More Than A Feeling

More Than A Feeling                  8602  (1802)

Monday, August 6, 2007-4:00 A.M.

I'm just getting settled down from a big comedy weekend, headlining at the House of Comedy in Niagara Falls, Canada, and then doing a low-key open mic here in Rochester that turned out to be "old home week."

I brought my old comedy buddy, Ray Salah, to the HOC as I got him the MC gig for the weekend.  I like the Canadian system of doing comedy, because they actually use a stronger comic to MC, and take the weakest guy on the bill and put him in the middle, so the show starts out strong, and then the guy in the middle can "ride the wave" and then the headliner can go knock it out of the park, rather than having a lesser experienced comic start the show.

It was a holiday weekend in Canada, something called "Civic Holiday" which I guess is sort of a summer holiday, but to be honest, it smacked of socialism.  Regardless, it made for a smaller audience on Friday, but you wouldn't know it based on the traffic at the Rainbow Bridge...the cars were lined up all the way to the casino on the American side, it was a mess.  Then at the club....40 people.  Saturday, the line at the border was nothing, and the club was packed, about 160 folks total.

We had a guest appearance by Wes Zaharuk, a Canadian comic who I toured with last year in Minnesota, and we had Graham Davidson on both shows.  I worked with Graham last time I was at the HOC, back in the old location at the AmeriCana hotel.  It was great having friendly faces on the bill and I had a couple of very good shows.  I wound up writing a new bit that I think I'm going to carry around for a while...I really like that genesis of writing...come up with a new bit on stage, then work it into the set, where it will slowly come to it's own place, and supplant some other joke which has run it's course.  It's a very subtle osmosis, too....I wish it were clearer, like if I had some O.J. or Lorena Bobbit jokes I could just throw my rope at.

Here's a tip for you, too...if you are going into Canada, don't pull into the cue directly behind the car that is being questioned by customs; wait your happy ass back behind the "stop" sign where it says.  Nothing makes you more suspicious looking than not knowing the drill.  I saw it happen Friday night, and then Saturday going into Canada, a car followed me right up to the booth and the lady working customs was hollering "Back up!  Back up!" in a voice that you could have trained a pit bull with.  And then it happened again coming back, some schmuck from New Jersey who didn't know the customs at customs rolled on up in the cue and they took his Rav4 apart in front of him. 

Another nifty benefit right now to working in Canada?  The Canadian dollar is almost at par with the U.S.  The exchange rate on Friday was .9315, and then on Saturday it slipped to .9313, so basically you're getting 93 cents on a dollar, and that ain't bad.  I didn't even change the value of my merchandise, and I sold a few pieces and that helped out with the gas.   Tony's got a good crew up there at the House of Comedy and it's a family thing; his father works in the kitchen (great Italian meatballs, pop) and his sister Layla is the bartender.  She is hotter than fish grease, if you know what I'm sayin' (and you KNOW what I'm sayin').  He stole some of the servers away from the old location at the AmeriCana Hotel, so it was nice seeing Kendra and some of the old familiar faces (plus some of the glassware was eerily familiar....hmmmm).

Sunday night, I dragged Ray out to Boulder Coffee Company for the open mic hosted by Matt Rohr.  This makes three comedy nights in a row for Ray, almost like a tour, and for a guy who doesn't really try to do much standup, keeping himself busy with acting and commercial work, it was necessary to shake the rust off.  Well, Ray got a special treat because his cousin David, who had been doing comedy longer than any of us, showed up with his 11-year-old son Jack.  Ray, Jack and David all did sets, and I think Jack did the best.  Ray worked out some new stuff, I convinced him to let himself go and just tap into the zen of comedy, speak from the heart and trust himself to be funny, rather than leaning on old material, and he did better than I did.  I did a few bits that were new and then worked out some improv stuff.  I did five bits from audience suggestions, one was great, one was so/so, and the other three I'd like to have back.  The important thing was that I stretched and tried to represent myself as a funny person rather than just trying to say some funny things.

Open mic buddy Travis Worth did a bit that genuinely made me laugh, and I was proud because traditionally, I was used to seeing him struggle.  But he's a good kid and I've always been pulling for him, and when he got the pop, I started an applause break from the back of the room and he totally deserved it.  I like the atmosphere at Boulder because it was very positive and supportive, and you don't see that much anymore at open mics anywhere.  Last week, we had to cancel the open mic at Comix Cafe because we had 13 comics and only six people to listen to them.  I don't like canceling because I need the money with all the summer fall-outs I've had to endure, but if the club isn't going to make any money, they frown on paying me AND handing out a cash prize.  I officially hate the summer.

So this week I've got a one-nighter and my weekend is open, but then it's clear sailing until Christmas.  The gig is in Geneva, New York.  Maybe I'll be lucky and there will be a convention (bada-BING!).

O.K., I'm done.  Have a nice day.

Ralph Tetta

Rochester, NY