In my own opinion, I'd say my first Cleveland Comedy Tour was a success! Although it was a short tour (3 clubs, 3 nights), it was an awesome experience!
Monday night, July 16th - Bella Dubby in Lakewood. I kicked off the evening with dinner with Cleveland Comic Joe Hannum. Joe and I went to Berea High School together, and both of us graduated in the class of 1987. Life kept him in Cleveland, life took me to Florida. But somehow, we both ended up doing stand up comedy. My girlfriend sent me a copy of an article on Joe about him doing stand up in Cleveland, and I found him on myspace. We wrote a few months, and then realized our 20th class reunion was coming up. He offered to show me the Cleveland comedy scene...and the first stop was the Bella Dubby in Lakewood. This is a great place for open mic, run by talented comedian Jim Tews. http://www.jimtews.com/ The Bella Dubby is a coffee house that serves alcohol...perfect for comedians. I met several Cleveland Comedians, who are very talented. My keyboard arrived from Florida in good condition, so I was able to do some stand up and 5 or 6 song parodies. The Cleveland comedy scene seems to be a little tighter knit community than southwest Florida, but great people. But of course...they're from Cleveland!
Tuesday, July 17th Cleveland Improv for The Irregulars Show
Much of the Cleveland comedy community stays connected through a website called http://www.clevelandyucks.com/ Comics can post open mic notices, ask for advice, read interviews with other comics, etc. One of the common problems comics have, is "moving up the comedy food chain." They get stereo-typed as an "emcee" or "open mic-er" or "feature" and can't move to the next level. Enter Jeff Blanchard, a comedian known as "The Cleveland Guy." He worked a deal with the Cleveland Improv, and took a Tuesday night and turned it into a showcase for local comics. $5 admission, you can see the local talent, and there is a LOT of it. As I understood it, the show lineup was tight, and no chance I'd be able to perform. But Joe told me to introduce myself to Jeff. When Jeff found out I was a comic, he offered me 7 minutes of stage time. Not enough time to do song parodies - but any mic time is a gift. But to do 7 minutes at the Cleveland Improv, the club I used to visit for fun, was a real thrill! I went 3rd in the line up, and had a blast. I enjoyed watching these guys in action: Mike Baker hosted, Schizo Bill, JJ Johnson, Marv, Jim Tews, and Jeff Blanchard closing the show.
Afterwards, quite a few of the comics went to the Rock Bottom Brewery, which was a trip. Everyone was cool, except for Cerebral Sam...who was cerebral only in the sense that he had his head up his ass. He's the new guy in the Cleveland comedy scene, who just doesn't get the basic rules of comedy, like
1) be funny 2) don't heckle other comics and most importantly...
3) shut the ____ up, you might learn something
Mike Baker, God bless him, tried to set him straight, but something tells me Cerebral Sam is learning disabled. He has chemically disabled his ability to learn.
Wednesday, July 18th - Hilarities at PickWick and Frolic.
My cousin told me about Pick Wick and Frolic a few years ago, but I wasn't quite ready to start throwing myself at larger clubs when I wasn't exactly killing at the open mics yet. Good things come to those who wait - I'm glad I waited!
I was advised by several folks to keep it clean. "Clean: has 2 meanings in comedy. Clean can mean, no inuendo or bad words, OR no bad words. It's hard to tell who means clean, and who means CLEAN.
I decided to play it moderately safe - and go with "no bad words." I called about dress - the club said "We are an upscale club, but dress according to your act." So I went out and bought a nice top and dress pants, since I usually wear jeans as a knee jerk response to my mother making me wear dresses in elementary school on Friday flip up day. So I look very nice. I got there early to set up, because whenever I take that keyboard to a new club, fireworks go off. "You have a keyboard? I thought you played harmonica or something smaller. Did (insert name of contact) know you have a keyboard?" So then they call the 20 something sound guru, who comes by and says "No problem. I'll take care of it. And he did."
I went up on stage, and did very, very well. My parodies were a hit! Then the feature went up in jeans. Then the headliner went up...in jeans. Evidently, I was overdressed. Then the headliner, who I expected to be cruise ship clean, dropped the "f" bomb at least 30 times. Oh boy. So much for the "upscale, cruise ship clean" standards!
I had a wonderful cheering section - and I can't thank the following people enough for coming out to see the show: Joe and friends; Todd and friends; Stephanie, Bob, and Michelle; Bunny & Pat; Aunt Kathy & Uncle Brian; Jim and Dottie; and of course my mom, who went to every show that week. She's hard to read, but I think she's proud of me.
Berea High School 20th Class Reunion
I had a great time at my 20th High School Class Reunion. It was great seeing friends I hadn't seen since graduation, and making new ones that I never had the chance to get to know in high school. (There were 430+ kids in my graduating class.) Enjoy the slide show!
Cleveland Botanical Gardens
Also got a chance to hang out with my 2 favorite people, my mom and my husband at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens. Here's some photos from that trip!
