Comedyland

I am one of the few people in this world who reads blogs but does not write one. I feel creepy reading some one elses blog without them knowing about it. So, as part of a writing exercise, I will now endeavor to write a blog as often as possible covering various topics such as: My music, Comedy, writing and travels. Most importantly my family and friends back home can read this and use it to fill in the blanks between my rare phone calls from the oul U S of A.

I co-produce a weekly comedy show called "Comedyland" - See below...

Comedyland is a weekly stand up comedy show hosted every Wednesday @ 9pm by Stacia Jensen and Colin Dempsey at the Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden in Astoria , Queens NY (29-19 24th Avenue www.bohemianhall.com) . That’s right, the famous Beer Garden . Excited, yet? You should be. Because Comedyland features some of the best comics in New York . The most magical part: IT'S FREE!! Totally FREE!! Come for the comedy, stay for the kielbasa. And beer. Lots and lots of delicious beer.

Stacia and I have been producing this show since december but I promised to start keeping a note of how it progresses. This was also suggested by a regular attendee who said he had seen an improvement since the first show. We have been lucky that with all our posters and advertizing that we have had non-comics attend from the begining.

Anyway, first note....

Comedyland: February 20th,2008:

I got to the beer garden early and began setting up which is a little difficult as I broke my right hand two weeks ago. It’s the same set up every week.
Leave work.
Get home to shower and change.
Pack the car with the following - Two spot lights, microphone stand, large amplifier and bag of tricks. The bag of tick contains my Ipod(music for show), extension cables, microphone, leads, lead extensions, rubber bands (always helpfull), post it pads, notebooks and books collected from antiques stores, from which I sometimes read from. The books are from the late 1700's to early 1900's. For example...

Medical Dictionary (1888) with an entry "Amaxophobia" defined as "A morbid fear of carriages and wagons."

The Book of Street Slang (1789) with the entry "C*nt" defined as "A dirty word for a dirty place."

The Catholic Handbook (1949) with valuable and bizzare quotes from characters in hypothetical situations such as "Some men are worse than bad women, Joe." or uses the example of squirrel hunting to define accidental muurder as a sin. Come to the show and you will understand!

The show proceeded as it typicaly does:

Set up stage/set up lights/set up amp and microphone/test lights/test sound/rearrange chairs and tables/test everything again/order food/ catch up & go through bookings/make "to do" list for next week/make lineup list/greet arriving comics/panic in silence at small crowd/relief as regulars turn up/announce show/have show/pack up all stuff back into car/talk with crowd/go home/go to bed exhausted but happy/get to the day job late thursday morning/promise to write more msterial.

Repeat everyweek untill we rule!!

From next week I will talk more of the show and not the set up. I just moved into the neighbourhood so I can now walk to the show and have a few "Carni-Colada's" which have been created by the bar staff. Oh Yeah!!!!