Got home from work to find a message from the Master, to the effect that, no other comics could appear at Beily’s, unless they brought something that they truly loved, and burned it in front of him! Sounded a little bombastic to me, but, I sent him back a note saying that I would bring a joint!
I arrived at Beily’s at 10:00 pm, and was astonished to find the show in progress with the Master enthralling a crowd that was smaller than normal, due, I believe, to our wretched weather. I took a seat with the Crown Prince, and asked him by what miracle had the show managed to start at the appointed time? Having just arrived himself, our Prince could not explain this conundrum. The Master was Emcee’ing the event, and our Jester was the Headline act; what a pair of panatloons! “Pantaloon”, is an old term which means, among other things, a comic or jester! The term is appropriate for this pair, and, between you and I, I like getting into their act, and am not interested in getting into their pants!
The Master did not know that the Prince and I were there, and was commencing what I assume he felt was a two man show. This might explain his Facebook message; I know a few comics, myself included, were MIA last week, and ...even more this week! After about half an hour our Jester informed him that the two of us were indeed there. Ten minutes later, in mid-sentence, the Master stopped, said, “Fuck it! ...I’m not finishing this joke! Next up, from Kinley, SK, James Mackay,” and I was off to the races.
It was an interesting race, but, not necessarily an exciting one; for myself or the audience. I’d mentioned before that I found the audience response at Beily’s somewhat ...muted; not just in regards to myself, but, to comics in general. So, an experiment was in order; for my evening’s set I simply repeated the material I’d done at Vangelli’s last week. It had went over quite well before a small but enthusiastic crowd; I’d received a PAR score of 34, which breaks down to 20 seconds of laughter each minute of a eight and a half minute set.
Last night, before a larger audience, and despite being better prepared, (you’ll have to take my word for the latter opinion; the Master’s abrupt introduction caused me to mess up with my voice recorder), I could not hold the audience! I got laughs, and they came at the proper places, but they were scattered throughout the room. When everything goes well, and the comic does his job, the audience response should be as a single entity; this did not happen last night, and I could see conversations breaking out throughout the room as my act unfolded!
There is never a ‘bad’ audience, especially not when they actually pay money with the intention of watching a comedy show. By comparing the two performances I can only conclude that the problem lies, not entirely, with myself nor my material; there must be some other element involve, and, for the life of me, I can’t quite put my finger on it. Oh well, it gives me something to work on. But, it is puzzling! I don’t find it devastating to work without the desired recognition, and completed my entire act, but, as I told my Bride, I would find it hard on my sense of self esteem had I not went and performed last night.
My modest contribution to the evening complete, I dragged my ancient Shadow back to the humble Hamlet of Kinley. I was glad that I’d went, and must puzzle over these circumstances to see if I can come to terms with them. I really don’t care for, ‘flying by the seat of my pantaloons,’ especially not after ...the ass is out of them!
"No Pantaloons!"
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