I love you too

Due to some scheduling issues, I was able to Feature at the Baltimore Comedy Factory this weekend. Even better than that, I got to work with one of my favorite comics - Jim Marsdale. Jim has a certain aura about him that is just undeniable...a true professional. I took over for him for the midnight show and did my best to make him proud. It was a very small crowd and they were drunk and not really in the mood to have a good time. I took the stage and did some crowd work to get started; everything was going fine. Then, I made my first mistake, I tried to tell a joke. The crowd was not pleased with this and responded with complete silence. After joke number two tanked, I decided to skip the funny and go right to conversation. Conveniently, I got to talk to everyone in the audience since there were only thirteen of them and that made it easy to pick them out. From then on, everything went fine and we started the show. Joe Robinson, who is a good friend of mine, was the feature for the evening and battled the beligerent crowd for a good 20 minutes. PJ Walsh, who is a friend of headliner Reno Collier, performed a 10 minute guest set and did well. After PJ, another good friend Justin Schlegel, performed a 10 minute guest set and did well also. Finally, Reno took the stage and finished out the show...and we were all happy to call it a night.

A funny thing happened while Reno was on stage. While using the urinal, the guy next to me started a conversation. First of all, I'm not a big fan of conversations with strange people while urinating. As a general rule, I like to end the pee session before we get acquainted. Apparently, this guy did not feel the same way. he went on to tell me the show "sucked" and he didn't think we were funny. I asked him if he thought anyone was funny and he replied that PJ Walsh was "OK." I told him I wished he had more fun and that I tried my best to make everyone laugh. He responded by saying, "I'll be honest, I don't think you're funny...lemme me buy you a shot." Wow, tell me how you really feel. I couldn't help but be a little insulted by his statement. I realize you've been drinking but come on man, show a little restraint. So we did the shot and then we did another because it seemed like the right thing to do. In any case, the alcohol quickly washed the sting away and I ended up making a friend. Honestly, it was no big deal. While I would personally never say that to someone, I realize this guy was not purposely trying to offend me so I sucked it up. That's one reason why I love comedy, it strengthens you. There was a time when that comment would have really affected me, not so much anymore...I actually laughed at it. Comedy has taught me to believe in myself and be happy with who I am while realizing not everyone is going to appreciate me.

After the show, I got to meet and hang out with some of Mr. Marsdale's friends. Bobby "big business" Thompson, Clint Northrup, Randy Wagman, Winston McSherry, and Terry Butler. They were all very cool guys and were easy to talk to, especially since we all share a passion for Jim's work. I actually got some great pictures with them; check out my photos page on my website.

On saturday night, I featured for all three shows and had a blast. Joe Robinson MC'd and was fantastic as usual. He really is a great MC and his brother looks just like John Denver, which I've mentioned in previous blogs. All three shows went great and the late show, although it was the smallest crowd, was the most fun. Reno Collier crushed all three shows and drank about 47 miller lites in 5 hours. He is a super nice guy and it was an absolute pleasure to work with him. It really was one of my most fun nights of comedy. Thank you Baltimore!