Comedy, Comedy, Comedy

Yes, that's right. I performed comedy 3 nights , in a row ! Only one of them was planned. On Thursday , I went down to Rafferty's in Marshfield hosted by the lovely and talented Chrissy Kelleher. It's a small room , sometimes referred to as "The Comedy Coffin" , it's that small and enclosed. We had 7 civilian audience members and that mostly filled it. They are regulars. Beautiful, loving , regulars. Thank God they are there because you can get a little bit of a gauge about how you are doing. The other comics were in the back watching the Celtics pummel someone. I sat in the audience finishing off my cheese burger. I drove a couple of comics, Mike & Joe. We got there a half hour early becuase I thought the show started at 8. My bad. I was looking forward to Thursday because I had 4 new jokes/bits I wanted to try . Two were dirty , or "dirty" for me and 2 were useable in other venues. I went second. I took my notebook onstage with me , in case I forgot something, which happens a lot to me. The 2 dirty bits went okay. They don't seem to be complete, but they are pretty far along. The other two , "clean" bits went pretty good. Again, one of them isn't all the way there, but is useable as is. It was a worthwhile trip to the South Shore. The other two guys I gave a ride to , seemed glad they went as well.
On Friday , I was doing the door at the Comedy Studio. The show was being hosted by the delightful Renata Tutko. I love this little girl. Both for her comedy and her personality. She's just a great person. Any how, I jokingly said to her, "If somebody doesn't show up , I'm ready to go on ! I got time ready to go . I'm just saying, if you need me , I'll be available.". She said she'd keep it in mind. So, I'm doing the door , getting ready to see Renata host. There's some new faces and some regular people on the show. All in all, an evening where anything could happen. Shortly before the show started, Rick came over and said " I'll cover the door while you take the bullet" ("taking the bullet" means you go first). He felt he needed to surprise me so I couldn't have time to get nervous. Touche Monsieur Jenkins ! Yay ! I was getting stage time and I was actually ready to go on. I quickly listed a set and put it in my pocket. Trying out new material the previous evening made me more focused on the task at hand. I was pretty excited and I think that carried over to the audience. I even threw in 2 of the clean bits from the night before.Unfortunatley , the dvd recorder wasn't working. I would have loved to have seen a tape of it . It just went really well. It was a great evening for me.
I was doing the door at the Studio on Saturday as well. Since I got to take the bullet the night before, there was no way I was going to get stage time again so soon. I didn't even consider it a possibility. It was going to be a busy night , all the seats that could be pre-sold, were . Which means that we'll sell out the unsold seats fast and then it'll be standing room only by the time the show starts. That is exactly what happened. I was really just concentrating on the task at hand. Trying to be nice to the people who want the unoccupied but paid-for seats and other door type customer hassles. Shortly before the show was to begin , Doug Chagnon came over and said "Rick told me to do the door while you take the bullet". Wow ! 2 nights in a row ! Interestingly, I was less prepared because I totally hadn't considered that I would go up . I really scribbled a set list, less comprehensive than the previous evening. I also didn't feel that I was dressed as well as the previous evening. So, I started and it was going pretty good. I forgot a couple of tings but I jumped to something else until I could get back to where I wanted to be. I think I lost them a little bit but I had them by the end. The primary difference this time was when I lost my place I didn't say out loud "I forgot what I was going to say!" I just kept going. Near the end, I could see something going on on the booth. I hadn't gotten the light but Tom Morello was definitely doing something with the light. I kind of panicked because I thought I had gone over my time and that Rick would think I was thoughtless. Turns out , someone had unscrewed the blue light and Tom was screwing it back in, that is what I was seeing. I asked Tom if I had gone over and he said I did my time , I went over by 30 seconds , which was acceptable , given the circumstances.
SO, it was an exciting couple of days for me. My sets felt strong and I think I was able to provide a fun time for the audiences. It was really good and I was really happy with everything. I'm finally at the point where I can put something good together with short notice. It was nice to learn that about myself. Yay !