Saturday June 4th, 2011 - Burlington, IA Entertainers on every level are having to get much more entrepreneurial these days, but it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It just is. Times are getting snug, and everyone has to find new ways to turn a buck. Many traditional sources of income have been dwindling lately. This weekend I went on an experimental excursion with fellow comedian Tim Walkoe, where we tried out two seperate potential sources of future income. Last night we worked in a country club in Springfield, IL and tonight we were at a blues club in Burlington, IA. People can mock those venues all they want - and they do, but those are the only places left where comedy hasn’t been seen, or at least not as overexposed and bastardized as has been done most other places. It’s like eating crab legs, there’s plenty of good meat located in the knuckle but it takes extra work to get to it. We have to decide whether it’s worth it. This weekend was Tim’s, and he chose me to tag along to make it an extra strong show. If you’ve never seen Tim’s show, he and I both yack at about 75 miles an hour with gusts up to 150 and we pack more into one 90 minute show than most symphony orchestras put into a concert. One thing nobody had to worry about is getting cheated out of material. Our mutual booking agent friend Marc Schultz has been trying to find a way to package us together as a show for a while now, as he sees the potential as well. We can absolutely destroy a room if they’re buying us, and we’ve both got enough stage experience where it takes place way more often than it doesn’t. This weekend was a chance to have a test run. Friday’s country club show was fun, but those audiences can tend to be a bit persnickety at times. These particular people were really receptive to us, even though we still both felt we had to hold back a little because they were conservative. We did our time, it went fine. I’d have to estimate 95% or higher of this audience had NEVER darkened the door of a comedy club in their lives. Springfield has had several clubs in the past, and I believe they still may, but I couldn’t picture any of these people being regulars and that’s not an insult to anyone. It’s fact. No comedian is going to please everyone, but we please these people. There have to be all kinds of country clubs located all over the Midwest that might book acts like Tim and myself, but it would take a lot of work to find them. I’m not interested a bit in doing that right now, but if someone else is I’ll gladly show up and do the shows. Tonight was completely different, but still fun. A mutual comedian friend of ours Steve Moris knows the owners of this building, and they wanted to try comedy. Steve did it first and then brought Tim in for the second show. Now, Tim is bringing me in for the third. Hopefully there will be a fourth, and hopefully I can bring someone like a Larry Reeb or Rocky LaPorte or Jimmy McHugh, all solid acts. The audience was attentive, and full of people who wouldn’t be comedy club regulars. There are people like this in every town.
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