Reality

Last night I did two shows. The first one was a showcase at American University with Justin Schlegel, Danny Rouhier, and Jared Stern. I went second and did not bring the funny stuff. Granted, we were in a cafeteria and the kids were eating Chick-fil-A but nonetheless, I could have done better. My first two jokes went great, my third...Not so well. Instead of soldiering on, I veered and made things awkward. I don't care so much that I didn't make them laugh...Actually, that's not true. I care very much. But, more than that, I just didn't have fun on stage. I had to leave after my set so I missed Danny and Jared's sets but it was reported that they both did great and received 346 applause breaks between the two of them. That's a nice amount of applause breaks. They also had fun.

Afterwards, I stopped off at Wiseacres Comedy Club to watch Mike Diesel, Clay Miles, Joe Deley, Justin Schlegel, and others film a sketch. I won't get into the details but let me say this, "this." Also, Joe Deley wearing a bib eating pasta with no expression on his face but lots of Spaghetti sauce is one of the best things I've ever seen.

From there, I traveled to the fabulous Ned Devine's in Sterling. Rob Maher hosts this show and I've done it twice. It's a great room for comedy and Rob does a fantastic job with the room because he's funny, experienced, and talented and could probably make American U students laugh. I went up towards the end of the show and felt the energy was a little drained when I reached the stage. My first five minutes were pretty lackluster...So I veered...Again. This time it was the right call. I went well over my time but that's cool because I got Bird Knight to muscle Rob for me and everything was peaches. That last sentence was a lie - Rob was furious with me and hit my wife. Anyway, I got very strange on stage but I had fun and the crowd had fun and I left feeling rejuvenated. I guess the lesson to be learned here is that what works one time won't work the next. What that means is something I already knew; use your instincts and recognize your crowd, but more importantly, just have fun.

Comedy is so honest. You will be rewarded immediately and you will be reprimanded immediately. Everytime I get a little too confident, I'm knocked back to reality. At the end of the day I'm just a guy with a dream. But, my dream is fun and although I sometimes pee in my dream and get the sheets wet, I'm still enjoying it. That last sentence was really classy. I'm keeping it because it doesn't make sense.

There are so many new comics in DC right now. I'm constantly seeing new people and I really enjoy watching the DC scene grow. That being said, sometimes I feel bad because I don't always make an effort to watch everyone's sets. I suppose I've become oversaturated to an extent and I don't laugh out loud as much as I used too at shows. I think it's awesome to see all the other comics being so supportive and enjoying shows. For example, comedian Jim Elliot. I've spoken with Jim a few times and he's a good guy; he's also in the Arlington Cinema Drafthouse semi-finals in a few weeks. He was at the show last night and I noticed him laughing at all the comics. He did his time but stayed for the rest of the show and supported all the comics. I could even distinguish his laugh in the crowd during my set which was well into the night. That is awesome. I am going to take a lesson and devote myself to shows, not just as a performer but also as a fan. I think I'm missing out on some great comics.

Good bye.