Day 24: Holy Shit This Might Actually Be For Real 8/5/07

So tonight was the big show. A fine gentleman by the name of Solomon Georgio put together a show called "El Notorio" at the Capitol Club featuring himself and special invited guests. Even though he had never seen Danielle and I do standup, we became the special invited guests. Sucker. If you've kept up with the blog you've seen Danielle and my training regiment... so here was the payoff.

The set-up: Solomon opens with a crazy character, then me, then 15 min intermission, then Danielle, then Solomon closes. Danielle and I were going to do 15 minutes apiece but I prepared a 20 min set just in case she didn't get enough material by then. It worked out nicely.

There were a few firsts this night, my first show with a flyer that had my name, my first show in a non-comedy club club, and most significantly my first 20 min set. A handful of friends came to check me out, but the crowd was predominantly Solomon's friends. I had no idea how they'd like my set, but fuck it, game on.

For starters there were serious sound issues which is to say that the mics made us sound like we were performing under water. Solomon opened as a female crack head lip syncing a song from Dream Girls. All right Jake, good fucking luck following that up. My set outline went:
Style
Cocaine
80s
Don't Drink
Don't Drug
Neuva Ring
Bidet
Westlake Solicitor
Bumbershoot
Being White
Toby McGuire
Cheesecake Factory

The short story... I killed. It was great, I felt really comfortable with my material and I took the audience with me the whole way. None of my jokes didn't hit however some hit less than others. I accidentally dropped the cap of the "Don't Drink" bit and skipped "Don't Drug", but my set ended up 20 minutes anyway so it was for the best. Other than sounding like I did my set through a Burger King drive thru it went freaking awesome. People who didn't know me really liked it and my friends who saw me a million times were into it. It was Joeasshole's birthday which added to the specialness of the occasion seeing as he's been my #1 motivator/cheerleader/soundingboard/asskicker from the get go. This was just as much the fruits of his labor as it was mine. It felt amazing and for the first time it really resonated that I could totally do this.

Danielle's set was great, everyone really liked her which wasn't a surprise to me at all. Everything was solid, the only barrier being the sound of course. Danielle and I are both guilty of the crime of going too fast sometimes and with a shitty microphone that means things just disappear all together. Other than that she was terrific. Solomon closed it out with his set and a birthday song. His "email" bit needs to be seen, it's fucking hysterical. He brought the shit home and everyone had a good time.

So it occurs to me that I now have enough material for a Feature set. There's also a lot more I'm working right now so 45 minutes is right around the corner. I'm putting together a little writing collective with Danielle, my friend Paul and my friend James which should be amazing. Comics recognize me and say hi. The future is bright. Let's hope I don't die right away.

Lesson: I'm good enough to be a comedian.

Back-up lesson: Bring my own goddamn mics.