Same Old Song And Dance

Same Old Song And Dance

Saturday, February 26, 2005-4:56 P.M.

Last night at Absolute Comedy was a fun show...Jack Willhite from Richmond, Virginia in the closing spot, Sugar Sammy from Montreal in the mc spot, and me filling in the middle like a double-stuffed Oreo.  Actually, Scott McCormick did an able-bodied guest set, so he's part of the stuffing, too.  I had a lot of fun, but felt unusual doing only the one show on a Friday.  A good number of people were interested in having a copy of my comedy CD, and I obliged them.  It's a shame when you have to use that as a yardstick to determine whether you're doing well or not, but that's what I use and I'm usually not wrong.

Today, Sammy, Jack and I headed out to the market section of Ottawa for a nice diner lunch and then back to the Adelaide apartments for nice naps.  Sammy is out papering the city with posters, as he's coming back in two weeks to headline Absolute Comedy, and he wants to make sure there's a full house.  In this business, at the start (and sometimes all the way through the end), as comics, we have to not only be concerned with making sure we have a funny act on stage, but we have to handle all facets of the business side as well.  We have to become our own management, making sure that our calendar is full of bookings, which requires inumerable phone calls, e-mails, faxes, and personal visits to booking agents to make sure that we are employed.  Last year, during the last quarter, I blissfully ignored this practice, and was rewarded with a January and February full of nothing.  Most comedy clubs are booking three to six months out, and some booking agents go even farther than that.  Currently I have bookings in November and December on the calendar that I procured earlier this month.  I have 13 weeks left to the year that I haven't filled, and will have to go about filling them along my way.

Two shows tonight at the club, and then the 4-hour trip back home in the darkness.  I should be fine as the weather is clear, and I'll be driven by the prospect of seeing my dear wife and baby daughter again after four days.  It seems like forever, especially when you're this close to home.  Then only a day and a half later, it's back on the road again down to Texas.  I'm happy to be working, and sad that it's another two weeks away from my family, but this is the job...pack a suitcase, go out and dothe shows, get home, do the laundry, steal what joy you can in the little time you have together with your loved ones, and then pack the bag and get gone again.  I'm reading a book that I borrowed from the club's green room about Canadian comedy, and at one point, they described the road as "bottled insanity."  And that's just about the truth.  Comics cling together, socialize, eat together, watch movies together, because we have to....out here on the road, we are all we've got.

On not such a drab not, I have to say that Canadian television is pretty cool....last night, I watched "Pulp Fiction" on a commercial station....they broke for commercials, but left the movie intact....no dubbing clean dialogue for cursing, just straight presentation of the movie as originally shown in the theater.  The night before, it was "Rounders" with Matt Damon and John Malkovich.  Two of my favorite movies of all time shown back-to-back.  If they had "Memento" on tonight, it would be the trifecta, but I own all those movies back home, and can watch them whenever I want.

The winter "blahs" continue, but I perservere with the knowledge that springtime and renewal are around the corner, as they always are.

Ralph Tetta

Rochester, NY