Friday, June 29, 2012

In which I explain myself / my stand up debut

Buddy Hackett gave the following advice to young comedians -

“Only take advice from those who have walked the final and most important 30 feet from backstage to alone in front of a mic with nowhere to hide. Then, and only then, will you know the advice comes from reality and not theory. They’ll understand the emotions, the work it takes to get it right. They’ll have made the mistakes and created the laughs, not just read about how to do it.”


I want to be a stand up comedian.

People have, as long as I can remember, told me that I should become one. Friends, family, coworkers and customers. And I've often daydreamed about the stage, the lights and the crowd. But like most, the very idea of actually standing alone and defenseless in front of a group of strangers scared me and kept me from even giving it a try. Until a friend of mine began preforming in the Baltimore area; and this amazed me. I knew this person! They were on stage! How did they do it? Wasn't he terrified?

I picked his brain for several months trying to discover the answers to these questions and from these conversations decided that I had to give it a try. To see if I could do what I had considered impossible for years. He recommended trying T Brad Hudson's open mic: Drink Till We're Funny.

It's located in Timonium at Hightopp's Backstage Grill and T Brad is a class act who doesn't tolerate hecklers. This doesn't mean it's easy however, I had attended twice before and I got the vibe that the audience is almost daring you to make them laugh. I read the new comic FAQ and sent an email expressing my interest.

And on April 22, 2012, I attempted my first open mic. The following video is not work safe and most likely not family safe either; you have been warned.




The night didn't start off too promising; there had been a couple of no shows and it was raining hard. T Brad wanted to give it some time to see if any more stragglers would be coming through the door. Finally at around 9:30, the show began.

I was the sacrificial lamb, and I can honestly say I didn't have a strong opening but was able to find a groove when I started my "neighbor sex" bit. As you can see in the video I had to shake off some nervous energy first thing, lost my flow several times and seemed nervous and rushed. But I felt that I had done relatively well. I hadn't totally lost the crowd or my train of thought. I could do this!

And that brings us to the point of this inaugural blog: I want to share my experiences on this journey. Baltimore isn't known for it's comedy scene and yet many have come from this area. As I find my way, I want to share what I've learned. Where I've preformed and who I've worked with. How I got my spots and what you could expect if you choose to walk the path of the stand up comic. It will also help me to keep myself focused, as I plan to update weekly and being held accountable for a lack of updates will shame me into working harder.