Carlisle

This past weekend, I performed in Carlisle, PA at Red Devil Pizza. I had heard some horror stories from other comedians so I was fully prepared to bomb...and I did. Things actually looked better than I expected upon arrival. There was a small crowd but the room was tiny so I thought the laughter may spread quickly throughout the establishment...I was wrong. There was no MC so I took the stage cold and made the mistake of going right into material. I tried everything and nothing registered - I just talked to a sea...a creek, of blank stares. I don't know if they didn't get the jokes, didn't think they were funny, or thought they were funny but did not feel like laughing. I think it was probably a combination of all three and made for an uncomfortable beginning.

After 10 minutes of bombing, I gave up and just started talking to the crowd, they were mildly amused. We talked about Carlisle, relationships, and on-line dating. At one point, I took a poll from the audience as to how many had used an on-line dating service. To my suprise, Carlisle is very internet friendly. Quite a number of the patrons had used on-line dating and several at the bar began debating over which website was the best. I politely waited for them to finish their discussion, which last about 90 seconds, and then continued eating my balls. There was a table of college kids in the front row who talked during my entire set and then got up and left right before I finished - I wanted to punch every single one of them in the face.

Finally, I had enough and introduced the headliner, Dave Goldstein www.davegoldstein.com. He actually performed for nearly an hour which was completely amazing to me. He did much better than me and had moments where the audience was laughing at his jokes, not just because a farting noise was heard from the men's room (which was right next to the stage so every time someone had to use it, which was every 5 minutes, that person would walk right in front of the comedian). He was a super nice guy and told me an interesting story. Apparently, 5-7 years ago, Dave worked with Lewis Black at Tracy's Comedy Club http://www.tracyscomedyclub.homestead.com/index.html. No offence to Tracy's, it's a fine club and I have worked there, but it's not the Comedy Cellar. That should be a reminder to all young comedians, you never know...