Sick Days

I sit here typing, muscles aching, and I can't seem to warm up. It seems as though I am sick. Fun times? Not really. Bad timing? Yes. I celebrated my birthday on Friday, November 13th(spooky!) with a group of friends. It was a fun night out in Downtown San Jose, but it seems I have yet to fully recover from all the partying that went down. I almost called in sick to my day job today but decided to fight it and go into the office. When I go to work, I found out that 2 of my co-workers had already called in sick. I guess it was a good thing I didn't call in sick otherwise I don't know what would have happened. I had to cancel myself out of doing a show in Santa Clara last night at C&J's Sports Bar last night since I was not feeling well. I thought it couldn't get any worse than that. As a booker/producer myself, I understand how frustrating it can be to have a comedian cancel the day of the show. The C&J's show is a newer show just getting its foot off the ground, but I was still looking forward to it. Not helping me feel any better, I received a phone call around 6pm saying a Host was needed for a show at the Crow's Nest in Santa Cruz for a show that was going to start in two hours. I was being offered the Hosting gig at the suggestion of one of the comedians who was on the bill. It would have been a paid gig too. Ironically, I had been looking into how to get myself booked at the Crow's Nest just a few days before. I knew what was best for me though, to stay home and rest... I also wouldn't want to subject illness to any of the other comedians. Earlier in the week, before my birthday, I had a couple shows I was in. On Tuesday, the 10th, I did a show at the Rockit Room in San Francisco. It took me some time but I finally found parking and got to the show on time. It was just a general open mic but I am hoping to make my way out to the SF area more often. On Wednesday, the 11th, I headed the other direction to a place called, Eddie's. On the outside, the place looked deserted. The front door looked like a loading dock. If there had not been a little pink sign on the door that said, "Comedy Night" then I probably would have left. I finally decided to ring the door bell for the "loading dock" to see if there was an answer. Finally, Eddie himself answered the door and wow, the inside of the place was beautiful. The place definitely has potential to be a great spot for comedy. Now, the show was in front of three people who were non-comics, but I loved it. I especially liked that they paid attention throughout and enjoyed the show.

Myself, Dave Salisbury, Danny Holzwart, and Rudy Martinez. As of now, my next show will be a week from today at Fibbar Magee's in Sunnyvale...

Fun times in Oakland

On Thursday, November 5th and Friday, November 6th, I had shows in Oakland. The first show was at Miss Pearl's Jam House near Jack London Square and the second show was at The Washington Inn... both shows together are referred to "Comedy off Broadway Oakland" as both places are located off of Broadway St. The shows are co-produced and co-hosted by comedians Joe Gleckler and Samson Kolektar.

The same comedians performed both nights. The other comedians performing were Jeff Reitman (an avid video gamer and comedian), Norm Hazzard, and Headliner Ross Turner. Fellow baseball fan and comedian, Dan St. Paul,made a special appearance at the Friday show.

A lot of people were surprised when I told them I was doing a couple shows in Oakland. My co-worker told me "Don't get shot"... and my co-worker is black. It is sad that Oakland has had a lot of homicides so it is looked at from people outside of Oakland as a scary place. I knew I couldn't let any of that talk get to me. A comedian who doesn't take risks, doesn't belong in the business.

The show Thursday night was actually their first show at Miss Pearl's Jam House (they had just finished up doing their Washington Inn show for 6 months and were successful so added this 2nd show) ... I connected well with the Oakland crowd as I discussed Barak Obama and talked about the Oakland A's and how they were planning on changing the name of the Coliseum. I got some handshakes after the show and a guy in the back said, "Keep doing your thing, man!" I was glad to be part of their first show there.

The second night at Washington Inn was also a good show. I stumbled a little during my set though as I made a comment about someone sitting in the front row. Everytime I said a joke he liked he would playfully drum a rimshot on his table. I thanked him for doing such during my set but then got thrown off on what I was going to discuss next. I ended up doing a bit about a past girlfriend but it took forever to set-up the punchline....after that I was able to get back on track though.

I'm looking forward to the shows I have the next couple nights... tomorrow night, the 10th, I will be at The Rockit Room in San Francisco and on Wednesday, the 11th, I will be at Eddie's Nightclub in Monterey. I'm trying to finish the year as strong and with as many shows as I can.