Bunjo's - July 17, 2009 - That was very much fun

I went up 4th (I think) tonight. There were lotsa comics, and the owner, John whose birthday it was, had just gotten done telling the crowd we'd work on getting them out of there soon. So, despite his having told me I'd get 5 minutes, I cut it down to about 4:30 [pats self on back]. I *could* have slowed it down, not stepped on the laughs I got & let some of those laughs build, but I did OK for a rushed set.

I ended up only using a handful of the bits you'll see in the "What's on the Menu" post below. I added 3 in the front of the set, riffing with material I had written before on what John said in his intro. They actually worked better than some of the scripted material.

I got good responses to about 8 of the gags and can polish each of those. I can also rework a few that didn't work quite as well.

This was my first (relatively) large crowd. Maybe 30 or 40 people. A little older; a little wiser than the few tween customers and massive # of comics every week at Tommy's. I told a few things that required political awareness or a command of the English language -- and they GOT 'em. [Yay!]

I also got to meet and watch real, live professional comedians. "Chicago Steve" Barkley (http://www.chicagosteve.com/) was the headliner. You need to go to his site to appreciate the depth of experience and talent he brought to the show.

I also knew of and admire Larry "Bubbles" Brown (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Bubbles_Brown), who opened the show. Both of these guys have been major successes since the 1980s and were, of course, ridiculously funny.

John taped the entire night. Maybe I can get him to make me a copy.

A few of the audience members shook my hand/congratulated me on the set and all the comics were gracious enough to say they liked it. John's mother LOVED the joke about Rush Limbaugh and told me I have a future in comedy. She rejected my protestations that she was being nice to say so, saying instead that she watches a lot of comics and I "have something."

On the one hand, I knew I could have done better. On the other hand, I have to be happy with it going as well as it did. Ten years from now (if I'm alive & working as a comedian), I'll look back at tonight & cringe. But for now I'll edit the set down and post some of it later.