Snow Business

01/24/2005 at 10:30 AM

I did 2 shows Saturday night in NYC. Yes it was snowing. Yes it was cold. I left for my first show at 6 to make it by 8pm. I took a cab down to 28 Carmine Street.. Cars were sliding everywhere. I got down there and tipped the cab big time for getting me there alive I walked into the cafe and no one was there yet. The sign for the show was covered by a snow drift. I lit a cigarette...addictive little fuckers.... took 3 drags and decided that getting out of the snow and cold would feel better than the nicotine ...and went inside.

The cafe was a nice space it is next to a restaurant that runs the food into the space. It was really good Italian finger foods, I had a cup of coffee...not espresso in a tiny little cup. I needed a 72 ounce 7-11 cup of coffee to warm me up. I got nervous that no one would show up to do the show. Then like some kind of NY miracle the producer and a few minutes later the audience arrived. The producer Paul O' Conner was late getting there and I was getting upset that all the work I had put into getting into the city during a Blizzard would be wasted. Me of little faith thought because he was 25 minutes late during the biggest storm of the season meant that he wasn't going to show and that I was a fool for even getting out of bed that morning no less traveling 3 hours in to NY in a snow storm. I watched Paul pull the room together for the show in minutes and then run outside. 15 minutes later when I went out for yet another smoke...addictive little fuckers.... I see that Paul is standing on the corner of Bleaker and Carmine handing out fliers. By the way my first flier with my name on it. (Note to self...shame you don't scrapbook) Wow. And he gets people to come into the show.

The show began and we had a nice crowd..... then he brings me up and lets me do 20 minutes. Yes you read that right I got to do 20 minutes in NYC!!!!!! It was fun. Was it my best set ever. No. Id give myself a B- It was the bullet spot and the room was still defrosting from the snow and cold. I did get laughs through the entire set yet one joke my whale joke died on the table. That's the one I obsessed about for the rest of the evening about. The room continued to fill up as the show went on....dam...I love New Yorkers. Paul did a set and it was beautiful. It was the first time I got to see him do a longer set and the construction of the storyline of his set and his performance were excellent. Sitting next to me were two kids from Oregon neither had never been to a comedy show. They kept on commenting to me how fantastic it was to see live comedy. I wrote them the names of a bunch of offbeat places in the city to go for cheap fantastic shows. Paul had a new kid named Matt do a set and he was great and them Paul did some more stage time and delivered another terrific set. Then the headliner Rick Shapiro came to the stage and tore the room up. I am a huge fan and I truly feel that Rick has reinvented comedy. Seeing Rick perform is like watching Jackson Pollack paint. He puts on layers and layers of words to the point of exhaustion. He is an artist. Its more than joke telling its what literature is to writing. I sat in awe. He is everything I love about comedy. The best part came afterworlds when we all stood around and talked with each other. I asked for feedback...and Paul and Rick were very kind and gave me much to think about. Thank God I showed up....

I walked over to Sal's show and the room was filled with a couple from England and two lovely people form Minnesota. Bob Bell was talking to the couple and I joined them. We started talking and I wound up doing crowd work with just them one on one. This is my weakest aspect of doing comedy. I don't know I was all juiced up.... I wound up writing on the spot a riff on the mid west. We all were laughing.

Sal and his dog came in and we started the show. I had a blast. Sal gave me a lot of stage time and I made up there on the spot a bit about how to stay married that I prayed on stage I wouldn't forget. ( note to self....by batteries for recorder.) Then all of us after the show went to the bar and talked. Sal and I discussed me learning to host. I need to devote 3 minutes of every set to crowd work. I told him I am afraid on some level of the spontaneity of it. Which is nuts considering I did 4 years of Improv. The lights came on and it was closing time. I have not closed a bar in 2 decades. I walked out onto Mc Dougall to look for a cab. The street was empty. I had never seen it empty. No cars or cabs so I walked out to the Avenue. After 40 minutes I got a cab....back to my mother in laws apartment. on 33 rd St. It was so cold and awful out. Yet inside myself and all around me it was so peaceful and beautiful. It was a night I will never forget.

Comments are below
I cant do it again
Posted on 01/25/2005 at 02:25 PM by Robin Fox

Im suppose to do a mic at the Lantern tonight.... I cant face the snow and slush....at least not for today. I dont have another snowy night in me for today. There saying its gonna snow.