The Noodles and Kabob Show: Asian Comedy

Last night I held the first Asian standup comedy show called Noodles and Kabobs. I had to call it Pan Asian, because the concept of Asia in America is limited to a racial identity which doesn't include Indians, Middle-Eastern folks, Iranians. So by calling it Pan Asian, I was able to get a broader diversity of comics and the audience.

The show was a success. The comics were a hit and the audience seemed to be really enjoying themselves. Personally though, I did not get what I wanted, which is a great video of my performance. I can find blame in many spots, but the person I want to blame is a heckler.

This is the "movie" heckler. The person who has a comment about everything on stage, and mutters it just so audibly to the person next to them. They are not so loud or boorish that the audience wants to poop on them, but like a quiet fart, they smell up the room with that piffle.

Dealing with the heckler took me off my path and dented my portion of the show. And in comedy there is no "heckler" insurance.

Then again, this is part of the journey: encountering situations on stage that make you feel like a veteran. The next time this type of heckler shows up, I will know what to do with them.

The Brainwash Laundromat and Cafe

Located on Folsom near 7th Street in San Francisco is the Brainwash Cafe and Laundromat. It's a place where you can have coffee, food, beer, or wine while waiting for your laundry spinning in the adjacent room.

For the last several years the Brainwash has hosted comedy every Thursday night. That is the hard work of Tony Sparks, a Bay Area comic who forms the backbone of the comedy circuit by running comedy work out rooms.

Thanks to Tony and the Brainwash, new comics have a place to start while established comics get an opportunity to try out new material.

It's the place I go when I have new material to try out and need an audience that is there for the hell of it. Generally the audience is an eclectic mix of hipsters, yuppies pretending to be hipsters, hippies, the homeless. A few of the audience are attentive, a few are half-listening while working on their laptops. There is plenty of foot traffic and street noise. In this milieu comics go up and take their turn at the mike for their 5 minutes.

There was a time when I found it depressing to go to the Brainwash. As a beginning comic, you wait in lines for your 5 minutes, and then all you get are a few chuckles from someone who you learn, chuckles at his own thoughts.

Now a few years into comedy, the Brainwash is like coming home. It's one of those places where you can truly let go on stage and go with the flow. Like this night I read the graffiti in the bathroom "Losers piss on the floor, Winners shit on the ceiling." That is how I opened my set and got the attention of everyone, including the hippie on heroin.