The entire trip from home, to Seattle, performing in the show, then driving right back took 17 hours. I could go on forever about the trips awesomeness, but here are highlights instead:
- Driving in Kyle's new Honda Accord
(and by "new" I mean newer than his old piece of shit Ford Tempo that died on the highway the week earlier).
- Finally performing at The Seattle Underground.
For those who haven't been there, it's a cool little club in downtown Seattle that has played hosts to shows for the "Seattle Comedy Competition" for many years, a true landmark of the Seattle Comedy scene. Kyle and I drove up to do some time at one of their weekly open mics with the hopes of Kyle getting his foot in the door to this year's competition. Since we drove from Portland we were told we could have extra time, which was much appreciated. Brad Brake hosted the show (really funny guy), and complimented both of us after our sets. The crowd was awesome and I got to tell my new "Ice Cream" joke for the first time, to a huge groaning response (groaning, in this case, means it's working!).
- Down to Laff-Hole/Chop Suey we go!
Kyle and I drove across town to Chop Suey, home to The Laff-Hole and The Peoples Repulic of Komedy. We were met on the street by Gabe Dinger and Richard Bain. They escorted us in and we saw the awesomeness that is this venue. Very open, very well put together rock club. When we arrived in the green room, we met several of the PRoK regulars, including Daniel Carroll, Kevin Hyder, Emmett Montgomery and Scott Moran. Each of these guys were their own brand of cool/funny, but all of them were very nice and a pleasure to meet. I talked with Daniel Carroll for a while and as I was writing down his contact info, Gabe Dinger made to yell out, "Yeah, Daniel is talented, you should totally book him!" Daniel confirmed he is talented, then proceeded to suggest that I write that down as well should I forget in the near future.
(Side note: What I didn't realize while I was talking to Daniel was that I was already a big fan of his from watching some video on his MySpace page, but with his new haircut I didn't recognize him. I met one of my favorite and comedians and I didn't even know it.)
The show was packed with talent, showcasing a lot of locals and some Bumbershoot people as well. At over three hours, it was a non-stop comedy assault on my senses. I saw Richard Bain perform on the big stage, and the show closed with the low energy stylings of David Cope. It was all unicorns and roundhouse kicks with that guy, and he closed out a very solid show with a solid performance.
The night came to a close and several of the visiting Portland comics went outside to BS for a few minutes, and I was starving. Andy Wood came walking toward us with a hot dog which was leaking something out of both ends. "Cream cheese!" he confirmed. I went to hot dog stand myself and saw that they had quite a variety of gourmet dogs, but I just order the usual: beef smoked sausage, extra mustard. As I was walking away from the stand, eating the hot dog, I realized it tasted more like steak and childhood happiness than a mere snack, so I immediately walked back and bought another.
I also got to see Eugene Mirman, Doug Benson and Todd Barry at the club (they didn't perform). I have an interesting story about Gabe Dinger and Kyle Harbert involving Todd Barry to a certain degree, but I'll have to get some permission before I post that.
Anyhow, thanks Seattle for the fun night!
Monday, September 17, 2007
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Seattle!
Well, after an exhausting week of comedy, what better way to start off the next one by heading up to Seattle to visit "The Seattle Underground" Comedy Club?
Don't answer that. Rhetorical question.
Kyle Harbert and I are going to head up there, do some time, then maybe some more time at another venue, then drive right back (!).
Stay tuned for updates.
Don't answer that. Rhetorical question.
Kyle Harbert and I are going to head up there, do some time, then maybe some more time at another venue, then drive right back (!).
Stay tuned for updates.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
There comes a time...
When you are passionate about something, there is always room for wearing yourself out.
