My first comedy experience

Well, I finally did it.  I went to a comedy club to watch some funny people.  Here in Spokane there is a local bar called Bluz at the Bend and they have an open mic every Thursday evening.  The comedy portion of the bar is called Uncle D’s Underground Comedy and they claim to have professional comedians working on new skits as well as amateurs.  Last night appeared to be mostly, if not all amateurs.  I have had it on my calendar to go for the past month or so, and for whatever reason haven’t been able to get out there.

The venue is  pretty small and intimate with probably about 35 tables and a maximum capacity of 145.  I only know that because they had it displayed by the stage.  With open mic the comedians sign up to perform on a sheet of paper at 7pm and about 8pm they start the performances.  Because of the number of performers, skits range between 5 and 7 minutes.  I was half expecting to see performers clam up with stage fright and hecklers booing people off the stage – but it was a fairly friendly crowd.  There was one seemingly intoxicated girl in the crowd that kept the comedians honest.

The cool thing about having an open mic is you get a wide variety of humor.  Topics ranged covered drug use, homosexuality, everyday life, and a bit of other random things.  The artists were quite diverse with both women and men and a variety of ethnic backgrounds.  All totaled there were probably about 8 to 10 performers.  Most acts got a smile or a chuckle out of me with only one act where it was painful to watch the skit.

I think I will try to work on a skit and take it to stage one day.  I admire stand up comedians as I believe it’s incredibly difficult to talk to yourself and make other people laugh.  When I think of my humor it generally is integrated in conversations with people or very old and lame jokes that all my friends have heard.  The creativity of coming up with an original joke that makes people genuinely laugh is a thing of pure beauty to me.  I’ve got a few ideas playing off on my southern background and of course my perverted humor.  Nailing down the punchline will be the key.  I’ve got a tendency to create jokes that people laugh at hours or days later – that might not work so well in the club scene.

Anyways, if there are any Spokanites out there that want to meet up at Bluz let me know.