Triple header in the books

First I'll talk about Winston's. The show went pretty solid. I was happy with my set. Tried some new jokes, and basically did 2 jokes in 9 minutes. Worked in crowd work, and I think I rebounded nicely from last week. There was a little drama. There's the dude that started OBC, who to be honest, is not that funny. When I first started my friends would leave when he took the stage. He has his moments, but his b.s. and big head are not deserved. He's called me out a few times, and asked me this week to put him up later. I will do it, simply because I don't need the headache. It will affect the show poorly, I wish we'd just ban him as he brings nothing to the show.

There was a nice dude that basically does crowd work and high energy jokes who used to be friends with that guy. Well the headache dude kinda bombed, and the nice dude did pretty decent. Welp he got called out saying he stole the jokes. It escalated to telling him he is going to punch him if it happens again. It affected the nice guy a bit, which is basically all the douche wanted. Now the nice guy doesn't want to do the show if the headache is there. Lame.

Well last night I had 3 shows. First was a 3 minute open mic. It started off really good as I said something about the comics before me. It didn't end quite as strong but I was happy with it. I then headed over to the gym and got a workout in. After that I was closing the show at the Palace. It was a tough spot, as some people had already left and the show was slightly over time. It was the opposite as the Store show as I started off slow and ended strong. The slow start was my own fault as I stumbled over a few words when I started. I worked my way out, and ended solid.

I was on the backend of the show. Which means Sunday and Wednesday shows are promoted, but the club still wants a little control of the shows. They put on 4 comedians to the show. Most promoters usually put the backend people at the end, making things slightly difficult. I don't mind, it's still stage time. Well most of the shows take tips at the end. Whenever I promote the shows I include everyone. Well I look at the bottom of the lineup and it reads "Tips will only be split by producers and promoters of the show." It's messed up to not include people over 10$. Just really really trivial, and it makes the producers look like cheap tools. I shall remember those involved in the future.

Anyways I headed over to the Blarney Stone after. I have really been looking forward to doing this show. I think I've been getting better and better with crowd work, and it's something I enjoy. I had a lot of people compliment me after and felt good about it. 2 people asked me about being apart of their shows, which is cool. One guy, who was pretty wasted, but he did ask me about doing a show with Carlos Mencia. Whether he was just drunk or not I gave him my contact info. Some people speak poorly about Mencia, but let's be honest I'm not gonna turn that down if it happened.

I have been having dreams with other comics in them the last few nights. No gay stuff, just booking shows and what not. The other night was with a comic I rarely work with, and last night was with one of my good friends of comedy. The other night I think it was doing a tour, can't really remember. Last night we were offered a show, but we weren't sure we wanted to take it as we were still waiting to hear back from MTV. Plus we heard bad things about the booker of the show. Who knows what they means, other than I dream a lot when I don't drink heavily.

Please don't make us think

So I did my what seems to be monthly show at a dive ish bar in Ocean Beach. It's usually me with a bunch of up and coming San Diego comics. It's a long show, 3 hours, twice the recommended length of a show. I felt pretty good about my set. I did a combo of newish jokes and some of the old staple jokes. I wanted to do some crowd work but the promoter of the show sent us an email before the show about all these topics that she didn't want us to talk about. I am in no way a hateful style comic, but I didn't want to get into a convo with a stranger and have my brain spin into taboo subjects.

After I got off stage I had a few people shake my hand and say I did well. That's always good. They were a typical bar crowd. They didn't want to think, and basically wanted shit and sex jokes. I can do those jokes, but those arn't the jokes I am most proud of. I actually wrote 3 new jokes yesterday. None groundbreaking or anything, but it's been awhile since I had a 3 joke day. Let's see if I ever perform them.

So after my set I went down to another bar with a few friends. There was an improv group that was suppose to do an hour after the show, but when I returned I learnt they only did 20 minutes. I guess a lot of the crowd started funneling out and they lost motivation. I wish I would have known that as I could have done more time. Anyways I went to another comic with a fellow comic. She's one of the good ones, comedy wise and person wise. We dished about the biz, and the lunatics in the comedy scene. It's so crazy to think about how many comics I meet that really have no sense of reality. They are either so socially awkward or just arn't funny people off stage.

