Full Moon Magic

Saturday November 24th, 2007 - Ogden, UT/Salt Lake City, UT

Full moon tonight. That can be a red flag. I was eating at an Asian buffet just as the sun was going down and saw that big glowing pie rising out of the sky and I must say I did get a little concerned about it. But not as concerned as I was about what they were serving on the buffet. There were some icky critters on there I’m not used to eating here in America.

This was a place located in my old neighborhood when I lived here. It was a place called ‘Chuck-A-Rama’ which is a Utah tradition. It’s a family buffet and very good. Apparently it moved out since last time I was here and was replaced by ‘The Crazy Buffet’. I’ve never seen a placed called ‘The Crazy Buffet’ before but now I can see why they called it that.

They had some of the most disgusting looking things I’ve ever seen and the people were standing in line to get it. I thought I was going to puke as I watched people pile up plates with baby squid and fish heads and giant cockroach looking things I assumed were shrimp. There was some good stuff too but it was strewn in with the yucky stuff and it was gross.

They had fried bananas and some seaweed looking stuff that looked like it came out of a lawn clippings bag and I didn’t want any part of it. It made me thankful I grew up where I did and even if I do have a heart attack from eating trans fats and Oreos at least it tasted a lot better than I bet most of this stuff did. I wasn’t about to give it a chance. It was nasty.

Last night I didn’t prepare for the shows and I really noticed it. My mind has been going a mile a minute in many directions lately and my act is the one thing I don’t want to let get stale. It’s like anything else that is a life long pursuit - it needs to be maintained. Musicians have to keep practicing and stay sharp as do actors or athletes or anyone else. Comedians are no exception. I need to remember that as my schedule gets more hectic and make time to work on my act and not let that lapse. I’ve worked too hard to get it where I’ve got it.

After dinner I went back to the hotel to prepare myself for the two shows. All it takes is going over my notes and loading my brain with things to refer to during the show. I like to work looser than most comedians do and I’ve always been able to squeak by with my fast talking style and ability to think on my feet. That’s a nice option but not a be all end all.

My style is very rhythmic and when the audience gets into it I’m fine. I still need to keep writing new jokes and improving and I haven’t been making time to do that lately. Nobody knows it but me but it’s bothering the hell out of me and I decided it will stop tonight. The audience deserves the best show I can give them and tonight I was determined to give it.

One of the benefits of working out here is it makes me work hard. Many times crowds in Utah are judgmental and just plain uninformed. This is not like anywhere else and being as clean as possible never hurts either. Plus the opening acts are usually weaker than in other places so that makes it more difficult as well. Not only that many times I have to do much more time than almost everywhere else. Most places want the headliner to do a 45 minute set whereas here it’s not unusual to be asked to do an hour or longer. That’s a lot of time.

I don’t mind any of these hurdles and whenever I work here I know what I’m getting as far as audiences go. This is the big city of this part of the country but it really is distanced from the rest of the world in many ways. It’s got it’s own culture and I have learned quite well how to plug into it over the years. I like working here and hope I can keep doing it.

The first show tonight was really strong. Not only did I prepare myself for it but they fit my demographic perfectly. Most of the audience was over 30 and smart and I could tell in the first thirty seconds that they were going to love my show. It was an ideal match and it worked from the start. I was in a groove and decided to use this show as a practice round.

The openers did a good job but I was left with an hour to fill so I told myself I would fill that hour with material and not work the audience or try to ad lib. I wanted to sell my stuff as if I was just thinking of it off the top of my head and that’s always the illusion we create when a show is going well. The audience has no idea how difficult it is to come up with an act and they don’t care. They want to be entertained and that’s why they pay for a ticket.

I was very happy with the first show because I was in the moment for the entire time. To do that takes concentration and not let the mind wander. That’s very easy to do after these many years in the business and I didn’t want to do that tonight. I sold every joke and had a game plan before I went on of what bits I wanted to do and I worked that plan perfectly. I did exactly one hour and got a huge pop at the end on my dismount. I earned it and took a nice big bow and walked of stage soaked but knowing I gave this crowd my absolute best.

The late show was completely different. There were a lot of college students in the place because Weber State University is located in town. They were young but not mean and the usual level of drunkenness is never a factor in Utah. There were also some older ones so it made for an interesting challenge. I was up for it and read the audience before I went on. I wanted to nail the late show too and went about it in a much different way. I switched up.

I was much more animated for this set and let myself ad lib more. They wanted to talk to me so I didn’t stop them or let it bother me. I also told myself I wasn’t going to let it have an adverse affect on the show no matter what. It was a full moon and that’s when wackos thrive so why fight it? I told myself I wasn’t going to get angry and I’d just deal with it all and do my time. I didn’t just phone it in though. I really did give my very best effort again.

After the show the manager said I walked six people on the late show. They were uppity Mormons who had never been to a comedy show before and called me ‘a crude maniac’. I took that as a compliment and the manager Gail laughed about it. If anything I scaled it all way back for these people and they‘ve obviously never seen how blue it can get in certain places. I don’t think it made a difference who was on stage. They wanted to be offended.

Even with the six walkouts I know I had a strong night. Friday wasn’t bad but tonight it was how it’s supposed to be. This is the reason I’ve sacrificed my life to polish my craft. It makes it all worthwhile on nights like tonight. The feeling of accomplishment is wonderful and it will hopefully tide me over until I can get to Arkansas and do it all again next week.