Week 4: Part Deux

...and now, the exciting conclusion!

But first, a couple notes that I forgot to mention about the last workshop.

- During the break I joined in on a conversation. Someone had a bit about being afraid of heights and said "The only people who aren't afraid of heights are Native Americans and blind people." I didn't quite get the reference to natives and a few other people apparently didn't either. He said that he thought it was common knowledge but natives are rarely afraid of heights. He has friends in construction and many of the high rise workers that have to walk beams while building skyscrapers are native. Someone backed him up and said that they have an innate ability to find a center of balance. I still don't know whether to believe it. Interesting, nonetheless.

- The guy who was afraid of heights also happened to be a professionally ranked pool player. He was just down in Philadelphia for a tournament. I definitely have to play him once, just to see how good he is. I used to be good, but haven't played in forever. It'll be fun when he demolishes me.

So I went down to Comedyworks to see the Best Open Micers and Joey perform. The show started an hour earlier, so I actually missed most of the amateurs. However I did catch the last four and they were all very, very different from each other. Bonus: Ali Hassan, the guy I saw perform on Friday, was MC'ing! Good stuff.

First I saw was a guy who really kinda sucked, if I'm gonna be honest. The only joke of his I can remember was that a good way to pick up girls is to start talking to them and then let out a silent fart (seriously) before saying "Awww gross, I think someone farted... let's go back to my place and watch the beginning of Titanic..." Ugh.

Next up was someone who is apparently in the workshop, although I can only vaguely remember her from the first week. She had a very good impression of her father from Barbados, most of her five minutes was about growing up with him. I liked it.

Third was a musical act. I'd describe the guy as Jason Schwartzman-esque. Had a nice outfit with suspenders and a tie. Sharp looking fellow. He had a keyboard up on stage and said "Have you ever been in a relationship you knew was bad for you? But you kept going back? That's what this song is about. It's called Chinatown." As an admirer of musical comedy, I really enjoyed the song. Very clever, a little catchy, hit all his notes. Very well done.

Last of the amateurs was some big dude who basically yelled and stomped around his entire set, which was a real shame because his jokes were great. If I didn't feel like I was being assaulted, it would have been hilarious.

A comic by the name of Heidi Foss also performed. She's written for "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" (It's a Canadian satire news show, think The Daily Show but with four anchors and it's been on for at least 15 years now. Very popular up here.) and I'd seen her perform once before. Her whole set is deadpan one-liners. I have a very soft spot for deadpan and one-liners so I love her stuff. I'd also love to show a clip of her but I can't seem to find one. You know what they say, if it ain't on YouTube, it doesn't exist.

Joey Elias took the stage last and stayed true to his claim of "Don't learn from me on stage. I'm a terrible example of what I'm teaching you." Don't get me wrong, he's great, but he's much more of a storyteller than a joke teller. He's just very comfortable on stage and basically goes with whatever's on his mind. Or maybe it's just that he's been doing this for 15 years and he's gotten really good at it. Either way, he's a natural on stage and it was fun seeing him perform after getting to know him.

After Joey performed it was announced that Andrea, the girl in my class, had won the competition. She now gets an opening slot on a weekend show. I really thought the Chinatown guy shoulda won, but I was happy for her. It also gave me a sense of "If she can do it, then I can do it!" if that makes any sense.

Here's a clip of Joey Elias to finish it off. It's barely even funny, but it's the only thing he's got on YouTube. I'll tell him he might wanna get on that.