Show # 11

Show # 11: Napa Valley Coffee Roasting Co., Napa, CA. So coffee shop open mikes have always sort of been a guilty pleasure of mine. For a lot of reasons. One, I'm usually the only comic at most of them, as was the case tonight. They consist of mostly musical acts, but a lot of spoken word as well. So I don't have to worry about working the room or getting seen, or even the "light" usually, and I can just focus on having fun and making people laugh. Two, maybe my life is more saturated with live comedy than most, so the variety of performances are always a nice change of pace for me. Three, without exception, they always seem so much more accepting and supportive than most strictly comedy rooms. Four, there are usually some kids or families at these open mikes so its a good place to get some experience and build confidence using clean material. And five, I get to do some of my spoken word.
But back to tonight, the guy that went before me did a monologue from a play he is doing about the death of his five month old daughter. And he didn't let us know until the very end so we, well I did at least, thought he was just sharing...a lot. And then I had to get up and tell jokes. But it turned out that humor was exactly what the room wanted after that. So I did "Food Accidents" and they ate it up. Then, I closed with my spoken word piece, "Seth's Story." That was the first time I'd performed that since "This Adventist Life" and it felt good to dust it off, I'm not gonna lie though, it felt a little weird without, and I definitely missed Natalie's voice, singing behind me.
Overall, it sort of felt like a night off tonight. I was there in 10 min. on my bike. I was home by 9:15. But still, show # 11? Count it! Later.

Favorite line of the night: "You realize you're going to have to perform comedy after this?" - Alex Shantz