Thursday December 28^th, 2006 - LaCrosse, WI

OK, now THIS is more like it. The stars must have all aligned for one night and I was in the right place at the right time. That doesn’t happen very often for me so when it does I enjoy it and relish every moment. Nights like this are why I keep plugging on the road.

Tonight was completely different than last night and I couldn’t be more excited about it. LaCrosse is a college town and I’ve worked here several times before in a Midway Motor Lodge which was part of a week long run which ended in Madison. The shows there were usually full of hotel guests and could go either way so I really didn’t know what to expect. This joint is downtown right in the middle of all the college bars and that spells death for me usually because college crowds usually don’t get into my rants. They just sit and stare.

Also, this was only the fourth week they have done comedy. Last week was very sparse from what I heard and when I got to the club early so I could find it there weren’t many in attendance. I tried to find out who was in charge but nobody seemed to know. I thought it might be a total disaster but then about 8:20 people started lining up and they didn’t stop.

Showtime was 8:30 and there wasn’t a seat left. The show is sponsored by a local radio station and the overnight chick was the host. She was very nice but not very experienced so I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. It’s a top 40 station and there were a lot of women in the audience but there were also a nice smattering of townspeople too. They weren’t all college kids but a good number were. The important thing was that it was packed full and everyone paid $7 to get in and at least I knew I would get paid no matter how it went. It’s always good to know the club made money before the show starts. It removes pressure.

I was talking to a very pretty bartender who lit up when she found out I was a comedian. I thought I was doing a good flirt job until she shook my hand and identified herself as the owner’s wife. Of course. Then he came out of the back and introduced himself and said to ‘go as long as you want’ because it was a full house and he wanted them to buy drinks.

‘Go as long as you want’ let me know he books bands and not comedians. Bands can do a few more cover songs with no problem but a comedian can’t just come up with polished hunks of extra material out of the blue. It’s not that easy but he didn’t really care. He was nice enough and the show was about to start so I told him I’d give the best show I could.

When my turn came nitro met glycerin and I was off to the races. They just were ready for what I was selling and I kept dishing it out and I ended up doing an hour and fifteen of solid material. I didn’t let up and used this as a practice session to switch material around and stretch bits out and ad lib and it was just a total blast. I had material left but I thought the show was long enough so I did my big closer and got off stage. This was total FUN!!

All is right with the world when shows go like this. The energy is fantastic and I have a blast working each bit like a song and trying to shape it individually for each audience. It keeps me going when things get rough and this is one I’ll be grooving on for a long time.