Screening

I woke up fairly late today, hung out and watched TPIR and Wimbledon. I continued to hang out well into the afternoon, until I left for the train to the city. I missed the 4:37, which I wanted to take, but luckily there was a 4:45, so that was all good. After my class I just barely caught the 8:35 home, but I did it! Hooray!

So my final class was interesting. There were about a dozen of us there and we watched all of our performances. I liked watching myself, but agree with some comments that my timing w.r.t the audience was a bit off. I was definitely rushing to avoid being kicked off before I finished my jokes. But otherwise, I was pleased. He then talked for a bit about the "business" side. Most of it was not particularly useful at this moment in time, as I am not aiming to make it my business. The information about agents and managers seemed superfluous. But the information about different types of shows, how to get spots, how to make a name for yourself, how to utilize open-mics, that was all good information. And his main message was that, so long as one condition is met, you will make this your living. The condition? Be "undeniably good." OK, now I have a clear goal to work towards...

I think also significant is that this final class means that I am on my own for the rest of the summer. From tomorrow through about August 22 (when our sub-lease expires) I will most likely be only in DC, answering only to myself. That is 50ish days/7ish weeks of just doing my own thing. I think the first thing I need to do is find some semblance of a routine. No more of this "OK, I'll start work at 1:00" business, which often results in work starting at 3:00. I think it will help me be productive comedically as well as non comedically. If I'm not working on my stuff, I may as well be playing piano, starting a band arrangement, or even venturing into the city. But this is the most freedom I've ever had, and I'm interested to see what I make of it.

Chilling

By design, no comedy today. Just hung out doing very little. I did get positive reviews from two audience members who happened to be my parents. A fairly impartial jury, I think. Tomorrow I'll watch the video at my screening and face my toughest critic - myself. Too cliched? Probably. Oh well.

Debuting

Not much happened today...o wait! I'll get to that in a second. Before that though, other mildly notable things. First, I woke up at 9. After acknowledging that little was on TV, I went back to sleep from 10-12. But since I got out of bed and actively engaged in something else, that qualifies as a nap, not going back to sleep. So yes, I took a nap in the morning. Jealous? Probably. Then I drove up to Princeton and took the train to NYC.

I walked down to the club. But because I am stupid I thought it was between 8th and 9th and not 7th and 8th, so I could not find it. But I got there just after 5, which was fine. We did a mic check quickly, and Steve told us to cut our Michael Jackson jokes. Then I waited around as people came in. Sitting there was probably the worst part. I knew I knew my routine, but I kept going over it. And I was worried about slight changes in timing. In retrospect, I should have realized that my set was fixed, and fussing about 10 seconds was not worth it. But alas, it was not the case.

So I was fifth, which I think was a good place to be. The crowd was warmed up and delightfully buzzed, but not drunk such that they could not parse my language. I remembered everything, and overall it went well. I think everything that was supposed to get a laugh did, and some were pretty significant. And it just felt awesome. The feeling is so good. Making 200 laugh at once - ridiculous. I was pretty happy. Even though my supporters were cheering loudly, I think most people thought I did a good job.

The rest of the comics were good. Alas, I had heard most of them in class, so the fourth time is never as funny. There was one comedian at the end who did some pretty funny Zelda jokes that only a few people laughed at. But they were good. Then a bunch of us went to get Chipotle and then took the train home. Overnight in Princeton, hanging here tomorrow.

To those of you who came out tonight: Thank you, thank you, thank you. It was great to have such support. And to those of you who did not, do not sweat it. I am hopeful and optimistic that I will have plenty of performances in the future.

ReSurpassing

33!

Disbelieving

So on my home page it says this blog had 33 posts and my other had 32. But when I looked it claimed I had only 31. Turns out that it counts drafts. Which is dumb. So I'll just cheat. So this is 32!! and...

Surpassing

If you were unaware, I had another blog that I updated for a brief period. It was an analysis/hatred of Family Circus and Fred Basset comics. But with this post, this blog has more posts! So hooray! And if you're ever really bored, check it out, comicsihate.blogspot.com. Stupid Family Circus.

Anyway, not too much to report from today. Hung out in the morning, got a haircut (no, I got all of them cut. Ha. Ha.) Hung out more, went to Gramma's for dinner. Her fried chicken is top notch. A pretty laid back day.

Now I am rehearsing for tomorrow. My time is right on, now I just have to memorize, which should not be too bad since I wrote it, am fairly familiar with it, and the exact wording does not really matter that much. So, with a bit more tonight and some tomorrow, I should be set.

Homecoming

OK, that is not a verb. But it ends in -ing. So I'll take it.

This morning I had my last private lesson, also my last tune-up before my Sunday performance. I think it was helpful. We made some cuts and rewrote some jokes. I still think it's difficult to have a sense of what is funny aside from my own intuition. Or trying it out. I'm not sure where the in between is. Maybe I'll just have to develop my intuition, or be more critical/realistic with regard to my own writing. That will come with time, hopefully.

That was the only comedy for today. Aside from the performance, this weekend will be pretty comedy-less as I am constantly relocating and freeloading and being not in DC probably for the last time this summer. I took the train back to Princeton and then drove home (boo traffic on the Blue Route.) Then I really just hung out tonight, doing very little. That's OK though, I knew this weekend would be light.

A noteworthy story, though: While watching Jeopardy, I see that the final category is 19th Century American Literature. I proclaim "The Scarlet Letter." Than the answer comes up along the lines of "By the end of this tale, 'The mark was no longer a sign of shame.' " It was indeed the Scarlet Letter. I am so good.