Winner of Comedy Contest
Well, I guess I showed them last night. I put down a very powerful set and I beat the other ten comics who made it to the final round. It was probably my best set to date. I went on third, and I think that helped me a lot because I hate to wait when doing my set. I have it all ready to go, and then they want me to wait. My prizes were numerous, which is amazing. I got like six or seven $25 gift certificates to various restaurants and nightclubs, and a bottle of wine (kind of ironic, seeing how I do not drink). What was funny about this is that I was the youngest competitor there (at 21) and had only been to a comedy club once for the preliminary round. But I threw down my material, which had been four years in the making, no lie. Writing jokes takes a tremendous amount of time and it’s amazing how much effort went into this win, but the effort was well-worth it. I also get to emcee there for a week, which means I will have to clear my work schedule for that. I need to pursue my dream, not get caught up in the supermarket way of life.
I am so glad I won, but even if I didn’t win, I would still be grateful for the opportunity and the experience. I think it is so great that places like the Comedy Cabana allow young comics to express themselves in front of a live audience. I mean, it’s kind of funny how they only gave us from five to seven minutes because that is all I had anyway. I probably went less than that, but I had over 25 jokes, and around 20 or so good laughs, and three or four applauses, loud applauses. Maybe more, it was all a blur up there onstage. Then when you get offstage, you have some idea on how it went, but you’re not completely sure. I remember I got so many really good laughs, the audience loved me. So I almost knew for sure, judging by the audience response on the other people, that I had to be the winner. If I wasn’t, it wouldn’t be my fault, but the judges just did not like my style.
I saw a few other comics who I did enjoy that night and I thought they were very good. They just did not have the volume of laughs per minute I did. A lot of them told stories and one guy even announced his canidacy for the president. I feel like one of them would have won if I hadn’t showed up. It was weird how I found out about this competition. I kind of was online somewhere, and just happened to hear about it from some message board, and immediately went to the Comedy Cabana Myspace page., where I asked when and where I could sign up and then on May 21, I did well enough to make it to the final round, and then finally won the final round.
So where do I go from here? I believe this is some sort of turning point in my life, where I know now that I am at least a good comedian, who is good enough to beat some of the comedians who have been performing for more than ten years. If that does not say something about my material, my timing, and my delivery, nothing does. And it wasn’t so much about winning or losing. I just wanted to do the best job I could, and I did. I did something many comedians dream of, and now I know I need to start entering more and more comedy competitions, performing everywhere I can, at anytime that’s possible. Experience is the best teacher, and I do not want to be the one who’s cutting class. And it wasn’t just my material that people laughed at. I paced back and forth, up and down the stage, and then when I did my joke about how sometimes I wander around aimlessly, I got the biggest applause of the night. And I hadn’t even reached the punchline yet. “But the worst part about that is finding your way back.” So I really had the audience on my side by that point, and i finished with a bang.
The emcee really liked me and told me that I was even funnier than last time, which he said was really “fucking” funny. So, I guess I will have to update my Myspace page to include: “Winner of Comedy Cabana’s Open Mic Comedy Competition.” At least now I have something to put on my resume. Once again, the only negative that came from the club was the smoke. No one in my immediate family has somoked since I was alive, so I guess I am just not used to smoke, and I hate the smell. I may have to start performing wearing a gas mask. I am tired of getting bloodshot eyes every time I perform. What I may have to do is go to a place in the club that is non-smoking before I go on, and then perform, then go outside for awhile. We’ll see.
Anyway, I really enjloyed myself last night and look forward to more good times in the comedy world. Thank you, Comedy Cabana. I know you never saw me coming. Thank you.
June 10th, 2007 at 12:06 am
Oh, congratulations! It’s not easy to keep an audience laughing their heads off. Well done.