Friday 8/12/11
Well I didn't win the RI Comic Throwdown Contest last night. My opponent in the Novice Division was pretty good. He went up first, he went kind of long (we had 5 minute time limit) but he did well. He definitely benefited from the fact that he had a ton of friends in the bar there for him. The show was at Newport Blues Cafe, and I think he was a local. Half the place laughed at everything he said. They were cheering for him before the host, Brian Beaudoin, even introduced him.
Then when I went up after him, I was nervous because I knew the cards were stacked against me. The crowd suddenly was silent. It felt almost on purpose, as if all of his friends were trying to help him out by either influencing the judges or by making me more nervous. I wasn't upset. If I had a bunch of friends with me, they would have done the same I'm sure. But I had no support for this show. I did my best, but my performance definitely has me feeling down. This, plus my loss Wednesday night at the Comedy Connection, has me feeling like a failure. Though I know I'm still new at this and I have a long way to go. I'm going to take this week off from doing shows and just focus on punching up my jokes and writing some new material.
One nice thing that happened was when Mike Murray, local comic competing in the Professional Division, took the time to reach out to me on Facebook about last night's show. He said to not take it too hard and to keep working that I have some real talent. It was nice of him to reach out like that. I really appreciated it.