Road WarriorI’ve returned to Florida to spend Christmas with Zinester’s family. At first I was worried that I would have to take a week off from performing, but I’ve managed to find a few places to perform. I am looking forward to performing down here, but I admit that I’m a little afraid.
I’m afraid of performing for two reasons. First, my political comedy is (surprise, surprise) left-leaning. That is fine in blue-state NYC, because the easiest (and “hackest") laugh is to just say “Doesn’t President Bush suck?” without any real joke to follow it up? Example:
Doesn’t Bush suck? [Cheering] Isn’t he just so stupid? [Much laughter] [Insert random example of Bush getting tongue-tied] [Inexplicably, more laughter] END OF “POLITICAL” SEGMENTMy jokes are more sophisticated than that, but I still don’t know if any anti-Bush material will fly. (Zinester is insistent that I not do any political jokes down here.) Which leads to fear #2. My jokes don’t take an advanced degree to understand, but they aren’t for the feeble-minded either. I’ve heard some pretty negative stuff about the quality of audiences at road gigs, and I’m afraid that some of my stuff - particularly the political stuff - will be over the audience’s collective head. (Zinester is insistent that I not tell some of the smarter jokes in my act.) We’ll see. At any rate, it will be good to get out of the liberal bubble in New York to see what other audiences think of my stuff.
Tonight will either be great fun or a total horror show. My first (sort of) road gig is an open mic at the Coconuts Comedy Club in St. Pete. I have no idea what the comedy will be like, but I expect it to be horrible. Most of the open mics in New York are horrible and those are filled with people who hope to make careers in comedy. At a club in western Florida - not a place where people go to chase their showbiz dreams - I’m afraid that most of the comics are going to be doing the equivalent of comedy karaoke. I’m hoping for original writing, but not really expecting it. Also, the homophobia meter will probably redline by the second performer. There is a headliner tonight, but I can find no web presence for “Uncle Bob” something-or-other, so I have no idea what to expect from him, either.
I am going to try to get on stage as much as possible while I am down here, and I should be able to get up at least a couple more times. Coconuts also has a club in Clearwater, and the booker in St. Pete said that I’ll be able to do a guest spot there in their regular show - right now I am thinking 12/28 is the most likely date. I hope to perform at least three times while I am down here so an earlier show is likely as well. There are a few other places clubs I need to call - Tampa has much more comedy than I expected. Wish me luck - without a useful tape to show to the booker or an agent to call on my behalf, I’m going to need it.
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