also funny he was angered he had to pay comics that brought more than 10 people. Really? Isn't it the goal to have comics bring people? That's the point of the damn bringer show. Wednesday was Winston's. It was pretty slow. I was suppose to go to the store after but decided to pass and just hang out and have some drinks with Jesse. That was a lot more fun. It was slow so we played the theme show game which is always a good time. The show was a lot of fun, and I was telling Jesse if we had a following we truly could make the show a big deal. Thursday was back to the Store. I requested an early spot, which was veto'd. And he purposely put me up as late as he could. My set was fine. Followed a very hacky L.A. pop in who talked about sex for 13 minutes. It was heartbreaking to hear all the laughs and my roommate's sister say he was her favorite comic. I don't know if I need to just give up and do that awful comedy. My set was ok. Better than the last few Thursdays. I heard people talking to my left talking the whole time. I just plowed through it, because I was still getting a decent array of laughs. I talked to the door guy about it and he said I should have handled it. I said I'd rather just go through jokes even though I likely should have. Friday was Winston's, and much weirder than usual. It was a show I wasn't looking forward to at all. Although there were funny people on the show, I could care less about that. It takes away from the fun of the show. I felt I was paying out too much for a show that I don't enjoy producing. One of the comics had to go up early, another showed up late, and the main person complained that the "real" show was starting late. I even had a person approach me and asked, "When do the real comics go on?" Sweet. They were not planning to laugh at anyone who wasn't the headliner. They were older people, and not really fans of comedy. I didn't do a set, made a few bucks, and went home. Saturday was the Store with Jeff Garlin. Last time I saw him I wasn't really that impressed. He basically just did crowd work the entire time. This time he did jokes for the first show, and I thought a few of them were really good. The second show he involved the crowd a lot more. Some stuff was funny, others not so much. I could tell he wanted more reaction from the crowd, and acknowledged that some stuff wasn't working. I felt he tried to hard to work stuff out. People are there to hear him speak words. I realize he may have been able to perform without an act before he became such a big name, but now people want to just be around him. Hear what he had plan to say. Either way I got inspired to do more involve the crowd more during my sets. I am good talking with people, and there's no reason to not use that skill.