Moment of Pause #2: The Evolution

My 1st One-Niter
So in the last post, I mentioned answering the call. Well in late January, I had just written down a couple of new jokes/premises and felt pretty good about myself. I get a call that night from a comic inquiring about my availability to open for him in two days. I said yes without hesitation! $100, room and food! He asked if I'd ever done 30 min. before and I told him no but now's as good a time as any! My goal was to have 30 min. for spring, but I really feel this opportunity came when it did for a reason! So I get up to the casino early, get my room and start making a cheat sheet. Before the show, I met with comic and guy running the show. He tells us what not to say and starts the show. I knew the bar would be a problem, because I could hear the bar over the host. It was also more entertaining.
As I was on stage, I remembered my friend telling me how fast it would go. I didn't know he meant my material! I had my cheat sheet, factored in at least one applause break and thought I may even go over. Sure enough, I forgot how small I wrote and couldn't read my cheat sheet. The bar was louder and the crowd was sparse. I saw smiles, but heard few laughs. It got to the point where I asked where we were at, time wise and I got the "keep going" signal! People came in halfway through my set and I wanted to catch them up by telling the jokes they missed, just for them...in the interest of time! I was running on fumes, throwing half witted premises to the crowd. I finally got the cell light to wrap it up, that felt more like a chute being pulled. I crawled to 21 min. for my first feature act! I thanked the crowd and almost went straight home, but I had to collect the check. I spoke with the headliner for a while afterward, about what I needed to work on and how I can tweak this and that. It was comforting to know that he did 18 his first time, but he followed it up with how he built his 30 min., having to perform day after day, forcing himself to come up with fresh funny and it reminded me of how hard it's going to be. It was an overall encouraging trip! I needed to see where I was as a comic and how far I needed to go.

So CCU approached me to do a feature set with a fellow comic that I knew, trusted and felt comfortable working with. No reason to say no, so I prepared. Listening to my self recordings, trimming some fat and getting help here and there! I wanted to have enough material for 30 min., no question. It was different this time for numerous reasons. I had more experience. It was on my turf, so I felt a ton more comfortable with not only the venue and staff, but with my material! 40+ people showed up, so that was good. We had a first timer as an emcee and he struggled, which made my job a bit harder, because the crowd was so quiet! I get on and talk about random stuff from Avatar to my preference in weathermen! That was only the beginning. It fascinated me how much control I had over the crowd for the entire time. It was a new kind of feeling! I went over my time(31:25) and hadn't covered half the stuff I wanted to. When I'm finished, the headliner tells me I killed it and that was cool, but it was when my friend tells me that she thought I was just aight at first, but now her jaws hurt from laughing. That's the position I want people, laughing so hard that it hurts. I honestly wouldn't mind if someone pressed charges against me for making their sides hurt! !
The good people at CCU were kind enough to make me a copy of my feature set. I plan on showing this to the fam and friends.

It's been a couple weeks since and more folks are asking for my availability. That means I have more work to do, to stay fresh. I realize that the next 30 min. I do will be completely different than before and it will likely be in front of complete strangers again! I'll have more confidence this time. In myself and the material. It feels good to take this next step, but that's all that it is, a step. Nothing's happened, yet.