I started doing comedy “officially” in March of 2011. Like so many star eyed geeks, I began with Helium, a real industry club. Now I favor the indie rooms, the place where things are a bit more unpredictable. I got the bug. I love it, and in some ways more gratifying than music. I am very new at this and I only started recording consistently very recently, and don’t have some of my best sets on record. Oh well, here are some that I like.
All selections recorded using Voice Memo in the iPhone 3GS and edited in Logic Pro. Fidelity is mediocre. I’ll record better audio when I’m good and ready.
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This was my final performance in Portland for, most likely, a few months. It was scheduled at the last minute, although it actually is a weekly showcase by Shawn Alan Boomer, at the World Famous Cannabis Cafe (truly world famous), in the beginning my microphone stand falls apart when I go to pick it up. I make fun of it, then fall backwards. I am also wearing the characteristic half-neck black long sleeve and blue jeans Steve Jobs outfit. This was a special largely improvised routine that I may never do again.
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Here is a bit about a recurring dream where I work for Steve Jobs in a global village of one hundred people. This is at the Suki’s Open Mic. This off-downtown lounge beneath a Travelodge is where the Portland comedian tempers their ego. After Helium, Dante’s, sometimes more, it is the place to end up on Tuesday night, if you’re a Portland comic. Current host, Jimmy Newstetter deals with thirty to fifty comedians every week, depending on the scene. Some nights are wastelands, no audience, people are restless, and yet comics wait for their time as long as it takes. Some nights are fantastic, but always the chatter, always the terrible sound system, always the sputtering out until 1am improv games, the hour for redemption.
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Recorded at the Bagdad Theatre, a weekly showcase graciously hosted by Tristan Scott Spillman. I opened the show to a relatively thin house, but a good audience, warmed up well by Tristan. I was recovering from a cold but it hardly shows. This was a great moment for me because I wanted to know what it was like to play a theater. It felt natural, honest, the additional pressure to perform is alleviated by all the space and cooperation from the audience. I want more of it.
