Sunday, November 9, 2008

#3 in a Series: The First Year

After the Cain Lopez trip, things started happening. I got my first Tribble Run just eight months after that first open mic, traveling with Robin Cee to perform in bars all across Idaho and Montana. More Tribble Runs followed, with other headliners. A few other bookers were willing to give me a chance, too. And whenever I was home in Portland, I continued going to every open mic I could. I'd even drive three hours north to Seattle to do four minutes in the open mics at the Comedy Underground.

If I had to name one person who helped me the most, though, it would be Andre' Paradise. If I was willing to put in the effort and drive the miles to Salem, Cornelius, Albany, Vancouver...he was willing to give me stage time. I'd drive 45 minutes to get 5 minutes of stage time in front of a paying audience. As I improved, Andre' gave me 7 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes. I never got paid -- it wasn't about getting paid. It was about getting better. About learning the craft.

Some people call this unpaid stage of a comedy career "paying our dues". Master comedian Debbie Wooten gave me a better analogy: Tuition. If you want to become a professional in many other careers, you pay big bucks to go to college and attend classes. All of those unpaid or low paid gigs were simply my tuition, and my classroom was the stage. What a wonderful, scary, fun, terrifying way to get an education! And what a fantastic adventure!

Andre' Paradise was so instrumental in helping me "learn by fire". I learned how to deal with drunk crowds, young crowds, black crowds, redneck crowds, college crowds. To be kind, I guess you could say I did "okay".... I was NOT good, that's for sure. But who is, when they're first starting out? Unless you're a "natural" -- and I'm definitely not a natural. Eventually, Andre' gave me paid spots, and also let me enter his Shades of Laughs Urban Comedy Competition. I didn't get very far in the competition, but it was another learning experience. And the next year, when I competed again against career headliners who've been in the business for many years, I was a finalist!

Oh-- and while doing all of this, I was still a full time teacher. There were occasions when I'd get a Thursday night gig five hours away in Coos Bay. I'd race down there as soon as school was out, do two shows, drive back up to Portland, and get 3 hours of sleep before getting up to go to school. I suppose I should've felt exhausted, but I didn't; I felt exhilerated!

But I knew I couldn't keep up this pace forever. Nor could I take week-long gigs during the school year. So I made a HUGE decision: I decided to take a one-year unpaid leave from teaching.