Dashed Expectations, Hecklers, and a Great show

You plan MONTHS in advance to celebrate a friend's 40th birthday at a comedy club with several of your friends. You call for reservations a month ahead of time. You miss picking up on crucial details: the club doesn't call back until days before the show, or that the tickets are only $7.00 on Saturday night, or that the place calls itself a hole-in-the-wall. Then you are the kind of person who I would like to sell a car to.

That's the kind of person who showed up with 10 friends to the Mock. I saw the jaw drop..."the comedy show is in here???!!!" "Yes!" At 10:15PM at night, there isn't another show that they could go see. Especially on Pride weekend in the city when parking is scarce, even the bars have lines snaking outside.

So they paid and sat down and I felt the burden of their disappointment. At the Mock, I am the businessman, the promoter, the producer, the host, and a performer. Pressure -- Nah!

By 10:20PM the room is full and I kick the show off. I always feel a little stupid, taking people's money at the door and then running on to the stage to do the show. Makes me feel that I am running something cheap! But this audience is good. I open with a new joke, and it goes over so well that I actually do a set. The birthday group is full of energy and they are laughing and my burden lifts.

But there is a heckler. A drunk Eastern European woman with her Korean boyfriend talks on every single line and I shut her up once. After my set I signal to her many times to not talk. In the meantime the show is going great guns! The comics are on a roll and it helps that it is one of the best lineups and it is unique. I had a themed night on Asian/Indian comedy and it helped that I was able to get some of the best comics to come out.

The heckler is not shutting up, we are on our last feature, and I have been unable to make the decision to throw her out. Every time I signal her to be quiet, she shuts up for a full minute and then she is back on. Her boyfriend is trying to get her to be quiet, but is failing miserably. I pity this man's desperation. He seems like a nice guy.

And then it happens -- one woman turns back, and tells the heckler to "Shut the F*** up." The room goes quiet. I am grateful. It needed to be said. The comic on stage handles the interruption really well. The audience bounces right back. The heckler and her group leaves. The heckler tries to come back by herself and I forbid her from the club. I hope her nice boyfriend has realized that this kitty comes with regret, lots of it.

Then it is time for the final headline act. It starts well and it's time for me go outside and relax. I come back and catch a great finale to an awesome show.

Sometimes the drama and the conflict is what makes a great show memorable!

Diversity of the Bay Area

Take a town, Fremont, one of the Bay Area hubs of the Indian community and you can experience the unintegrated social life for immigrants. Thursday night I performed in one of the premier American restaurants in this town. The host figured that my presence would pull in some Indians. My presence pulled in four Caucasian friends. They came by, gave me a hug and were there to see me since I was in their town. Thankfully the restaurant itself pulled in a huge crowd and I played to an audience of close to a couple of hundred, lively caucasians who wanted the best raunchy material. I had an awesome time, despite being heckled by an aged, cranky, guy who seemed to have a beef with immigrants. I wouldn't put it past him to be one of those minuteman on the border. The rest of the audience was awesome and found in me a bridge to a community that lives around them, but hasn't been fully integrated.

Then on Saturday I performed at a Private Party for an Indian family. The audience of over a hundred had 2 Caucasians who were business associates of the hosts. The rest of the folks were all Indian. I put together a completely different routine that was PG-rated. The audience loved it (ok this is my blog).

Makes me wonder how diverse and unintegrated this liberal Bay Area is and how the rest of the country is faring. Then again, does it really matter? It's late and to heck with it.

The Joy of Comedy

Finally an appreciation that hit home. A few weeks ago another comic saw my set and invited me for a paid private party. After 50 miles of driving I arrived to a 30th Birthday Bash. The audience was American and Latino. I was the feature act in a regular comedy setup. The host a Latino comic pronounced my name as "niti" "kan".

I couldn't have been setup with a more perfect opener. "Now I know how to say my name in Spanish." It allowed me the perfect segue into my accent joke and the rest of my set.

The gig was outdoors, the weather was gorgeous, there was booze, food, the audience was there to laugh and appreciate.

After a great act as I left the stage, someone stuck a $100-tip into my hands. Life is good.