I tend to get a little "overly obsessed" with everything in my life, which is really why I only focus on a few core things because I know that I will be able to devote enough time to each of them that the time spent will bring me worthwhile rewards. I just recently hit my one year anniversary for performing stand-up comedy. During those 365 days I grew so much as a person because I finally got sick and tired of not following a dream, and I feel that I'm well on my way with that journey. Recently I became somewhat discouraged when it came to this particular pursuit. I began to doubt myself in several horrible ways which only bred more doubt, so I decided to take a break. Coincidentally, once decided to take this "break", I got strep throat for two weeks. I couldn't talk anyway, so I guess it was for the best. However, when I become interested in something I tend to go a little too far when it comes to immersing myself inside that particular "thing".
In the case of stand-up comedy, I have posters, DVD's, countless albums (which take up nearly 18gb on my iPod!), so you can understand that everywhere I looked I was bombarded by something that reminded of the exactly what I trying to avoid. During the time that I was almost unable to speak, I did a lot of sleeping and general laying about in bed doing nothing. There were several comedy ideas that came into my head during those days, but I refused to write them down. I was protesting the creative process by simply letting the ideas occupy a space in brain for a short while, then simply letting them go. Instead of putting these ideas to good use I would simply calculate in my head all of the hours I spent driving to and from various spots around the state, and I how I could have spent that time to do something even more productive, more worthwhile.
It was when I started to feel better that I began to slowly re-introduce stand-up into my life. I started hitting the websites again, listening to my albums, I even made sure to have a pen and notebook on me at all times. I realized that this "break" was a long time coming, because I was seriously getting burnt out. From the time I woke up until my head hit the pillow I was writing, listening to or watching comedy in one way or another, and it just wore me out. Up until recently, I never really sat down for an extended period of time to write jokes, I would simply collect a ridiculous amount of ideas then develop them as I did anything else throughout the day. This is turning into a bit of a rant so I'll end it simply: you can have too much of a good thing, and there comes a time when you need to step back and look at what you're doing with your life. Now, when I take that step back, it makes me smile.
I tend to get a little "overly obsessed" with everything in my life, which is really why I only focus on a few core things because I know that I will be able to devote enough time to each of them that the time spent will bring me worthwhile rewards. I just recently hit my one year anniversary for performing stand-up comedy. During those 365 days I grew so much as a person because I finally got sick and tired of not following a dream, and I feel that I'm well on my way with that journey. Recently I became somewhat discouraged when it came to this particular pursuit. I began to doubt myself in several horrible ways which only bred more doubt, so I decided to take a break. Coincidentally, once decided to take this "break", I got strep throat for two weeks. I couldn't talk anyway, so I guess it was for the best. However, when I become interested in something I tend to go a little too far when it comes to immersing myself inside that particular "thing".
In the case of stand-up comedy, I have posters, DVD's, countless albums (which take up nearly 18gb on my iPod!), so you can understand that everywhere I looked I was bombarded by something that reminded of the exactly what I trying to avoid. During the time that I was almost unable to speak, I did a lot of sleeping and general laying about in bed doing nothing. There were several comedy ideas that came into my head during those days, but I refused to write them down. I was protesting the creative process by simply letting the ideas occupy a space in brain for a short while, then simply letting them go. Instead of putting these ideas to good use I would simply calculate in my head all of the hours I spent driving to and from various spots around the state, and I how I could have spent that time to do something even more productive, more worthwhile.
It was when I started to feel better that I began to slowly re-introduce stand-up into my life. I started hitting the websites again, listening to my albums, I even made sure to have a pen and notebook on me at all times. I realized that this "break" was a long time coming, because I was seriously getting burnt out. From the time I woke up until my head hit the pillow I was writing, listening to or watching comedy in one way or another, and it just wore me out. Up until recently, I never really sat down for an extended period of time to write jokes, I would simply collect a ridiculous amount of ideas then develop them as I did anything else throughout the day. This is turning into a bit of a rant so I'll end it simply: you can have too much of a good thing, and there comes a time when you need to step back and look at what you're doing with your life. Now, when I take that step back, it makes me smile.
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