I am leaving work early on Friday, and yesterday was the easiest day for me to make up the hours. Therefore, I did not leave work until after 8pm, and was only able to do one show.
Getting off the 9th Street PATH Station was very familiar. Taking that walk south along 6th Avenue, I passed by all the usual sights. Homeless man, street book sellers, actual book stores, Gray’s Papaya, 4th Street basketball court… it was good to see all the familiar sights again. I walked all the way down to Bleecker Street and crossed it out of habit. (Comedy Corner is on the other side of the street, or at least used to be. They had open mics virtually every night of the week but I don’t see it on the open mic site, http://www.badslava.com, so I’m not sure if they’re still around.) Walked down a couple of blocks, and I had made it back: Village Lantern.
I paid my $5 open mic fee and took a seat in the corner. The waitress came around and I ordered an $8 beer. Tipped $2 because I expect to be a regular visitor and I don’t want to be known as cheap. But the $8 was a bit more than I thought it would be, since they used to have cheap draft specials for at least half off that price. They had a sign that olive drinks were $4 – I assume those are martinis. Would rather have beer but maybe I’ll try an olive drink next time. Oh, and I have to buy something because there is a drink minimum.
When my turn came up, the host remembered me, as he introduced me with “this guy hasn’t been here in a while…” The previous two comics before me both talked about pedophiles and I came up with a pedophile joke on the spot so I opened with that. (Not 100% sure on the spelling of pedophile but I am not about to ask the lady sitting next to me on the bus right now.) That joke got an acceptable response. I followed that up with my 5-minute set, a 70-30 mix of old jokes and new jokes. Most did not really get any laughs but a couple were okay. But more importantly, I felt right at home.
I was thinking that I did my comedy thing so I’ll go home today but realized that I would not be satisafied with that kind of dedication. So I’ll be looking for an open mic tonight, and hopefully get back on stage.
Stand Up: The Blog 