We talked a lot about one comic. She had known him before he started comedy,and spoke about how he was one of the funniest people she's ever met. I was friends with him when I got started, but he is the extreme example of what is the the scum of comedy. He simply uses people to get what he wants. It's sad really. She told me stories about him basically stealing her jokes, and no longer being friendly with her since he started. I mean I realize there is politics to comedy, but to knock people down to get there is trash. I have countless stories about this guy, all have been talked about in the blog. This week I threw him a bone and put him as a feature on Winston's. I told him I didn't really expect him to promote, but it was his birthday and I was trying to make nice. Well I get a phone call this week saying he can't make it, cuz he's staying in L.A. I heard last night he made some comment, "Why would I drive all the way from L.A. to do a feature spot?" Dude you're not that funny. Do your politics, live off daddy's allowance, keep showing up at places asking to get on their shows. There's two people in San Diego that claim to do comedy full time, him and a bald Nazi, strangely enough they are the two people I don't feel comfortable being in the same room with. If that's what makes you a comic, I hope I never make it. End rant....

Oh and while we were hanging out after. We discussed comics we enjoyed. It was cool to hear that both the comics included me in their top 5. I literally could only think of 3 people, I actually will sit down and watch. God I'm bitter :) Oh and I told the female comic how at least 2 female non comics told me they didn't like her. I have no clue why these gals don't like her nor did they have reasoning behind not liking her. Why have I been wide awake since 7 AM?

Rebounded nicely

Had a couple smaller shows on Sunday. Did 3 whole minutes at the Comedy Store first. It's so crazy doing 3 minutes. I told one joke and already had the light. I did a little crowd work, I even had a slight panic. Someone yelled something that I had no response for. I quickly moved on, and it was fine, but I had a deer in the headlights moment. I tried half of a new joke, it's kind of hacky but I want to try it out some more.

After the Store, I went to the Blarney Stone. I'm starting to really enjoy doing this room. Iwas slightly nervous as I kind of started to question my abilities after Friday. I even was questioning text messages I was sending, asking "Was that even funny, did I lose it?" Sunday was a little tough as the lady was there (touch on it more in a moment). I pretty much did whatever Icould to avoid eye contact with her. I basically went from table to table talking to people. I tried an old joke, that I basically can't do. I did the joke, then researched it to see that Mad TV did a sketch on it, so kinda can't tell the joke. Anyways, did some crowd work, then got off stage and hung out with the gal. She's spectatular, but I'm starting to see possibly why she may be single. I think she's really focused on her. When she is drinking she somewhat seems interested in me, but when sober I don't really feel it. Kinda exactly what happened with the last gal. She responds to texts hours later and now is not answering phone calls. I'm not going to panic and just let what should happen happen. Either way I'll likely screw it up, might as well happen sooner than later.

Still feeling it today

So I bombed. Not like whoa that was bad, more like holy cow I want to die. It's been awhile since I was affected so poorly from a bad set. I am still feeling crappy today, and couldn't even hang out after the show. It was my fault to a point, but I have to say I won't take all the blame. I filled in for the headliner as they cancelled a few days prior. I knew it was going to be a tough loud crowd so decided to bring my friend on stage for some guitar and place someone in the crowd to heckle. Well the guitar went well, but the heckle was awful.

I started off pretty good, then did some stuff with the guitar player. I then told one joke that went sour and I bailed on the set. I gave the heckle cue, and it was a nightmare from there. The crowd clearly thought it was real, and I couldn't save myself from the constant heckling. It started off ok, but she kept heckling and heckling, to the point I couldn't even do the show. The crowd was confused and lost and basically checked out. I couldn't save it. I tried jokes that usually do well, and they fell flat and resulted in heckles from people that weren't even scheduled.

Confidence is very important in comedy, and usually I have a lot of it. But last night turned out so poorly that I basically almost panicked and gave up. The fact I did 17 minutes with that environment hating me is the only thing I can be proud of. I need to plan things in future situations, and probably give people a heads up when enough is enough. A talent I have is to immediately be able to gauge whether something works and doesn't, last night it was clear the heckling was taking away from the show but it continued. It was my idea so I must take the blame, but I'm hoping this crappy feeling will go away soon.

What added to the awful experience was the fact the new lady was there and brought her roommate. It's bad enough to bomb, but in front of people you're trying to impress let alone hopefully will continue to see on a daily or so basis magnitudes the depression. All I can say is that she didn't walk out and leave and is still talking to me, for how long, who knows....

Couple of shows, why do I do these things

Did a couple of shows the other night. One was the Palace open mic. There was a decent amount of people there. I followed a dude that brought a lot of the crowd and went up for the first time. He was heckling earlier in the night, and when he got on stage he basically just starred at the ground. It's weird to think I never was that nervous. The host lit him a bunch of times and he never saw it. The host walked up the stage and the dude finally saw him and said, "Did you light me?" It was slightly comical. I tried some jokes that I'm still working on. Some worked others not so much.

