The "Do Over" Show

Enough with the distraction and filler! Here's an entry that actually fits the stated purpose of this blog.

Catharsis @ Cattyshack on Monday was surprisingly enjoyable and provided a startling number of insights for a crowd of ten people. And it marked a number of milestones.

• First show in Brooklyn.
• First show in a dyke bar.
• Longest set(s) on a NYC stage (28 mins+15 mins=43 mins).
• Longest set performed without notes.
• First show with a "do over".

My previous, mostly lesbian crowds have been fairly PC. So I did autobiographical, self-satirical and gay-inspirational material and it went well. They were with me and laughed. But I could see their self-consciousness. So I kept the pace up to keep the show from dragging.

After my set I hung out with the crowd drinking about joking. Everyone told me I was really funny. But one person actually said she was reluctant to laugh because of the small crowd and a second person immediately agreed. I knew what was going on but was surprised that they were actually aware of this themselves as audience members. I wondered ... how does a comic help a small crowd get past this inhibition?

As we chatted, I noticed they were far raunchier than I'd expected. I realized in retrospect I had played it safe ... nothing too offensive or overtly sexual. I commented that "I should have done an all-dick-and-ass set." Athena offered to put me up again at the end of the show for an encore set.

So I wrote another set list of all my dirty jokes ... it ran 15 minutes and looked something like this....

• Gayest Thing Ever
• Kissing Dominicans
• Pick Ups
• Hand Jobs
• Screamers
• Two Fingers
• Gay Porn
• Fucking Harry Potter

I started in and they went nuts. The drunk dykes wanted, "wet, hot, dripping pussy jokes," like I was some kind of comedy juke box. Not having written any of those (go figure) I just took to just yelling out "Pussy!" in between jokes or when their attention wandered. They would reply "Pussy!" and hoot and cheer. It was hilarious. I didn't matter if a joke got a laugh or not. 'Cause I could just yell "Pussy!" and get a huge response. The word was magic.

I was more nervous doing this material in front of my little brother than I was doing the stuff making fun of Mormons (which he is). I got to "Two Fingers" and I was like, "Jeeze, I can't do this in front of my little brother." He egged me on. The crowd egged me on. So I did it. Along with various bullshit claims that, oh no, I'd never finger fucked a stripper in an East Village bar ... the bit is hypothetical.

Yeah, right.

My first set did well for the size of the crowd. But the "do over" was much stronger, even though not all the jokes got laughs. I've been thinking a lot the last few days about why.

I'm certain there are factors I haven't wrapped my head around yet, but here's what I've got so far....

• We'd gotten to know each other a little.
• We'd all been drinking.
• I engaged the crowd more directly.
• So they engaged me back.
• Dirty jokes were what they wanted at the time. (Although I don't know if they would have wanted the same thing earlier in the evening.)
• I was more relaxed.
  
• Having already accomplished my "agenda" I had nothing at stake, and therefore was more relaxed, not that I was tense for the first set. But I felt a responsibility deliver the show. Having done this, I felt no responsibility during the "do over".
• I'd abandoned my previous assumptions and expectations.
  
• I felt more in command of the stage the second time. Whereas the first time I felt I was carrying them along, as often happens with small audiences.
  
• The first set was a monolog. The second set had a more conversational feel.

So from all this comes a simple goal for the future ... deliver the "do over" show the first time.