Red Flag Lunch

Wednesday April 2nd, 2008 - St. Ignace, MI

It’s the end of the world as we know it. Time to panic. Standup comedy is DEAD. Well, at least at the level I’ve been doing it all these years. I feel like a cockroach in the kitchen when the light comes on. RUN! I saw it with my own eyes today and I’m very concerned.

I stopped for lunch with John Yoder today. John is a booker out of Grand Rapids and he is one of the first people I ever worked for back when I started out on the road in the ‘80s. He was a staple for almost every year I’ve been a comedian as he has been for a lot of acts but now he’s really having a hard time staying afloat. He’s losing a lot of his power base.

There are several reasons for it but the fact remains the comedy business is shifting and if I don’t shift with it I’ll be stuck in the position a lot of guys are that depended on Yoder for much of their work. Plus we’re all getting older and that’s part of the equation as well.

Clubs are having a harder time making it these days. People who attend those clubs are usually in their 20s and 30s and that’s a factor too. Most of us who were that age back in the boom years are still doing it and are in our 40s and 50s now and we’re not hip. I used to feel uncomfortable working to older audiences and now it’s the exact opposite feeling.

I haven’t been hit too hard by Yoder’s de-evolution yet but an alarm did go off when he told me how tough things were getting. He had to lay off his main assistant who was the one most of us talked to for our club bookings. He’d been with John for over 20 years and I was shocked to hear about it. I could see the shell shocked look on John‘s face as well.

This was one of the biggest booking agencies in the country for many years. There must have been about 15-20 weeks or weekends of work at the peak and it stayed close to that for a long time. He had cities all over Michigan as his base but also booked a lot of stuff a short drive away and for me based mostly in Milwaukee or Chicago it was close and easy.

I cut my road teeth working for Yoder and I was sad to hear how things have decayed. It was also a big red flag though and made me want to immediately get to work on Uranus. I can see the handwriting on the wall and it says ‘Do NOT keep doing what you’re doing.’

Tonight’s show was at a casino in the upper peninsula of Michigan. It was a long drive and there isn’t an easy way to get here. It’s right near the Mackinac Bridge and the winds were extra strong today so it was dangerous driving over it. I felt like Edmund Fitzgerald. My little Honda was weaving all over and I was one stiff wind blast away from my death.

I fell asleep in my room and they had to call me from the club saying I was supposed to be on stage. I don’t think I’ve ever done that before and it totally took me off guard. I just nodded out after the long drive and I overslept. I apologized sincerely and profusely but it didn‘t matter.

They just wanted someone on stage. I can do a show almost in my sleep so I went up and I rocked the room. Everyone was happy and we laughed about it later but it was my experience that carried me through. Thanks for that road experience John Yoder.