Monday, August 20, 2007

Day 28: Night of Networking 8/19/07

James and I went to the Underground. Not sure what I was going to do tonight then seconds before we start I get hit with the unexpected... I'm going up first. Shit whadamygonnado? I throw together a quick set of newer standards (bumbershoot, westlake solicitor, bidet, neuva ring, Toby McGuire). It went fairly well, not bad not the best. I was flustered with the mic stand when I got started and I fumbled my dismount but over-all it was fine. James went up later, poor guy, as there were some legendarily douchey drunk assholes yelling and heckling every set (actually, they really enhanced the evening by providing some extreme meta-comedy and handing a lot of the comics some great ammunition). James was flustered but he had an amazing opening attack that was price of admission.

Now I don't know if my set worked well or if it was the fact that I went first BUT a lot of people started talking to me tonight. Ron, one of the guys that runs Underground was asking me about my background, how long I did comedy and what I did before. He said he really liked my stuff. Some of the comics came up introducing themselves to me. At the end one of the Laff Hole guys who I haven't officially met yet introduced himself to me and talked to me about the possibility of one of their Ballard shows.

In hindsight I regret my reaction to all of this. I instantly went into network mode just trying to talk myself and all of my shit up. Fuck. I wondered how I'd deal with this and it was just like a sell out. Not that I'm not totally happy with the attention and the opportunities. Don't get me wrong, I just feel like I reacted like all those fake actor types that I loathe with every fiber of my being. I just want to have the composer to be thankful, appreciative, and that's it. When I do derby and someone compliments me I'm cool and that's it. I gotta be this way with comedy for fear of not wanting to become someone I regret.

All told great fucking night though.

Lesson: Impress people with my jokes, no need to be a douche

Backup lesson: Be ready just in case I'm first to bat

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