Georgia, Folks!
The show in Georgia was full. The crowd was great. I was a little shaky. The quadruple macchiato an hour before the show didn’t help.
It’s always weird to me to feel like that on stage but it’s what I do. No matter how ‘crafted’ my bits are I can't really fake it up there. I felt a little frazzled in Atlanta for some reason.
I’ve chosen to open for myself. Another way of looking at it is that I am just doing a full show. An engaged 1.5 hours-ish theatrical event. It’s not Blue Man Group but it's close. The Atlanta show was the first show where I held the show for fifteen and when I went out there people were still getting to their seats. I literally had to do an opening set to get the place settled which meant a bit of crowd work and I scrambled a few of the first bits just trying to get the room focused. It kind of bummed me out and started the show off on a looser footing than I like and created a tone. I also felt like I saw too many people. It wasn’t dark enough in the crowd and I have a weird habit of focusing on individuals which I feel is odd. It must be a lot of pressure for them.
The good part of a show like that is that it’s very intimate and hands on. If I feel like I don’t have my footing I generally stay up there longer and do everything I can to connect in a way that is satisfying to ME. The people got a great show. I’m not sure I did. It kind fucked my head up a bit. It made me a little emotionally tired. I started to question my process. An hour and forty-five minutes is a long time to stay as engaged as I am when I do comedy. I'm definitely not going from laugh to laugh as my focus. I want to feel connected for real. Ridiculous. I should just do my act.
My brother came up from Florida with his GF who has family there. So, I got to hang out with him which was nice. Catch up. Do the brother thing.
The hotel I stayed at was nice enough but I do have a problem with what seems to be a trend with hotels these days. Especially boutique or hip style hotels. I think they should be up front about it. If the hotel turns into a fucking nightclub on the weekends to the point where every room in the place is shaking with bass beat, we should know going in. When you are booking a room, on the site, it should say something like, ‘This room is directly under our rooftop bar which will be blasting hip-hop all day Saturday until midnight and your room will literally shake. So, if you are too old to appreciate that or you need to get some sleep because you have an early flight, this might not be the place for you, old man.’ Something like that would be helpful.
Considering my introspective mindset it was probably better off. There’s something about hotel rooms. Even if I’m there only one night, there’s a darkness possible. I assume it's common. It might even have a name like ‘Hotel Room Affective Disorder.’ A deep depression that comes over you once you climb into bed in a hotel room. It doesn’t last generally. So, the pounding bass and tinkling glasses and laughter and chatting was not helping. I couldn’t sleep AND there was part of me that was thinking why am I not up there partying, man. I don’t know how to live. It was also good though, because I wouldn’t feel comfortable going up to the roof to jump off when everyone was having such a good time.
Jk. I’m ok.
Today I talk to comedian Adam Ray. I work with him a lot at the Comedy Store. Funny guy. Good guy. On Thursday I talk to someone I have been in two movies and a TV series with and I’ve never met her, Zazie Beetz. Good talks!
Enjoy!
Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
Love,
Maron
