Circuiting

Today felt like the real start of my time on the DC comedy circuit. But first...Usual morning with TPIR and frosted mini wheats. I had a fairly productive afternoon, which I think is a good game plan for how my afternoons should go. I wrote a little bit and picked my stuff for tonight. Then I went through the jokes, went over how I wanted to perform them. Then I rehearsed for a while so I had the order, timing, and delivery as I wanted. I realized that I had a habit of saying "But, uhh..." between jokes, but after a self-motivational speech it seems to have gone away. I just needed to be more aware. I also played some piano and ran an errand. Whipped up some scrambled eggs for dinner. Then I headed out for my performance.

First, I really hate traffic circles. And not the New Jersey kinds, which have 3 highways clearly marked with no traffic lights. I'm talking about the DC kind, which have 7 streets coming in, an inside and an outside, poorly market streets, pedestrians all over the place. Whoever thought these were a good idea was wrong. Or designing for horse-drawn carriages. So after a few wrong turns I found my way there, arriving a tad late. I was worried about getting there on time, but when I got there at about 8:35 (for a supposedly 8:40 show), it was myself, the host, and 2 comics. He said we should go stand outside and encourage people to come inside. We made a half-hearted attempt, but it was difficult to convince people on the way home from CVS to just stop in for a two hour comedy show.

Eventually, a large number of people showed up to see Charlie, a comedian who was going for the first time. They became most of the audience, which was fine, as they were all twenty somethings with seemingly healthy appetites for alcohol. I went third. My performance was decent, probably a B performance. Some new stuff worked, some didn't. I think I have realized that there is a large correlation (and some causation, probably in both directions...some sort of differential equation) between how much laughter I cause and how much I enjoy my stage time. Which is good to know. I just need to have fun, and the laughs will come. The rest of the show had its ups and downs, everyone was decent at the worst, which was good.

The one thing I noticed tonight was the community of comics. People knew each other, recognized each other from other shows. They all know what's going on in the business, are aware that it's not the glamour that Comedy Central makes it out to be. But even with a crowd of 15 civilians and 10 comedians, there is plenty of fun to be had. So tonight was not quite that feeling of elation, but definitely one of that confident, content smile. Except for the traffic circles. I still hate them.