BEST WEEKEND EVER?

Recently I had one of the best weekends in comedy, performing at a club called Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase. I headlined this weekend of shows and it started off, well, rocky.

As I recently admitted, I am bad at geography and time. I get lost easily and I tend to be late. For those reasons and others out of my control, I was late to my first show my first time performing at a new club. I actually had planned to be early, check into my hotel, work out and head to the show. It was my first time at the club and I wanted to make a good impression. A conservative 4 hour drive (that I could usually make in less than that) took well over 5 hours due to traffic, construction, rain and an accident closure. I got to the show 10 minutes before I was to actually go on, and after the host, feature and a guest spot stalled till I arrived.

Despite this, the first show on Friday night was very fun. Maybe because I didn't have time to really think and just kinda winged it and started with old jokes that always work and new jokes that I was excited about. I could tell right away that the crowd was on my side. It wasn't under later that I realized that a large section of them were Iranians who saw my Persian name and decided to come. And it was a room filled white collar professionals. No lawyers.

Saturday, with no traffic issues and an on time arrival, I had two of my favorite shows of the year, if not the last 10 years. From the jump, the crowd was on board for my edgier and smarter jokes. I realized that they were listening to even the smallest nuances of jokes, most of which I usually shorten when I feel the crowd doesn't catch my dry wit.

The crowd was smart, well read and ready to laugh. Clearly the support for the show, mainly the staff (Alisa, Christopher, servers) and the other comedians, Kate Brindle and Simon Carlson made the show (and me) shine. I also assume the booking match up by Roger (the owner) is the reason it began so well.

When I got the light (signal to end the show) for the last show, I was sad. I didn't want to get off stage. The last time I felt that sadness was when certain states started comedy again during the pandemic and I did my first weekend in Tulsa Oklahoma. I didn't know when we would return to normalcy in Illinoisand didn't want to get off stage. Now, I didn't know when I would have an audience so tailored for my comedy.

After the last show, I drove home and decided to focus on finding my audience. Smart. Well Read. Diverse. Witty. Ready to Laugh. Incidentally, I made it home in 3 hours (see below). I may have been going kinda fast from the rush.

Chicagoland, I hope you can see me in Batavia Sunday and my upcoming shows Sarasota and St Cloud Florida, Tulsa, Dallas, Boulder and Denver and St. Paul. If you have smart friends who love comedy, please tag them and tell them about me! #standup #comedy #laughs #annarbor