Lady luck has, shall we say, blown on my dice kiddos.

I headed down to the GBBC for an open mic night after a month and a half hiatus. First off, the set was money- I had a blast and fell right back into the groove I was in when I left.

But that’s not the important part.

When I got there one of the comics told me that a local booking agent thinks I have talent and wants to talk to me about opening some actual gigs.

HELLO.

I can’t beleive it. So the dude who told me hosts a comedy night on Tuesdays and he invited me to do a set this week and the booking agent will be there to talk to me.

HELLO.

That’s when I may have overstepped the bounds of a polite “thank you.” Apparently some people don’t think men should french kiss people in public.

Anyway, I’m so excited and I just can’t hide it. Now I gotta get my A-Game ready for Tuesday.

If you haven’t checked them out already, go peek at my clips in the video section. They load fast and are pretty good quality. Plus I try to be funny.

I did my first open-mic in a while on Tuesday night. It was a new one that started at this dive in downtown Reno. It was classic. There was an itsy bitsy stage, about 10 people seated right in front of it, and a few scattered folks at the bar. The audience consisted of the other 2 performers, the emcee, some old guys and a few assorted drunks.

Now, many comics will complain about a venue like this but I won’t. For a few reasons.

1. I’ve always gotten off when people stare at me. I don’t know- maybe if i was good looking I’d like to be a model. Sure, it would be cool if they laughed- but I’ll take staring.

2. Uncomfortable silence immediately following a new joke is exciting. It almost feels like suffocating.

3. Conservative Republicans are a great audience. While most comics complain about crowds full of republicans I love ‘em. Why?

Because Republicans can take a joke.

Twice.

Badum bum Tssssssshhhhhhhh! YES!

I actually used that one on them too. They continued to stare. I then made fun of retarded kids, birth control and abortion. At that point it was for my entertainment only. I had a blast. Plus the few chuckles I got out of them were the most that night I believe.

Actually I’m going to go back. I think the tiny audience- where they don’t have the anonymity they enjoy in the larger venues- that’s great training for a comic. If I can win them over & convince them to laugh- I can own a large crowd.

It went swimmingly. Our pals the Lathers came, as well as one of my co-workers. Each set is feeling progressively better. This one marked my fifth ever- not counting the one in college I’ll tell you about some other time.

I felt more polished up there. Not to say that I wasn’t terrified. For some reason that came back and it won’t leave. One of the comics I really dig told me later, “If that feeling ever leaves- you’ll surely bomb. Johnny Carson did the Tonight Show for a zillion years and still got so nervous each time he almost threw up.”

I liked that. My set flowed well this time and the tempo seemed a smidge faster with the punch lines. The crowd was a little rough on the comics though. They’re usually young and ready to laugh- this crowd was more family style and Republican and cranky. They were willing to laugh, but you had to work for it.

I got to do this one about the Fat kids whose parents sued McDonalds- I’ve always wanted to do that one.

I feel really lucky that this is working out-It’s been a dream of mine for a long time. I wish I could put more time into it but it’ll have to wait till I’m done with my MBA. Well, I’ll post the video of the set when I get around to it & next week I’ll be at it again.

There’s a new clip available in the video secion of the site. It’s my latest standup.

I think I’m really starting to find a groove with my performances. One of the other comics came up to me later that night and told me, “you say a lot of offensive stuff- but you make the audience like you so you get away with it.” I took that as a HUGE compliment because that’s what I go for.

I love it when you can joke about something and make people feel a little guilty they just laughed. That means you’ve taken them somewhere new. They might have found it funny before but didn’t figure they had permission to laugh. That’s my favorite stuff. The forbidden laugh.

Thing is, my stuff has been getting more offensive, but that’s how I think. All of my closest friends know that. It’s just that most of the time I have to work really hard at censoring myself because most people wouldn’t understand an unedited stream of Ed.

From the stage, though, they let you get away with it. They let you give them permission to laugh at all the off-limits stuff.

This set was a little wonky for me since I got nervous. I haven’t felt that nervous in a while. I head over to this place right after a 3 hour class which is after a full workday. I don’t have time to think it through- I just hurry over there, grab a beer and go up on stage.

It was cool though. The audience was generous with the laughs and from what I can tell watching it the fear didn’t show up too much. The worst it does is just keep me from thinking about what to talk about next. I can’t wait until I’ve done it enough that I can just think up bits while on stage.

