Up To The U.P.

Sunday October 5th, 2008 - Harris, MI

This was the third night in a row I performed for an audience of under 100 people and it took over 1000 miles of riding in a car to do it. I bet if I knocked on enough doors in Lake Villa where I live I could get that many people to come see me within a mile from home.

The more I go out and face small crowds the more I realize I am not properly marketing myself. I need to create a base of customers who will show up to see me perform. It’s not worth my time to keep doing it this way but I needed money this week so I took the gigs.

It’s nice to have that option and I’m not complaining. OK, maybe just a little. I do what I do because I enjoy performing to audiences who want to be entertained. Going up to fill a contractual obligation long enough to get paid isn‘t what I want. I want to give a show.

Tonight was the best night of the week. I worked with Mike Preston in Harris, MI at the Island Casino. We’ve both done this gig before but it’s gotten better. They moved us out of the bar area to a newly built showroom which is actually quite nice. An Escanaba radio station sponsors the comedy night and they send their morning show host to emcee for us.

The pay is decent even though it’s a long boring drive through Wisconsin up to the U.P. of Michigan. The show starts at 7pm but it’s Eastern Time in Harris so it’s 6pm our time. They only wanted us to do an hour and fifteen minutes so we were right back on the road.

It’s nice to have the opportunity to earn a buck when I need it and right now I need it as badly as I have in a long time. I have dental work to pay for and car insurance is due and I will have to pay my accountant for my tax return filing too. We all have to turn a buck but being out here chasing a living is taking time away from me chasing my Uranus dreams.

Mike Preston is a great guy to hang out with because he is very laid back and is living a very similar lifestyle. He’s trying to find money to finance his TV show and he too has his money concerns from month to month. This was a bill payer for him too so both of us had the same feeling of gratitude about making the drive. It was a chance to earn a few bucks.

The audience tonight was fine. They didn’t heckle even though they weren’t as sharp as a comedy club audience in a big city. I had to adjust my pace and choice of material and I couldn’t do all the bits I would have liked to because the U.P. is just not a hotbed of hip.

Still, I wasn’t rude to them and afterward a few people came over to shake my hand and tell me I was hilarious. The good thing about these kind of gigs is that when people say it they really mean it. They were sincere and I sincerely thanked them for coming to tell me.

What really wears on a comic is all those long drives to get back and forth. Making this trip in a day is an energy sucker and so was the long drive to Shelbyville on Friday. I’m at a point in my life where I could lose these drives immediately but that’s not an option for at least a little while. I’ve got a lot more driving coming up this week too. I need money.