A friend of ours (let's call her Jane, for simplicity's sake) does stand-up here in LA and occasionally invites us to catch her at one of the local clubs. Last night she invited us to one of those shows, what she calls "a bringer"… the club provides the space and lets the comics come in and do their bits—they just have to provide their own audience. I assume there's some minimum number requirement or something, but it may just be that, if the comics don't bring anyone, there won't be an audience. It's a very casual set-up and it provides the comics a chance to test out their new material since it's a "friendly" audience and, aside from the 2-drink minimum, it's not costing anything to go.
Last night had a small crowd (not that it's a big room) and there couldn't have been more than a couple of dozen people. Jane's husband said that there's no telling from night to night how big the room's going to be… sometimes it's packed, other times the place is nearly empty. He said one show he worked (they're both comics—that's gotta be scary sometimes!) had only a couple of people in the audience, so the comics all did about a minute and got off stage as quickly as they could.
There must have been about a dozen comics on hand that night (so they each brought two people? Possibly) and the majority of them were merely ok. Jane was great, as always, and there were one or two others that I'd be willing to see again. But, for the most part, it was a pretty average group of stand-ups.
What we didn't realize, since we were sitting in the front of the house, was that, as each comic finished and left, their friends were leaving as well. Jane went up about 2/3 of the way through the group. A couple of comics later we realized that the room was really emptying out. Finally, this very funny guy with mild cerebral palsy (he played off it in his act… that's why I mention it) comes up and, when he leaves HIS friends—the last really vocal group in the room— follow him out. Suddenly we realize that we may well be the only people left.
As the next comic heads to the stage, Jane stops by to tell us we don't have to stay, that it's okay to leave whenever we're ready and that she and her husband are getting out of there. The comic, who's just hit the stage, goes off on a riff, thanking Jane for telling us it's okay to leave, since we're the ONLY FREAKING PEOPLE LEFT IN THE AUDIENCE. He then spends his five minutes doing a stream of consciousness bit about how his girlfriend left him for some British guy which was, frankly, hilarious, even if it wasn't his act. And, as he's talking directly to us and keeps mentioning that he should probably be doing his act, I couldn't help but think it was getting seriously surreal in there.
Now we're looking for a way out, but since the last guy has now acknowledged that we're the only people left, the MC has started talking directly to us, telling us not to worry, there's only 2 or 3 more comics to go (I've lost count by this point, but like I said, it's got to be nearly a dozen comics this night) and now I'm starting to look for the door. But we're both feeling really on the spot here, don't want to be rude and, to be honest, I'm kind of fascinated (even though I'm really ready to leave).
So we don't leave. The next guy gets up and he's stoned/drugged/drunk (who knows, but he was admittedly chemically altered). He pretty much abandoned any act he might have had, talked about his valet job and parking Chris Rock's Bentley, then segued to talking about going to school and studying John Locke and the foundations of this country and how Locke's work was all about making the world a friendly place for capitalism and by now it's gotten REALLY surreal. Then HE'S followed by some girl who kept talking about how she was working on this character for this script she's writing and she almost had her, but she needed a voice, 'cause once she's got the voice, the rest of it will all fall into place. There was NO comedy happening here (at least the Locke guy had a few funny moments and left us with a good Bush-bashing joke) but it was kind of fascinating to watch her try and get laughs out of us with this character that she assured us would be funny and great… once she found her voice.
Fortunately, she was the last one of the night. Fortunately for us and fortunately for them, 'cause we were REALLY done now. As we ran for the bathrooms, the MC thanked us for sticking it out and handed me a band-aid as some kind of award for sticking it out through the night (no, he wasn't particularly funny on stage, either). The one thing we learned from the whole thing was, next time Jane invites us to one of these things we either have something else going on that evening that makes it impossible to make it (the rude, self-centered option) or we just remember to sit a few rows back and, as soon as Jane's done, make our escape.
Last night had a small crowd (not that it's a big room) and there couldn't have been more than a couple of dozen people. Jane's husband said that there's no telling from night to night how big the room's going to be… sometimes it's packed, other times the place is nearly empty. He said one show he worked (they're both comics—that's gotta be scary sometimes!) had only a couple of people in the audience, so the comics all did about a minute and got off stage as quickly as they could.
There must have been about a dozen comics on hand that night (so they each brought two people? Possibly) and the majority of them were merely ok. Jane was great, as always, and there were one or two others that I'd be willing to see again. But, for the most part, it was a pretty average group of stand-ups.
What we didn't realize, since we were sitting in the front of the house, was that, as each comic finished and left, their friends were leaving as well. Jane went up about 2/3 of the way through the group. A couple of comics later we realized that the room was really emptying out. Finally, this very funny guy with mild cerebral palsy (he played off it in his act… that's why I mention it) comes up and, when he leaves HIS friends—the last really vocal group in the room— follow him out. Suddenly we realize that we may well be the only people left.
As the next comic heads to the stage, Jane stops by to tell us we don't have to stay, that it's okay to leave whenever we're ready and that she and her husband are getting out of there. The comic, who's just hit the stage, goes off on a riff, thanking Jane for telling us it's okay to leave, since we're the ONLY FREAKING PEOPLE LEFT IN THE AUDIENCE. He then spends his five minutes doing a stream of consciousness bit about how his girlfriend left him for some British guy which was, frankly, hilarious, even if it wasn't his act. And, as he's talking directly to us and keeps mentioning that he should probably be doing his act, I couldn't help but think it was getting seriously surreal in there.
Now we're looking for a way out, but since the last guy has now acknowledged that we're the only people left, the MC has started talking directly to us, telling us not to worry, there's only 2 or 3 more comics to go (I've lost count by this point, but like I said, it's got to be nearly a dozen comics this night) and now I'm starting to look for the door. But we're both feeling really on the spot here, don't want to be rude and, to be honest, I'm kind of fascinated (even though I'm really ready to leave).
So we don't leave. The next guy gets up and he's stoned/drugged/drunk (who knows, but he was admittedly chemically altered). He pretty much abandoned any act he might have had, talked about his valet job and parking Chris Rock's Bentley, then segued to talking about going to school and studying John Locke and the foundations of this country and how Locke's work was all about making the world a friendly place for capitalism and by now it's gotten REALLY surreal. Then HE'S followed by some girl who kept talking about how she was working on this character for this script she's writing and she almost had her, but she needed a voice, 'cause once she's got the voice, the rest of it will all fall into place. There was NO comedy happening here (at least the Locke guy had a few funny moments and left us with a good Bush-bashing joke) but it was kind of fascinating to watch her try and get laughs out of us with this character that she assured us would be funny and great… once she found her voice.
Fortunately, she was the last one of the night. Fortunately for us and fortunately for them, 'cause we were REALLY done now. As we ran for the bathrooms, the MC thanked us for sticking it out and handed me a band-aid as some kind of award for sticking it out through the night (no, he wasn't particularly funny on stage, either). The one thing we learned from the whole thing was, next time Jane invites us to one of these things we either have something else going on that evening that makes it impossible to make it (the rude, self-centered option) or we just remember to sit a few rows back and, as soon as Jane's done, make our escape.
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