My Second Time on Stage

When I started doing Stand Up every Monday they would hold auditions at The Cleveland Improv for Open Mike Night. With One performance under my belt so far I felt like I have never been more ready to perform at a Comedy Club. I arrived at the club at 7 a.m. to make sure I was able to perform. Auditions were at 11 am so I signed my name on the paper and sat in the empty club and waited. A guy named Mike Dietzel showed up shortly after me and we started talking about how we were both new comedians and this and that. Other people started to trickle in much less enthused than Mike and I. I felt pretty good about my performance the other night so I figured that I would do the same material and blow these people away. My name was called first and I went on stage and as soon as I felt the heat of stage lights I started to Panic. I forgot the prepared material I had and started muttering thoughts. I gained some composure after what felt like 90 minutes of mumbling and started to tell my first joke when the manager Mario held up the light which means I had thirty seconds. I panicked and said thanks that’s my time and sat down crushed.

I watched the rest of the people do their audition sets and was impressed that they could form thoughts into sentences. I had at one point in my life been able to do that but not on this day.

When the auditions were over we sat and waited around for Mario to tell us how we did. I knew I did shitty and I didn’t need the GM of the Improv to tell me that but I went and sat down with him and he told he couldn’t understand me at all and I told him that I was nervous and he gave me some hopeless encouragement and sent me on my way. I went to those auditions every Monday for two years and I learned a lot from them. I made some great friends there and after a little more than a month I got my first chance to perform in front of a real audience at the Improv.