Day 33: Don't be a dick 8/29/07

So I've been really self-righteous about a couple of things in comedy. One is being pissed off at comedians who go too long, another is comedians who jet from an open mic right after their set.

Tonight I was both of these people.

"Comedy Slam" at the Underground, which is essentially an open mic with less comics and more performance time. Cathy Sorbo is playing at the Laff Hole show tonight so I'm just seeing if I can get a set in early then go to Laff Hole later. As luck would have it Ron puts me up first. There's a small but nice crowd. I try some safe stuff and some new stuff. I open with Bumbershoot and Toby which did well, then went into Christian comics. That was all I put on my outline and should've been about 5 minutes, but when I got done I saw that the warning light had not gone on so, fuck it... close with Cheesecake Factory. My first mistake here was not saying to myself, "Well I got done early, that's good, I can quit while I'm ahead." Nope. So the light goes on (which means a minute left by the way) right after I start the bit. Now hindsight being 20/20 I could've cut to the last part of the bit and I would've been fine. Nope. I do the whole thing and by the time I'm done the light is flashing and I flew over time by 3 minutes. Fuck. I apologized to the host, the next comic, and then Ron who said, "Well, tonight of all nights you can get away with it." Still, fuck, I really don't want to be that guy. The set went pretty good, yeah, but I don't ever want to be that guy.

By the time I get done the Laff Hole show is an hour away. I went up first, but we started late so it's already time for me to go. Shit. I was going to record Lydia but scram instead. I'm not beating myself up as bad for this, but still, I shouldn't do an open mic if I can't hang out for a bit at least.

As soon as Cathy went up I forgot all about my self-flagellation and enjoyed a master at her craft. I strong armed a bunch of derby girls to go and they all enjoyed her. Still the night would've been better had I not felt like an asshole for a portion of it.

Lesson: Do your time, and not a second more.

Back-up lesson: Hang out with the open micers... they deserve it as much as you do.