Northern Exposure

Wednesday March 19th, 2008 - Superior, WI

Back to the long drives again. I hadn’t been out in a while and it wasn’t easy driving all the way to Superior, WI for a show tonight. It was 460 miles door to door and if it wasn’t for a booker who thinks I’m the funniest guy on earth I probably would have said a polite no thank you. With gas prices and wear and tear I barely broke even but at least I had fun.

I’ve worked for this guy before. He’s a comic/booker which usually means neither/nor but he’s a really good guy and I couldn’t say no. He also books a casino gig in Duluth and I’ve done it a few times over the years. The last couple of times I worked for him I wasn’t smart about leaving early and had to cut the shows dangerously close. Today was better.

I left early in the morning and got into town about 3:00. It was a sunny day even though I kept hearing on the radio that flash floods and storms were hitting the majority of every other place in the country. Usually it’s me in the bad weather but today I guess I missed it.

It felt SO good to get into town early and I checked into the hotel but couldn’t sleep so I took a nice walk in the sunny weather and unwound from the drive. I also took some time to page through my comedy notes I printed off and that was very productive. I’m glad that I took the time to type it all out because it’s already come in handy. This was a good idea.

The show tonight was in a restaurant called ‘The Shack’. That’s always a red flag to see on an itinerary but it wasn’t bad at all. The guy running it likes comedy and does shows in his restaurant dining room once a month. It seats about 120 and it’s a nice setup. He had a full house tonight and that’s refreshing. Usually I get the off week between the sellouts.

The guy who booked the show also hosted it and he went long. What can I say? This is his gig and he can do whatever he wants. Then he brought up a guest set local guy and he was supposed to do eight minutes but did about fifteen and was dirty on top of that.

By the time the regular feature act got off it was running way late but the booker said he wanted me to do an hour. Length of show is often confused for quality and that’s wrong. I can do an hour but that’s not the point. They were getting tired and drinking all night plus they just had a big prime rib dinner. They were ready to go to sleep before I even got on.

Nobody knows how difficult these kind of shows are except those doing it. They were a very polite audience and I did the hour he asked for rather than try to explain how it’s way too long. He has been very supportive of me and tells everyone how funny I am so it’s not easy to argue with a guy like that. He treats me like a big star and I am very grateful for it.

The people in a town like this don’t know what to expect and they were thrilled with the show. I sold quite a few cds and there was a long line of hand shakers afterward that had a big smile on their face and couldn’t wait to tell me how funny I was. I thanked them and I meant it. I even got asked to sign a woman’s breast. That’s a lot more difficult than it may sound but I’m a people pleaser so I did it. There has to be some reason to drive 460 miles.