I almost forgot! I got to do a few commercials. Thanks to Mr. Jerz’s wife, I landed three TV commercials for the Reno Tahoe Open and one radio spot. It was actually over the summer but I wanted to wait for my redesign before I posted them. Ihad a ton of fun doing them and it’s pretty surreal to see yourself on the tele. I’m going to try to get some more in the future- the whole thing was so much of a blast.

Check em out in the video section.

That’s right, gentle readers- the all new swanky Video Section of edadkins.com is now OPEN!

Feel free to browse and laugh at me.

Just remember- be kind and rewind.

Made another go at standup last night. At first I didn’t want to, considering the events of the last week, but I figured it might be therapeutic. This time went much better- I didn’t bother with the notes and I wasn’t so nervious. I was comfortable with the crowd, and even when they didn’t respond to the one I thought I could end on, I pulled out a few of my alternate jokes and ended strong.

But I didn’t win. There were two pros in the crowd and one of them took home the gold. He’s been doing stand-up for 20 years. The other guy has been doing it for 10 and he drove out from Sacramento where he has a regular paying gig. So, I felt pretty good for having stood my ground against them with all of two weeks under my belt.

Not that it wasn’t a bit of a blow to the ego tho. The crowd was real small b/c of Easter, and I was one of the first to go up which can be real hard too. But when came down I thougt, “heck yeah! that kicks the crap out of my set from last week!” But there’s always someone who can raise the bar higher- and those guys were both on.

Oh well, it was a blast again (I’ll put the video up this week for anyone who wants to check it out). And I’ve said it before; as much as I would love to come right out of the gates as the funniest guy in history, it’s going to take practice and persistance. Crap.

It went well, and the story is below. If you just want the clips, they’re right here.

• Intro: Delaware
• Nevada, “The Adventure Place”
• Slots in the Grocery Store
• Down With Righty

Right click, save as.
(more…)

It’s funny. Ever since I decided to do the competition I’ve found myself feeling extremely UNfunny. I usually walk around at home joking non-stop- and to the perfect audience, my wonderful wifey. She laughs at pretty much anything I do.

But lately I guess I’m just more self-conscious. Like I’m asking myself, “is that really funny?” before I say anything. I’m thinking about stuff like “what is my inspiration?” Not that I’m totally nervous- I’m just a bit off.

What helped a lot is that last night I rented Comedian. It’s a documentary Seinfeld did recently about being a stand-up. It was cool- like having someone take you backstage and de-mystify a lot of that stuff.

It reminded me of something about art or business or life or comedy. You aren’t always on. No one succeeds by being constantly on. It’s impossible. People fail because they count on being on, and sometimes it’s just a fluke.

What you can do is prepare. If you work hard, you can go from a sporadic fluke to a consistent performer. If you rely just on talent you are gambling- and you’re destined to fail.

So I’m tightening up the act. I’m going over the past posts here in the blog, which is prolly where most of it will come from, and try to see what was clicking when I’ve been on. I’m gonna make sure that enough of it is memorized, and I go over the bits with people to check their reactions- you can never really guess exactly what people laugh at. Then, whether I feel like a laugh riot on Sunday or not, it’ll be my best.

All hail the joke monkey.

Six days till the comedy competition and I’m a bit nervous. Since it’s a weekly thing with a few more left, I went last night to check out the competition one last time.

It still looked manageable. 19 contestants; most were mediocre with 4 that showed some real talent. It won’t be a cake walk, but I think I have a decent chance. My gig is almost all penned out, and I took a lot of notes on the atmosphere last nite too, like how the crowd reacted to different subjects, tempo and image of the contestants.

I did it once before when I was in college and it’s absolutely incredible. You get addicted to the audience reactions- when you nail a well timed joke and the crowd goes nuts- it’s like a drug. Boom, boom, boom. Just like anything else- when you’re on you’re on. Of course I’m worried about being off. I hadn’t planned on getting into stand-up before I was done with my degree and stuff- but this competition is simply too hard to pass up.

This week I’m renting a few of the greats on DVD: Seinfeld, Leary, Murphy and Rock. Any suggestions are welcomed too- if you know of a great stand-up on dvd or cd lemme know. I love studying these guys’ acts and techniques.