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02/12/2008: ""

Three of the four shows on Friday and Saturday at the Comedy Showcase in Houston were sold out. The show thursday night had over 200 empty seats, friday and saturday they were turning people away. None of these folks were there to see me specifically, they are just going out to see comedy. I've been performing at the Comedy Showcase for the last ten years or so pretty regularly. I've performed there as an opener, a feature, a headliner, and a guest setter. It is one of my home clubs and I really love working there and I love their regular crowd. I will more than likely headline there again before the end of the year.
It is funny how much I have changed as a comic since I started working there. I've said many times, my act is a work in progress. The more shows I do the more I learn about this business and often, even educated opinions about my performance change drastically. There was a time when I would have told you that I am a better comic when I leave the mic in the stand and don't touch it and stand behind it and do my jokes. There was a time where I would have said that I should never sit down onstage. There was a time where I believed that every single one of my jokes should be delivered with one foot in front of the other and as close to the front of the stage as possible. I've performed loud and fast, quiet and slow, completely deadpan, and smiling the whole time.
For a long time I've had the unwavering opinion that I was there to perform my act, that I shouldn't question or bait the audience, (e.g. "Who likes McDonald's? I don't and here's why...) because that gives the audience the wrong idea about their role in the show. They may think that the whole act is a two way conversation.
Some of my jokes used to begin with rhetorical questions ("Don't you love cruise ships?"). I didn't used to think this was a problem.
Last time I worked Vegas, I was working with the legendary Kip Addotta and one of the many pieces of advice he gave me was to not ask the audience any questions. I took all of those lines out of my act and it helped.
I used to think if something happened in the crowd (drunk lady yells something incoherent, guy spills a drink in his lap) that it was disfunctional not to acknowledge it. I now believe that there is nothing wrong with being onstage and continueing to work through some distractions.
Many of the folks in the big crowds at the Showcase want to be part of the show. Even when you are killing and the whole crowd is loving the show, there are always a few folks in that room that want some attention and they think they will get it by yelling stuff out. Some just want to talk to their friends at their table about each of the jokes and add their own punchlines. I'm not going to tell you to stop yelling stuff at me, I know you can't, but I am going to tell you that I don't believe right now that it is in my best interest to do anything but ignore you. I will keep performing, you will keep yelling and the people you came with will try to quiet you down first, then, some strangers at another table, then, club security gives you a warning. Finally, club security kicks you out. Now your friends need to decide whether to leave now, too, or leave you alone in the parking lot. Friends, when you leave early, don't be mad at the club or the comic, you are the one who brought the crazy loud person.
If you have a friend or a relative who just can't keep their mouth shut at a show, you have two choices as I see it, leave them home or bring them to the Comedy Showcase for the Thursday night show. They won't kick you out of that one, they need your drink money that night.
Headed to Sioux Falls tomorrow to play Nitwits. Those crowds up there are extremely well behaved, almost spooky in their attentiveness. I guess nobody wants to get kicked out when it is -5 degrees and snowing.

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