Open Mic
I don’t know about you, but I love jokes revolving around nerds and their nerdly hobbies. Being of the Kingdom of Geekdom, I get all of the little nuances of a Star Trek giggle, or a D&D reference, or even the occasional science joke. This is why I am such a massive “Eureka” fan. Having laughed my goofy ass off a chair many times, I decided to give such riotous lovelies a go at an Open Mic Night.
Yes, I scouted it out the weekend before to make sure I wasn’t going to be the main ingredient in a “get off the stage, you hack” salad.
Lulu’s cafe in Studio City, CA earned the coveted spot. It is the best place to find a creamy slice of cheesecake, sandwiches as big as a baby’s head, tasty coffees and teas, and the musings of local artists making love to the microphone on any given Friday night. And ninjas. Coffee ninjas.
The people are supportive and open to whatever creativity comes to life on the small stage. Mostly, people will enjoy the music, laugh at jokes –good and bad– and keep the atmosphere friendly and loose. It is the best place I’ve ever seen for emerging artists to get their feet wet in new territories.
Open Mic Night brings out the most interesting people; aspiring guitarists, vocalists with their own pre-recorded background tracks, and the erstwhile comedians at heart. The Friday around August 5th was the day I tried my hand at stand-up comedy for the first time. Now, I’ve been knee-deep in improv. comedy for over ten years, but going at it solo felt like I was facing down a horde of wildebeests just before a lioness attack. What I had prepared and what came out where two completely different entitees. Oh sure, I practiced at home in the mirror, but the mirror doesn’t give you an unforgiving blank stare–just your own familiar blank stare. I got a few laughs on stage for the Canadian furry hat I walked up wearing, my Pac-Man t-shirt, a few of the nerd related jokes about conventions and my brother, and the Pi joke, but mostly the crowd was accepting. It was the longest 6 minutes of my life. I ran out of material about 4 minutes in. Maybe if I had pranced around doing the Charleston, it wouldn’t have been as painful.
So, in all, I learned I still love to make people laugh, but I am not as skilled as I thought. I think I’ll keep my jokes to random quips in the office at our prep-tech’s expense. (he knows we like him anyway. 🙂 ) If I ever do another Open Mic Night, only music will pass my lips, and maybe the occasional bad joke. You have been warned.
Ferinlayth 