In order for me to tell this story accurately, I will start where it all began. None of these "in media res" bullshit. I'll start from the beginning like normal people do.
Last Friday, March 2, I did a set at the Starry Night Coffeehouse in Westminster. That night, the crowd was sort of half-and-half. Half of them got me, half of them didn't. It turns out that the half that didn't get me were the ones sitting up front. When I did the material that usually gets a good response, these people in the front didn't laugh. They didn't laugh at anyone else who went up that night, but that's beside the point. Here's where I decide to have a little fun with them. After a punchline I wrote got very little response, I repeated the punchline with more force in my voice. This time, the laughs were a little bit more infectious. Not that much, but better than my first telling of the punchline. I then made the comment "It's like performing for a meat locker in here tonight." And the crowd kind of liked that. Whether it was my delivery or just my overall uppitiness, they kind of dug it. So I finished with my set and got off stage.
Last night, I received an email message from the venue telling me that "Friday's show is a no-go." I checked the pages of other comics who regularly perform there and saw that there was still something taking place on Friday night. I called the venue to ask what was going on.
The woman on the phone told me that I was not welcome back at Starry Night anymore. I, of course, asked why. I had been performing there every Friday for the past six weeks using 100% unrestrcited content and after every week, they've always asked me to come back. She told me it was because she received numerous complaints. What about, I asked. You, she said. What about me, I persisted. She told me that I had been doing the same material over and over again. I told her that wasn't true; it was the case that while some of my material I had done was from previous weeks, I had some new stuff in there as well. Keeping in mind, this is an open mic. The whole purpose of an open mic is for comics to work on their bits so that when they get a paid showcase, they can have a polished set to perform. It wasn't like I was a parrot, imitating previous setups/punchlines. I was changing it up a bit.
I explained this to the woman over the phone and she said, "Oh, so what about when some people weren't laughing because they'd heard the stuff before and you called my customers in my place of business 'slabs of meat'?" I told her that it was only meant to be taken as a joke. I am a comedian, that's what I do. Fairly harmless comedy material intended to make people laugh. That's it.
I guess my rational thoughts weren't enough to sway this woman. She insisted on telling me that I was still not welcome back. I know when to keep fighting and I simply hung up the phone. There is no reasoning for someone who can't reason.
So, that's another little adventure in the journey that is the life of comedian Tom Myers. I'm not writing this blog to tell you not to go to Starry Night Coffeehouse again. I wouldn't do that.I'm just telling you what happened. I'm also, dare I say it, shocked and amazed that after six weeks of loyalty and telling me to come on back, they would fold like a card player with a pair of deuces and tell me I'm not welcome back anymore.
Well, there's other games and other venues in town and I just have to go to them. It's not as though the stage time well is going to run dry. I've got about a dozen other bookings that take me all the way into mid-June. Some of them have very lucrative potential, too! So, overall, I'm not complaining.
Until later!
~TOM
