GO WITH THE FLOW

I recently headlined a weekday show at a comedy club that didn’t go as planned. To begin with, my flight was delayed so I arrived about 10 minutes before showtime instead of having a few minutes to catch my breath. Weekday shows are always scary, since, at my level, it’s usually a club where I am trying to establish myself as a weekend headliner. Weekdays are harder to promote than a weekend of shows, especially for fans who have day jobs and children. 
Headlining weekday shows are hit or miss. I have managed to curtail my expectations, especially now that many of my followers don’t even see my clips and promos for shows since the algorithm for my social media is not consistent. ( Thanks Zuckerberg!)

Before I walked into the club, I noticed that it was dead everywhere and from a distance I could see the lobby of the comedy club. Also dead. This was gonna be a small show. I walked into the showroom to see 22 people in a room that filled to 250. It was a bust. No problem. I have done shows like this before and sometimes the crowds are great.

The show started and my friends who were opening did well. This was a “small but mighty” crowd. I was gonna have fun. 

The host brought me on stage and for ten minutes everything was going well. Then a loud BOOM, a spark, a flicker and then the lights went out and then went back on. But the microphones did not. I waited a few minutes to see if the mic woudl work as I saw the sound guy scramble to try to see what was up. The fuses were blown. It would be a while.

I started performing without the mic and projected my voice. I had to do this before for shorter sets so I could handle it. 30 minutes later, my voice was going out. Still no mic. I jokes about the fact that mics were optional if you don’t bring a crowd and self deprecated my way through the set. 

Certain jokes I do require a mic for sound effects. I already am a quiet comedian too so I knew some jokes would not hit as well but I muscled forward. After 45 minutes, I was able to grab a mic and do the last 15 minutes with a microphone. Not ideal, but I handled it professionally. And those 22 people had a blast. #professional #formerlawyer #careerchange #stand up