What You Are Laughing At

Tuesday You Freaking Fruits

Aaaaw YEAH, I've done my first headline weekend at a club, rollicking through 45-50 minutes of material last weekend in Bellevue at the Ramada Inn Laughs Comedy Club and Lounge. It wasn't as tough as I thought it may be, as I took my time and allowed myself to be "in the moment." I knew that going up for that long would be a drain on anybody, no matter where they were in the room. So I had to go up and have fun with it, which I did. I didn't have any hecklers. The other comics there were Shoogs B. (in the house, whaddup?), The Mastermind, and Kid Dynamite.

Comedy itself seems to be eluding me lately. I've gotten past a lot of the little tricks that a lot of people use to get laughs, and I'm trying to be a lot more open on-stage. I guess it's that a lot of stories and moments I've been into the last year involve the feelings of and interactions with very real and sometimes very made-up people. Once I sit and write them in story form, with a lesson if not a punch line, I'll begin presenting them. What you see on the stage of a comedy show is usually days worth of hours worth of work. But it's a labor of love, except when nobody's laughing, where it is then a labor of making new ways to say you suck, having a few drinks, and driving home with $50 and a smudged phone # in your pocket. (Sorry I never called you, Diane... Deann... Denny... D9R#, was I getting cruised by a cyborg?)

'Twas fun. And now it's over. Thanks to the ChiliDog for the shot, the Guys for the assitance, and a great group of supporters (Melissa, Carlene, Nikki, Katie, Sharon, Mitch, George, Tim, Jeremy, Kim, Ali, Lauren (all the way from San Fran to see the show!), Dennis, Jean, Brian, Crystal, Mike, Jay, Dave, and Erik. I hope I gave you your money's worth).

Last but not least, a giant Thank You and Love You to my parents, Pam and Gerry. They showed up and surprised me, and it meant a "Lott" (see, because the family name is... yeah) to have them in the audience that night. In the front row, actually. My dad even heckled a little when I mentioned George W. God Bless them. It meant so much to have them there that night, especially when they were off to Canada early the next day. I was so happy to see them I forgot to ask them to grab me some "good" Tylenol. Love ya Mom & Dad.

(in all honesty, I blanked on including them in the Thank Yous. The Divine Miss M, who has to ask for your badge and gun, tipped me to my faux pas'rent. Uh yeah, I meant to do that... because I'm dumbtimes.)


Macros, Formulas, and Power-Drunk Devotees for God

I can't blog much this week or next as I'm working feverishly to figure out how to write a ton of macros for work. I am pulling data from a work-tracking system which holds records of all of our, pay attention... thanks..., all of the work our IT groups do here at Schmireless. Since time is money, I'm basically tracking how much it costs for us to... over here, hey, over here... are you okay? Sleepy? Need some coffee or are y'okay?... okay, so yeah we need to find out how much it costs for us to do our work, which is done quickly and cheaply now that budgets have been slashed and we've all taken a serious reduction in morale. Morale these days means "showing up mostly sober, or at least showered." Morale levels are inversely proportionate to how much you'll drink on a weeknight.

So yeah, I'm here at my desk doing all this fun stuff to keep a job I am overqualified for, spiritually and mentally, but pretty much on-target for when it comes to technical know-how. I've manipulated more numbers than Enron. I've taken out more zeros than heroin! I've found more Averages than a sorority girl at happy hour! I've drunk more cough medicine than that kid in jr. high who's parents didn't pay attention to him and he was crying out for help by drinking a lot of cough medicine!

MA-CRO.......................... PO-LO..............

If anybody knows of any really good companies that are hiring analytical minds with sardonic wit and an unshreddable moral fiber, send them my way. I have a friend who actually likes doing this schidt.

Oh, and if you want to, I'll be Here tonight doing comedy. I can't believe I missed The Swan last night to see the schidt I saw there. It was the cull bin of comedy last night, for anybody here who's ever picked apples.

Push-up contest anyone?

~Geoff


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