After I went back to Moondoggies. I stayed on stage this time, but I mostly just talked to the crowd. It went decent I figured but I spoke to the host after whether I should just do a set. He basically said do crowd work if you're good at it. Otherwise it looks like you're just struggling for material. The only thing I can say is it is rough doing crowd work there because even if I make one table laugh, the other people can't hear what the person's responses are. I'm going to take a break from there for a bit I think.

The gal is very solid, looking forward to ruining it soon.

Judging and some controversy

Well I was a judge for the comedy competition. I was somewhat excited as last week there was over 100 people. I've also been trying to meet with a gal I was interested in co hosting a poker radio show with her. We've had some missed encounters, she was suppose to come to my show last week that had nearly 200 people but couldn't make it. She was suppose to go to my show tomorrow at the Comedy Store but it got cancelled. I figured this might be a good opportunity to see me. It's usually tough for the judges as some people leave, and some are checked out as it can be a long show. Luckily a few people didn't show up and there ended up only being 7 comics. Most of them were L.A. based and I only recognized one guy from the Sd scene.

It is kind of weird judging. I have to watch everyone and judge how funny they are. Like I've talked about before I've become less of a comedy fan since I started doing it. I don't know whether I'm suppose to judge how funny the jokes are or how funny I find the comedian to be. I think what makes a funny comedian is to be able to adjust to the surroundings. Like I spoke on before with the guy telling me to just do my set even though no one is listening. I don't agree with that. There was only one guy that played with the crowd, and I think that is sign of a true comedian. My idea of a funny comedian is to be funny at every show you're at. Anyone can be funny out front of 200 listening audience members, but if you can make 15 people laugh, you're doing something right.

I went on stage with my friend playing the guitar. We've done it before. It's been a few weeks so I was kind of rusty on how to use him. I think the sketch has potential, we just need to pratice it a bit. I was really unenergetic and dry on stage. I was basically just being myself and chatting. I remember I used to break into that character when I did the Madhouse open mic. The poker show gal said she enjoyed the show, so let's hope she brings me on. I think it would be good for her and myself.

Well the controversy. And it really has nothing to do with me not advancing from the first round, esp. considering I ranked this guy first on my ballot. There was a dude in the contest tonight that was already scheduled for a previous round but he didn't show up. I asked the host about it, and he said "Well we had a couple no shows for tonight, and he was driving down, so I figured it would make for a better show." Well this is wrong on a lot of ways. First off, what stops someone who from a previous round, but did not advance from trying to get on a later week. There's no difference from not advancing whether youre there or not. If this person brought a good amount of crowd members, should we allow them back on every week even if theyre terrible. Secondly, I tried to switch my date the day of my show and was told it was not possible. I was even willing to swap with another comic to keep everything balanced, I was told that would only open it for everyone to be able to swap. I understood. So you can't swap if you ask, but if you show up at later weeks you can? Thirdly, if the host did not know the comic would he have allowed him to get back in the contest. I'd have to guess no. I didn't ask him about it, but if I emailed every comic who missed their spot from the first round to just show up in the last preliminary round will he put them on if there are open spots? It's just really uncharacteristic of him as he takes comedy pretty serious, to the point of I have a tough time just joking with him. I'm just surprised he wouldn't see the fault in this decision.

Heckle me please...

So Winston's was pretty slow Friday. I decided since I didn't really have any new jokes to try and the crowd wasn't laughing much anyways, I tried something different. I told a couple comedians to just heckle me and I'd play off that. It went really well. There was a mix of people who didn't know whether or not it was real. The door man even asked me if I was alright. It was fun. I like the awkward tension that it created. The crowd seemed to enjoy it and they were really listening. One of the people heckling me was a lady and I insulted her nipples. She told me that a few people talked to her after telling her she prolly had fine nipples. People are gulliable.

My friend had the idea to complain about his spot on the show in one of the email threads. We went back and forth complaining and calling out each other. Most of the people took it seriously, and one dude even sent a text message to tell him to keep plugging away. It was pretty comical.

I did a small show at the Blarney Stone last night. It was about the same small crowd. I love doing this room as it's a great environment to do crowd work. I told some people to heckle me again, but I didn't really need it as I just spoke with a couple of crowd members. It went well and I was satisfied. I need to start doing this at the clubs but it's tough with the lights being so bright.

Life stuff, I grew some balls and messaged that girl from the other night. I left my number and she actually texted me. I met up with her that night. She's pretty solid. I'll ruin it soon, but it was cool hanging with her. I'll keep you posted mom.