Riding a rollercoaster.

I have been saying how hard it is to get good at anything 5 minutes at a time...no less comedy. Well maybe I was wrong. I see that the many months of dragging myself to countless open mic's is paying off. I don't feel the burning need to do 6 or more a week...been there done that. Yet the discipline of writing and trying to have at least one new joke a week at open mic has really paid off . After my performance at The Stress Factory Contest... I was feeling down. I really wanted a chance to do a weekend set at my home club. I have something to prove to myself... Time will tell .I want to thank my fellow comics who emailed me because they knew how upset I was going to get about how things went at the contest. I decided to put it all behind me. The following weekend went fantastic and got to do 3 amazing shows. I performed at Gotham and had was very happy. I thought I got a good tape but I came home and it was 7 minutes of static. I spoke to the club and they said they were having problems with the equipment. I walked 44 blocks after the show to drop off a tape at a club. The person who I was to drop it off was away on vacation. I noticed a bunch of comics on the bill I knew but had to run downtown for a set. I almost got to meet Adam Sank....he was playing on the bill. (this was 2 weeks ago) After that I ran down to the Village and had a great time at Sal's and had a really solid set and got paid to boot. That Saturday night I hosted the Callallo Cafe in Morristown. I had done a show there last June and had a great opening set however when I came back to MC between the feature and the headliner I blanked out and a few jokes went flat. I also was afraid to do crowd work. Fast forward to now and .... time and experience must have paid off. I came prepared to do crowd work, I went to the show with several topics to ask the audience about and a few come back lines I might use. When I got to the show the club manager said the headline was running late and asked if I could I stretch it out a bit. Go Long A DREAM COME TRUE!!!! Well like it or not...I did crowd work. I asked about the holidays and about how people decorated. I had a few people there celebrating...different events. I prayed for the years of improv to paid off. I got an applause break during the crowd work. Then I did 20 minutes and brought on the feature. The headliner arrived and I did 5 more minutes of crowd work and 15 minutes and brought up the headliner. It was my best show ever and I have been on a high ever since. It was the most amazing thing to have that much stage time and to do well. I had a fantastic time. Fortunately I audio taped it. This field is filled with such lows at times it is great to have a night that you feel it all came together. I was fortunate the club was mostly married couples and several groups of middle aged women out for a night with the girls. The comedy stars were all in alignment. I say this all the time....You have to be prepared so that if luck shows up you can make the most of it. I sometimes get bitter about the open mics that I have to drag myself out to do. I often forget that even though I do 5 minutes at these...If I have the right attitude and use it for what it is...I could grow into something more than just an open micer. I need to focus on the positive more often. Its better than sitting home dreaming. I did that for 20 years and can never get that time back. If you see me down and out...remind me that its not all fun but there is no place else Id rather be.