20040718

March 3, 2006

Charlie’s Standup Comedy Journal

July 18, 2004: Kicking It ‘Old School’ at the Studio

(Um, actually — after six months of doing standup, can you really have an ‘old school’? Maybe at this point,

it’s all ‘nu skool’ material. Whatever. I don’t have time for semantics.)

This was my first show back after about a month-long hiatus from embarrassing myself in front of strangers on stage. Not that I wanted to stop embarrassing myself, you understand — I’m rather a glutton for punishment in that area, I’m afraid. But I got busy with work and other shit, and couldn’t make it to any shows for a few weeks. Or think about my act. Or write any new material. Or practice. Or… well, you pretty much get the idea. I was basically smartassa non grata for a while, there.

Luckily, this show had been on the books for a while, and was a great chance to get back into the swing of the squirty flower and rubber chicken circuit. Of course, I didn’t have any new stuff with which to regale the crowd, but hey — it’d been so long since I’d been onstage at the Studio, what were the chances that anyone there could remember any of my shit, even if they’d seen my last show? Hell, I couldn’t remember half of it, and I wrote the ridiculous nonsense.

So, I recycled some old stuff, laced it together with a seque or two, and trotted it back out for the crowd,

who seemed to enjoy it, as far as I could tell. Parts of it, anyway. At least a joke or two. I’m sure I at least heard a chuckle at one point, from way in the back. Seriously. Or a cough — it’s hard to say for sure.

Anyway, as always, the Studio was a barrel of monkeys with hot fudge on top. (Of the monkeys, not the barrel. Who the hell would waste hot fudge by pouring it on a barrel, anyway? Stick with me here, people.) If you’ve been keeping up with the previous standup clips here (you poor, sick bastard, you), then none of this will be new for you. Still — practice makes perfect, and after a month or more away, I need all the perfect I can get my hands on. Hope you like it!

Download Clip of 07/18/04 Set —

The Comedy Studio, Cambridge, MA (5 minutes, 31 seconds):