Wasted Week

This week, I am only working on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday.  This means I could stay in NY until late on Tuesday and Friday without having to worry about getting up early the next day.  With this in mind, I e-mailed for spots at Tuesday’s show and Thursday’s show.

Whoop, what?  Wife wants to go take professional photos with our son?  And it has to be Tuesday?  Okay, cancel the Tuesday spot.  And a text, what?  My brother wants to meet for Christmas (Sunday)?  Can’t, busy with wife’s family.  And wife works on Saturday and you work Friday?  I guess it’ll have to be on Thursday.  Cancel that one.

I don’t mind that sometimes comedy has to take a backseat to my familial duties, especially during the Christmas season.  But it sure is annoying that both of them happened to coincide with both days I e-mailed for spots.  I could have gone yesterday but my wife’s parents came over yesterday.  So no comedy this week.  Hopefully I’ll make lemons out of lemonade by studying more.

In other news, looks like I have my first subscriber.  I can only do so much while blogging from my phone, but I think the subscriber is a comedy podcasting site.  Thanks for following and I’ll return the favor when I get a chance.

Open Mic 030 & 031: Don’t Be Late!

I wasn’t sure about my availibility tonight but once again, due to my wife’s friend coming over, I got to go do comedy again.  This time, I did 2 shows, but both times, I was second to last.

First show was at Broadway Comedy Club, and I was 35 minutes late.  My material didn’t get a good reaction, but I did have a heckler.  A couple of comics before me was asked by someone in the audience if he can come heckle.  The comic said sure, and the heckler stayed for the remainder of the night.  He started heckling me, and I hit my line of the night: “don’t they have open mics for hecklers?”  The crowd, or at least what was left of it, with less than 10 in the audience, liked that one.  I don’t know why he was doing this, but he wasn’t doing it to be mean.  And if I ever go pro and get a real heckler, I now have a line to use against him.

I decided to go to 1-Republik for the second open mic of the night even though I was going to be late.  I was about 20 minutes late and once again, I was second to last.  And I did not fare well at all.  I didn’t bring my notepad, and when I don’t get any laughs, I kind of get nervous and forget what I was going to say.  So both sets were pretty bad, and had I known this was going to happen, I would have just gone home.  But I know I can’t think like that.  Good or bad, I have to build up experience and although one open mic’s impact on my skills is miniscule, they do add up.  All good things require this type of dedication where results aren’t seen instantly, like studying or working out.

I also saw E-Mail here again tonight.  He stuck around to the end of the show, but he left without saying hi.  What da heck?  Did he meet another comic?  He gave me his number and now he ignores me?  Typical comic!

This will be it for this week, and my next shows will be either Monday or Tuesday.

Wasted Trip II

Man, two wasted trips in a row.  I can’t afford to waste my time like this.  This really shows that I must commit in advance with a pre-booked mic instead of just going.  I worked late today so instead of going to east side of Manhattan like I had done the previous two Mondays, I went to a mic in Hoboken.  It didn’t interest me before because it was a musician/comedian open mic, but my views on them changed after that time a couple of Fridays ago.

Well, I should have kept my original views because the restaurant where the open mic was supposed to be held was closed.  No lights, locked doors, closed.  Dang it, it was 8pm and too late to go anywhere else.  I could’ve tried the 9pm show on 1st Ave, but that would mean coming home after midnight, so I decided to cut my losses and head home.

Not sure if I’ll have time to go again this week, since my compasny party is Thursday.  But starting next week, I’m definitely pre-booking two nights/week.  Can’t waste my time anymore.

Wasted Trip

Today was a total waste.  I had pre-booked a spot at Broadway Comedy Club.  I should have left work at 5 but got held up for 30 minutes due to work.  I thought it would still be okay, but today, they didn’t have much time so they cut off all latecomers.  I’m never late to open mics, and one time I am late, I lose my spot.  What luck.  I also spent $1.50 on PATH and $2.25 for subway from 32nd and 6th to 53rd and 7th.  Damange so far: $3.75.

