Last Night at Nanny's...

Was like the filming of Young Guns III. It was awesome. The crowd wasn't huge but it was a super fun show.

Justin Schlegel, Rory Scovel, Jon Mumma, Ryan Conner, Seaton Smith, and Frank Hong all crushed. Jaystings did a great job getting the show together and making it fun. He did a 'pull the name out of the hat' for the show order. I had fun. Hopefully, the Nanny's shows will be mirthful again. I think the best way to insure the mirth is to only put good comics on.

Is that harsh? Affirmative. Is it necessary? Affirmative. Its not an open mic, its a showcase. The reason why the show went south was because it got treated like a monthly open mic. The quality of the show suffered, good comics who got on were met with audiences who had been soured by less than stellar performances so, the good comics would mail it in or try new stuff as well. Jaystings is booking it now though so this will change. He's going to build up a show in a great location purely based on quality show production.

This town is ready for it. We can get past the 'I'll get this guy on because he brings people' stuff. We can do it. I'm going to this show every month even if I'm not on. Some are going to b*tch at Jaystings because A) they can't get on and B) he puts his friends on.

1) If you can't get on, its because you're probably not ready to. This is not an insult. It just means you've got a lot of work to do; the same way that all of us have worked our a$$es off to get decent enough to have 10 minutes where we can bring it.

2) Jay's friends, many of which he booked last night, are all amazing comics who are really funny. If you're going to get pissed because Jay books his friends, look me in the eye and tell me that you are better than Rory, Jon, Doug Powell, Ryan, or Justin. You're not. You can't tell me that you are more deserving of a showcase spot than they are. Last night, some D-bag tried to ruin the show early on. Rory did 5 minutes acting out how terrible that dude was. No one else in this area could have done that. Every comic got up from his seat and watched. When you are on stage, do the other comics want to get up and watch you?

As I've mentioned in previous blogs, comedy is growing in DC. There are so many more people around here doing standup than there were a couple years ago when I started. There are more rooms and more outlets for comics but still not enough to meet the swelling demands for stage time. This is not a new problem. When I first started, I'd go to Wiseacres with the 20 other comics and be lucky if I got to do 5 minutes. Even after I established myself and did the Showcase there, I couldn't get onto 4 straight shows. That's what happens. Stage time is precious. At a few places in the area, young comics (I mean young in the sense of how long they've been doing this) get more stage time than they deserve. I think this is a disservice to them and to the show itself.

-a comic that routinely does 7 minutes and isn't ready for that much time absolutely halts any momentum or good rythm to a show. Fact.
-If a comic is granted that much time and isn't ready for it, he/she will actually lose a lot of opportunity to get better. Economy of words and getting material tight is a huge challenge for newbies (I still struggle with this mightily). If you are first starting, you may take 7 minutes, but it doesn't mean you have 7 minutes.

This is a long way of saying that no has any right to b*tch at Jaystings about the Nanny's showcase. He's at tons of open mics. He'll see you. Its not a race. If you're ready, you'll get on. This is an open plea to Jaystings to not fall into the trappings of wanting to make people happy. Comics can be manipulative. Don't put anyone on unless you feel comfortable with them. Nanny's should be a great spot again soon!