Waiting

Another standard morning. MM and TPIR. After lunch I watched Next Food Network Star online, but it took forever to load. So it was constantly playing for 5 seconds and then pausing for 1. Grumble. In the afternoon I analyzed some shows from this week, but I did not remember them too well. I really need to do it the day after. So that's one mental note for today. I played some piano as well, which I had not done for a while. Then I ate dinner and put my set together for tonight. I headed out at 6:45.

Tonight was a new experience. I arrived at 7:25 for a "7:30" show and signed up. The list had about eleven comedians on it at this point. As the night went on, however, it became clear that the show was not going by the list. The more well-known comedians know that they will be given time if they show up because they are good. So they come late and don't sign up. So the show ended up being like 15 people who signed up and then 10 more seasoned comedians. And lasted until about 10:30. So that was more than 2.5 hours of comedy, which is a lot for anyone.

The vibe at this place was weird. There were a lot of comedians. But only a bunch were in the room at any given time. I think for the other times they were hanging outside the room in the hallway/lobby/places bouncing jokes off each other. Which makes sense to me in some respect, since bouncing ideas off comedians is a good way to work. But the point of the open-mic is that everyone performs and then watches so everyone has an audience. So it just struck me as weird. I feel like I would never really be comfortable just rolling up an hour into a show and bursting my way on stage. But if that's expected, then maybe I would do it.

Also, before the show I was chatting with someone who had seen me a couple times and was apparently a fan. He asked if I acted, I said no, and then he gave me his card and said I should contact him about maybe being in his short internet parody type films. So we'll see if that works out. I don't really know what it would entail, but I'll send an e-mail.

I went up probably around 10. There were some comedians around, but everyone was tired and had hit their comedy quota. Or at least that's what I say to explain my particularly poor performance. I don't know what was with tonight, but I did particularly bad. Granted, I did a lot of "new" jokes. But they had worked decently last night. Maybe it's because people were drunker. But I don't really think I can blame my performance on anything but sloppiness. I did not even rehearse in front of a mirror today. I really need to be working harder and smarter. That me be cliched, but whatever. Looking at it now, there are definitely "jokes" I told that were not jokes. Funny concepts, maybe, but no setup, no punchline. Even jokes that are mostly stories require at least some sort of setup-punchline structure. I feel like I've written this a fair amount, but I frequently fall back into the trap of "everyone will laugh because I thought the story was funny." That's just not how it works. I should be able to look at every joke I tell and find a setup and a punchline.

So, I have a month left. I should be writing a few hours a day. I should be preparing heftily for each performance. I should be making use of the feedback I get from gigs. And thus, I will. In other news, my brother reported a polar bear ad on the site. So, that plan worked a little bit. OK, I will learn from this and press onward.