Learning Experiences on the Road

This past weekend I had the opportunity to perform and open for Dom Irrera at Hilarities in Cleveland. The week actually opened up with a showcase in Buffalo at Neitzches. This was a great night, which a lot really funny guys, including my good friend Jamie Bono. I had a great time and the crowd was wonderful. It was definitely a good, confident start to the week.

On to Hilarities with the first show of the weekend. This was with Happy Cole. As I went up, I was a little rough, but kept my composure. Through a crowd that wasn’t going to give me any laughs, but make me really work for it. The second night with Dom Irrera was similar, the crowd a bit lose but still had an okay set at best. I realized I gave the audience too much time to gauge who I was and make up their mind about me. Past this I had to take the first 5 minutes of my convincing them who I really am.

Once that was realized, Friday and Saturday, I gave the crowd an assertive set where they didn’t have time to judge who I am, but I was telling them who I was. This led to some really great shows with 4 high energy and interactive crowds. I was even able to get in some crowd work that I was proud of.

The final night was rough. Despite very little reaction from the crowd, I kept my composure to delivered my act as I normally would. They warmed up a little by the end of my set.

The time I had on stage was one part of the experience. The other was riffing with Dom Irrera and Nick Kostis in between shows and sets. Talking to Dom was a real treat and he was one of the most genuine people around, despite the riffing and cutting each other up. It was a blast talking to those guys and everyone at Hilarities and left me more confident about the direction that my material is going. I hope to come back to Hilarities and to share the stage with Dom Irrera again soon, but till then its onward with more writing and performing and crafting!