It sounds really cool to say I did a comedy set in Brooklyn.
In reality, it was just like any slightly crappy open mic in Dallas. And that’s not an insult to the fine folks who put on the Laughing Budda Comedy mic at Eastville Comedy Club in Brooklyn. Crappy open mics are the lifeblood of the comedy scene across the country. They are low-pressure scenarios where you can test out new material, get comfortable onstage, and develop your own comedy voice. Comedy wouldn’t exist without them.
But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t a little disappointed. I’d built it up in my mind as this amazing opportunity. I was more nervous about doing this mic than I have been about shows in front of 100 people. I couldn’t sleep the night before in anticipation.
I was in NYC on a work trip and I had set a challenge for myself to find an open mic to go to. I figured even if it was intimidating and scary, it would make for a good story. And I had planned to go by myself, something I never would have done before starting this newsletter. When I told my coworkers, none of whom I’d met before this trip, that I was going to do that they all decided to join. I thought it might be this really hip, popular open mic in the comedy capital of the country. Instead, it was me, my three coworkers, and about eight other comics in a room at 10 PM on a Monday night. We could have been anywhere in the world.
Once I realized just how low pressure this situation was going to be, all my nerves melted away and I had a good time with my set. Now, there were very few laughs in that empty room, but it was a great experience and something I can check off my list of challenges.
Which brings me to the main point of this post. My comedy “career” or, more aptly “hobby,” has begun to take up most of the free time I have during the week. I try to go to an open mic every couple of weeks and I have shows once or twice a month. It’s a lot when you have a three-year-old, a full-time job, a wife, and another kid on the way. Because of that, I have way less time to dedicate to trying new things for Trial & Error.
Over the last few months I’ve felt terrible when the money from the monthly paid subscriptions have come in. I know most people who are paying for the subs would never stop paying unless I made them, so I have paused all subscriptions myself. I can’t take your money if I’m not working on this thing consistently. I will still be writing fun stories and trying new things from time to time. I have many ideas I’d like to do and I’ll absolutely write about them here. So please, continue to subscribe, but I don’t expect anyone to be paying anymore for this. Thank you so much to everyone who has supported all of my insanity over the last few years.
When I started Trial & Error I didn’t have much of a plan beyond using it to push me to try new things. Over time it’s actually changed my entire outlook on life. I used to be scared to do things that might embarrass me. I never did anything by myself. I always needed at least one other person by my side to bail me out if I got too scared. But with T&E I had a whole audience behind me, cheering me on, laughing with (and at) me when something inevitably did go wrong. Now, I don’t even need that to spur me to try something wild.
Without T&E I never would have tried stand-up comedy. That was something I’d wanted to do forever but just needed a nudge to do it. And once I did it I realized that I loved it, and that I was actually pretty good at it.
That said, I have a show coming up this weekend in Dallas that should be really fun. It’s part of the April Fool’s Comedy Festival in Deep Ellum. I’ll be performing in the 9PM hour alongside some of my good friends that I’ve made in the comedy scene. You’re going to have a great time. Tickets are only $10 and that gets you access to the full four hour festival.