Sorry this recap is a bit late in arriving, but it was quite the epic journey.
Wednesday – The Arrival
When I arrived in San Antonio after two uneventful flights I was driven to the airport Holiday Inn. I was nervous about the location (the areas around airports usually suck in my experience), but this was different. Within walking distance: the comedy club, The Cheesecake Factory, a Barnes & Noble, a Chick Fil A, a Best Buy, a Planet Fitness and Perfect 10 – a gentleman’s club. I don’t think a hotel has ever been more perfectly located for a comedian’s needs.
The show the first night was pretty well attended. A large percentage of the audience was an office having their Christmas party. The office head honcho came up to me before (I was on the website as closing the Wednesday show) and said he liked my stuff on line, but because he had some older people he was wondering – and I interrupted him and said I would leave the F bombs out. That was before the chatty military folk up front started interrupting me.
The show went well, except for the two tables of military up front (two dudes and one chick kept interrupting, even after I compared them to Billy Zane and the iceberg to my Titanic). And I probably dropped 6 F bombs, far exceeding my promise of zero. But everyone else gave me the same compliment after the show, “Great stuff and I wanted to kill those two tables,” which a few times came from guys who were also in the military. I hope someone got a Code Red for talking through my show.
Thursday – Coyote Ugly and CD Sales
On Thursday I began my stretch of featuring when headliner Jeff Dye arrived. Worked out at Planet Fitness – this is the “no judgment” gym. You know what we need more of in gyms? Judgment. First – women, nothing says awful self esteem than walking into a Planet Fitness or a Curves – if these are the only gyms you feel comfortable in then just get an eating disorder – there is more dignity in it. On the flip side, dudes who come to Planet Fitness with arrogance also need to go. To the dude I saw with a gallon water jug – this is usually a douche move in a regular, judgment-filled gym, but in a Planet Fitness – unforgivable. This should be a gym of convenience, not a gym where you hide your problems or strut like you own the place.
Anyway Thursday’s show was a great crowd, largely because the San Antonio Coyote Ugly was having their Christmas party. Now if I told you twenty scantily clad women in their 20s from Texas, with more tattoos collectively than the 2009 Denver Nuggets were at a comedy show you would probably say, “Yikes, that is going to be an awful show,” but nothing could be further from the truth. Perhaps because of the semi-stripper nature of their job, they had a respect for performance and never made a peep except for laughter.
But the best moment was when a guy who had been at the show on Wednesday showed up again with his wife/girlfriend and two other friends, based solely on how strong I’d been on Wednesday. No greater compliment in comedy than repeat business.
To cap a great first two day run I sold out of almost all my CDs on Wednesday and Thursday. So of course I went to sleep that night angry that I did not bring more. Glass is always half empty and broken with jagged edges to cut you for me.
Friday – The Alamo Drafthouse Cinema and Another Woman Calls Me A Fu*king Asshole
The highlight of Friday was unquestionably going to see Sherlock Holmes at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. This is the best theater I have ever been to. You can order food and drink during the movie. I know there are other places like this, but the menu was huge and the stuff I ordered was delicious. The movie was ok, but I would see a terrible movie there just to go to the theater. Which I did the next day when I watched The Sitter with Jonah Hill.
The early show Friday was great, but the late show was dreary. And there was a woman who would not shut up. I gently insulted her and she playfully yelled, “I can take it!” She then called my sweater a Christmas sweater (it is Navy Blue – no patterns, design, anything – just blue) and then when she went to the bathroom I took about 40 seconds out of my routine to sarcastically beg her to come back until she left. This must have pushed her over the edge because she said nothing the rest of the show. However, when she and her party left towards the end of the headliner’s set, he asked where they were going and she replied, “You are fine, but the guy before you was a fu*king asshole!” I then started clapping from the back of the showroom.
Oddly enough I sold zero CDs after selling a ton the first two nights. I then went home, watched the previews for pay per view porn films and fell asleep.
Saturday – The Stood Up Chick At The Stand Up Show
As I already mentioned I went to see The Sitter on Saturday and nothing else really happened. The shows Saturday went great, both of them. Weird thing transpired towards the end of the show. An attractive woman approached me (normally it is not the case, because I think women assume because I am the poor man’s Rock physically and the poor man’s Adam Sandler monetarily that I am fair game for their so so looking friend) at the bar outside the showroom as she was leaving the bathroom to go back into the showroom. She said she thought I was really good and wanted to ask me a question. When a question is prefaced like this it means only one thing, “Do I have a girlfriend?” I replied yes, but like a pro she said, “Oh that must be really difficult travelling all the time.” I replied, “Sometimes, but fortunately I am not very successful so I am home more than I want to be.” She replied, “I got stood up tonight.” And I said, “Well that guy is an idiot – sorry to hear that.” She then left and went back into the showroom.
After the show I sold a few more CDs and then the stood up woman walked out. With her date. Not that it would have made a difference, but what exactly was her plan? Did she want a good rogering in the bathroom and then would claim that she just met this guy with twenty minutes left in the show? Very weird and very awkward.
Sunday – No Chick Fil A & 1 CD left
Sunday’s crowd was the second smallest of the week, but the best overall. Great great crowd and I sold my one remaining CD. I think Philadelphia in May may have been the last time I felt this good after a week of comedy. I had 6 great shows and one where I got called a fu*king asshole, which is a great way to sacrifice one show. Ate Chick Fil A and cheesecake until my heart started hurting, and worked with some great comics and a great staff at LOL.
Epilogue
This was my last paid gig for 2011. And looking at my 2012 calendar it appears the Mayans were talking about my career when then predicted the end of the world. So off to the gym – time to start planning for my life after comedy, which apparently began two days ago. Starting in January you can catch me on the Righteous Prick podcast on iTunes every Tuesday, J-L’s Movie Life movie review show on YouTube every Monday and on this blog every Wednesday and Friday. Additionally, my new CD arrives in late January. Thanks for a good year and for reading this blog and watching my comedy.