Unprotected Sets

The members of Einstein Simplified take turns serving as emcee, which means that once every seven weeks, we have to “work” instead of play. The emcee chooses the games and decides when to end each game during our weekly improv show at The Well. It was my turn to emcee last Tuesday night.

Without the chance to play this past week, I satisfied my performance itch by doing stand-up on Wednesday night at Side Splitters. I had written some new material on Monday in preparation for an upcoming charity gig.

During the meeting before the show, Bridgette Martin assigned slots to each of the comedians. There were more than twenty of us signed up to perform. It was my first time seeing many of the comics. Most of the people I had seen in the past also did new material on Wednesday.

In addition to the comics on the list, there were a few surprise sets too. Bridgette had to tell a joke on stage in order to pay off a bet with comic Sandy Goddard. The weekend’s headliner, Dom Irrera, did a short set using the pseudonym “Razor.” Later in the evening, Spanky Brown said he wanted a piece of the action. Tonya Cinnamon of Cinnamon Studios posted 83 photos from the evening’s festivities on Facebook.

I got some good feedback on my set from actual comedians. Kristine Kinsey, John Upton and J.D. Howard posted compliments on Facebook. Perhaps the best reaction was from Alex Stokes who wasn’t there but is interested in booking me for a gig aboard the Star of Knoxville riverboat at 10:00 p.m. on March 1. I said yes.