Got up early today and did the best writing I've done in a while. I trimmed this short story I'm working on from 1200 to 300 words. The shorter version actually says more than the long version. The 300 words is just the opening scene, but this might be good. Unfortunately I won't be able to work on it for a few days. That life thing will be getting in the way. Ah well, Wednesday it is.
Dead tonight. The weather was wonderful. The show started at 8:30. I'm not sure if this change is permanent, or just while the Marsh Comedy Fest is going on. Anyway, I did some stock jokes and got some laughs but it wasn't much fun.
I finally got the opening scene of the story to the place I want it. I've never worked so long on so few words. I think it's worth it.
I am finally feeling better. I've been sick a week. I mean sick. I'm talking coughing up gritty brown mucus sick. But I'm feeling much better now.
Fun fun fun! Good energy. Good ad-libs. Good connection with the audience. I almost didn't come to the show tonight, but I had to get ready for...see the next entry.
Yes, Tom plays the Improv. Kurtis of Comedy College fame has organized a comedy competition taking place at the Improv in San Jose. I was in the first round which took place tonight. First, let me tell you about the club. We are talking comedy heaven. It's an old theater. There's a balcony. It has a real stage. It's huge. Great sound system with an actual sound man. We got to pick our intro music. The audience was fantastic.
Before I describe my set I have to mention that I don't like competitions. I have no moral objections, I just never do well. I always put too much pressure on myself. Fortunately I had completely psyched myself out of being competitive. Knowing I had no chance took all the pressure off and allowed me to have fun. I have a few comedy goals left. One was to do a set at an Improv. This was my chance.
Back stage just before my set my hands started shaking. This is the penultimate sign of nervousness for me. The only thing past this is what I call "mush mouth." That's where all my words run into each other creating a blur of unfunniness. The instant I heard my name announced all the nervousness rushed out of me. I waltzed onto the stage to the opening bars of Oingo Boingo's Dead Man's Party and knew this was going to be good. Everything clicked. Everyone I could see in the audience was grinning ear-to-ear and laughing in all the right places. I had some very good ad-libs, which with a four minute time limit meant I had to drop a few lines later in the set, but it was all good.
After the set several people told me it was the best set they have seen me do. I have to agree with them. Yes, Tom does have an ego.
One annoying bit of knowledge. In a contest with audience voting, the later you go up the better. I was 9th out of 11 comedians. The last 4 comedians tonight were the four winners who get to go one to the semi-finals. Yes, do the math, I am one of the semi-finalists. I finished 2nd in the voting and won a $10 Improv gift certificate. It wasn't until the Headliner was on stage and the votes were being counted that it dawned on me that I might make it to the next round. I don't mean to say that we 4 don't deserve to go on. We all had good sets. But other comedians who had sets just as good and did not advance.
So now I get to prep for the next round which is some time in October. I'll try to do a few showcases between now and then to practice doing longer sets. Though I find it much easier to 15 or 20 minutes than 4.
The silence was deafening. I got a few laughs for my bigger punchlines, but for the most part I never connected with the audience. I may have been cruising a bit after the last two killer sets, assuming that this too would be a killer set. This is one of the reasons that writing has appeal for me. When I write a story it is done. It is then available to whatever audience chooses to read it. With comedy, when I create a good five minute set, I have to recreate that set over and over again for each new audience. This has proven a major stumbling block for me. With writing though, you don't get the same immediate feedback that is much more satisfying emotionally.