Closed out 2009

My last weekend in 2009 was spent headlining Giggles for the final time under Terry Taylor management. I have no idea if Bob Davis will book me for anything. For all I know, I'll actually start making money there when Terry leaves. I have to assume that things will stay pretty much the same.

The weekend turned out to be a lot of fun. The first of six shows, I did an hour and five minutes. It was not a brilliant set. I was afraid it would be like that all weekend. It wasn't. I did sets of twenty, thirty, and forty-five. I really enjoy doing around forty minutes; anywhere from thirty-five to forty-five. I feel comfortable that I have plenty of material to cover it, and I'm not worried that I don't have the presence to hold their attention. At the same time, it's not so short that I have to pick which of my material I have to leave out. At thirty minutes, I worry that I won't get everything done that I want to. I notice that I sometimes rush through jokes because of it. The truth is, though, that thirty is where I belong right now.

There is fat I need to trim from a lot of the newer material I've worked on, and the changes I've made to some of the older stuff. When I get done doing that, my set should settle right around thirty. I'm so worried sometimes about "headlining". I worry that I need to be working on my hour. A lot of it has to do with other comics. I read their FB posts about headlining, then I hear them talking about it in the open mics. I don't know why it bothers me that these guys are earning more money than me right now. I'll do better in the long run. The truth is, they aren't funny yet, and they're learning bad habits on these shitty road runs before they get a chance to get funny. I saw one guy play the fucking harmonica at an open mic a couple of weeks ago! It's 2010. What kind of a moron is going to learn a song on the harmonica for jokes? It's one thing if you play an instrument well, and bring that talent to the comedy stage. It's something completely different when you buy some instrument because you can't write jokes. This, by the way has nothing to do with Curt Sudden. He's been doing his thing for a long time. He's not new, and learning how to play the guitar so he can fill more stage time.

I really shouldn't compare myself to them. I need to worry about me. I need to get funnier. I don't need to have an hour right now. I'm not going to go to the Midwest and get booked as a headliner right away. I need to be a killer feature, and build killer time. Why would I want to have a mediocre hour just to get work? I'd rather be considered a great feature than a shitty headliner.

I'll continue this later.