I performed comedy again last night at Tomato Tuesdays. ( New French Bar in downtown Asheville.) Most of the young people in the audience this Tuesday were barely out of their teens. For some reason the chairs were pulled up close enough for the audience to count my freckles. For me…It was very claustrophobic!
It was not my best performance. (Sounds better than saying it was my second worst performance ever!) No matter what came out of my mouth, I didn’t connect with these kids. Almost everything I joked about went right over their heads. It was as if I was speaking another language. I did receive a few laughs (thank-you other comics) and some applause at the end of my set.
I learned a valuable lesson last night. Always have a back-up plan. Even if I had to pull something out of the archives…Switch gears and keep on going. I almost broke into a song…I write music and probably should have belted out a number just to see how the audience reacted.
Some of the more seasoned comics faced the same thing but they dealt with it very well. They played off the audience until the audience finally broke down and laughed.
My ideal audience would be a mixture of 20 somethings with baby boomers scattered throughout. A nice balance for a 59 year old comic who is really a kid in a mature (nice way of saying aging) body.
I’m still glad I showed up. If for nothing else…I got to show off a really cool skirt that has been hiding in the back of my closet .
At least those kids will be saying… “Wow, Asheville’s oldest comic has an awesome wardrobe!”
