Field trip!

I hadn't been out to see a show since I've started taking the class and last night I didn't have any plans, so at the last minute I decided to head down to Comedyworks for the 11 PM show. My brother joined me, which was good news for the comics, since when we're together we laugh at pretty much everything, no matter how inappropriate.

When we got there and headed up to the room, the guy at the door sat us right in front because I was wearing my Expos hat. He thought that would be an excellent topic of conversation and good for a few jokes. Oh, Montreal Expos... never taken seriously, even in death.

I honestly didn't catch the MC's name, something like Ron Beaudry, but that's not right. (Edited 5/7/09: His name was Ron Vaudry. I saw him headlining the same place about a week ago) He was decent, but the crowd really wasn't into him. Even the people he was chatting up didn't appreciate him making fun of them. Get with the program people.

The first act was Christophe Davidson. I'd actually seen him MC twice at another club and had basically heard his entire set before. He's started getting weekend gigs so I assume he's climbing the local ladder. Personally, it was interesting to see him six or seven months later performing the same material, but clearly better. Looked more comfortable on state, the timing was a little tighter, added some good lines to a few jokes. Proof that practice does make perfect, which was comforting to see. It's good to know that if I suck right away there is hope.



Number two was Ali Hassan. He had a pretty high energy set and was very funny. Probably got the most laughs out of the audience than anybody on stage. One of my favourite jokes of the night was his about vegetarians. I'll do my best here, but it's not word for word and I'm sure some humour will be lost: "Vegetarianism is fine, I don't like it but cool, whatever. I just hate all those people who say they're vegetarian but eat fish and chicken. No! That's not vegetarian! That's like saying you're a heterosexual and you only like vagina... but yeah... you'll also have some cock."

Sadly, I can't seem to find any Ali Hassan on YouTube. There's a Indian comedian by the same name with tonnes of stuff on there, don't be fooled by imitations!

The headliner of the evening was Joe DeRosa. I know I've seen him before but I couldn't think of where, probably a Comedy Network special or something. Now, I'm not sure what happened, but the audience did not respond to a lot of his jokes. Maybe it was because it was past midnight, maybe he was just a little too angry, maybe it was because he had a bit centered around yelling out "Fuck Jesus!" but whatever the case at least half the people there were not very amused by him. Sitting front and center was a couple, and the girl was not only not laughing, but looked upset at her boyfriend for the first 5 minutes of the set. Like she was personally insulted by Joe before he even got started and by her boyfriend for bringing her there. Towards the end of his set, he started heckling the crowd. Then it just became open contempt for the room. But in a good way, he wasn't ruffled at all, he was rolling with it. About ten of us were loving it and cracking up, myself and my brother included.

And then, the coup de grace. While he was openly admitting to us that he was searching for a closer he said "I get depressed. Anyone else here get depressed? That happen to them?" only to be met with dead silence. He made a little more fun of us and then he noticed someone with his head down, sleeping, out like a light. My brother and I had been laughing at this for a couple minutes by now. He started riffing on him and the room ate it up. It culminated with a line like "You know how I said was depressed? If you could take a picture of my soul, that's basically what it would look like." It probably got his loudest laughs of the night and as soon as the applause died down I said "There's your closer!" and he replied "That's nice. It's good when some guy is telling me I should just get off the stage." He kept going another minute or two, successfully milking the situation a little more and then said goodnight.



It was a very nice evening of comedy, even if nobody picked on my Expos hat. As far as learning goes, I have now seen a solid progression out of another local comic and been witness to someone who took a bad crowd and turned it around without losing his cool. It was very professional actually.

Tomorrow is another class and I've got a couple jokes that I hope will go over well. Stay tuned for a full report!

And at this point, it's probably worth saying that if there are any loyal readers out there, go on and spread the word. Tell your friends! Let's get that comments section going! Feedback is fun!