I did it! I mustered up my courage and I followed through with my plan to perform some stand up comedy at a local open mic.
I told a great friend of mine, that is a stand up comedian, that I would do a set before my next birthday. I mentioned this half kidding, but totally serious. I only say I was half kidding in case he forgot or thought it was a terrible idea so I could save face, that is very important in my culture.
My friend, his name is Adam, remembered and we decided we would wait until the summer, because he got married to one of my best friends in May. I wrote about their wedding here in case you missed it.
I told Adam to find a place and pick a day and I would do it. He knew about an open mic by my house and he picked a Thursday he did not have a show scheduled. This happened in the middle of June and the next three weeks I was an anxious Annie anytime I remembered I had a date with comedy.
I would sit by my pool a few days a week and write jokes for a few hours. I would run bits and pieces of things I was working on by my family, friends or even classes of students. I over thought every little word for three weeks. Every walk I took Penny on I was lost in thought about what I would say. I tend to take things a little too seriously.
Two days before the night I practiced in my living room for Penny. She really seemed to like my jokes in Chinese. I won't tell you how many times I practiced in my living room, but it was enough that I knew what I was going to say and I quit saying "um" every third word.
Finally the day came that I was 60% excited for and 60% nervous for. Every time I thought about it that day my heart would start to race and I would get nervous. I thought about backing out, but I would regret it and want to try again so I decided to stick it out. I hung out with Laura and Adam for a good part of the day and had fun talking comedy and watching trash TV. The time came and we were off to the Chatterbox in Covina.
Adam got there before me and put my name in and his. I am pretty sure he told everyone to be nice to me and laugh even if I was not funny. I walked in and must have looked terrified because the host mentioned something about the fear in my eyes.
He drew my name I signed up to go 10th. I figured that was enough time for me to see what these other people were up to and relax or run away if need be. The first few people who went were pretty funny but the laughs were quiet and the room wasn't in an uproar. For some reason this gave me more confidence because no one was getting huge laughs.
They called my name to tell me I was "on deck" and I went by the stage to get ready. I thought I was hidden from the audience and I was being silly and jumping around or dancing or something to get psyched. It was what we did in high school theater, somehow it felt right. Then I realized I could see the audience so that meant they could see me. "Oh well" I thought, "you are probably going to embarrass yourself more when you go on stage. No biggie."
Then the girl before me called my name and I walked up and grabbed the microphone. I had noticed that the three of us girls who preformed were all dressed exactly the same and I mentioned it as soon as I turned to the audience. Surprisingly, I got a big laugh for that. Then I made a comment about how great it was to hold a microphone after about 7 guys talked about touching themselves while holding the same mic. Living the dream.
[caption id="attachment_1827" align="aligncenter" width="600"]
Clearly my "Have you ever noticed" pose.[/caption]
Clearly my "Have you ever noticed" pose.[/caption]
I went into a shorter version of my prepared material, I decided to stop early because I was getting laughs and I wasn't ready to not have people laugh at my material. I went on for like three minutes, spoke in Chinese, and had a blast.
The time I was on stage was so fast in my mind that I am not sure how long I was there or really how the whole thing went. I have a clear memory of it all, but it is also a blur. I dropped the mic and went back to my seat (just kidding, I didn't drop the mic, but I wanted to). My friends were telling me I did a great job and that I was funny. Pretty much the best thing your friends could say.
We then waited for Adam's turn and for the rest of the night I kept thinking about how much fun I had. I also was thinking that people get to tell jokes and make people laugh as a career. I started to think how ticked off I was that my high school counselor never mentioned this as a career on career day.
So I might be riding high off of adrenaline right now three days later, but I can tell you I have to do this again. It is so true that you have to do things that scare you in life. It is so far beyond worth the experience that you gain and peace of mind knowing you did it.
Special thanks to Adam Cozens for finding a great place and for being kind in this whole thing! Where are we going next? Laura, thanks for sitting through your one millionth open mic, you are a good friend!
Blog readers, thanks for reading. If I ever try this crazy thing again maybe I will let you know when and where! There supposedly is video out there that I might share with you one day…
