Anyway the show was a fun as any I have performed there. We had some wild volunteers (I won't mention Brandon by name ;-) and as he screamed afterwards about being terrific, "THANKS, I KNOW !!!! The photos were fun to look at. And I want to thank the many that came up to me after the show to say how much they enjoyed themselves. I hope to see all of you again next year. Tell your friends what they missed and next year we can have a much bigger crowd. I am working on many new routines you won't want to miss.
Thursday was a show for a Rhode Island middle school. No photos were taken but I can assure you, those that came out were treated to a really fun night. I really like how the younger kids interprets each routine. From the smiles I saw coming from our clothes designer (um... I mean school principal), I think she had a great time as well. Not a big student turn out but many families. I hope we can do this again next year when the kids that didn't show up realize what they missed by not coming out.
I love perfoming night after night as I can get into a groove and the shows seem to get better and better. Most performers will tell you how they into the zone night after night and EVERY show is better than the last. But that is not always the case, as I will tell you. I am going to keep the details completely anynomous because I am sure other entertainers of all kind might have better success than I did. Okay here goes...
I booked a show Saturday night at an upstate New York Comedy Club. Someone there had seen me perform at Bayley's Camping Resort in Maine many times and thought this would be perfect for this venue. I thought so as well. Anyway, I get to the club early, as I was going to get something to eat before the show. I pull up at the address given me and all I see is a restuarant. I go inside and ask for dirction to the club and was told this is it. They hold shows in the back room (they call it a banquet room but my living room was bigger). I set up my sound system, set up the chairs for volunteers. I only had room for 5 chairs. The rest of the room was set up with those big round banquet tables and 10 chairs to a table. Not much room to breathe in there. I hope you get the picture.
As the 8:00PM show time was approaching I was getting worried as no one was seated yet. I thought maybe they were in the bar waiting for the start time. 8pm came and went. 8:10, 8:20, 8:30, no one. Then a group came in. 14 people to be exact. Then a server came in bringing 4 buckets of beer. The club owner came up to me and said I could start the show now. I asked if more people were expected and he said this was a big crowd for him. I started my intro and then I asked for volunteers they looked at each other, then me, then laughed. They must have thought this was the comedy routine they came in to hear. I assured them that without their participation there could be no show. Well guess what happened next... nothing! Not one person wanted to do this.
As I started to pack up, the owner came in and gave me hell for not doing a show. We discussed that without volunteers, what was I to do. He said this was a comedy club and go back and be funny. Those were his words... go be funny. I won't repeat what the converstaion was next. But after pointing out that my contract for the evening was for a hypnosis show and not a stand up comedy show, I fulfilled my part. He reluctantly paid me and I couldn't get out of there any faster. I later found out he never advertises but as he books an act he tell his patrons that this coming Saturday night there would be some kind of entertainment. Hellova way to run a business. He must make his money on his restuarant because dinner was delicious!
Here are some photos from Douglas High School:
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