Working Comic: No Sleep ’till Vermont! by Shawn Carter.

This was a sort of slow week for comedy and the snow didn’t help.

But the Patriots won the Super Bowl so I got no complaints.

Monday:  I went and hosted the comedy show at Sally O’Briens even though everyone said I was nuts for doing it because of the blizzard.  The real storm didn’t hit until the show was over.  We had about a dozen comics come to the open mic, it was a good time.

Tuesday:  Can’t even leave the house.  My show in Quincy that night is cancelled because of the blizzard.

Wednesday:  I did a set at the Tavern at the End of the World open mic.

Thursday:  This was a fun night.  I went to the Kowloon in Saugus to support some friends that were auditioning for the club.

Friday:  I did nothing.  I mean, I did some writing and edited some audio clips.  But I didn’t leave the house all day.  It was a great day.

Saturday:  This was my busy day.  I had a headlining gig in Vermont, and I got to choose my feature and host for the show!  That was exciting.  So I was working with Rick Canavan and PJ Westin.  Which also means I had a 4+ hour drive with those guys.  Time flew by as we drove hundreds of miles through the mountains bringing us to our final destination just shy of the Canadian border.

We got to the venue and as I walked through the door I saw a poster with my face on it which is super weird when you just travelled so far from home, to walk through the door and see your own face is just so surreal.

We got there 2 hours early so we had time for dinner before the show.  The restaurant comped our meal instead of just giving us a discount, I guess Amy Schumer would be proud.  Since it’s one of her 10 Comedy Club Commandments.  You can read all about it at Sean McCarthy’s website “The Comic’s Comic”.  Then I went to the bathroom and once again was surprised by my stupid face affixed to the toilet stall.

Before the show a woman took one of the posters and asked everyone on the show to sign it.  It’s only the 3rd time someone has asked me for an autograph and definitely the first time someone asked me for it before my set.  It made me feel a strange pressure to do well.  The restaurant was filled with about 70 people, all there to see comedy and drink.  According the the bartender “everyone here knows each other”.

PJ was our host for the evening, so I introduced him and he opened the show with a great 12 minute set that the crowd enjoyed when they were listening.  But as I said everyone knew each other and tables would break into conversation whenever they wanted.  Even still PJ did an awesome job of warming the crowd up.  Then Rick went on and he’s one of my favorite comedians in Boston so I was very happy to have him on the show.  The crowd was still a little tough.  They were laughing at some stuff and talking through other stuff.  As Rick was on stage I asked the bartender “what town around here can I make fun of and they’ll enjoy it?”.  She gave me a couple of town names PJ asked “What’s the most snooty town?”, she looked confused and said “there’s more rednecks around here”.  I asked “What’s the most redneck town?”, she said “I think you’re in it.”   OoooooK.

Finally I took the stage and it was quite an adventure.  I think PJ put it best when post show he said “I think you killed considering the circumstances.”.  It was work.  I really had to work the entire time I was on stage and pull out everything I had but I managed to keep this group entertained for 50 minutes.  Everyone after the show was very nice.  Talking about how much they enjoyed the show.  One woman yelled at me about the Patriots telling me that “they are cheaters”.  I hope she enjoyed the Super Bowl.

I have the opportunity to talk with a bunch of people after the show and everyone that lives up there seems to love it but most of what they told me was that they just drink all day.  When I asked if there was anything else to do around there one guy said “Ice fishing”.  I said “Don’t you get cold fishing on top of ice.”  he said “nah, I just make sure I’m drunk enough so I’m not cold.”

I have to say, everything said and done I really enjoyed doing this show.  It was a long ride and a tough show but it was an awesome day spent with a couple of good friends and we had a great time hanging out with the locals at the bar after the show.  It all made me very happy that I’ve chosen to do this as a profession.