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Charlie Hatton
Brookline, MA
Charlie’s Standup Comedy Journal
(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):
(Click photo to enlarge)
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Ah, the Comedy Studio. It’s quickly becoming one of my very most favoritest places to do comedy.
(Well, okay, maybe not ‘quickly‘. I mean, I was first there more than six months ago, and this
is only the second time I’ve been back since. I suppose you could say that there’s nothing ‘quickly‘ about
that. You could even say that after only three trips, I don’t really know yet whether it’s a good spot or not. You
could say those things, sure.
You could also be a weenie. That doesn’t mean you should. Now stop distracting me — I’ve got a show to
talk about here. Hush up for a minute.)
At any rate, I really enjoyed this show. Not just because of the room (which is very nice), or the crowd
(which was also very nice), or even just because of my spiffy outfit and considerable beer buzz I was sporting by
the time I finally took the stage. (Both of which were also very nice, I might add.)
Apart from all of those things, though, were my exceptionally nice friends, who were able — and
willing; let’s not forget willing! — to come out and watch. One of them (shout-out to Christine — ‘Hey-ey,
ho-oh!‘) was even kind enough to tape my set for me. And even better, she giggled through it, loud enough to
hear on the tape.
(Which she apologized for later. Silly girl. If there’s one thing I want to hear on these clips, other
than the claws-screeching-on-chalkboard sound of my own voice, it’s people doing some giggling. And the
louder, the better, dammit! Hell, if I had my way, we’d have heard her laugh loud enough to make her wet her pants.
Just so long as none of it got on the camera, of course. Ewwwwwwww!)
Of course, it didn’t hurt that we toddled off to the bar downstairs after the show, either, and kept the
par-tay rolling for another couple of hours. Good friends, good bar, and good times… good times. I can only
hope you enjoy the material as much as I enjoyed delivering it.
(And if you don’t right away, maybe try downing a couple of brewskis. Hell, it worked for me. Woo-hah!)
Download Clip of 06/09/04 Set —
The Comedy Studio, Cambridge, MA (5 minutes, 12 seconds):
(Click photo to enlarge)
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This was my third trip into the ‘Comedy Vault’ at Remington’s Bar in downtown Boston. The place is a bit nerve-wracking, for a couple of reasons. For one, it’s a ‘bringer show’, which means that you get to go onstage only if you find two people willing to come — and pay — with you.
(Or, as I found out in February, if you’re willing to pay for ‘phantom’ people, if none of your friends can stand your jokes any more. Damn ‘friends’.)
It’s also a bit odd in that the comics going onstage are sequestered for the evening in an actual vault — the building used to be a bank, and while the crowd is arranged in a more open area in the basement of the joint, the performers are stationed in what used to be the money pit, pacing and practicing and waiting to go onstage. Now, other places have similar setups, but with two key differences:
A. In most other clubs, I know more of the comics, and can pass the time catching up.
2. In other places, there’s not a fourteen-inch-thick steel door that could close at any moment and lock you in what passes for the ‘green room’
All of that said, the Comedy Vault is actually a really fun place to play — the food’s pretty good, they pour a mean Guinness, and the room is usually pretty packed. I did find, on this trip, that the local colleges (and by ‘local’, I mean two located within a three block radius, if not less) contribute significantly to the Sunday night crowds. The schools are out for the summer now, so the audience was a bit smaller than usual. Still more crowded than most places, but not ‘jammed to the gills with drunken frat boys out to hoot at their friend telling five minutes of dick jokes’ crowded. And since I, too, tell my share of ‘dick jokes’, I am all about having those kids around.
But even without the student contingent, we soldiered on, and had a really great night. I went through a recent set that I’ve been working on, trying out some new bits here and there, and generally had a grand old time. Sure, I had to pay for a ‘phantom guest’ again — my wife’s apparently the only real trooper I know — but still, it’s worth seven bucks to get to go onstage and try to make three dozen strangers laugh. Even if it is with a bunch of dick jokes. Hee.
Download Clip of 06/06/04 Set —
The Comedy Vault at Remington’s, Boston, MA (4 minutes, 49 seconds):
(Click photo to enlarge)
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This was my first set in nearly a month, and what better place to get back ‘into the groove’ than the Emerald Isle, eh? It’s always a low-pressure gig, with plenty of friendly comics and familiar faces. Plus, they bring free pizza over from the joint across the street — what’s not to like?
For better or worse, for this show I decided to put together a different set than the one I’d been working on. I suppose I can’t really say I was ‘bored’ with the other material, since I hadn’t done any set in four weeks or so. But I did have a couple of new jokes I felt like trying out, and almost nobody brings rotten fruit to the Isle, so I figured, ‘what the hell’.
All in all, I think it went okay — I got a few giggles from the assembled comics, which is about as well as most people do in the room. On the other hand, I also — for the first time ever — consulted my notes onstage, in the middle of my set. Usually, I don’t even have notes; I’m not one of these yuksters who plops down a notebook or writes the set on my hand before going on. I figure, if you need crib sheets for your own stuff, then you might be smoking just a bit too much of the good stuff.
(Or you’re way more prolific than me, and have so many good ideas that they’re hard to remember. In which case, poop on you. I hate you bastards with actual ‘talent’. Get the hell outta my sight.)
Anyway, I felt a bit rusty up there, and ended on a bit of a whimper (or really, a groan — but I swear I can take that premise somewhere and make it a hit… just gonna take some work, is all). And, I had fun, which was the best news of all. After being away for a month, I was afraid that I’d lose the mood entirely, and never want to take the mic again. But happily for me — and very, very sadly for anyone who might be in a future audience — that wasn’t the case. Look out, folks — I think I’m getting the bug again. Hide the women and coffee pots. Ewwwww!
Download Clip of 05/05/04 Set —
Emerald Isle, Dorchester, MA (5 minutes, 5 seconds):
(Click photo to enlarge)
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This show marked my first time back at the Emerald Isle in over a month. ‘Da Isle’ is a casual sort of place for comedy, with lots of room and often few audience members. It’s a nice place to try out new material, or put a new spin on old jokes, or just relax and let loose with something off-the-cuff.
That’s if you’re a real comic, anyway. Me, I just tried to get through five minutes without peeing my pants. Baby steps, you see. Baby steps.
But I did try to get the few folks in attendance involved, to the best of my abilities. Two of the guys sitting just in front of where the camera was situated are taking Rich Gustus’ ‘Comedy 101’ class — Rich is the emcee on Wednesday nights at the Emerald Isle, and I went through his class last fall. So, as I made my way onstage, I decided to chat a bit with those guys — you know, form that all-important comic-audience bond. Work the crowd, as it were.
Yeah, I’m not very good at that. Maybe I should practice more, talking to homeless people on the street or something. Looking at the clip, I sound like a tool. So, no more ‘crowd work’ for me for a while. Bitches.
But hopefully, you can get past that ham-handed fiasco at the beginning and enjoy the rest of the set. At least I abandoned the ‘chatty’ talk early on, once I realized that I just don’t have the chutzpah to pull it off right now.
(‘Chutzpah’, ‘talent’… you say to-MAY-to, I say to-MAH-to. Whatever.)
At any rate, it’s always nice to see Rich and do a nice, relaxed couple of bits at the Isle. Now, if I could just manage to relax when I’m onstage, it might all work out…
Download Clip of 04/14/04 Set —
Emerald Isle, Dorchester, MA (5 minutes, 31 seconds):
(Click photo to enlarge)
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