June 22, 2009 at Tommy T's

I have "mixed feelings" about my performance tonight.

Tonight was my 13th time on stage, minutes 60 through 64. A milestone of sorts. I've now had an entire hour of stage time.

I didn't deliver it nearly as well as I had hoped, but I got the laughs where I wanted them. I'll post the set separately.

In case you haven't looked at earlier posts about Open Mic nights at Tommy T's, they let all the comics who want to perform sign up until 7pm, when the show starts. Tonight there were 38 comics and Valerie (the MC) -- wisely, I thought -- said from now on only the first 30 who sign up will go on stage -- so, get there early. An extra 8 comics means an extra 40+ minutes. Tonight, even with limited time between acts to get the next performer onto the stage, the show ran from 7 to around 10:30 pm. At the end of the show, management picks the top 5 comics of the night and puts them together on the stage so the audience can vote for a favorite. The winner gets 1/2 the door (the price paid for tickets @ $5/each), up to $100. There are always more than 40 people there (we comics pay the $5, too), so $100 is the prize for the night.

I've only been in the top 5 once, and received the smallest votes (by applause) of the 5. But it was a special feeling.

Performing at the club has upsides and downsides. The club seats a LOT of people comfortably. They serve food. There are a variable number of non-comics, maybe around 20-30, several of whom come with friends who are performing. Those factors are the "upsides."

The rest of the room is filled with comedians, nearly all of whom have seen each others' acts before. We all tend to congregate near the bar (at the back of the club) and sometimes talk with each other while other comics perform. Generally quietly, but not necessarily devoting our full attention to each performer. We are also somewhat critical of the other performances -- listening for the new bits in otherwise known sets. It's fair to say it takes a lot to get other comics laughing.

The other major problem (for me, anyway) is that it is a YOUNG crowd. Except for a few comics who are 40+ years old, the room is almost entirely 20-somethings. Many, many of the performers use what I consider over-the-top sexual language (the "F-bomb" and "mother-f-bomb"). There is a fair amount of talk about sex and drugs and TV shows I don't watch.

I went on about # 14 of 38, maybe 90 minutes into the show. The audience was still fresh enough to laugh. By the end of the night, NOBODY had the energy to laugh. I've made the mistake before of getting there too late and signing up for a slot near the end. I'll never do that again.

Anyway, I wasn't in the top 5 tonight, but Val singled out a female comedian named Pat and me as "Most Improved" regular performers. Pat and I are also among the OLDEST performers, but I don't think it was a "be kind to your elders" kind of thing. Pat was better than I remember seeing her before, and I had lots of new material, most of which worked.