I Ain't Superstitious

I Ain't Superstitious                                                                     976

Thursday, May 12, 2005-1:22 A.M. (Friday morning)

Good evening.  I write this on the eve of my trip to Reading, Pennsylvania to perform at David Stein's Comedy Outlet.  I'm excited to go, because it's one of my favorite comedy rooms to play.  The club is in a Sheraton Hotel, so the accomodations are excellent, and there's a buffet-style restaurant right in the hotel, so there's no need to go foraging into the town proper to find decent food.  Plus, I get the employee discount, and how can you beat that?

The bummer of it was that Pam and Harmony were going to come along with me on our first family comedy trip, but they're both still feeling punky due to the cold that we all caught at the same time, so I'm going it alone.  I have a rebooking already in November, so maybe that will be a better opportunity all around.

I love this room for a couple of different reasons.  First of all, they have great comedy audiences, low on the heckle factor, and smart enough to get everything you throw at them.  Second of all, the folks who run it are kind and friendly, and treat me like family when I come down.  Third, and far from last, the comics that work the room are a good compliment of New York and Philadelphia guys that I don't normally work with in the Midwest.

I got into the room, not the normal way with a videotape submission, but with a recommendation from L.A. comic Mark Eddie.  Mark is originally from Philadelphia, and I worked with him at Dr. Grins in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  I was doing Funny Business a favor and hosting the shows for the weekend in Grand Rapids (short money), but Mark, who was headlining, took a liking to me, put a word in to David Stein, and only two weeks later, I was on the phone with Kathleen at the Comedy Outlet picking up my first date.  I returned about six months later, and after connecting with her by e-mail, got not one but two weeks booked for 2005.  You can't beat that with a stick, my friend.  Most clubs rotate their features anywhere from eight months to a year...the old wisdom used to be a six-month rotation, but now that there are so many comics out on the road working at the feature level, you can't hardly squeeze them all in even with a yearly rotation.  I consider myself extremely blessed to be working as much as I do, in as many markets as I do, given the competition.

I bought a book through my favorite website, www.half.com, a subsidiary of e-bay, where you can buy books in varying conditions from previously enjoyed to brand new (without bidding!).  I collect books on the standup comic's art, and this one, The Complete Idiots's Guide To Comedy Writing by Jim Mendrinos, is a pretty good one.  It covers the gamut from line writing to scripts and screenplays for movies and TV.  I guess I was extra curious because Jim was one of the organizers of the recent standup comedian's strike in New York City.  It takes a lot of balls to stand up (no pun intended) in this business for better pay and working conditions, because again, there is so much competition that if you say "no" to a particular comedy booker or comedy club, that you won't work there for the money they pay, there are literally a hundred guys at your level waiting to fill that slot and work for that money.  Kudos, Jim, for positioning yourself as a commodity and putting club owners on notice that if they want quality, they'll have to pay for it.

There are articles archived regarding the comics' strike at www.nobodylikesme.com, a comedian's chatboard that I read and sometimes contribute to.  Check it out if you're interested.

I just realized that tomorrow is Friday the 13th.  I just got scared for no reason.  Please be careful tomorrow of black cats, ladders, mirrors, chain letters, pit bulls, cracks in the sidewalks, weapons of mass destruction, transvestites, people with open sores on their hands, people with thick glasses, the Vernal Equinox, Armenian barbers, pennies on the ground pointing "tails" up, internet spam, Xerox stock certificates (they could be copies!  THEY COULD!), roadside vegetable stands, Thesauruses with pages missing, crippled newsboys, police photographers, test pilots, anchormen, one-armed babysitters, guitar comics (except Mark Eddie...he's O.K.), bent paperclips, zoo animals, buskers (look it up), and archaeologistswho keep looking at their watch.  Be safe!

Ralph Tetta

Rochester, NY