Weird thing about Thursdays is that there are no late open mics.  Latest one starts at 7pm.  Although it was on the east side, I didn’t want to waste a trip, so I took another ride and a walk to McSwiggins.  As I expected, all booked and no spots left.  Although I did sign up for the e-mail list with the host, I’m not sure if I’d want to come here due to its location and the fact that the bar music is really loud.  I did see an unconscious guy in the middle of the street getting a CPR by EMTs.  Considering the amount of time they tried, I doubt he survived.  He got rolled into an ambulance and I walked up a block to NY Comedy Club.  I wanted to see if they had a spot although it is a fully booked mic.  When I was asked to buy a beer to get in, I walked out.  Now that I think about it, maybe I should have asked anyway.  But really, it was a long shot.  Another subway ride and damage tally is now $6.00.

Walked back to 5th Ave to take a 6 train, but I was out of money on my MetroCard.  While I was filling it, I missed a train.  Annoying but the next train came within 5 minutes.  Transferred at Grand Central, and just missed the 7 train to Times Square.  Annoying AND the next train didn’t come for 15 minutes, and felt like 30.  Took it back to Port Authority, and damage now is $8.25.

Of course, I just missed another bus and waited 10 more minutes.  Bus fee I had to pay was $2.50.  Final damage: $10.75.  Final time cost: two and a half hours.  Stage time: 0 minutes.  What a waste of a trip.

Open Mic 028 & 029: Got a Number!

I debated about heading out tonight, and decided to head out based on the fact that my wife wasn’t home and I wasn’t hungry after work.  I didn’t bring my notes but just jotted down some that I remembered.

First spot was NY Comedy Club.  About 10 people saw me and I did not fare that well.  But I wasn’t too disappointed I guess, possibly because I didn’t expect much from the crowd and also because I’m used to it.  I don’t want to blame the “crowd” but the guy after me was sooo depressed about the atmosphere.  He was an 18-year-old kid, big black kid, who really did not want to be up there.  He didn’t even really do any material and just talked about how depressing it was and how his mom was calling him to come home.  Since other comics who went before me bolted soon after their sets, I ventured off to another mic myself soon after that guy.

I walked up 10 blocks to 1-Republik, my first time there.  It was a fairly crowded mic and although I was one of the last to go up, the crowd was still there.  The mic here is 4 minutes, which means I got lighted by the host after 3, indicating that I had a minute left.  I ended up doing all Jesus jokes, which may have come off as being too Christian for the open mic scene, but I didn’t do too bad, I suppose.  I’ll write more about the Jesus jokes next time, since tonight’s topic is E-Mail.  E-Mail is the guy I met a couple of weeks ago who asked for my E-Mail and talked to me about starting an open mic in the city.  I talked to him for quite a bit, walking together after the show.  And he asked me for my number.  I’ve gotten business cards and E-Mail addresses a couple of times, but never a phone number.  Could it be that I have my first comedy friend?  He doesn’t seem part of the comedy clique and seems like a nice guy.  We shall see, I’m sure I’ll run into him again.

Next up on my schedule is this Thursday, back at Broadway Comedy Club.

Open Mic 027: Losing Faith in My Material

I think this happened for the first time, that I completely forgot to post on my way home and is now updating the following morning.  Probably because I was still disturbed by that absolutely horrible knish I bought off a street vendor for $2.  Note to self: no more street knishes.

Last night, I did an open mic at Broadway Comedy Club, produced by Laughing Buddha Comedy.  Besides open mics, they produce bringer shows, real shows, and auditions, not to mention comedy classes.  I’m wondering if they are really good people to get involved with, or if they’re just interested in money.

As for my set, I did my homeless routine again, and again it did not get a great response.  Maybe it’s really not funny and I need to drop it.  Maybe I need to change it up.  I don’t know yet but I’m now having serious doubts that this routine is good.  I won’t give up yet, but time’s running out.