7 & 7: My notes on performing 14 straight nights of comedy
Saturday, March 8th: Sketch Cram
My sketch entitled "Shy or Judgemental" gets in. You can read it here, or I can save you some time and tell you it’s hilarious.
Sunday, March 9th: Sunday, Sunday, Sunday Show
Karl Hess & I show up four hours early to flyer UCLA. One of our tactics: I tell people to avoid the show because it’s "too funny", and the prices are "outrageously low". After the show, we go to a bar called O'Hara's, which is filled with about as many well dressed college students as an episode of One Tree Hill.
Monday, March 10th: Garage Comedy
After the open mic, Matt Peters asks me to make cat noises for a sketch. I say, "Sure, how often?" and he tells me to "Use my own judgment", which is always a terrible idea. Here’s the video:
Click to viewTuesday, March 11th: Who’s Available?
Sandy Danto and I edit a sketch in his car that we then perform twenty minutes later. The sketch is about prescription drugs in the water, and does pretty well with the crowd. My solo stand-up that night, however, hits a few bumps.
Wednesday, March 12th: The Punk House
The day of I decide to start a new punk band with "whoever will join" to provide music for the Punk House. Guess who takes over drums? Tia Ayers of The Girls Next Door!
Thursday, March 13th: The Great & Secret Show
Chris Walsh says to wear something "suspicious" to the show as a costume, so I pull out an old disco jacket. Five minutes before the show it’s explained to me that I'll be running drugs from one side of the theater to the other throughout the show. Here’s a photo from the week before - you’ll note Emily Mills as the "Maria" part in this West Side Story parody involving the entire audience.
Friday, March 14th: Not Too Shabby
Harrison Brown, Nick Wiger, Meghan Parks & I perform the sketch, "Rapetopus: The Octopus That Raped Eight Ladies". In order to play the part of the rapetopus, Meghan tied four sweaters around her shoulders and let the sleeves hang down. The whole sketch went pretty well.
Saturday, March 15th: The Tomorrow Show
Benny Arthur & I perform a sketch called "Dating Advice", where Benny plays the author of a book on relationships, but all his advice only puts you into the friend zone. While we were doing it, one guy yelled out, "Genius!" - I felt kinda bad, because I knew he could relate to how awkward the advice was.
Sunday, March 16th: Drew Koshgarian’s New Open Mic
Drew’s open mic is open for business. A ton of stand-ups cram into the Andy Dick Blackbox behind ImprovOlympic and listen to each other’s half assed attempts to make Sunday night at 11pm funny. It actually works, we all have a great time.
Monday, March 17th: Garage Comedy
Benny & I are at it again, with a sketch entitled "Drinkin’ Robot", of which there are no photos. So here’s a photo from after the sketch of me getting drunk.
Tuesday, March 18th: Who’s Available
I’m supposed to close out a sketch, but I realize that I’d already appeared as myself a bit earlier. So instead, I enter as my twin brother, Guhsterious Ghokkinos. Closing line? "Well, fuck you then!", which is my favorite half-assed button to a scene.
Wednesday, March 19th: Komedy in K-Town with Lance Henderstein
I didn’t bomb but I didn’t do as well as I’d have liked. Matt Manser killed, though, as did Susan Burke.
Thursday, March 20th: The Great & Secret Show
One hour before the show, the lightboard and the soundboard for the theater are stolen. Seriously. To fill in, I get my saxophone and drums from my car, and a little band starring Eric Larnick & I is put together. We’re called the "Jazzstronauts", and we filled in the three seconds it took for the host to leave the stage and the act to walk on. It was a blast, filling only three seconds with music.
Friday, March 21st: The People You’ll Like Show
I go up last, and I ask the question, "How many of you here are comics, or friends of comics?" Everybody in the room raises their hand except this one couple. I say, "Alright, as a treat for just you two, I’m going to perform personal comedy for you at your table. The rest of you can just talk and hang out."
And I dragged the mic over to their table and just did my set sitting across from them, and they really enjoyed it. I had a blast too, it was a nice way to close out two weeks straight of comedy, just trying to connect with this one couple. It worked, and they’re coming out to see comedy again next week.