Mic 31 THe Spotlight

Venue: Spotlight Cleveland / WInchester

Host: Jeremy Sheer

Show: Stand Up Comedy Night / One More Joke

Set Time:  5 Minute / 1 Minute

I made myself a promise to have a video to post by mic 30.

As it turns out, I failed at hitting the button and so I have to go out again to get video. 

Its Tuesday and it's really the only day I can get out this week. My friend Katherine Readey, fellow comedian on the rise, has agreed to tape a set at the Spotlight for me. 

I have never been to the Spotlight and have no idea what to expect. I have no time to shower, re-do my hair and so it is a "come as you are" kind of night. Yay! 

I toss on my favorite white pants because they make my legs look good. Like all things in the world, something good comes with a price, these pants do not flatter the waist so I put on a longer sweater to hide the look of smuggling baby seals. 

Listen, I don't want your heads to fill with concern over my new found body consciousness. I have never paid attention to what I look like and I have always just assumed I looked fabulous.  I am from a generation that got dressed and assumed fabulous.  I am from spandex and crop tops, choices women don’t make if they spend anytime in the mirror looking closely or have their pictures taken from odd angles and posted without their knowledge. 

Trust me when I say I have been blindsided by pics since the advent of the smart phone - but I have boldly pressed on unconscious and blissfully unaware. However, now I see tapes and pics on the regular and I notice.  If this new found awareness kick starts a healthy attitude towards improving my appearance, then good for me. I will not be embarking down the road of augmentation, injections and undergarments so tight my organs move.

But I will be moisturizing more and drinking water and eating protein, because the doctors and my good friend Laura say that is key.

Video clips are a part of the stand up scene. In order to get booked you have to send work in to hosts. So in addition to open mics you have to tape the work and start a collection. Wait, wait, let me also stop here and say you don't have to do any of this.

 I am still not sure what my plan for this new hobby is and so I am throwing my body at it. 

But let me be clear, 

one could decide to go to open mics, tell jokes, go home and do nothing else.

For me, I love making people laugh and I am actually trying to spread some joy and laughter, lighten up all things, so just doing open mics would be akin to just telling my friends jokes. I have been their personal source of levity for decades.

After being the funny one in the room, I am now entering a room full of funny and I have to earn my place from scratch. And in order to do bigger rooms and different crowds, I need tape. 

So for me, for now, with this want to expand my reach and tell jokes and stories that make people laugh in as wide of a circle as I can. That means recording myself and that is where we were before the  smuggling of seals.

I get to the lounge before Katherine and I put our names on the list. The lounge is a standard 20 stool corner bar. A rectangle with a door at one end and a bar that runs its length. I think it might have been a taco Tuesday because I smell tacos and I see an onion and tomato half cut on the board behind the counter.  This is a Cleveland bar.  Walls are filled with iconic pictures of CLE places, buildings and events mixed in with neon beer signs and specials board.  There is a family vibe here.  When Katherine arrives she knows the owners.  This is her neighborhood and this is a neighborhood bar.  

There are 15 people there including the host and the owners. The sign up sheet is almost full, it is a comedian's crowd. I see one woman sitting alone at a table watching the show. I think she is the only spectator other than the owners.  

There were a couple of comedians I have not seen before and about half way through the list  they call “Viv” to the mic and the lone woman at the spectator table steps to the mic.  She is adorable, great dark hair, good cut, sporty sundress, she has the look of classic tomboy girl next door.  I like her instantly. 

She opens her mouth to tell us she is a trans comedian from Oklahoma who just relocated to Akron Ohio and her deep voice is as stark of a dichotomy as the Oklahoma to Ohio.

She was funny.

A great set.

Unexpected, quick, smart. The right mix of self-deprecation and self awareness woven together with keen observations. 

She got laughs.  

This was not a room of laughs. 

I knew even if I killed, this tape was going to be pretty silent. But it's the gig.

So up I go and Katherine gets the 5 minutes. 

I saw some smirks and I got some laughs, and I am smiling and laughing to myself not just about the set but about how this is exactly what life gives me and so why does it seem uncomfortable.  Everything I prepare for goes sideways and I operate best when it is spontaneous so this will be ok.  

It will all be ok.  

When we got to Winchester, it was a beautiful night, so everyone gathered on the patio while Bryan and David got things set up. I still have this weird trepidation about simply being part of the group. Come to think of it, I don't naturally sit down anywhere, I hover, I stand, I look for a job to do.

Trying to contribute somehow, I offered to buy a round. One of the things that continues to surprise me about the Lakewood comedy scene is the economics of it all. In my neighborhood , a glass of wine requires a small business loan. And when we go owntown, a cocktail costs roughly the same as a utility bill. But at Winchester, I bought drinks for six or seven people and my tab was $16.

Sixteen dollars.

I tipped the bartender twenty because I was so confused by the math. 

It was one of those moments that just so perfectly highlighted the strange overlap between my regular life and my comedy life. 

In comedy, I am a little fish in this big pond. The older lady. The woman trying to remember everyone's names and figure out where she's supposed to stand.

Financially, however, I am like the eccentric aunt from the suburbs throwing money around like a railroad baron. For the cost of two downtown martinis, I can buy the whole table a round. I am not sure of my  status in comedy but I do have purchasing power. 

I also discovered I am a co-dependent comic. I hear jokes and my brain starts creating tags. I want to expand on the things I hear, I want to give the comic ideas, feedback, places to go.

I get it - writing rooms - sharing ideas and bouncing jokes off of each other. 

I miss the porch nights and bonfires of my youth where smart, slightly impaired peers sparred, snapped, riffed and laughed about all the things in life. This is a throw back to that and I enjoy it.

All in all I had a good night. I segmented the bit about gentrifying the pit bull into a 1 minute piece and it played well at the Winchester. It was nice to hear that from other comedians. It was funny. It was good to be out. And I will go through the material tomorrow and see what we got.

I am reminded I am funnier sometimes chatting with people then on stage so I am trying out capturing the nuggets of conversation and stretching the material into sets. Tonight I was talking to a couple friends about being out in the clubs and lounges and how I am treated. It got a laugh and so I took it back to the journal. We will see where it goes. Keep your eyes out for a French Bull Dog reference