What a great crowd in tonight. Light and day compared to last night. It never ceases to amaze me how the collective energy of a crowd and their willingness to go along for the ride can make the world of difference to a show. I’ve written about it before, here on this very blog, which I cannot believe is called The Blog Post. What a shit name for a blog. Does anyone have any suggestions for something better? Help me.
But I digress. Let me get back to the difference between last night and tonight.
Last night was drudgery. A hard, slow toil of fumbled jokes and mistimed punchlines as I tried in vain to lasso this unwieldy beast of an audience that would not bend to my comedic will. I gamely went about my business and in fairness I wasn’t all that bad, I got most of them laughing…quietly. It just felt like work though. There was the slight smell of shame in the room. Like everyone kind of felt ashamed to be there. I then felt ashamed in return for making them sit through my inane, twisted and possibly insane ramblings and then they in turn felt ashamed that they had to be subjected to my public shame up on stage in front of them. It’s was an Ouroboros of shame.
Of course I’m being hyperbolic, it wasn’t that bad, it just felt that bad in comparison to tonight.
Tonight, ah man, from the second I walked out onto stage they picked me up and took me along for the ride. I had no choice. I had to come with them and so I did and I brought my best me with. It was seamless and easy, confident and breezy. The kind of night where you can see them wiping away the tears of laughter. Like as in literally. They actually did that, I saw them. Some of them were doubled up in laughter. Like for real. Bent over, wheezing and everything. There may even have been some thigh slapping. It was a cliché fest of funnies. That is a good place for a comedian to be in. A holy place. A place where we’d just like to curl up and stay in forever. It’s what Dylan from Beverly Hills 9010210672210 once described as the ‘green room’. Granted, he was talking about surfing and yes that may not have been what he actually said because it was a long time ago and, as I now know, the green room is actually the place where the snacks were before everyone ate them and left those three soggy hors de oeuvres that no-one in there right mind would eat anyway. All I know is that whatever he said, it was hella cheesy when he said it but i know now from experience that that place actually exists. He really was mystical that Dylan. The place is real… for comics at least.
Surging on the crest of the wave, the comic drops into the belly of the laugh and is ensconced in pure joy, buoyed by the roiling churning hilarity of a crowd that has lost its inhibitions and is happy to roll around in the mud of your silly psyche.
It’s quite lovely.
I can’t wait to go back there. I do hope you’ll come with me and leave your shame at the door.
Im on until the 17th. That’s only one more week.
That is all.
