In my last blog post on here I talked about my comedic inspirations, and how they helped get me through some tough times in my life. As I grew older I started to listen to more comedians, both from the older generation and newer generation. Comedy is something that meant a lot to me, and I had aspirations of becoming a stand-up comic - or at least attempt to become one. A few months before my 16th birthday, I would get my opportunity.
May 8, 2000 will be a day I will always remember for a couple of reasons. First of all, my favourite hockey team, the New Jersey Devils, beat my hometown Toronto Maple Leafs 3-0 in a first round playoff game. What made the game so memorable was not the fact New Jersey won, but that they held Toronto to just six shots on goal..... FOR THE ENTIRE GAME! Secondly, May 8, 2000 will be a day I always remember because it was the day I made my stand-up debut; ironically, it's also the birthday of one of my idols, Don Rickles.
The way I happened to get my chance at doing stand-up was this: Yuk Yuk's comedy club at Yonge and Eglinton in Toronto (now Absolute Comedy Club), used to host amateur night every Monday. If you were interested in taking part, you had to phone early in the day and leave your name on an answering machine. The club would then pick a bunch of people at random to try out, and you would have to call back in the afternoon to find out if you had made the cut. The day I made the cut, I had actually just finished doing physiotherapy for a knee injury I had the time. After my physio was done, I called the number for Yuk Yuk's and was elated when I heard my name on the list for that night. I immediately rushed home, called as many people as I could, then got ready to do my first stand-up gig.
I got to the club probably about an hour and a half before the show actually started, and I was a nervous wreck! Even though I had prepared jokes that I had been testing on a few of my friends for months, this was going to be in front of a live paying audience, and if I bombed, it was going to be embarrassing. I kept trying to calm my nerves, talking to the waiters and bartenders, exploring the club - I even decided to look at all the photos of comedians who had performed at Yuk Yuk's (that part did not help with my nervousness). The stage was so much smaller than I had expected; I had watched a lot of stand-up specials, and the stage always looked bigger on television, so I was shocked when I saw how small it was. It was getting closer and closer to show time, and I was getting more nervous. Fortunately my friend Jay and his cousin Megan showed up to support me, and that helped calm my nerves somewhat - also, I will always be grateful to them for their support on that night, it meant more to me than they know.
Finally, it was showtime. It wasn't a very large crowd, and I was unsure who was there as other amateurs, and who was there purely as paying patrons. Additionally, I had no idea when I was going to be on, they don't tell you beforehand. I was hoping I would be called up early so that I could get things over with fast and then enjoy the rest of the show. Unfortunately for me, I was not called up early; and the longer I waited to be called up, the more nervous I was getting. As the night wore on, I was hardly paying attention to the other comedians that were going on because I was drowning in nerves and a sense of "what am I doing here?" If I remember correctly, I think there were a total of 10 amateurs plus the headliner there that evening, and I ended up being the 6th or 7th person called up. When I finally got up there, I was trying to do everything in my power not to lose control and show the nervousness I was feeling. I got on the small stage, and then was hit by the blinding lights that focus on the comedian, and immediately all the jokes I had planned, I completely forgot. I tried to remember them as best as I could, and a few of them went over well with the audience, but for the most part I completely bombed! I ended up pulling myself off stage before my time was up, and tried to forget about what had just happened as I sunk into my chair.
The rest of the night went alright, a few of the final comedians - and the MC - took some shots at me, which I completely expected; but overall, the rest of the comedians were enjoyable. I tried to forget my failure, and instead focus on the fact that at least I had lived out a dream of attempting stand-up comedy. That was the last time I did stand-up in a professional setting; however, I would try my hand at stand-up one more time, a couple of years later. My friend Andy was in a band and they happened to be in a show, and he asked me if I wanted to perform some stand-up before they went on. I took the opportunity, and this time my set went much better. I still didn't think I did that well, but it was nice being complemented by strangers that I didn't know after I had come off the stage - and it certainly didn't go anywhere near as bad as Yuk Yuk's.
Overall, I'm happy with my experience doing stand-up in front of an audience. It's one thing to tell jokes with your friends and have them tell you you're funny, it's an ENTIRELY different experience telling jokes in front of strangers and not getting that friendly reassurance. I still like to try and make people laugh, but I at least know now that I don't have what it takes to be a professional comic.
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