Comedy Club Experiences

[scruffy]

Ive never been to a comedy club before and decided that last night would be the night I go. I got 2 tickets one for me and the other for my gf (the place was the Comedy Store Sydney). When we got there the vibe was good and it felt like it would be a really good night. The manager pointed us to a area where we could sit and upon sitting down realised the position may not have been the best. We were sitting directly in the middle of the club which would normally be good but right behind a couple who were loud and huge the dude must have been atleast 6’2. (The man yelled later on during one of the acts that it was their anniversary, they looked to be in their late thirties). It was very difficult to see past the dude but me and my gf managed to move around so that we could.

Once the show began I began to realise why keith and chemda and numerous guests on the show, dis horrible heckling, The couple dank through out all the support acts and by the time the headline act Eddie Ifft came on were well and truly pie eyed. The woman was turning around offering wine to people around her, while clapping hands raised (blocking my, my gf’s and numerous others behind ability to see the stage). eyes closed as if every joke was made just for her. They kept waving there arms around talking to each other mentioning how true each joke was and how they could relate. The night was turning to shit all cause of these to drunken bush pigs.

It wasn’t until 3/4s of the way into eddies act that things turned. A few comments were bein made by a few members of the audience and eddie was bein a smartass making them the but of his jokes. Which was thoroughly enjoyable. It was at this point that the man bushpig decided to join in. previous to this he had stumbled over 4 to 5 people to try get to the bathroom almost falling ontop of a woman.

He yelled out ‘LOOKALIKE’ to this eddie look be wildered and saif ‘what’. The man then yelled again ‘LOOKALIKE’ then getting up pointing to his shirt which was white and then to eddies which surprise, surprise was also white. The club went silent and eddie then commented on how irrational the comment was to which the audienced laughed. He then told the man that he was a shit ‘heckler’. To this the man said I want to get up on stage and stand next to you. Eddie the mentioned how he loved how off topic the comment was and then told the guy ‘ SIT THE FUCK DOWN AND GET FUCKED”. ( the ‘get fucked’ referenced a previous joke on aussie slang).

It was at this point that the night turned around for me and my gf and probably also the others behind me. I loved the show and regret not going to see more acts sooner. Eddie was half gone by the end of the show and was just getting funnier as the night progressed. Not sure what anyone else thinks of his act but I thouroughly enjoyed it.

Just though id put up a post and see what other people thought, and could maybe share their first time experiences. I was just amazed that these people thought they were actually adding to the show and improving it. As one of the comedians on the night said it can take months to perfect a joke and talking through it can really ruin not only the comedians act but also the audiences night aswell.

[marina]

The first time I went to a comedy club was when I saw Jesse Joyce and Greg Giraldo at the Brea Improv in Brea, California last summer. It's a nice club, they play this sort of educational video about how a person should act in a comedy club before the show starts, which struck me as elementary and patronizing to me at first, but it turns out it was probably necessary.

There was a couple (also a little chunk and generally large) who'd had a few too many and got a little too chatty with the comics. But, to be fair to them, the comics had confused them by chatting with them in the first place. They were only slightly disruptive as far as I remember.

The Improv is an American chain of comedy venues, and I think that they all try to stay the same. So, the fact that it's a chain makes it a little hackey and gimmicky as a venue, but it also makes it a lot more comfortable, well laid out and cleaner. You win some, you loose some I guess. Pretty much any seat in the house has at least a decent view of the stage, most have a good view. The wait-staff is quiet and polite. People are packed in there pretty close, but as soon as the lights came down I didn't really feel the proximity any more.

The only issue I have with the Brea Improv is that I bought my tickets online, and much to my chagrin I get emails from them on a weekly basis advertising their weekend line-up. I could probably get them to stop, but I'm on my phone when they come in and I always forget to look on the computer when I'm at home.... speaking of which, I'm at home now. I'm going to go try and figure out how to make these annoying emails from the Brea Improv stop because I so don't like them at all.

And the reason I don't just spam block them is because if I ever actually wanted to buy tickets from them again, I'd not get my ticket receipt because it comes in the email.

update: it was really easy to remove myself from their mailing list, I just needed to scroll down to the bottom of the email and click a few things. Hopefully I never hear from them again.

[Junkenstein]

The Leicester Theatre in london works almost full-time as a comedy club. I saw Doug Stanhope there for the first time, and it could actually be described as my first "live comedy" experience. The audience was composed mainly by fans, but yet there was a lot of what could be called "positive heckling". People were screming the end of punchlines, answering out loud to rethorical questions, interrupting him fake-jokingly, in particular one very drunk memeber (who also shout "WHOO" every three seconds or so). Doug is a pro and has a thick skin, so he handled the set wonderfully, but he was seriously pissed at times, even if he managed to turn the incident into a series of jokes.

I'm beginning to think that they shouldnt serve alcohol in comedy venues. Most people become too noisy and disruptive when drunk. It could work at a concert, but comedy is performance, somehow like acting, and it should be treated with more respect.