Comedy is weird. Well...LIFE is weird in general. I started doing comedy in the summer of 2006. My first ever "headlining" show was also in the summer of 2006 at a hookah bar in Radford, VA called The Cairo Lounge. I use quotation marks around headlining because it was TERRIBLE. I'd been doing comedy for two months...MAX. I proceeded to get BLIND drunk and tell every single joke that I had ever written. Many of them were being told for the first time EVER! I'd never done an open mic before. I didn't even know how comedy worked. So...it goes without saying that the show sucked, and I stopped doing comedy altogether about five months later.
Fast forward to eight years later. I've now been back in stand up for about three years. I know what an open mic is (I even host my own comedy showcase called Apologies to Follow). I know what it means to workshop a joke. And last Thursday, I headlined a show at a hookah bar again. But this time, it was in Knoxville, TN and was called Flashback.
Things went noticeably better. I was given that opportunity by Sam Donnelly and Chase Dyer, two Scruffy City comics that recently started their own comedy show in Knoxville. These two gentlemen, for some reason, felt I would be the perfect person to headline their first ever "Skulldriver Presents" show. And I'm very happy that they chose me. It gave me my shot at hookah bar headlining redemption. And I'd like to think that I got my redemption. It was close, though. I, due to a podcast recording with Jeff Blank prior to the show, was thoroughly drunk. But that led to a much more free and loose performance for me. I usually will meticulously chart out a set before going onstage. I want jokes to flow together perfectly, so that I don't have to make awkward segues. But on that night, because of the awesome audience and the comics that came before, I just felt at ease. And that's always a good thing to feel when you're about to go up in front of a room full of strangers and talk about your life.
So! My comedy life has come full circle. It certainly was a flashback for me to headline a show at a hookah bar. Luckily, this time, I didn't spill a Mountain Dew can filled with a Screwdriver all over my joke notebook.
Ahhhh....growing up.
Fast forward to eight years later. I've now been back in stand up for about three years. I know what an open mic is (I even host my own comedy showcase called Apologies to Follow). I know what it means to workshop a joke. And last Thursday, I headlined a show at a hookah bar again. But this time, it was in Knoxville, TN and was called Flashback.
Things went noticeably better. I was given that opportunity by Sam Donnelly and Chase Dyer, two Scruffy City comics that recently started their own comedy show in Knoxville. These two gentlemen, for some reason, felt I would be the perfect person to headline their first ever "Skulldriver Presents" show. And I'm very happy that they chose me. It gave me my shot at hookah bar headlining redemption. And I'd like to think that I got my redemption. It was close, though. I, due to a podcast recording with Jeff Blank prior to the show, was thoroughly drunk. But that led to a much more free and loose performance for me. I usually will meticulously chart out a set before going onstage. I want jokes to flow together perfectly, so that I don't have to make awkward segues. But on that night, because of the awesome audience and the comics that came before, I just felt at ease. And that's always a good thing to feel when you're about to go up in front of a room full of strangers and talk about your life.
So! My comedy life has come full circle. It certainly was a flashback for me to headline a show at a hookah bar. Luckily, this time, I didn't spill a Mountain Dew can filled with a Screwdriver all over my joke notebook.
Ahhhh....growing up.