âDope A-Fâ-1/23-Â âHeadlining a Show and an Annoying Goth Hoâ
This was going to be a doozy and a half of a night. I have so much amazing and fun stuff I am supposed to do! I was booked to do 30 minutes headlining at Cozzyâs Comedy Club in Newport News by Nick Deez for his new Bi-monthly comedy show.
I know it is an off night. I know that there is the chance there isnât going to be a huge crowd. I know that this room can be tough. I know I have closed out Sunday Funnies before. I know all of these things, but this night felt different. This wasnât a free show, or a workshop. This was a legit night of comedy, at a comedy club, and I am the headliner. So this is huge night for me.
After work I grab Alex Castagne and we head for a delicious and disgusting all you can eat pizza buffet at CiCis pizza. Which I hope one day will be the official sponsor of this blog, but I digress. We stuffed ourselves with slices of pizza, and cinnamon rolls before heading over to Jameson Babbowskiâs house for the ride down.
We had a nice ride down. I am usually the one driving so I took advantage of being in the back and got a desperately needed nap. A lot of my life is trying to find times to sleep, and after the week I have had I really needed it.
We get to the show and Nick is outside with one of the other comics on the show Marshall Mulkey. He has the look on his face that show runners have when there is no audience there. I was correct. It was about 7:15 and no one was really there. Honestly I wasnât surprised. It happens. I at least look at it like an opportunity to work on building a half hour set.
We are all chilling and hanging out and something magical happens. People start to show up. Like actual people. Not other comics. Actual people. Jameson has some friendâs and his mom show up. Then a bunch of people showed up and paid at the door. Nick had sold some tickets/handed them out around town and those people showed up. Before you know it is almost showtime and we had about 50 people in there on an off night. This was going to be fun, but now my anxiety sets in.
Nick starts the show and does a fine job hosting it. He gets some laughs, and gets the crowd in the mood for the show. After him is Marshall. He is newer to comedy and it showed. It seemed like it was one of the first times he had ever done a longer set. He had some stuff land, but his stage presentation left something to be desired. Not bad, and I think shows like this are good for super new comics.
Then Alex went up and absolutely slaughtered. He was doing a guest spot and he killed for ten minutes. HIs crowd work was hitting, and that in turned them hooked with his jokes. It was awesome to watch. He definitely made it tough on the next comic to follow him. Heâs come an incredibly long way as a comedian in just a few years. Â So that was very exciting to see.
Torrey Huggins followed him and kept the flow of the show going. Then Luhray went up next. She had a solid set as well. So far the show is completely exceeding expectations. Iâm super nervous before my set. I have my videocamera set up and Iâm freaking out.
Nick brings me on stage and I start out with some light crowd work. I talk to this guy who had admitted earlier that he had filmed his own porn and it was online. I riffed with him and another lady. I used this back and forth to get them on my level and then I went into material.
I absolutely destroyed for 30 minutes. This set was an extremely validating show. It felt like the payoff for years of hard work. Every bit was working. The only bit that faltered involved me not feeling the jokes the way I used to. I was trying something different and it didnât kill as hard as it should have. Everything else was golden though. Â I got to the 25 minute mark and asked if I could close with new stuff. They all agreed and the new crushed. This was a super dope and amazing set. Iâd give it an A-.
After my set we took a picture and hung out for a bit before heading all the way back to RVA to try and go up at McCormacks. We get to Macs and Jarvis tells us people are loud, and to not worry about it. When it is my turn to go up I barely get to start my witch joke before this goth lady in the front row starts shitting on witches. I try to joke with her and get some laughs and then just stops talking to me. Until I start doing more material and then she talks more. She is super distracting and honestly pretty rude. She brought a dog into the bar so quite frankly not my kind of person. I wasnât mean to her, and just finished my set. Some people paid attention and it was ok. Iâd give this set a D. It was productive, but I know I could do better. Nothing could bring me down from the high of the Cozzys show. I just headed home and passed out.
Another one in the books sweet laydees! Thanks for reading and follow me on IG @winstonhcomedy. You guys and gals are the dopest humans of all time. Thanks for all the loves and shares. Keep reading, and keep me accountable. xoxo love you and check out winstonhodges.com for show schedule!!!!
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