Day 3: Thursday, June 20th, 2013, The Corner Mic at Los Globos

Today, my travels took me to Silverlake.  I biked along Sunset Blvd through ‘Hipster Vegas’ until I came across the huge red neon sign ‘Los Globos’ Latin Dance Club. (needle scratch off the record).  Now, I’m pretty spoiled throughout my career to actually do improv and comedy in established theaters, of course having to navigate challenging spaces when doing road shows, but even those venues were controlled, like cafeteria’s, conference rooms, banquet halls and restaurants.  Taking this little adventure just goes to show you that comedy can be done anywhere.

I sheepishly double-checked with the tall, black, and yes, ominous door man to confirm that I was in the correct location.  But even he gave me an extra long look as if to say: “You sure you’re in the right place?” I was. But I didn’t find it right away.  So I tied up the bike and I walked in to see a lot of people standing around, looking rather bored.  Behind me was a corner stage that was cordoned off with club seats, like it was VIP bottle service but no one was sitting there.  The place seemed small and cramped.  Is this it?  I was running late too, so I didn’t even know if I’d get a slot, or where I’d be ‘standing-up’ tonight.  A set of doors led me to this HUGE dance hall, and that’s where the comedy was.  It was amazing.  This room was delicious, and perfect for club comedy. Every comic dreams about playing big venues and this was definitely a training ground.

I honed in on the guy with the clipboard.  The clipboard is a symbol of authority in these matters.  People holding clipboards usually have information on those clipboards that are important to my needs.  My deductive reasoning skills did not fail me and I met Josh, one of the organizers of the OM (open-mic, for those of you at home).  He had space on his line-up and I had a slot….with a twist.  He was also signing up comics to ‘riff’ or improvise off of topics that, I think he created.  As thrilled as I was to do the exact same thing I do daily, in the mirror, I bowed out and just decided to do my prepared material….I use ‘prepared’ loosely.

One $7 beer later, I was settled in.  and THEN I decided my line-up. I plugged in a new bit about the NSA.  I had thought about it when I was walking to work earlier in the day.  So far my ‘process’ is to script in my head.  I do write some stuff out, but for the most part I try and find the right way to say it, on stage.  Even if I say it the way I want to, correctly, 100 times over in the mirror, it’s going to come out different on stage.  I don’t audio record myself either, which I probably should, but my technology is shaky.

I opened up with a couple of improvised bits about my intro music, which again, was far cooler then I am.  I addressed my liberal nerdiness in relation to how good a pimp I would be, and from that moment I had them.  It was easy though.  There were a lot of solid comedians that night, keeping that small group laughing.  My hard work was already done.  I was in attack mode and I rode that wave of laughter.  It was really the first time, so far, that I felt like I had time on stage, to settle in and tell jokes rather than rifle through my set.  It felt good, and I was rewarded with laughter.  Stick the needle in, push the plunger down!

I stuck around to watch the improv.  Definitely something I’ll do next time.  They also had a headliner!  Atif Myers.  I saw him work his stuff out at Mouthypants just a few weeks prior. He had a great set that brought the whole show to a perfect close.

Two guys run this mic.  Brendan is the other.  Both of them congratulated me on my set, and clarified a couple of things about the OM.  It’s every other Thursday, so it was just a crap shoot that I arrived on comedy night.  Good to know.  Also, that corner stage I mentioned in the room with the bored people, is usually the correct venue for the open mic, for a more intimate setting.  They just happened to be blessed with that massive and awesome room for ‘one-night-only’.  Because of the July 4th Holiday, The Corner Mic at Los Globos will returning on July 11th…my birthday.  Birthday show anyone!?

Topics Covered:

More orthodox jews, kardashians, hoarders, NSA/girlfriends and Zoftig.

Guitar Chords Learned: 0

Push-ups: 0 (I’m tracking those too? Oh Lord.)