Rafferty's Redux

Tonight I made the treck down to Marshfield to Rafferty's . My last trip down there, I got hopelessly lost over and over again within a mile of the club. Tonight, I left from Boston Common and I got there an hour before I was supposed to be there. I thought I might sample some local fried clams , but I went to the Ocean State Job Lot which was conveniently located across the parking lot from the club. I got two shirts for my boss, who's birthday is coming up and he's a hard to fit kind of guy, a couple of birthday cards for said boss and my Mom and a couple of Parker pens. Nice , clicker ball point pens-.75 each. I also went to Brooks and got some windshield wiper fluid and Zatador-an antihistamene for the eyes. While I had the hood open, and I had the time , I also checked the oil and put some more in. Taking advantage of the down time. Yeah, I know , fascinating stuff . . . . .
After killing enough time, I showed up only about 15 minutes early, and there were comics there already ! It's Krissy 's Kelleher's show, but she had Chris Pennie hosting. He did a really good job . Frankly he was on fire tonight ! Very funny to watch and he didn't record any of it ! The opening acts were two up and comers from Emerson -Reggie Williams and Gary Patterson. I had seen Reggie up in Gardner that terrible night . He was one of the winners. He told me that when they went back the following week, the show had been cancelled because of all the graduations. So, the "winners" used their gift certificates and left. Just poor planning and I'm glad I will never have to do a show in Gardner ever again. I'm sorry Reggie Williams had to spend some of his young life going there, but that's just how the cookie dough ball rolls. Both Reggie and Gary are good writers and they know how to sell it, still, so young.
Tim Grassey was on the bill, I had seen him before , he was good. Tim Dillion was there, with his wife , he was doing new stuff, very funny. Krissy Kelliher, herself, was really funny . She was doing stuff I hadn't heard before. Donny Boz (Bones ?) I had seen him before at the Isle, he's starting out . He's got very good stage presence and he did a really great bit about lottery scratch tickets, he's also getting married next week (good luck , Buddy!). Rick Cormier did a lot of new jokes. I couldn't tell if I had heard it some place else, but he was really energized and really funny.
I was trying to stick to my five minutes. I'm going down to the Catch a Rising Star contest in Rhode Island on Wed. I just want to be in fighting shape to do it. I tried to stay away from the Boston -centric material. Tried to stick to as many of the little jokes that I have. And, I slowed down, I have a joke where I can check my watch in the middle, when I thought I had done about 2 minutes, it was just over 30 seconds, so, I had plenty of time. I slowed down and it made a difference to the jokes and the audience. It felt really good and the audience really seemed to enjoy it. Kris Earl was there and he video taped me, so , I 'll get to see how it really looked.
The final act was Kris Earle. He did a lot of new material that he hadn't done before, it was a really good. He closed with a really filthy Billy Joel song parody. He had changed some of the words from the last time I had seen him do it. I laughed so hard I was in pain. I peed my pants, literally. Just a couple of drops, but still. .. I was sitting next to Krissy and she said , in between gasps, "I think I'm going to throw up ! " . She meant it in a good way . He can't do that in front of a regular audience , unless they' ve really cozied up to him earlier in a show. Filthy and funny.
It was a fun night . It was a great way for me to spend an evening . It was a fun night. The comics and the audience seemed to be having a good time . It was a small but attentive audience. It was a wonderful evening for me.