Monday, March 05, 2007

Revenge (The Good Kind)

As faithful readers know, while I've been here in Indiana I've been getting back into stand-up. I did two open mics at a comedy club in Ft Wayne that went really well and I was pretty happy with the audience response.

Did you ever meet someone before and get that gut feeling of Wow, this guy hates me without any reason? That's what happened when I went to this club and started dealing with the Guy in Charge. From the get-go this guy treated me pretty rudely, but I kept on my Nice Guy Face. I am aware that in comedy there is a totem pole, and guys who come in doing open mic are at the lowest spot. I don't have a problem with that; I've always been more than willing to pay my dues. I just couldn't figure out why this guy loathed me so much.

I had gone back for the second time to perform open mic. There are usually only 3 open mic slots of 5 minutes each, but one guy didn't show up. So it was me and this other guy who was also there for his second time. The Guy in Charge took us aside before the show and told the other comic "You can have 6 minutes since there's only two of you tonight. How do you want me to introduce you? Do you have any special music?" Really falling all over the guy. Then the Guy in Charge turned to me and just said, "You're on first."

I wanted to ask if I could have an extra minute, too, or at least ask why only the other guy got more time since it's the second time for both of us but this is his club and I don't want to rock the boat. Just go along with it, pay my dues, and kill the crowd in five minutes.

The Guy in Charge is also the host of the show and he got up there and bombed. Big time. I felt bad...not necessarily because I was empathizing with him but because he wasn't really warming up the crowd. But it went well, surprisingly well, and I had fun.

And that's the last time they've had me there. I've called a few times to see about getting a slot again and the Guy in Charge has refused to take or return my calls. It's just kind of got me wondering because it was without provocation. Since the first time he met me he's been like that with me and I guess it's just one of those things I'll never understand.

I once read that "Success is the best revenge" and I can definitely see that. So that's my plan. How cool would it be to get to the point in my career where they are asking me to come and perform instead of the other way around; where it's not the case that I need them? I've made it up in my mind to find out just how cool that would be. Not so I can be mean back to him or do the whole "ha ha ha ha the tables have turned" speech to him...but just to know that I could. That'd be fun.

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