Comedy in August 2007

August 2007 had to have been my busiest month for comedy!

Titusville - August 4th with Tim the Dairy Farmer. Tim did a fantastic show that night, so I had a tough act to follow, but I managed and got a sweet 45 minute DVD to prove it! Just in time too!

Because on a whim, I decided to enter the Carnival Comedy Cruise Challenge in Tallahassee (Aug 14 &15th). It's a competition, but it's also a tool for Carnival Cruise Ships and other comedy clubs to find new talent, and for talented comics to find new venues to perform at. For me, it wasn’t about winning…my goal for this competition was to get hired by one of the clubs, The Comedy Zone, that has 70+ locations. The competition is 2 days. The first day, they gave 40 comics 3 minutes to do their best material in front of the talent scouts and other comics. Imagine doing your job in front of your competitors AND customers that might use your services someday. It's a horrific experience, especially if you suck. Fortunately - it was not my night to suck! I got some good laughs, and was one of 9 comics asked back the 2nd night.

The 2nd night, each comic got to do 6 minutes of material in front of a live audience. Then they are critiqued by the judges. Did I mention this is in front of the audience too? The audience, after hearing all the comics, votes for the winner. The names were drawn at random...and unlucky me had to go first. Every comic hates going first. The audience isn't warmed up, the expectation of the comic going first is that he/she is the least experience...it's tough being first. Thankfully, I had a great set! The judges had wonderful things to say about me...it was all good.

The rest of the comics did their thing – and 4 of them had fantastic sets. It was going to be very, very close. The judges had to recount the tally 3 times – it was that close. But I came in 5th place. Not shabby…but like I said…I didn’t go there to win. I went to get work. After the competition was over, the owner and founder of The Comedy Zone asked me to send my press kit. He liked what he saw, and is interested in hiring me for his clubs. Mission Accomplished.

Now here’s the best part…one of the talent agents approached me after the competition, and asked if I had my show on tape. I asked if he wanted the highlights, or the whole show. He said “The whole thing. I want to see what you do. I think you’re what we’re looking for.” He handed me his business card, with a big beautiful cruise ship on it that said “Carnival.” Jackpot! I’ve sent my press kit and applied for my passport. This will probably take a few months to put together…but keep your fingers crossed! And I’ll keep you posted.

The following week, I was asked to feature and host at McCurdy's. I had 7 outstanding sets...each one better than the last! I worked with a talented headliner, Pete Gray from LA. It was a great time.

I also began working for a great club, Bonkerz Comedy Clubs out of Orlando this month. They tried me out in Sanford, Ocala, and Tallahassee.

The Sanford room started out quite nice, until a heckler started getting lippy with the headliner. Before I know it, a beer bottle comes sailing from the back of the room and misses the headliner by a few inches. The waiters were on the heckler, the police were called...but somehow the show continued on. You just never know when someone in your audience is having a worse day than you!


A few days later, I headed to Ocala, at Club Zanzibar. I was a little disturbed, that the comedy stage was a hexagon shaped platform with a pole on it. Some dancing cages were behind me on either side of the DJ booth. I got the strange sensation this either "was" or still "is" a strip club. I never did a straight answer out of the club management. But I didn't have to perform comedy naked so I was fine with the set up. I had a great show, and can't wait to go back there.

Tallahassee was a fun room as well, with the nicest emcee and DJ, Yuck Mouth. My Friday show was outstanding, the Saturday shows were not my strongest but decent enough. I worked with comedy veteran, Manny Mann, who lost to Ellen Degeneres on America's Funniest People in 1983 (I think). He had lots of good stories, and keeps in touch with comedy through his comedy traffic school.


Overall...it was a great month! September, Mike and I are taking a vacation (gasp, really!), so I've not scheduled any comedy for this month. This month I'll focus on writing my 30 minutes of clean, so I can sail the ocean blue with Carnival next year!