I spared Wes from taking a selfie, so instead I took pictures of our drinks.
Last Friday, Wes & I went to watch the Make Me Laugh competition. I've never been to see live stand up comedy so I was pretty excited (and we all know how I like to try--and then blog about--new adventures). Although I have never been to a comedy club, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect. I vividly remember Aisha Tyler's chapter about it in Self Inflicted Wounds and I just finished Jessi Kline's You'll Grow Out of It. Wes & I also watch The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon pretty religiously so I've seen tons of interviews where actors & comedians tell their stories about doing stand up at bars. I'm happy to report that my experience was similar to what I read/heard about. The bar was dim with a few spotlights, there was a bar stool on the "stage" with a single microphone, some comedians were funny and some were awkward but overall they were all pretty good.
The competition went like this; there were eight comedians who each got four minutes to tell their jokes. At the end of the first round, our judges deliberated (based on their expertise in comedy and audience laughter & applause) and then the top three got to tell more jokes for a second four-minute round. Finally, a winner was announced. Our MC Dan Frigolette started the show with his monologue. He was funny (mostly joked about dating and sex), seemed to enjoy his job and was friendly to all of the contestants...an all around good host for the evening.
Our MC is apparently famous enough to have his own business cards and social media following.
The contestants for the competition were a motley crew consisting of a transvestite, an older gentleman who told what seemed like jokes off of a Laffy Taffy wrapper, some gay comedians, a guy who had facial hair like Wolverine and a guy who had a full handlebar mustache. I'm sure none of them read my blog so I'm going to judge them and use their real names (unless I misheard the MC when he announced them... then the names will be what I think I heard. LOL)
We started with Amanda Carey (pictured above). She complained about the kids these days and how she's getting older. She then told us that she was a transvestite and her misadventures on dating websites. She was entertaining and moved onto the second round.
We then had Trey Wooster who lamented on being fat and single. He then told us what the difference was between real friends and Facebook friends, he had several examples and paused awkwardly between each one. We also heard from Bryan Gillian who knew a guy in school named Ted Hitler. He then randomly started talking about butt hole tattoos. Next was my favorite, CJ Lance. He said that he told his wife that he sometimes wished they had kids so he could incorporate their funny antics into his monologue. His wife flipped out and told him she was not ready for kids but he could always go to the park and observe other people's children...like a creepy pedophile. CJ moved onto round two and eventually tied for first place. He shook our hands and thanked us on our way out. Nice guy. That's him down there.
We also heard from Aaron Wilder, another really funny contestant. He looked and acted like Ross Mathews (he doesn't really in the picture below but you'd see the resemblance if you saw him in real life). His first monologue was about money and finances. He advanced to the second round and told about his attempts at weight loss. He also tied for first place.
The contestants rounding off the evening were Dr. K, who told us a bunch of one line zingers (probably memorized from a joke book ), Jeff C who told us some not-very-funny gay and fat jokes, and Jay Art, who did a Shaquille O'Neal impression. I didn't think he was that good but he wore a Mighty Ducks t-shirt which made up for his non-funniness. He advanced to the second around, which I found more funny than his first four minutes.
While the judges were deliberating after the first round, we were treated to a set by last year's winner, Andrew Frank. He was funny at first but then I felt like his monologue went on forever. He started to get weird and existential toward the end of it...and that's where he lost us. Although I didn't find all of the contestants' jokes to be humorous, my two favorite comedians tied for first so I had a good time overall. Before the show started, I was a little afraid that I wouldn't understand a lot of the jokes (I don't follow current events or pop culture/celebrities so oftentimes jokes go over my head) but I laughed quite a bit more than I expected. Wes enjoyed himself as well. I'm glad we spent our Friday night with the Make Me Laugh tour. If you're not easily offended by sex, gay or fat jokes, I would recommend a night of stand up as a fun date idea.
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