Highway Star

Highway Star                                 3191

Saturday, January 21, 2006-3:49 A.M.

Liberals Laugh Louder!

Did a show in Syracuse, NY with one V.J. Stanley in tow.  V.J. was guest-spotting for Mike Kinnie, the owner/booker of the Lake Ontario Playhouse in Sackett's Harbor, NY, as well as Geneva, NY, Syracuse, NY and Troy, NY.

V.J. did a great job in the opener spot, nailing a 5-to-7 minute set in just about 6 and a half.  His closing bit got an applause break....can't get better than that, huh?

When I arrived, Mike asked me to omit a piece of material.  It's a bit about analingus.  O.K., no problem.  He said "Don't do that bit tonight.  As a matter of fact, don't do it in any of my rooms."

I was a little surprised.  Mike has always said that he likes my act, and I've never had a problem getting booked in any of his locations.  Point, I was the opening weekend of his Geneva room.  That's a measure of trust, as far as I'm concerned.

Now, I haven't done the bit in about six weeks.  I didn't consciously drop it, but there's certain markets where you just know that graphic sexual material isn't going to please the audience....the South, the Midwest, etc.  I ditched it (didn't really need the bit), but felt kind of weird about it.  I like to go that route if the audience really looks like they've let their guard down and are willing to play.  In really liberal towns like Madison, Wisconsin, I've actually gotten really favorable feedback about the piece, because I walk the audience all the way around the bit, rather than slamming them over the head with it.  It's really a tasteful presentation, if I can be trusted to be objective about my own act.

We cleared out after my set and drove back to Rochester, where I picked up comedy buddy Ray Salah and headed over to the Little Theater to do warm-up for a midnight screening of the film "The Aristrocrats."  The set went well, even though I had to do the old "draw the numbers from the hat" bit to give away copies of the DVD.  I got the crowd to do some audience participation in reciting the swear words as a group, starting out with "damn it all" and graduating up the the big "C" word.  It was a fun time, and I took advantage of knowing that the crowd was full of Granola types, so I bashed conservatives and their willingness to piss away freedom of speech and expression.  When I left the stage, the audience was eating out of my hand.  Except for the big bull dykes that were sitting far away from the rest of the crowd who I mocked and said they were quarantined like they had SARS.  Thank God they won a DVD or they probably would have kicked my ass.

Two shows in two cities in one night...I know that's not a record or anything, but I always over-romanticize stuff like that.  It was only a 90-mile ride on the New York State Thruway, but in my mind, I'm Phil Collins playing Live Aid in London, and then taking a Concorde to Philadelphia to play a set at the other one.

Fuck you, it's my story and I'll tell it like I want to.  Using whatever language I see fit.

Ralph Tetta

Rochester, NY