// No More Jesters//

Last night, I was in San Francisco performing at the prestigious Punchline comedy club.  It was my first time performing there, so naturally I felt the butterflies in my stomach.  I’ve never felt so nervous in a long time.  I’m used to making a fool out of myself on and off the stage and as a result the nervousness has subsided over time to a point of nonexistence.  I missed this feeling because sometimes it’s that nervous energy that can take you to unintentional creative heights.

With butterflies in my gut, I got on stage to do my set.  Somewhat stumbling over the intro, it was apparent to some of the pros that I was clearly sweating bullets.  I told the first joke and I got a laugh; however, the crowd was still cold and needed to be warmed up a little more.  I struggled throughout my entire set and in the end I did my job, I got them warmed up.  

The entire show ran smoothly and with my set out of the way, I was more comfortable on stage.  The butterflies have left my stomach.  Each comic did a great job and in the end it was a successful show.  People got drunk, laughed, and got drunk some more.  

The real reveal was the fact that people were very appreciative in a way that was unfamiliar to me.  Now, in other venues, people are still appreciative over the show and are left with an experience that could never compare film and television.  It’s live theatre and there is nothing that can beat that experience.  Yet it was very different in this venue in a way where I ended up feeling more like an artist than ever before.  I’ve never been surrounded by so many people that were very passionate about comedy.  Their level of passion surpassed mine ten fold!  

I’ve always felt that comedians were the jesters of today.  Just a group of selected people commissioned to provide laughter to the king.  Today the king is the audience.  After, the jester does his act and then is dismissed by the king.  In other words, the king is always above the jester and is always on call for the king.  I would fight this notion every time I would go on stage.  I believed that it is the comedian that is the king and that the audience are his people that would follow him in life and death.  However, the more I did my sets, the more I felt that I was the jester and not the king.  Until last night.

Let me be honest that the level of female attention was incredible.  It’s been a while that women would look at me in a way that was anything but platonic.  It was at this moment that was different that any other set that I did.  My confidence increased instead of decrease as it usually does.  People look forward to talking to you instead of typical one liner statements of, “Good set.”  I was one step closer to that king status I so desperately want to attain.  Afterwards, we went to a bar across the street and people that I talked to had deep opinions of what they like about comedy.  It’s been a while since I’ve been in an intellectual conversation about comedy with someone other than a comedian.  I hope I encounter this experience more often.  In the meantime, I’ll go nurse my hangover.  You can’t have a good night without consequences in the morning or in this case, the afternoon.