Play it again DAVE

Play it again DAVE
Posted on 05/26/2005 at 04:34 PM

Why anyone would want to be a comedian is insane to me. Is it a calling like the priest hood. This business is so difficult and so competitive.....I ask myself would I have had a better chance being an astronaut. Late last fall I had a melt down on the sidewalk of Greenwich Village. I had done a bringer and afterwords realized I had been hustled into believing some big shot was going to be there and see me. Not only was it awfull but they cheated me on 2 minutes of stage time. I confronted them nicely but......they denied it. I know I was short changed only because I have done the fucking set 100 times and know how long it takes.

I have another show at 10 pm. I should be happy. I wound up crying, This is too hard, why are you here, this is a waste of time. No one wants to hear what you have to say your too old,fat, and not funny. I thought about the odds of ever making it at this. Lets see,,,, What is Making it?? I ask you my fellow comics what is making it?? Do I expect to be the next big thing?? Am I brilliantly funny?? What level of success would make me happy?? What is my goal at this? Its for me like a compulsion .............something I feel drawn too. The system can often times grinds you down. Dragging people to bringers. Getting a gig in the city and then after rushing and re arranging my entire day and every ones in it...driving and sitting in traffic for 4 hours each way doing the set for 5 people so late at night that no one is there or barking for hours and doing the set so late no one is there. Who am a fooling?? Does the comedy world need another overweight middle aged funny woman?? Well? do they?? They might. Roseanne and Rosie O'Donnell are both semi-retired. That's insane... If I make it in 5 years to any point of success My fake age will be 45. Note to self.... Does the world need another comic female who runs for plastic surgery?? Joan Rivers will never retire.

Back to my melt down. I blogged about it see....Hitting the Brick wall 11-8-04 I got to my next gig and it was 2 hours before show time. I went to Esperanto for coffee. I sat down outside and then out of no where "Dave Chappell " walked up to me. It was kinda like a scene out of that Woody Allen movie Play it Again Sam. Where Humphrey Bogart appears and kinda sets Woody straight to the world. At the time...it felt like a mirage. I was feeling so distraught. It lifted me up and got me through. So much so I had to share it on my blog..

Now the Rest of the story that I have been keeping from all of you. In Feb. I ran to the Comic Strip Lottery. I and several other 100 comics all with the same dream/delusion stood waiting to get a date to audition. I'm freezing ..... Then out of the corner of my eye I see Dave Chappelle. I see the guy who was with Dave Chappelle the night I met him. Then it hits me. That is not Dave Chappelle. That's Daryl. I have seen him at Sal's Comedy Hole. Fuck me. Fuck it. He's black tall and has a great smile and nice eyes but it aint Dave. I remember that night not calling him buy name. I said oh my god what are you doing here..... I'm an ass hole. He kissed my hand. It wasn't Dave it was Daryl.

I decide to tell no one. I keep the secret no one needs to know. Needs to know Im an ass. I then run into Daryl everywhere.... I never tell him. One night I'm drunk and I confess to Sal at his club the entire story. We get hysterical.. Then I remember how very upset I was that night. It was the first night I had gotten to do 2 shows in the city on a Friday night. Okay one was a bringer and the other a barker.. I was excited. However the realities of what this business is and what it can do or not do.....had hit me and burst my bubble. It was a mirage. I was the guy in the desert who couldn't walk another step.

I am always anxious before any show. I had more than my share of it before my gig in Pittsburgh. The Weds before the show I was trying to lay out my sets on paper. I was having trouble making it all flow and make sense and in addition put it into some kind of a story form so that I could remember it no less. I was sitting in my car waiting for my son to get out of his guitar lesson. I was in downtown Somerville NJ. I couldn't focus. I have really bad A.D. D. and when combined with P.M.'S . I'm F.U.C.K.E.D. I was feeling overwhelmed. I looked out the car window and decide can I have a smoke(addictive little fuckers) find a place to wash my hands and buy some gum and be back in time to pick my son up.......welcome to my normal. He doesn't know I smoke. I look across the street and there sitting outside having lunch is Rich Voss and Bonnie Mc Farlane. IN SOMERVILLE. I heard from a friend that he had moved to Hillsbrough to be near to his kids. SO it could be him. I couldn't stop myself I walked across the street and told them that not only am I a longtime fan. I am a comic. I have been following Voss since the early 80's he was the local boy and I was rooting for him. I also mentioned that I needed to be sure it was them because I live these two separate lives. The mom and the Comic and the two had just collided. Voss asked if my husband is supportive of my doing standup? I told him yes and that we believe in quality time apart. He chuckled.... Im not sure it was a laugh. Then he said...................Your just like Sally field in that movie Punchline. see blog: Arent you Sally Field? 9-7-04 Those of you who know me... Know how I am told this at least 3 times a week. I replied the only difference I would have run away with Tom Hanks. Cause he's Tom Hanks. Bonnie laughed. They told me they are getting married and I mentioned to Bonnie that I just had read her article in SHeckey.com. She wrote an article about the word CUNT. I loved that piece. I use that word in my set. They asked me if I wanted to sit and if I wanted anything to eat. I sat down but didnt want to impose... they were like...no sit. I didnt order. I wanted a smoke but my sons lesson was in direct vision of where I was. I sat down. They were so nice. Voss asked me where I worked I mentioned some of the spots and he remembered all the places. He asked me about some bookers and told me about a few I heard of. I told him I saw him at the Penny Arcade in Clark NJ....in the early 80's. He mentioned that when he began comedy his two biggest goals were to play at the Penny Arcade and Rascals then in W. Orange. I told them that I was doing a show in Pittsburgh and that it was my first time doing an hour. He said You have an hour?? how long are you at this. I was proud of myself....then I got worried....how good an hour can it be? They were playing at Caroline's on Friday. Bonnie and I were talking some girl stuff ....Voss asked if my HandBag was real?? I told him no. Then they wished me luck. I wished them a happy marriage and Bonnie kissed me good buy. I wasn't able to tell anyone this because.... I hadn't come clean with the Chappel miss sighting. So now you know. Only one who doesn't know is Daryl. I went to Rich Voss's web site and emailed him through it. I thanked him and Bonnie for being so kind . He wrote back and said Be Funny..... your welcome.

What wisdom I have learned doing comedy here at my second anniversary is this. Do what you love. Its like anything will be hard and difficult at times. Yet at its worst you will have more fun than folding laundry on the best day.

Time for some new goals: Get a business card. Get a web page. Get a real head shot and not one that makes me look like a Realtor. Loose some weight.......not too much or I will need a new act. Be Happy

Comments are below
an acting teacher once told me......
Posted on 05/26/2005 at 09:18 PM by April Brucker

Robin, I act as well as do comedy. and an acting teacher once told me if this (performing) is the only thing you can picture yourself doing, by all means, do it. But if you can picture yourself doing something else, do that. Because there is NO MONEY in this. Just reminded me of that advice. However, the stage is my home and there is no other place I wanted to live. Your blog reminded me of that. Because even though I have to do all the crap comics do, you know, I LOVE IT AND THAT'S WHY I DO IT.



You Are right about one thing
Posted on 05/27/2005 at 09:00 AM by Bill Blank

This IS a calling. You don't find comedy, it finds you. We are addicted to the worst drug on the planet... Instant Recognition. Keep plugging sister!