photo by Dan Telfer
So Dan decided he wanted to add "stand-up comedy" to his already-varied theatrical resume (playwright, actor, improvisor, solo performer, what else, Dan?) and in a "if we all look foolish, none of us look foolish" sort of mentality began bugging a bunch of the PoM/Blewt crew to come out and do some open mics with him. I started toying with the idea of jumping in and started a page in my little moleskine called "Comedy Ideas". Erica and I went out a few weeks ago just to cheer Dan on as he did his first stand-up performance. It went great and he was immediately invited to do some more gigs.
Thursday, the word came out from Dave Odd, the organizer of the open mic at Pressure that ABC7's 190 North was going to be going to be filming that night and that comedians should get there early to sign up. I had six bits, or ideas for bits, written down on that page so I decided it would be a great time to start.
Dan and I, with Vicky and Erica in tow for support, showed up pretty early and signed up for slots 7 and 8. The crowd was pretty large with a definite "we're gonna be on TV and get famous" feel. It turned out that they weren't doing a story on the open mic per se, but rather on Pressure as a whole, and so they didn't film that much comedy and didn't stay that long. (A note to my fellow performers: having been on both sides of this equation, yelling "thanks for not filming" at the camera crew as you finish your set really doesn't help anything.)
So by the time Dan and Rine-Stone and I got up, the crowd had thinned back out to it's usual couple-dozen and the mood was pretty chill. I'm happy to say that I got a few laughs -- not bad for my first time doing real standup1. I did learn that I'm going to need to write better notes in my comedy notebook. Evidently there's something hilarious about "sleeping on the train", but damned if I can remember what it is.
1 I've done stand-up as a character before, but I don't count that, especially since that character, by design, never finished any of his jokes.
Dan Telfer
You were awesome and I can't wait to see you do it again.
DaveOdd
In my routine Google search of my name to see who is saying things about me I came across this blog. Just wanted to chime in and say the couple times I've seen him perform, I've very much enjoyed Dan's stuff and he should definatley continue doing stand-up.
Fuzzy you did pretty good too. You kids should keep on keepin on with the solo ha-has, and I'll keep giving you a forum to do so.
Make sure to come see Dan this coming Friday May 4th at kitty Moon 8pm in the New faces Showcase. If he does well there, he will be booked in my other showcases. Also this Friday also doubles as an audience judged prelim for the $3500 Comedy Competition.
Good times.